Tigers’ Martinez plays his final game at home

Baltimore Orioles

Despite Baltimore’s dismal season — each loss extends its franchise record, which was previously 107 — Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson said he has “great optimism” for the team’s future. At a press conference where he presented the award named after him to Cedric Mullins, the organization’s minor league player of the year, Robinson said, “I went to spring training in ’56. We had a lot of kids. They all knew, ‘Hey, there’s a chance.’ ”

Boston Red Sox

Chris Sale, sidelined for 37 games over two second-half stints on the disabled list because of a sore shoulder, has been limited in his outings since returning to the mound Sept. 11 as Boston tries to get him ramped up for the postseason. He is expected to make his final regular-season start Sept. 26 against Baltimore before starting Game 1 of the American League Division Series.

Chicago White Sox

Jose Abreu’s difficult last six weeks of the season continued when the first baseman was hospitalized overnight in Cleveland because of an infection in his right thigh and missed a three-game series against the Indians. Abreu also was sidelined from Aug. 21 to Sept. 9 following surgery to repair testicular torsion.

Cleveland Indians

Right-hander Trevor Bauer continued working his way back toward being part of the postseason rotation when he pitched 11⁄3 scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox on Sept. 21. It was Bauer’s first appearance since the fibula in his lower right leg was broken by a line drive off the bat of the White Sox’s Jose Abreu on Aug. 11. A Cy Young candidate before the injury, Bauer was 12-6 with a 2.21 ERA through 26 starts.

Detroit Tigers

Victor Martinez played the final game of his 17-year career Sept. 22 and singled off the Kansas City Royals’ Jakob Junis in his last plate appearance. Martinez accompanied the Tigers on their season-ending road trip but wanted to play his last game in front of the home fans.

Houston Astros

There was concern Sept. 23 when right-hander Charlie Morton exited his start after just one inning because of a sore shoulder. It’s the same issue that sent him to the disabled list in late August, but manager A.J. Hinch said he was just being cautious. Morton was expected to make his final start of the regular season this weekend.

Kansas City Royals

Wily Peralta’s emergence as the closer has been a bright spot as the Royals finish the fifth 100loss season in franchise history. The beefy right-hander converted each of his first 13 save opportunities and had a 4.02 ERA through 34 games. The Milwaukee Brewers dropped the 29year-old Peralta off their 40man roster at the end of last season after he went 5-4 with a 7.85 ERA in 19 games, including eight starts.

Los Angeles Angels

The Angels allowed at least 10 runs in four straight games for the first time in franchise history, but in one of those blowouts rookie right-hander Jaime Barria allowed only one run in five innings against the Houston Astros. He has a 2.95 ERA in his last nine starts and figures to be a key member of the rotation next year.

Minnesota Twins

Rookie left-hander Stephen Gonsalves, 24, got his first win Sept. 19 when he pitched six scoreless innings and allowed only one hit at Detroit. That came after he gave up one unearned run in three hitless innings six days earlier at Kansas City. Gonsalves was 0-2 with a 11.68 ERA in his first four starts.

New York Yankees

Shortstop Didi Gregorius tore cartilage in his right wrist sliding into home plate Sept. 22 and probably is out for the season, manager Aaron Boone said. But Gregorius insisted that he plans to return “before the end of the season.”

Oakland Athletics

Khris Davis came into the week with a career-high 45 home runs, including seven multi-homer games, and 119 RBI. His home at-bats were being met by “MVP” chants. “I was one of them chanting,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He definitely needs to be in the (MVP) conversation.”

Seattle Mariners

The Mariners’ streak of missing the playoffs reached 17 seasons, but at least Seattle can look toward next season confident it has discovered its leadoff hitter: Mitch Haniger. He batted .341 with 19 RBI and 28 extra-base hits in his first 39 games hitting first in the order.

Tampa Bay Rays

Carlos Gomez did not back down from his Twitter video rant against home-plate umpire Andy Fletcher, who ejected Gomez in the sixth inning of the loss to Toronto on Sept. 20. Gomez told TampaBay.com he felt disrespected and added, “You do that to me in the street I’m going to slap the (expletive) out of you.”

Texas Rangers

Interim manager Don Wakamatsu is among the candidates to replace Jeff Banister, who was fired after the Rangers’ second consecutive losing season, but an intriguing option is former Ranger Michael Young, now part of the team’s front office. Banister had a 326-314 record in four seasons, and his teams won AL West titles in each of his first two years.

Toronto Blue Jays

Despite a discouraging season, the Blue Jays found a silver lining Sept. 20 when they scored seven runs in the ninth to stun Tampa Bay 9-8. It tied the largest ninth-inning comeback in their 42-year history.

Contributing: Maureen Mullen, John Perrotto, Jay Paris, wire reports