Baseball notebook
The Yankees stumbled into home-field advantage in the AL wild-card game, losing 9-4 in Baltimore on Sunday after a loss by Houston made the outcome meaningless. New York will enter Tuesday’s winner-take-all game against the Astros with little positive momentum after being swept in three games by Baltimore and losing six of their final seven regular-season games. After clinching a playoff berth on Thursday, New York needed just one win at Camden Yards to assure itself a game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. That victory never came, but that’s partly because manager Joe Girardi tried to balance the importance of winning against resting his starters and relievers. New York will send righthander Masahiro Tanaka to the mound on Tuesday.
Houston is going to the playoffs for the first time in a decade despite ending the regular season with a 5-3 loss to Arizona. The Astros led the AL wild-card race by a game heading into Sunday. They shared a few high fives in the dugout in the eighth inning after clinching it when the Los Angeles Angels lost to Texas. Houston finished 86-76 to reach the post-season for the first time since playing the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 World Series. The Astros will play their first American League playoff game Tuesday night, not bad for a team that had three 100-loss seasons before going 70-92 in 2014.
The Cubs beat Milwaukee 3-1 on Sunday for their eighth straight win, but will have to play the NL wild card game in Pittsburgh after the Pirates beat Cincinnati. Even with the itinerary now taking them to PNC Park, the Cubs head into their first post-season appearance since 2008 brimming with confidence. Chicago ended the regular season with a three-game sweep in Milwaukee. Anthony Rizzo had a two-run single with the bases loaded in the first to reach a career-high 101 RBIs on the season. Starter Dan Haren (11-9) allowed three hits and a walk in six innings. After making his last regular season start on Friday, ace Jake Arrieta (22-6) would work on normal rest to start the NL wild card game against Pittsburgh.
The Mets have set their pitching rotation for the first three games of their best-of-five NL playoff series against the Dodgers. Jacob de Grom will start the opener Friday in Los Angeles, as expected. Rookie right-hander Noah Syndergaard goes in Game 2, followed by Matt Harvey in Game 3 back home at Citi Field. After that, it’s uncertain who would get the ball if Game 4 is necessary. New York would like to start unbeaten rookie Steven Matz — provided his balky back is healthy enough — and 42-year-old Bartolo Colon (1413) remains a possibility.
Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers recorded his 300th strikeout of the season, becoming the first major league pitcher in 13 years to do so. Kershaw had seven strikeouts in 3.2 innings Sunday against the Padres, leaving with a 2-0 lead. He reached the 300-mark with a swinging strikeout of Melvin Upton Jr. to end the third. Kershaw concluded the regular season with 301 strikeouts, joining former Arizona teammates Randy Johnson (2000-02) and Curt Schilling (2002) as the only pitchers since 2000 to record 300. He joined mentor Sandy Koufax as the only Dodgers to reach the mark.
The Red Sox announced that John Farrell will return as their manager in 2016. Farrell recently completed his final course of chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He left the Red Sox on Aug. 14 after the diagnosis.