Lowly Royals have become quite the spoilers
This wasn't a run you saw coming — but then again, you rarely do when a baseball team starts to play spoiler.
The Kansas City Royals, who reached 100 losses more than two weeks ago and have been out of contention for almost the entire season, suddenly became a huge thorn in the side of the defending champions. The Royals went 5-1 in two recent series against the Astros, including a sweep over the weekend in Houston, leaving the Astros in a precarious spot in the Americal League playoff race.
Kansas City has won six in a row and 10 of its last 11 games. The Royals also had a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Guardians last week
Even after that impressive stretch, the Royals have the second-worst record in baseball at 54-102, but you wouldn't have known it watching those matchups with Houston. And the Astros looked nothing like the World Series champs from a season ago.
On Friday night, Kansas City scored seven runs on only five hits in a win over Framber Valdez. The next evening, Jordan Lyles pitched five scoreless innings and improved to 5-17 on the year for the Royals. On Sunday, the Royals slugged four home runs in a 6-5 victory.
A nice September stretch doesn't necessarily mean Kansas City will be contending again anytime soon. The
Royals have one of the game's top young players in Bobby Witt Jr., who has 29 home runs and 48 steals, but don't have anyone on MLB Pipeline's list of the top 100 prospects.
For now, the Astros can be glad they won't see the Royals again until next season.
Statistical races
There will be plenty of debate over the postseason awards — the National League MVP in particular — but the statistical leaders in a season are determined by the cold, hard numbers.
Among the closer races: Corey Seager (Rangers) leads Yandy Diaz (Rays) .333 to .328 for the AL batting title. Kevin Gausman (Blue Jays) leads Pablo Lopez (Twins) 232-228 in the AL strikeouts race. Gerrit Cole (Yankees) leads Sonny Gray (Twins) 2.75 to 2.80 for the AL ERA title.
In one interesting twist, Lyles is one of only two pitchers in the majors with three complete games, joining the Marlins' Sandy Alcantara — who also has a losing record. All three of Lyles' complete games were losses, including two of the eighth-inning variety when the home team didn't have to bat in the ninth.
Attendance boosts
▪ The surprising playoff-contending Cincinnati Reds drew 2 million fans to Great American Ball Park for the first time since 2015. The season total of 2,038,302 included 10 sellouts, most since 2012. Those numbers came after a record-low attendance of 7,375 on April 17 before the arrival of young stars such as Elly De La Cruz.
▪ The American League West-leading Texas Rangers drew 35,412 fans for their home finale against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday to finish the season at 2,533,044, an average of 31,272. The total was the club's largest since 2016, the last time Texas had a winning record. The Rangers saw a 26% increase from last season, the biggest year-to-year jump since a 31% increase from 1995 to 1996.
Webb 9 9 1 1 0 7110 3.35 Webb 10-13; Suarez 4-3.
Suarez off Suarez (Pederson); Webb (Batten), Snell
(Slater); Home, Mark Carlson. First, Tripp Gibson. Second, Brennan Miller. Third, Dan Bellino; 2:23; 28,557 (41,915).
W: L: Inherited runners-scored:
IBB:
HBP:
1-0;
1926:
1952:
1961:
1981:
1983:
1993:
1998:
2000:
2007:
2007:
2008:
2008:
2018:
2018:
2019:
Umpires:
T:
A:
Olson, ATL 53; Alonso, NYM 45; Schwarber, PHI 45; Acuña Jr., ATL 40; Betts, LAD 39; Riley, ATL 37; Muncy, LAD 36; Soler, MIA 36; Ozuna, ATL 36; Soto, SD 33.
RUNS BATTED IN
Olson, ATL 133; Alonso, NYM 115; Castellanos, PHI 106; Soto, SD 105; Betts, LAD 105; Albies, ATL 104; Muncy, LAD 103; Acuña Jr., ATL
101; Schwarber, PHI 100; Martinez, LAD 98.
Ed Reulbach of the Chicago Cubs became the only pitcher to throw two shutouts in a doubleheader, beating the Dodgers 5-0 and 3-0.
The St. Louis Browns beat the New York Yankees 6-1 and 6-2 in two hours and seven minutes. The first game took 55 minutes.
The New York Yankees clinched their fourth straight AL pennant with a 5-1, 11-inning win over the Philadelphia A's.
Roger Maris tied Babe Ruth's 34-year-old record with his 60th homer, off Baltimore's Jack Fisher.
Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros became the first player to pitch five no-hitters, hurling a 5-0 victory over the Dodgers at the Astrodome.
Bob Forsch of the St. Louis Cardinals pitched the second no-hitter of his career by defeating Montreal 3-0.
Randy Johnson of the Seattle Mariners became the eighth pitcher to strike out 300 batters in a season with 13 strikeouts in 10 innings of a 3-2, 12-inning loss to Oakland.
Curt Schilling became the fifth pitcher to strike out 300 batters in consecutive seasons when he fanned Kevin Orie in the seventh inning of Philadelphia's 4-3 loss to Florida in the first game of a doubleheader.
The Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets 7-1 to clinch the NL East and win their record ninth straight division title.
The New York Yankees clinched their 13th straight postseason appearance, beating Tampa Bay 12-4.
Michael Young reached 200 hits for the fifth consecutive season with a pair of RBI singles among his three hits and Texas pounded the Angels 16-2. Young joined Wade Boggs and Ichiro Suzuki as the only players since 1940 with five consecutive 200-hit seasons.
The Tampa Bay Rays won their first AL East championship when the Boston Red Sox lost to the New York Yankees. They became the first team other than Boston and New York to win the division since Baltimore did it in 1997.
Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki matched Lou Gehrig's record with his eighth season of at least 200 hits and 100 runs. Suzuki scored his 100th run of the season in the third inning against Oakland. Gehrig reached the marks in 1927-28, 1930-32, 1934 and 1936-37.
Jacob deGrom was dominant, throwing eight stellar innings and leaving with a major league-best 1.70 ERA as the New York Mets blanked the Atlanta Braves 3-0. DeGrom (10-9) made his final regularseason start, striking out 10 and allowing just two singles against the NL East champions.
Colorado Rockies right-hander German Marquez started with eight straight strikeouts to match a modern-era big league record, and the Colorado Rockies routed the Philadelphia Phillies 14-0. By striking out his first eight batters, he tied a post-1900 mark set by Houston's Jim Deshaies on Sept. 23, 1986, and equaled by the New York Mets' Jacob deGrom on Sept. 15, 2014.
The Minnesota Twins become the first team to hit 300 home runs in a season.