Playoffs set: Yanks-Red Sox, Giants win West
Rafael Devers delivered big time for the Boston Red Sox. Aaron Judge did just enough for the New York Yankees. And Buster Posey boosted the San Francisco Giants to the NL West crown, dropping the 106win Dodgers into a dangerous wild-card game.
In a flash, the Major League Baseball playoff field was all settled Sunday.
No crazy tiebreaker scenarios. No chaos on the final day. And for fans who wanted drama — no problem, that’s on deck.
Yankees-Red Sox to start the postseason in an all-ornothing October duel at Fenway Park. Sound familiar?
“We’ll be ready,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “It should be fun.”
Boston and New York both scored the winning run in the ninth inning in Game 162 to seal their spots in the AL wild-card matchup Tuesday night, when it’ll be Yankees ace Gerrit Cole against Nathan Eovaldi.
So between now and then, count on seeing endless replays of Bucky Dent’s home run over the Green Monster that lifted the Yankees over Boston in their famed 1978 one-game meeting for the AL East title.
Shut out of this year’s postseason party were Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his Toronto Blue Jays, along with the Seattle Mariners; they each needed a loss by either the Red Sox or Yankees to have a chance.
“Unfortunately, our fate was in the hands of another team,” said George Springer, who homered twice in Toronto’s win over Baltimore. “We were hoping for something, but obviously it didn’t happen.”
The Giants clinched the NL West with their franchise-record 107th win, routing San Diego 11-4 behind Posey’s three RBIs. They needed all of those victories to hold off the World Series champion Dodgers.
“You’re going to be hard pressed to see another race like this for quite a while,” said Posey, the three-time champion catcher who sat out last season because of COVID-19 concerns.
The Dodgers dropped into the NL wild-card game Wednesday night, when they’ll host the hardcharging St. Louis Cardinals. Pretty neat tilt, too: Max Scherzer vs. Adam Wainwright.
The best-of-five Division Series begin Thursday with a pair of AL games.
It’ll be 76-year-old Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa leading the Chicago White Sox into Houston to match wits with 72-year-old skipper Dusty Baker and the Astros.
Also, 20-year-old rookie sensation Wander Franco and the Tampa Bay Rays will welcome the AL wildcard winner.
On Friday, the NL series start up with Charlie Morton and the Atlanta Braves visiting Corbin Burnes and the pitching-rich Milwaukee Brewers, who are still bidding for their first World Series crown.
Posey and the Giants will play the wild-card winner at Oracle Park.
MLB Leaders
Trea Turner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston’s Yuli Gurriel won their first batting titles Sunday in a season of boom and bust that saw four teams lose 100 games for only the third time, and four 90game winners in the AL East alone.
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels was a singular sensation with a superlative two-way season, unmatched even by Babe Ruth.
Turner hit .328 to top defending NL batting champion Juan Soto of Washington, who hit .313.
“It’s consistency, which I pride myself on and showing up every day,” said the 28-year-old Turner, traded from Washington to Los Angeles in late July. “You’ve got to qualify for certain awards and have a certain amount of at-bats, and it’s hard if you’re not out there on the field. That’s part of being prepared and being lucky. It’s been a good season from a health standpoint.”
Gurriel batted .319 to lead the AL; Astros teammate Michael Brantley was second at .311, just ahead of Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr., also at .311. Gurriel entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning Sunday and hit a game-ending single that beat Oakland 7-6.
“It’s something really important,” Gurriel said through a translator. “I think everybody knows it’s a big deal and it’s tough to win a batting title.”
At 37, he is the secondoldest batting champion behind 38-year-old Barry Bonds in 2002.
“It says a lot about the fact that veteran players still have a lot to offer in this game,” Gurriel said.
The 27-year-old Ohtani was second in the AL to Guerrero Jr. with a .592 slugging percentage. Ohtani led the AL with eight triples and was third in the major leagues with 46 home runs. He hit .257 with 100 RBIs and 26 stolen bases.
On the mound, he paced AL pitchers with a .122 opponents’ batting average with runners in scoring position. Batters hit .087 (11 for 127) against his splitter, the lowest for any pitch in the majors with a minimum 110 plate appearances.
On the basepaths, his 4.09 seconds sprint time from home to first was the fastest in the big leagues.
Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez and Guerrero tied for the major league home run title with 48 each, two more than Ohtani had, and San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. topped the NL with 42. Perez also led the AL with 121 RBIs and Adam Duvall led the NL with 113 for Miami and Atlanta.