David Schoenfield, ESPN Senior Writer
All six divisions have been clinched. The Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals secured the final two American League wild-card spots on Friday night. The Chicago White Sox lost their 121st game to set the modern record and erase the ’62 Mets from the record books.
But we still have a few things to watch as the regular season wraps up, starting with the National League wild-card race, where the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves and New York Mets are fighting for two spots. With Atlanta’s win on Friday — Max Fried & Co. shut out the Royals — and the Diamondbacks and Mets losing, it’s essentially a three-way tie, ensuring the Mets-Braves doubleheader on Monday will have to be played.
Let’s dig into what to watch the rest of the weekend:
New York Mets at Milwaukee Brewers
The Mets had won the past eight Sean Manaea starts, so losing Friday to the Brewers as Manaea got knocked out in the fourth inning was a tough one. That means the Monday doubleheader now creates the possible travel nightmare of the Mets finishing this series in Milwaukee, flying to Atlanta for Monday’s games, and then heading back to Milwaukee to start the wild-card series on Tuesday. Of course, at least that flight back to Milwaukee would mean the Mets are in.
The Mets are going day-by-day with their rotation the rest of the way. Carlos Mendoza (who got ejected in the fourth inning on Friday) announced after Friday’s game that Jose Quintana will start Saturday. He last pitched Sept. 18 and before the rainout last week, the Mets had originally planned to skip him in the Braves series in favor of David Peterson. Quintana and Peterson have been the Mets’ next best starters after Manaea, so that could suggest they’ll hold back Peterson for the doubleheader. Francisco Lindor did return to the lineup on Friday after a two-week absence and went 2-for-4 with a walk.
He didn’t look great in the field, lobbing a couple of throws, so it would appear he’s hardly 100 percent. And catcher Francisco Alvarez left Friday’s game with back spasms, so the Mets will have to see how he is on Saturday. The good news for the Mets is Milwaukee is locked into the third seed, so the Brewers aren’t going to burn through their best relievers the next two days, especially on Sunday.
Kansas City Royals at Atlanta Braves
The rainouts certainly disrupted Atlanta’s pitching rotation. Chris Sale was supposed to start Wednesday and Fried Thursday against the Mets, which would have lined them up for the first two games of the wild-card series. The Braves made the calculation to skip Sale on Friday and instead go with Fried, who delivered 8â…” scoreless innings — apparently holding Sale until they absolutely need to use him. Reynaldo Lopez is slated to start Saturday, so with at least the first game of the doubleheader now in play, perhaps the Braves are holding Sale for that game.
Using Sale against the Mets obviously improves the Braves’ chances of getting into the postseason, especially since they have won the past eight games Sale has started. And while they’d have to win the wild-card series without him, that would at least line him up to start Game 1 of the division series — and make two starts in that best-of-five series.
The Braves lead the season series against the Mets 6-5, so the tiebreaker is still in play depending on Monday’s results.
San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks
The important thing to know here is that the Diamondbacks lost the season series to both the Mets and Braves, so they lose out on both a head-to-head tiebreaker and a three-team tiebreaker. Arizona started 2023 playoff star Merrill Kelly on Friday, but he allowed eight hits and five runs in 5â…” innings in the loss to the Padres. Arizona originally had Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, but now they’re going day-by-day as well, with Zac Gallen lined up to start the first game of the wild-card series … if Arizona gets in.
Arizona’s offense has been on fire in the second half, but it has now lost four of five and has allowed 10 or more runs six times in September and two more games in which they allowed eight.
American League wild card
Lots of this was settled on Friday night: First, before a boisterous crowd of 44,435 fans at Comerica Park, the Tigers beat the White Sox 4-1 to win their sixth straight game and clinch their first playoff spot since 2014. They had been tied with the Angels for the longest active playoff drought in the majors.
The Royals backed into their first postseason since 2015 when the Twins lost.
The Orioles clinched the fourth seed in beating Minnesota. The Tigers are one game up on the Royals for the fifth seed, but the Royals hold the tiebreaker in case they finish with the same record. The fifth seed will play at Baltimore while the sixth seed will play at Houston in the wild-card series (the higher seed gets all home games). The good news for the both the Tigers and Royals is they can save Tarik Skubal and Cole Ragans for the first games of the wild-card series, rather than having to start them Sunday.
Battles for the best record and top seed
In the NL: The Los Angeles Dodgers are two games up on the Philadelphia Phillies, although the Phillies do hold the tiebreaker.
In the AL: Both the Yankees and Guardians lost, so the Yankees remain one game up. The Yankees also the hold the tiebreaker, so it’s essentially a two-game lead. The Yankees start Luis Gil on Saturday against Paul Skenes and the Pirates; the Guardians start Ben Lively against Justin Verlander and the Astros.
The Shohei Ohtani watch … continues
Are you kidding? You thought we were done with Ohtani milestones after he cleared 50/50? No way. He went 4-for-5 against the Rockies, including his 54th home run and 57th stolen base (which broke Ichiro Suzuki’s record for a Japanese player). He had reached 400 total bases on Thursday, but with a double to go with his home run, he’s now at 99 extra-base hits. The last time somebody got there was 2001, back when the hitting environment was a little more conducive to big offensive numbers. Indeed, only three players had reached 400 total bases in seasons outside of the 1920/30s and late 1990s/early 2000s: Stan Musial in 1948, Henry Aaron in 1959 and Jim Rice in 1978. And now there’s this: The four hits raised his average to .309 — just four points behind Luis Arraez‘s .313 mark. Suddenly the Triple Crown is very much in play.
Other statistical races at play
Can Aaron Judge get to 60 home runs? Aaron Boone gave him a day off Friday, so he’s still at 58 home runs (and still sitting on five consecutive games with a home run). He’s slugging .708. The last player to slug .700 was Barry Bonds in 2004, and the last AL player to get there was Mark McGwire in 1996. The last player to do so outside of that 1994-2004 window when offense exploded was Ted Williams in 1957.
Oh, and Judge also has a chance at 400 total bases too. He’s sitting on 392.
Sale and Skubal are looking to lock up the pitching Triple Crown in their respective leagues — leading in wins, ERA and strikeouts (the last pitcher to do it was Shane Bieber in 2020 and the last to do it in a full season were Verlander and Clayton Kershaw in 2011). Skubal has a five-strikeout lead over Ragans, but neither is likely to pitch. Sale has a one-strikeout lead over Dylan Cease, but Cease isn’t scheduled to pitch.
Will Bobby Witt Jr. hold on to the AL batting title? He has held the lead all summer, and when he peaked with a .352 average on Aug. 16, he held a comfortable 19-point lead over Judge (and 33 points over Vladimir Guerrero Jr.). After going 1-for-3 on Friday, Witt remained at .332, with Guerrero at .326 and Judge at .325, close enough that any of the three could win. If Judge pulls it out — admittedly, not too likely — then he also wins the Triple Crown.
Will Luis Arraez capture a third straight batting title? Arraez led the AL with a .316 average in 2022 and the NL at .354 last season. He’s at .313, with Ohtani at .309 and Marcell Ozuna at .308. This one won’t be settled until Ozuna’s Braves play that doubleheader Monday. The last player to win three consecutive batting titles: Miguel Cabrera, who did it from 2011 to 2013, part of a run in which he won four in five years.
Jose Ramirez needs two home runs to join the 40/40 club. Sure, this milestone has lost a little luster after Ohtani created the 50/50 club, but it is still an impressive feat in its own right — especially for a player listed at 5-foot-9, 195 pounds.
Saying goodbye
Joey Votto, who didn’t play in the majors this season after signing a minor league contract with the Blue Jays, announced his retirement a few weeks ago, and his next stop will eventually be a Hall of Fame plaque in Cooperstown. Two longtime outfielders have also officially announced their retirements at the end of the season:
Los Angeles Dodgers CF Kevin Kiermaier: It’s not clear whether Kiermaier will make the Dodgers’ playoff roster as a backup outfielder (he has hit .164 with the Dodgers and has started just two games in September), so this could be it for one of the best defensive center fielders of all time. Yes, all time. Kiermaier has won four Gold Gloves, displaying incredible lateral range during his heyday with the Tampa Bay Rays. His 38 defensive runs saved in 2015 is the best single-season total for a center fielder since DRS began in 2003, and his career total of 173 is the most for any outfielder since 2003 (and third most at any position, behind only Andrelton Simmons and Adrian Beltre). Kiermaier’s defensive excellence is reflected in his career WAR of 36.1. Not bad for a 31st-round pick from Parkland Community College.
Colorado Rockies DH/OF Charlie Blackmon: Blackmon has spent his entire 14-year career with the Rockies. It took him a while to get situated in the big leagues — his first full season didn’t come until he was 27 years old — but he went on to become a four-time All-Star and finished fifth in the 2017 NL MVP voting after leading the league in batting average (.331), hits (213) and runs (137). His power declined after that 2016-2019 peak, but he’s one of the most popular players in Rockies history and will finish with more than 1,800 hits in the majors.
There might be a few other veterans playing their final games who just haven’t yet announced their retirements. Matt Carpenter comes to mind here. Kyle Hendricks wants to pitch in 2025, but he heads into free agency and his start on Saturday at Wrigley Field will likely be his final one after 11 seasons with the Chicago Cubs. Let’s hope Andrew McCutchen returns to the Pittsburgh Pirates for another season after he put up solid numbers in 2024. If these guys don’t return — thanks for the memorable careers.
