Andy Ibáñez hit a tiebreaking three-run double in Detroit’s four-run eighth inning, and the Tigers swept the Houston Astros with a 5-2 victory in Game 2 of their AL Wild Card Series on Wednesday.
Parker Meadows homered as Detroit ended Houston’s run of seven consecutive appearances in the AL Championship Series. It was a sweet moment for Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who led Houston to a championship in 2017 and was fired in the aftermath of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
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Next up for the wild-card Tigers is a trip to Cleveland to take on the AL Central champions in a best-of-five AL Division Series. Game 1 is on Saturday.
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Kerry Carpenter sparked Detroit’s eighth-inning rally with a one-out single off Ryan Pressly (0-1), who converted his first 14 postseason save opportunities. Carpenter advanced to third on a single by Matt Vierling and scored on a wild pitch, tying it at 2.
Fernando Valenzuela is stepping away from his broadcast duties with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the rest of the season so the former major league pitcher can focus on his health.
Valenzuela, who turns 64 on Nov. 1, is a Spanish-language broadcaster for LA. The team said Wednesday he is hoping to return for next season.
The Dodgers will host San Diego or Atlanta in Game 1 of their NL Division Series on Saturday night.
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Valenzuela spent the first 11 of his 17 years in the majors with Los Angeles. He helped the Dodgers win the 1981 World Series, winning the NL Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year after he went 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA in 25 starts.
The six-time All-Star won at least 10 games and made at least 25 starts in nine seasons with the Dodgers. He went 21-11 with a 3.14 ERA in 1986, throwing 20 complete games and finishing second to Mike Scott in balloting for the NL Cy Young Award.
Valenzuela appeared in his last big league game with St. Louis in July 1997. He finished his playing career with a 173-153 record and a 3.54 ERA in 453 games, including 424 starts.
The claim to Shohei Ohtani’s potentially lucrative 50th home run ball grew more complicated this week, with a second fan filing a lawsuit asserting he had possession of the historic baseball.
According to online records, the latest suit was filed by Joseph Davidov in Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Court, and the defendants are Chris Belanski, Kelvin Ramirez, Max Matus and Goldin Auctions. Belanski is the man who left the stadium with the baseball. Matus — who filed the first lawsuit last week — and Ramirez have also claimed ownership of the ball.
Ohtani became the first player in baseball history to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases, reaching the mark on Sept. 19 with his homer in Miami against the Marlins. The bidding for the baseball through Goldin Auctions is currently at $1.464 million.
Because of a ruling related to Matus’ lawsuit, the ball can’t be formally sold until a hearing that is scheduled for Oct. 10.
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Davidov claims in his suit that he was able to “firmly and completely grab the ball in his left hand while it was on the ground, successfully obtaining possession of the 50/50 ball.”
The suit goes on to say that “an unknown fan wrongfully jumped over the railing, jumped onto the Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s arm and attacked the Plaintiff causing the 50/50 Ball to come loose and roll into the hands of Defendant Chris Belanski.”
Davidov is seeking more than $50,000 in damages.
The first lawsuit claims that Matus, a Florida resident who was celebrating his 18th birthday, gained possession of the Ohtani ball before Belanski took it away. Part of the presentation by Matus’ attorney on Oct. 10 will be video of the scramble for the ball in the stands.
“Max successfully grabbed the 50/50 ball in his left hand and intended to keep it,” the lawsuit stated. “Unfortunately, a few seconds later, defendant Belanski — a muscular older man — trapped plaintiff’s arm in between his legs and wrangled the 50/50 ball out of Max’s left hand.”
The Braves and Mets both clinched their NL wild-card berths on Monday by splitting an afternoon doubleheader, eliminating Arizona in the process.
Atlanta will take on San Diego in the wild-card round, while the Mets will face the Brewers.
While Detroit has the longest odds to win the World Series of any playoff team at +2800, just two weeks ago, the Tigers sat at +40000 to emerge victorious in the Fall Classic. They qualified for the postseason by going 15-5 over their last 20 games.
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The MLB postseason is under way, with the wild-card round beginning with four best-of-three series.
The Astros-Tigers winner faces AL Central champion Cleveland in a best-of-five Division Series beginning Saturday, and the Orioles-Royals winner plays the AL East champion New York Yankees.
In the NL the Braves and Mets both advanced to the postseason by splitting their doubleheader on Monday, leaving the Diamondbacks out of luck.
Atlanta will start it’s wild-card series at San Diego on Tuesday, while the Mets will head to Milwaukee to face the Brewers.
The Dodgers and Phillies are awaiting their opponents in the NL Divisional Series that will begin on Saturday. Both of those games will be on FOX.
Follow along with all the wild card action right here!
Slugger Yordan Álvarez and outfielder Chas McCormick returned to the Houston Astros active roster for the team’s wild-card round playoff series against the Detroit Tigers after both players suffered injuries late in the regular season.
McCormick had been out since suffering a small fracture in his right hand on Sept. 10. Álvarez, who is in the Astros’ lineup for Game 1 of the series Tuesday batting second as designated hitter, had not played since sustaining a right knee sprain on Sept. 22.
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Not included on Houston’s roster is three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander. The 41-year-old right-hander struggled in his return after missing almost two months with a neck injury this summer.
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He went 2-2 with a 9.26 ERA in five starts in September.
Espada said Verlander was very professional when told of the decision and said he could be on the roster for future rounds if the team advances.
“JV understands how well some of our starters have performed, some of our young guys and … he threw the ball really well against Cleveland,” Espada said. “So I don’t want us to just disregard JV for the rest of the postseason.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale, the favorite for the National League Cy Young Award, is out for the Wild Card Series against the San Diego Padres because of back issues.
Sale was a last-minute scratch Monday from the final game of the regular season, the nightcap of a makeup doubleheader against the New York Mets.
Manager Brian Snitker said the Braves will be without their top starting pitcher when they face the Padres in a best-of-three series that begins Tuesday. The Braves will reassess Sale’s status if they advance to the Division Series.
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“He wants to step up,” Snitker said. “We’re hoping that with some more rest or whatever, we can get him right and get to the next round.”
Journeyman Grant Holmes stepped in for Sale against the Mets, throwing one-hit ball over four innings as the Braves won 3-0 to clinch a wild-card berth. New York also made the playoffs with a thrilling 8-7 victory in the first game of the twin bill, while the defending NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks were eliminated.
Braves clinch playoff berth after 3-0 victory over Mets in Game 2 of doubleheader
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The Atlanta Braves clinched a playoff berth after a 3-0 victory over the New York Mets in Game 2 of a doubleheader.
All three teams finished 89-73, but the Braves and Mets held the season-series tiebreakers over the Diamondbacks.
Snitker said Sale (18-3, 2.38 ERA) has dealt with back issues periodically all season, though the issue became more problematic after his most recent start, a five-inning stint against Cincinnati on Sept. 19 that was notable for a drop in velocity.
“I think he felt it in Cincinnati, but it’s something he’s had off and on all year,” Snitker said. “He knows how to deal with it.”
Sale was scheduled to start last Wednesday against the Mets, but the game was rained out. He kept getting pushed back, with Snitker insisting that he was simply trying to save the left-hander for an elimination game.
General manager Alex Anthopoulos insisted the latest round of back spasms only cropped up after a throwing session on Sunday.
“He’s been throwing all week just to keep his arm going,” Anthopoulos said. “He went out to the cages to throw. He came in after and told us his back was tight. We talked to him about it and he told us he’s pitched with worse.”
Anthopoulos said it was decided before the start of the doubleheader that Sale would not be able to go. Holmes said he got the word he was starting the second game about a half-hour before taking the mound.
“The more we talked about it, this was the right thing,” Anthopoulos said. “This is not an (injured list) thing. This is a day-to-day thing. If we could have him pitch and it was safe, we would do that. Regardless, we’re going to need him where we want to go. We’re going to need him going forward.”
Snitker made the injury sound more serious after the doubleheader, conceding that Sale will not be available until the second round at the earliest.
It was a discouraging setback for Sale, who had battled injuries since 2018 but made it to the closing days of his first season with the Braves without any major issues.
Now, the team is left pondering its options, which include bringing up a pitcher from the Triple-A roster to take Sale’s spot against the Padres.
Top prospects Hurston Waldrep and AJ Smith-Shawver have continued throwing since the end of the minor league season. So has Ian Anderson, who has struggled with injuries since going 4-0 with a 1.26 ERA over eight starts in the 2020 and ’21 postseasons.
Series winner: Padres -165 (bet $10 to win $16.06); Braves +140 (bet $10 to win $24)
GAME 1(Tuesday) Spread: Padres -1.5 O/U: 7 total runs scored Moneyline: Padres -155, Braves +130
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Major League Baseball is going back to using primary team uniforms for the All-Star Game, scrapping criticized special jerseys used for the past four years.
Club uniforms were used by the American League from 1933-2019 and by the National League from 1934-2019. Players from the All-Star host team league wear their home uniforms and the other All-Star team’s players wear their road jerseys.
When the game resumed in 2021 following the pandemic-related cancellation in 2020, MLB had started a uniform contract with Nike and Fanatics, and All-Stars were outfitted in specially designed league uniforms that were maligned by traditionalists.
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Home Run Derby participants will wear their home team uniforms for the derby. Other players on the field watching the competition will wear special uniforms.
MLB also said Monday it will phase in changes to regular team uniforms over 2025 and ’26, responding to criticism by players and fans of new materials introduced this year that were designed by Nike and manufactured by Fanatics. Pants fit poorly and were somewhat see-through, and lettering was smaller.
Changes will include pant customization, larger letters and prior fabric requested by players.
MLB said the changes resulted from discussions among MLB, the players’ association, Nike and Fanatics. It will take until opening day 2026 to fully implement the changes.
