Author: rincon

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Nestor Cortes is on track to possibly be added to the New York Yankees roster if they advance to the World Series.

Cortes was to throw batting practice Wednesday at Yankee Stadium before New York headed to Cleveland with a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series. The 29-year-old left-hander hasn’t pitched in a game since Sept. 18 because of a flexor strain in his pitching elbow.

“I think he’s at least a realistic option,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Not saying for sure, but the timeline lines up to where if things go well, he could definitely be an option.”

Cortes is 9-10 with a 3.77 ERA. He could throw batting practice again this weekend, giving the Yankees time to evaluate him before the World Series starts on Oct. 22 or 25.

“He’s got steps to go, and he’s got to continue to feel good and bounce back and things like that,” Boone said, “but the way it’s gone to this point has been encouraging.”

New York and Cleveland resume their best-of-seven series on Thursday.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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As the MLB season draws to a close, the spotlight shines on the league’s finest defensive players with the announcement of the Gold Glove finalists. Celebrating exceptional skill and athleticism, these awards honor those who have consistently demonstrated outstanding fielding excellence at their respective positions. Winners are set to be awarded on ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” on November 3rd at 8:30 p.m. ET. Both leagues will have three finalists at each position. 

2024 MLB Gold Glove Award Finalists

American League

Pitcher

Catcher

First Base

Second Base

Third Base

Shortstop

Left Field

Center Field

Right Field

Utility

National League

Pitcher

Catcher

First Base

Second Base

Third Base

Shortstop

Left Field

Center Field

Right Field

Utility

What is the MLB Gold Glove Award?

The Rawlings Gold Glove Awards recognizes the top individual fielding performances for each position in both the American League and National League.

To identify the winners for the nine standard positions, all 30 MLB managers, along with up to six coaches from each team, cast votes for players within their league, excluding those from their own roster. These votes account for 75% of the final selection, while the SABR Defensive Index contributes the remaining 25%.

For the utility position, Rawlings partnered with SABR to develop a unique defensive formula that operates independently of the standard selection process.

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Aaron Judge hit a two-run drive into Monument Park for his first home run of this postseason, and the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 AL Championship Series lead.

Judge, who entered with just one RBI in the playoffs, hit a sacrifice fly in a two-run second that put the Yankees ahead 3-0. With New York leading 4-2 in the seventh, the likely AL MVP drove a fastball at the letters from Hunter Gaddis 414 feet to center for his 14th career postseason home run.

In a matchup of aces who had off nights, Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee got just four outs in the shortest start of his professional career and an erratic Gerrit Cole was chased after four walks in 4 1/3 innings.

Winner Clay Holmes, Tim Hill and Tommy Kahnle combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings. José Ramírez hit a ninth-inning home run off Luke Weaver, just the second earned run New York’s bullpen has allowed over 23 1/3 innings in six postseason games.

After a day off, Game 3 is Thursday in Cleveland. The Yankees lead the ALCS 2-0 for the first time since 2009 against the Los Angeles Angels.

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New York’s Gleyber Torres reached base leading off for the fifth time in the playoffs and had three hits. Anthony Rizzo had two hits and is 3-for-7 in two games since returning from a pair of fractured fingers that caused him to miss the Division Series.

Rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio and right fielder Will Brennan committed run-scoring errors for the Guardians.

Rocchio dropped Judge’s first-inning popup, allowing Torres to score. After Cleveland closed to 3-2, Brennan bobbled the ball when he tried for a barehand pickup of Rizzo’s sixth-inning double that caromed off the low wall down the right-field line. Anthony Volpe, who had been on first, sprinted home.

Steven Kwan extended his Cleveland-record postseason hitting streak to 12 games.

Alex Verdugo had an opposite-field RBI double in the two-run second that glanced off a shoulder of left field umpire Vic Carapazza and went down the line.

Cleveland closed to 3-2 in the fifth when Josh Naylor hit a sacrifice fly and, after Holmes relieved with the bases loaded, Will Brennan grounded into a run-scoring forceout.

Cleveland went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners.

Cole escaped two-on, one-out trouble in the third and then a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth when pinch-hitter David Fry fouled out and Rocchio took a knuckle curve at the top of the strike zone for a called third strike in a nine-pitch at-bat.

Holmes struck out Austin Hedges on a low sinker to leave the bases loaded in the fifth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb was removed from the roster with a lower back strain sustained in the opener and replaced by RHP Ben Lively.

UP NEXT

Yankees RHP Clarke Schmidt starts Thursday at Cleveland. He allowed two runs and four hits over 4 2/3 innings in Division Series Game 3, wasting a 2-0 lead before New York won 3-2. He faced the Guardians once this year, pitching five scoreless innings before allowing a pair of runs — one unearned — in the sixth inning of a 3-2 victory.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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While the regular-season MVP awards seem to be all but locked up, there is still the matter of NLCS and ALCS MVP, with the World Series MVP race on the horizon.

Shohei Ohtani is the heavy favorite to win the National League regular-season MVP, and he’s also atop the oddsboard in the NLCS race.

However, while Aaron Judge has the regular-season American League MVP award all but wrapped up, he has some competition from a few teammates in the ALCS MVP tilt. 

Check out the odds at DraftKings Sportsbook as of Oct. 15.

2024 NLCS MVP ODDS:

Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers: +270 (bet $10 to win $37 total)
Francisco Lindor, Mets: +400 (bet $10 to win $50 total)
Mookie Betts, Dodgers: +600 (bet $10 to win $70 total)
Mark Vientos, Mets: +900 (bet $10 to win $100 total)

2024 ALCS MVP ODDS:

Juan Soto, Yankees: +200 (bet $10 to win $30 total)
Aaron Judge, Yankees: +400 (bet $10 to win $50 total)
Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees: +600 (bet $10 to win $70 total)
Jose Ramirez, Guardians: +900 (bet $10 to win $100 total)

The rapid nature of the MLB postseason causes the odds to shift day-to-day, but as of Tuesday afternoon, Ohtani and Soto are the favorites.

Through two games in the NLCS, in seven at-bats, Ohtani has two runs, two hits and an RBI. He’s also been walked three times and struck out twice.

Mets superstar Francisco Lindor, second on the NL oddsboard, has one home run and one RBI through two games.

As for the ALCS, Soto had one home run, two hits and an RBI in Game 1. He’s been walked once and struck out once.

Judge is second on the AL oddsboard, despite not tallying a hit in Game 1 against the Guardians. He led baseball in home runs during the regular season, but has yet to hit a dinger in the playoffs.

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Juan Soto homered during New York’s three-run third inning, Carlos Rodón got his first postseason win and the Yankees took advantage of Cleveland’s wildness in a 5-2 victory on Monday night in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series.

Cleveland became the second team to throw a pair of run-scoring wild pitches in a postseason inning and tied a postseason record with five overall. Guardians pitchers walked six in a nine-batter span and nine overall.

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Giancarlo Stanton added his 13th career postseason homer for the Yankees, who are seeking a record 41st AL pennant. New York batters have walked 36 times in five postseason games.

Rodón rebounded from the Yankees’ only loss in the Division Series, limiting the Guardians to a pair of singles before Brayan Rocchio’s sixth-inning homer.

Steven Kwan pulled the Guardians within three runs when he extended his postseason hitting streak to a team-record 11 games with an RBI single in the eighth off Clay Holmes.

Luke Weaver entered with runners at the corners. He struck out pinch-hitter Will Brennan and retired José Ramírez on a groundout, and then followed a leadoff walk in the ninth with three straight strikeouts for his fourth save this postseason.

Game 2 is at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. Entering this year, teams taking the opener of a series with a 2-3-2 format have won 66 of 99 times.

Before a sellout crowd of 47,264 that included pop star Taylor Swift, Soto hit his first postseason homer for New York when he drove a high slider from Alex Cobb into the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center.

Making his first playoff appearance in 11 years, Cobb walked the bases loaded in the third and rookie reliever Joey Cantillo threw a pair of run-scoring wild pitches.

Cantillo had four wild pitches overall, one shy of the record for a postseason game set by Rick Ankiel of St. Louis in a 2000 NL Division Series opener against Atlanta. The only other time a team scored twice on wild pitches in a postseason inning was by Minnesota against Oakland in the 2002 AL Division Series.

Rodón struck out nine and walked none, getting 25 misses among 53 swings, matching the fourth-most misses in a postseason game since pitch-tracking began in 2008. His pitches broke so much that catcher Austin Wells had to throw to first three times on strikeouts for the putouts.

Cobb dropped in 0-2 in the playoffs, making just his fifth start in a season limited by injuries. He threw 36 of 65 pitches for strikes, getting only one swing and miss, and allowed three runs, five hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (flexor strain in pitching elbow) is to throw a second bullpen session Wednesday and is a possibility for the World Series roster, should the Yankees advance.

UP NEXT

Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole makes his third postseason start on Wednesday after beating Kansas City in the Division Series clincher. He is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA this postseason. RHP Tanner Bibee starts for the Guardians. He had a 2.08 ERA without a decision in a pair of Division Series starts against Detroit. Bibee has pitched once at Yankee Stadium, his second big league outing in May 2023. He allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision, giving up Anthony Volpe’s opposite-field homer over the right field short porch.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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What’s better than watching baseball? Watching baseball and winning money!

You can partake in the best of both worlds while watching the MLB playoffs this weekend with our free-to-play FOX Super 6 game.

How do you play? Enter the MLB Playoff Super 6 contest by predicting the correct answers to six questions before the games start for your chance at weekly cash prizes. 

All you have to do is finish in the top six to win a prize.

It really is that simple, and again, it’s free.

And if you need a little help before heading to the app to make your picks, we have you covered this week.

Read below for our thoughts on the playoffs, which can be seen on FOX and the FOX Sports app. 

Let’s dive into the questions and predictions below.

1. Which player will have the MOST RBI in the LCS round?

Shohei Ohtani, Francisco Lindor, José Ramirez, Aaron Judge

Lindor has been on a tear this postseason, and is one of eight players with six or more RBI after Monday. The Mets will need a big peformance from him throughout the series against the Dodgers and we expect he’ll do so. Ohtani is a good choice here too as he’s one of the best power hitters in baseball and already has five RBI himself after Game 2 of the series.

Prediction: Francisco Lindor

2. Which pitcher will have the MOST STRIKEOUTS in the LCS round?

Gerrit Cole, Jack Flaherty, Sean Manaea, Tanner Bibee

While Manaea has been electric with 17 strikeouts in three games played this postseason, it’s hard to go against the reigning AL Cy Young award winner in Cole. He has eight Ks himself in two games played in the playoffs, and had 99 in 17 regular season starts this year. He is one of eight pitchers to have over 570 strikeouts in regular season play since 2022, and is the only one of those eight whose team is still in the playoffs.   

Prediction: Gerrit Cole

3. Which trio of players includes the 2024 NLCS MVP?

Ohtani/T. Hernandez/Lux OR Lindor/Alonso/Vientos OR Betts/Freeman/Muncy OR None (another player wins MVP)

The Dodgers entered the season as the betting favorites to win the World Series, and they’ve consistently proven that they are the team to beat throughout the year. Los Angeles had the best record in baseball, finished top four in the league in team batting average (.258), home runs (233) and runs batted in (815)— and have a generational player in Ohtani. He’s likely going to win the regular season MVP, so we like him or either of the other Dodgers players to take home the NLCS award. It’s also worth mentioning that Hernandez hit 33 home runs this season, and already has two in seven playoff games along with a .250 batting average.

Prediction: Ohtani/T. Hernandez/Lux

4. Order by total TEAM RUNS in Game 4 of the ALCS and NLCS (highest to lowest)

Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Guardians

New York’s trio of Aaron Juge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton is one of most prolific power-hitting trios baseball has seen in quite some time. They combined for 126 home runs and a whopping .285 batting average in the regular season— not to mention they did that with Stanton missing 48 games. It’ll be an uphill battle for the Guardians’ pitching staff to quell this sort of firepower. The Dodgers are a reasonable choice here as well to have the most runs, but the Mets pitching staff has been on a tear this postseason— having thrown 76 strikeouts after Monday. 

Prediction: Yankees, Dodgers, Mets, Guardians

5. Which trio will have the most combined HOME RUNS in the LCS round?

Judge/Soto/Stanton OR Lindor/Alonso/Vientos OR Ohtani/T. Hernandez/Betts OR Ramirez/Naylor/Kwan

We said it above and we’ll say it again. Judge, Soto and Stanton are an incredible trio that smash home runs. While the guardians had the third-best team ERA (3.61) in the regular season, that number jumps to 5.46 when looking at their six matchups against the Yankees. The trio had nine homers in those games with a batting average of .288.

Prediction: Judge/Soto/Stanton

6. Who will win Game 4 of the NLCS?

Dodgers OR Mets

With the series tied 1-1, Los Angeles will be up 2-1 or down 1-2 entering Game 4— both being situations they’ll look for a crucial win in.

Prediction: Dodgers

Tiebreaker: What will be the final score?

Prediction: 6-2

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