Regular Season Over, but Neither Texas nor Tampa Bay In Yet

Here’s your baseball briefing for Monday September 30, 2013:

News & Notes:  The regular season is over, but the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays tied for the second wildcard and will play tonight at 8:00pm in Texas to determine who plays Cleveland on Wednesday in a one game wildcard to advance to the American League Division Series to face the Boston Red Sox.

Miami Marlins pitcher Henderson Alvarez pitched a no-hitter yesterday against the Detroit Tigers in Miami.  With the game tied 0-0 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Miami scored the winning run on a wild pitch, securing Henderson’s no-hitter.  Of the 282 no-hitters in baseball history, it was the only one to end on a wild pitch.

The Chicago Cubs dismissed manager Dale Sveum after two seasons.

The New York Mets renewed manager Terry Collins to a two-year deal.

Playoff Schedule:

Today 8:00pm – Tampa Bay Rays (Price 9-8) vs. Perez (10-5)

Playoff Matchups:

Tuesday – National League Wildcard Game – Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh

American League Division Series #1 – Detroit at Oakland

American League Division Series #2 – Cleveland/Tampa Bay & Texas winner vs. Boston

National League Division Series #1 – Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves

National League Division Series #2 – Cincinnati/Pittsburgh winner vs. St. Louis

Final Standings

American League						National League
EAST	W	L	GB	STRK		EAST	W	L	GB	STRK
*-Boston	97	65	-	Lost 2		x-Atlanta	96	66	-	Won 1
Tampa Bay	91	71	6	Won 1		Washington	86	76	10	Lost 1
NY Yankees	85	77	12	Won 3		NY Mets	74	88	22	Won 1
Baltimore	85	77	12	Won 2		Philadelphia	73	89	23	Lost 1
Toronto	74	88	23	Lost 1		Miami	62	100	34	Won 4
CENTRAL	W	L	GB	STRK		CENTRAL	W	L	GB	STRK
x-Detroit	93	69	-	Lost 3		*-St. Louis	97	65	-	Won 6
y-Cleveland	92	70	1	Won 10		y-Pittsburgh	94	68	3	Won 3
Kansas City	86	76	7	Won 1		y-Cincinnati	90	72	7	Lost 5
Minnesota	66	96	27	Lost 6		Milwaukee	74	88	23	Lost 1
Chicago Sox	63	99	30	Lost 1		Chicago Cubs	66	96	31	Lost 3
WEST	W	L	GB	STRK		WEST	W	L	GB	STRK
x-Oakland	96	66	-	Won 1		x-LA Dodgers	92	70	-	Lost 2
Texas	91	71	5	Won 7		Arizona	81	81	11	Won 1
LA Angels	78	84	18	Lost 4		San Francisco	76	86	16	Won 1
Seattle	71	91	25	Lost 1		San Diego	76	86	16	Lost 1
Houston	51	111	45	Lost 15		Colorado	74	88	18	Won 2
x - Clinched Division
y - Clinched Wild Card
z - Clinched Playoff Berth
* - Clinched Best League Record

Weekend Scores:

Friday Septmeber 27
RESULT	WIN	LOSS	SAVE
Boston 12, at Baltimore 3	Buchholz (12-1)	Feldman (5-6)
at Toronto 6, Tampa Bay 3	Dickey (14-13)	Hellickson (12-10)	Santos (1)
Pittsburgh 4, at Cincinnati 1	Burnett (10-11)	Bailey (11-12)	Grilli (33)
Milwaukee 4, at NY Mets 2	Gallardo (12-10)	Torres (4-6)	Henderson (28)
at Miami 3, Detroit 2	Koehler (5-10)	Alvarez (1-5)	Cishek (34)
at Atlanta 1, Philadelphia 0	Medlen (15-12)	Lee (14-8)	Kimbrel (50)
at Texas 5, LA Angels 3	Cotts (7-3)	Gutierrez (1-5)	Nathan (42)
Kansas City 6, at Chicago White Sox 1	Shields (13-9)	Sale (11-14)
Cleveland 12, at Minnesota 6	Kluber (11-5)	Hernandez (3-3)
NY Yankees 3, at Houston 2	Warren (3-2)	Oberholtzer (4-5)	Robertson (3)
at St. Louis 7, Chicago Cubs 0	Lynn (15-10)	Wood (9-12)
Washington 8, at Arizona 4	Strasburg (8-9)	Corbin (14-8)
Oakland 8, at Seattle 2	Colon (18-6)	Hernandez (12-10)
at LA Dodgers 11, Colorado 0	Kershaw (16-9)	McHugh (0-4)
at San Francisco 7, San Diego 3	Vogelsong (4-6)	Smith (1-3)
Saturday September 28
RESULT	WIN	LOSS	SAVE
at Texas 7, LA Angels 4	Soria (1-0)	Richards (7-8)	Nathan (43)
Cleveland 5, at Minnesota 1	Kazmir (10-9)	De Vries (0-2)
Pittsburgh 8, at Cincinnati 3	Mazzaro (8-2)	Arroyo (14-12)
at Toronto 7, Tampa Bay 2	Happ (5-7)	Torres (4-2)
San Diego 9, at San Francisco 3	Stults (11-13)	Petit (4-1)
at Seattle 7, Oakland 5	Maurer (5-8)	Parker (12-8)	Farquhar (16)
Milwaukee 4, at NY Mets 2	Hand (1-5)	Atchison (3-3)	Figaro (1)
at St. Louis 6, Chicago Cubs 2	Wainwright (19-9)	Jackson (8-18)	Maness (1)
at Baltimore 6, Boston 5	Gausman (3-5)	Tazawa (5-4)	Johnson (49)
at Chicago White Sox 6, Kansas City 5	Johnson (3-2)	Ventura (0-1)	Reed (40)
Philadelphia 5, at Atlanta 4	Garcia (1-1)	Minor (13-9)
NY Yankees 2, at Houston 1	Pettitte (11-11)	Clemens (4-7)
at Miami 2, Detroit 1	Cishek (4-6)	Reed (0-1)
Washington 2, at Arizona 0	Haren (10-14)	McCarthy (5-11)	Soriano (43)
Colorado 1, at LA Dodgers 0	Nicasio (9-9)	Greinke (15-4)	Brothers (18)
Sunday September 29
RESULT	WIN	LOSS	SAVE
Tampa Bay 7, at Toronto 6	Moore (17-4)	Redmond (4-3)	Rodney (37)
Pittsburgh 4, at Cincinnati 2	Cumpton (2-1)	Reynolds (1-3)	Farnsworth (2)
at NY Mets 3, Milwaukee 2	Black (3-0)	Kintzler (3-3)	Francisco (1)
at Miami 1, Detroit 0	Alvarez (5-6)	Putkonen (1-3)
at Baltimore 7, Boston 6	McFarland (4-1)	De La Rosa (0-2)	Johnson (50)
at Atlanta 12, Philadelphia 5	Teheran (14-8)	Miner (0-2)
Kansas City 4, at Chicago White Sox 1	Chen (9-4)	Quintana (9-7)	Holland (47)
Cleveland 5, at Minnesota 1	Jimenez (13-9)	Diamond (6-13)
NY Yankees 5, at Houston 1	Daley (1-0)	Harrell (6-17)
at St. Louis 4, Chicago Cubs 0	Kelly (10-5)	Samardzija (8-13)
at Texas 6, LA Angels 2	Cotts (8-3)	Vargas (9-8)
at San Francisco 7, San Diego 6	Romo (5-8)	Street (2-5)
Oakland 9, at Seattle 0	Gray (5-3)	Ramirez (5-3)
Colorado 2, at LA Dodgers 1	Francis (3-5)	Ryu (14-8)	Brothers (19)
at Arizona 3, Washington 2	Hernandez (5-6)	Mattheus (0-2)	Ziegler (13)

Longest Winning Streak  -  10   Cleveland Indians

Longest Losing Streak -      15   Houston Astros

Final League Leaders

American League                                          

Batting Average- .348 Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers            

Home Runs -  53 Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles

RBI -  138 Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles

                     

Pitching Wins – 20 Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers                                    

Strikeouts - 277 Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers                                          

E.R.A. -  2.57 Anibal Sanchez, Detroit Tigers             

National League

Batting Average- .331  Michael Cuddyer, 1B, Colorado Rockies

Home Runs -  36 Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona, and Pedro Alvarez, Pittsburgh

RBI  - 125 Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks

Pitching Wins – 19 Jordan Zimmerman, Washington, and Adam Wainwright, St. Louis

Strikeouts – 232 Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

E.R.A. - 1.83 Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

MVP Watch

American League:  Adrian Beltre, 3B, Texas Rangers

Last Week:     Hit .250 with 2 HRs and 4 RBI

Season:          .316, 30 HRs, 92 RBI

National League:  Pedro Alvarez, Pittsburgh Pirates  

Last Week:          Hit .318 with 2 HRs and 6 RBI

Season:             .233, 36 HRs, 100 RBI

Cy Young Watch

American League: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

Last Week:       0-0, 12 IP, 9 hits, 0 runs and 12 K’s

Season:           13-12, 217 K’s and a 3.46 ERA

National League:

Last Week:        2-0, 12.1 IP, 9 hits, 3 runs and 10 K’s

Season:            19-9, 219 K’s and a 2.94 ERA

Trivia

Today’s Question:  Miguel Cabrera won his third consecutive American League batting title.  Who was the last player to win three consecutive American League batting titles?

Friday’s Question:  Who managed the 1997 Florida Marlins to their World Series title?

Answer:  Jim Leyland, the current Detroit Tigers manager

House Bet

Today:  Over/Under 7 strikeouts by Tampa Bay starter David Price vs. Texas.

Friday:  Over/Under 1 putout recorded by Yankee closer Mariano Rivera this weekend that doesn’t come on the mound.   Rumor has it manager Joe Girardi might allow Rivera to play the outfield briefly against Houston.

Result:  Under.  Rivera sat out the entire three-game series.

Predictions (my pick highlighted)

Today:  Tampa Bay vs. Texas

Season Overall:  1010-766