Three days before the end of MLB’s regular season, fans were treated to more clarity and more confusion.
In the American League, the wild card teams were set in stone, as the floundering Twins lost to the Orioles to lock in the Royals and Tigers berths.
However, in the National League, the Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Mets and Atlanta Braves are as tight as ever, only adding fuel to the fire of what was already shaping up to be a hot final weekend of baseball.
Here’s how all of Friday’s games shook out:
BRAVES 3, ROYALS 0
ATLANTA — Max Fried pitched three-hit ball over 8 2/3 innings and Atlanta delayed Kansas City’s playoff celebration, winning the opener of a crucial series for both teams.
Sean Murphy hit a two-run homer and Marcell Ozuna trotted home on a throwing error after his first stolen base since 2022 for the Braves, who began the night one game behind Arizona and the New York Mets in the NL wild-card race.
The Royals came in with their magic number at one to clinch their first playoff appearance since winning the 2015 World Series.
Fried (11-10) came within one out of a shutout, giving way to Raisel Iglesias when the Royals put runners at second and third. Iglesias retired Salvador Perez on a flyout for his 33rd save.
PADRES 5, DIAMONDBACKS 3
PHOENIX — Luis Arraez hit two doubles and a triple, Yu Darvish pitched 5 1/3 gritty innings and the San Diego Padres used a four-run first inning to beat the sliding Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 on Friday night.
The Padres — who had already clinched a postseason berth earlier this week — secured the No. 4 spot in the National League bracket, meaning they’ll host a best-of-three Wild Card Series next week in San Diego.
As for the Diamondbacks (88-72), they sit just behind the Mets (87-71) and Braves (87-71) in a tight race for the final two NL wild cards. The D-backs — who have lost four of five — have a slightly lower winning percentage.
Atlanta and New York have played two fewer games because Hurricane Helene washed out two games of their crucial series earlier this week. The teams would play a doubleheader Monday in Atlanta if playoff positioning is still undecided.
The Mets and Braves hold tiebreakers over the Diamondbacks should they finish with the same record. Arizona lost the season series to both teams.
MARINERS 2, ATHLETICS 0
SEATTLE — Cal Raleigh hit his 32nd homer, Bryan Woo struck out eight in five innings and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 2-0 on Friday night.
Mitch Garver also homered for the Mariners, one day after Seattle was eliminated from postseason contention. Oakland also coming off an emotional day after playing their final scheduled home game at the Coliseum on Thursday, a 3-2 victory over the Rangers.
Woo (9-3) allowed just three hits and a walk. He has 101 strikeouts in 121 1/3 innings this season. This was the seventh time in his 22 starts he did not allow a run.
Oakland starter JP Sears (11-13) allowed two runs on four hits over six innings.
BREWERS 8, METS 4
MILWAUKEE — Rhys Hoskins hit a grand slam off Sean Manaea in the first inning and New York’s playoff hopes took a hit with a loss to NL Central champion Milwaukee.
The Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves are chasing the final two National League wild cards. The Mets and Braves have identical 87-71 records after Atlanta beat the Kansas City Royals 3-0 on Friday.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was ejected by plate umpire Ramon De Jesus after arguing a called third strike on Francisco Alvarez that thwarted a rally attempt in the fourth inning.
New York’s loss spoiled the return of shortstop Francisco Lindor, who went 2 for 4 and committed an error in his first appearance since Sept. 15. Lindor had played only one inning over the Mets’ past 10 games due to lower back pain.
Hoskins’ first-inning drive was his third grand slam and the Brewers’ 10th of the season, both tying franchise records.
ORIOLES 7, TWINS 2
MINNEAPOLIS — Cade Povich pitched shutout ball into the sixth, Ryan O’Hearn and Colton Cowser homered and Baltimore eliminated Minnesota from postseason contention with a victory.
The Orioles wrapped up the top AL wild-card spot and will host either Detroit or Kansas City in the opening round next week.
By the fifth inning, the Twins knew the Tigers had won and the Royals had lost, meaning a victory would keep their playoff hopes alive. But they could only muster two hits through the first eight innings and trailed 7-0.
At their high-water mark of the season on Aug. 17, the Twins were 70-53 and had a five-game cushion in the wild-card race. Since then, they are 12-25.
Povich (3-9) gave up just two hits and walked one while striking out two in 5 2/3 innings. The rookie left-hander was making his first career start against the team that selected him in the third round of the 2021 draft. The Twins traded him to Baltimore a year later as the centrepiece of a package used to acquire reliever Jorge Lopez.
TIGERS 4, WHITE SOX 1
DETROIT — Riley Greene hit an RBI double and the Detroit Tigers scored two runs on wild pitches in a 4-1 win over the record-breaking Chicago White Sox on Friday night, clinching a spot in the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
Detroit completed a late-season surge to grab an American League wild card, and the White Sox earned an unwanted place in baseball history by setting a modern major league mark with 121 losses this season.
The Tigers will play AL Central champion Houston or Baltimore next week in a best-of-three Wild Card Series, most likely on the road. They have been on a tear, winning six straight and 10 of 11 during a stunning run into the playoffs.
The White Sox broke the post-1900 record of 120 losses set by the New York Mets in 1962 during their first season. The overall record was set in 1899 by the Cleveland Spiders with a 20-134 record.
Taking advantage of playing a historically bad team, Detroit broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning on Jake Rogers’ run when Jared Shuster was charged with a wild pitch even though the ball didn’t hit the dirt just below catcher Korey Lee’s glove. Matt Vierling followed with a sacrifice fly.
CUBS 1, REDS 0
CHICAGO — Jameson Taillon pitched seven crisp innings in his second straight win, and Chicago beat Cincinnati in the opener of their season-ending series.
Taillon (12-8) allowed four hits, struck out two and walked two on a blustery, overcast afternoon at Wrigley Field. The right-hander went 4-0 with a 1.63 ERA in the last six starts of his second year with the Cubs.
Tyson Miller got three outs before Porter Hodge finished the four-hitter for his eighth save. The game was completed in 1 hour, 48 minutes.
Chicago (82-78) clinched a winning season and improved to 4-7 against Cincinnati this year. The Cubs began the season with playoff aspirations under new manager Craig Counsell, but they were derailed by injuries and an inconsistent lineup.
Cincinnati (76-84) wasted another stellar performance by Nick Martinez (10-7), who pitched eight innings of one-run ball in his first loss since Aug. 16. The right-hander was 4-0 with a 0.73 ERA in his last four starts.
NATIONALS 9, PHILLIES 1
WASHINGTON — Stone Garrett homered in his first major league plate appearance in more than a year in a three-hit, three-RBI effort and the Washington Nationals ended a four-game losing streak with a 9-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.
Luis García Jr., Juan Yepez and Jacob Young each had three hits and Keibert Ruiz drove in three for Washington, which beat Philadelphia for only the third time in 11 meetings this season. It was the most runs the Nationals have scored in a game since scoring nine at Baltimore on Aug. 13.
Washington’s Trevor Williams (6-1) struck out five in five shutout innings and allowed three hits and two walks as he lowered his ERA to 2.03 over 13 starts.
Ranger Suárez closed his regular season by allowing six runs in two innings for Philadelphia, which has already clinched the NL East and a playoff bye.
RAYS 2, RED SOX 1
BOSTON — Josh Lowe hit an RBI double and came around to score what would be the winning run in the seventh inning as Tampa Bay beat Boston.
Right-hander Taj Bradley (8-11) got the win, going six scoreless innings while giving up three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts and a hit batter
Lowe’s double broke a scoreless tie and scored Jonathan Aranda, who drew a one-out walk off Boston starter Nick Pivetta (6-12) before Jonny DeLuca’s single. DeLuca was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on Lowe’s hit, driving Pivetta from the game, with left-hander Zach Penrod entering.
Pivetta went 6 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits, a walk and six strikeouts.
Penrod allowed all three batters he faced to reach base. He walked Richie Palacios, hit Jose Caballero with a pitch and walked pinch hitter Christopher Morel to score Lowe.
PIRATES 4, YANKEES 2
NEW YORK — Bryan Reynolds homered twice, including a tiebreaking two-run drive in the eighth inning that lifted Pittsburgh over New York and delayed them from clinching home-field advantage throughout the American League playoffs.
Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s two-run single put the Yankees ahead in the fifth inning but Nick Gonzales and Bryan Reynolds hit consecutive homers off Carlos Rodón in the the sixth.
After batting right-handed against Rodón, Reynolds homered hitting left-handed against Tommy Kahnle (0-2) for his second multihomer game this season and the seventh of his big league career.
Carmen Mlodzinski (5-5) pitched the seventh and former Yankee Aroldis Chapman the ninth for his 13th save in 18 chances as five pitchers combined for one-hit relief. New York’s last 14 batters were retired in order.
MARLINS 15, BLUE JAYS 5
TORONTO — Xavier Edwards had the first three-triple game in the majors since 2014, Jonah McBride homered twice and Miami set a season high in runs by routing Toronto.
Edwards hit a sharp grounder down the right-field line for a triple in the second inning, got another three-bagger in the fourth on a fly ball to the gap in right-center and hit a line drive in the seventh that one-hopped the wall in right for his third triple. He became the first Marlins player with three triples in a game and finished 4 for 6 with four RBIs and two runs scored.
Midway through the game, the Marlins announced that manager Skip Schumaker would miss the final two games because of a family medical issue. Bench coach Luis Urueta will lead the team this weekend.
Marlins outfielder Griffin Conine homered against the team that drafted him in 2018 and drove in three runs.
Bride hit a two-run homer in the first inning and added a solo blast in the eighth, his 11th of the season, in the first multi-homer game of his career.
ASTROS 5, GUARDIANS 2
CLEVELAND — Ronel Blanco pitched five scoreless innings and combined with three relievers on a three-hitter, leading Houston to a win over Cleveland in a matchup of division winners that could meet again this postseason.
Blanco (13-6) allowed just a single in five innings and remained unbeaten in his last nine starts. He was replaced by rookie Spencer Arrighetti, who made his first career relief appearance after 28 starts.
Arrighetti was good for two innings but walked the bases loaded in the eighth. As he was lifted, the right-hander was ejected by plate umpire Mark Wegner, who didn’t appreciate him spiking the resin bag on the mound.
Bryan Abreu came in and got the Astros out of the jam by striking out rookie Kyle Manzardo and All-Star José Ramírez.
Held to one hit for eight innings, the Guardians got two runs in the ninth off Josh Hader, who finished up.
DODGERS 11, ROCKIES 4
DENVER — Shohei Ohtani hit his 54th homer of the season, a towering three-run shot, after stealing his 57th base earlier in the game and NL West-champion Los Angeles powered past Colorado.
The Dodgers designated hitter finished 4 of 5, which also included a pair of singles and a double, and drove in four runs. He now has 24 hits over his last 34 at-bats.
Ohtani is making a serious charge at a Triple Crown, leading the NL in homers (54) and RBIs (130). He raised his average to .309 to trail only Luis Arráez (.312 entering Friday) in the batting title race.
With his swipe of second base in the second inning, Ohtani passed Ichiro Suzuki for the most stolen bases in a single season by a Japanese-born player. Ohtani was wearing spikes featuring a picture of his dog, Decoy.
Ohtani’s three-run blast in the sixth inning landed in the second deck at Coors Field. It was a no-doubter at the crack of the bat, with the sellout crowd instantly erupting, an early show before the fireworks display that awaited after the game.
CARDINALS 6, GIANTS 3
SAN FRANCISCO — Lars Nootbaar homered and tripled to drive in three runs and Ryan Helsley recorded his franchise-record 49th save as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 6-3 on Friday night.
The Cardinals have won five of six and secured their 23rd winning season in the last 25 years. The Giants’ loss means they will finish below .500 for the third straight season since winning a franchise-record 107 games in 2021.
Nootbaar, who leads the team in on-base percentage since the All-Star break, hit a solo homer in the third to cut into a 3-1 deficit and then capped a four-run fourth inning for the Cardinals when he knocked in two runs with a two-out triple.
Nolan Arenado continued tearing up the Giants with a three-hit night and he also drove in a run. The eight-time All-Star now has 175 hits and 113 RBIs against the Giants, his most against any opponent.
Helsley struck out two in the ninth to record his MLB-leading 49th save, setting a single-season record for the Cardinals in the process.
