The Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday became the first American League team to reach this season’s playoffs with an 8-5 victory over Kansas City.
Coming off a woeful 74-88 campaign last year, the Blue Jays have the best record in the American League at 90-66 and are two games ahead of the New York Yankees in the race for the American League East title.
The Yankees kept up the chase with a 7-1 victory at Baltimore.
Photo: Denny Medley-Imagn Images
In Kansas City, Vladimir Guerrero Jr and Andres Gimenez drove in two runs each for the Blue Jays, who are back in the post-season for the first time since 2023.
“This is an unbelievable group, the definition of selfless,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “We put so much into this. It’s just the first step and I’m just thrilled for the players.”
“Looking back to last year, a tough year, we used it as an opportunity to adjust some things and change some things a little bit earlier than you usually do,” he said. “So it’s awesome — from top to bottom, everyone has kind of bought in and everyone is just doing their part.”
The Milwaukee Brewers, who were already the first team to secure a playoff berth, clinched the National League Central division title for the third straight season.
Despite a 5-1 loss to the Cardinals, the Brewers secured the title when the Chicago Cubs were beaten 1-0 by the Cincinnati Reds.
Gavin Lux drove in the only run for the Reds with a double in the bottom of the third inning.
The Reds completed a four-game sweep of the Cubs and are in position to claim an National League wild-card spot — getting a boost when the New York Mets fell to the Washington Nationals 3-2.
With one week remaining in the regular season, the Reds and Mets are tied for the final wild-card berth, but with Cincinnati holding the tiebreaker.
It has been a long fall for the Mets, who had the best record in baseball through June 12.
Sunday’s defeat was their 11th in 15 games.
“It comes down to winning,” Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “We’ve put ourselves in this position, so we’ve got to find a way to get out of it... We’ve got to win ballgames.”
In Houston, Texas, Seattle’s Cal Raleigh hit his MLB-leading 58th home run in the second inning of the Mariners’ 7-3 victory over the Astros.
The Mariners completed a sweep of the three-game series in Houston which gave them a three-game lead over the Astros atop the American League West with six games remaining.
The sweep also means the Mariners hold the tiebreaker in the race for the division crown.
“Honestly, you couldn’t ask for a better three-game set,” Raleigh said. “Obviously, there’s a lot on the line, and I give credit to the guys here in this clubhouse. They never flinched.”
J.P. Crawford’s grand slam in the second had put the Mariners up 5-0 when Raleigh belted a pitch from Jason Alexander to right field for a two-run homer.
The shot came one night after Raleigh passed Ken Griffey Jr for the Mariners’ single-season home run record.
Elsewhere, the Twins beat the Guardians 6-2, the Pirates sank the Athletics 11-0, the Padres pipped the White Sox 3-2, the Braves tamed the Tigers 6-2 and the Rockies overcame the Angels 3-1.
The Giants downed the Dodgers 3-1, the Diamondbacks thrashed the Phillies 9-2, the Marlins mastered the Rangers 4-2 and the Rays stung the Red Sox 7-3.
Additional reporting by staff writer
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday turned tennis heartbreak into history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final with her thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open, as Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei exited in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The Russian-born Austrian, who lost in qualifying last week, has capitalized on her unexpected main draw entry and stunned former world No. 1 Pliskova in a roller-coaster clash despite squandering three match points. Potapova’s run has included impressive victories over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Asked if she had thought
RSS