NL Seedings still not set. 163rd games needed. Leaders.

It will be an interesting day for the NL. Neither the Central nor the West were decided after 162 games and there will be two games today (Monday) to determine division champions.

Brewers at Cubs, 1 PM Eastern.  To decide the NL Central. Both finished with 95 wins after 162.

Rockies at Dodgers 4 PM Easter. To decide the NL West. Both finished with 91 wins after 162.

The losers of these games will face off Tuesday night in the one-game sudden death wild card game at the home of whoever lost the NL Central division deciding game.

Mike Scioscia of the Angels joins Toronto’s John Gibbons as managers who won’t be back with their teams next year.

Leaders: AL, then NL (and today’s 163rd games count–see bold).

Batting Average: Betts Boston .346, Yelich Mil .323
Homers: Davis Oakland 48; Arenado Col 37
RBI: Martinez Bos 130; Baez, Cubs 111
SB: Merrifield KC 45; Turner Wash 43
OPS+: Trout Angels, 199 ;  Yelich Mil 163

Wins: Snell Tampa Bay 21;  Scherzer/Lester/Mikolas 18
ERA: Snell 1.89; DeGrom Mets 1.70
Saves: Diaz Sea 57; Davis Col 43
Losses Bundy Balt and Shields CWS 16;  Roark Wash 15
ERA+: Snell 219, DeGrom 216

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Game 162. Yanks fall, 10-2, finish 100-62. Wild Card game next.

The Yanks lost the season finale, 10-2, to finish the season at 100-62, 2nd in the AL East, 8 behind Boston. They now prepare for the sudden death wild card game at the Stadium on Wednesday night vs. the 97 win A’s.

Not a good day for a tweener, Cessa, or two rookies in Loaisiga and Sheffield.

Luke Voit got two of the Yanks’ four hits, and his 2-run HR (15, 14 as a Yankee) accounted for both of the Yankees’ runs. So the record is 267 HR in a season by one team, the 2018 Yankees.

The Yanks made 3 errors in this game.

Miguel Andujar got his 47th double of the season tying Fred Lynn’s record for most by an AL rookie.

Gary Sanchez finished at .186, the lowest batting average in Yankees’ history for someone with, say, 300 plate appearances.  1970 Jerry Kenney was the previous low.

Cessa (L, 1-4, 5.24) 1/3 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 5 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Robertson 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  3.23
Loaisiga 2 IP, 3 R, 0 ER,  4 H, 0 W, 2 K. gave up 1 HR.   5.11
Sheffield 1 1P, 3 R, 2 H, 2 W, 0 K.  Gave up 1 HR.  10.13
Tarpley 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 W, 4 K.  3.00
Cole 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K.  6.14 (Wash/NYY)
Adams  1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K.  7.04

 

Game 161. Yanks win 100, Stanton gets 100, and Yanks set a couple records.

In the next to last regular season game, the Yanks (100-61) beat Boston 8-5 for their 100th win of the season. It is the first time since 2009 that the Yanks have won 100 games in a season.

In so doing, they hit 2 HR which set a new single season record by HR by a team in a season.

Since Gleyber Torres, in the 9 spot, hit the HR for the new record, it meant that each spot in the lineup 1 through 9 contributed 20 or more HR, another MLB record.

Not only that, Miguel Andujar hit 2 doubles in the game, giving him 46 on the year, setting a new record for a Yankees’ rookie, breaking that of Joe DiMaggio in 1936.

In the first, Gardner reached on an error and two outs later, scored on a double by Stanton.

Boston tied it in the bottom of the second.

To the fourth. Didi singles and after an out, Bird doubles in Didi. After another out, Torres hits a HR (24) to make it 4-0. Torres’ HR, #265 on the season for the Yanks, sets the all-time record of HR by one team in one season. They weren’t and are not done.

Boston gets a run in the fourth, 4-2 Yanks after 4.

The Yanks get three in the fifth. Hicks and Stanton single, and after an out, Andujar doubles in two. After another out, Romine singles, 7-2 Yankees.

Stanton homers (38) in the seventh. It’s also RBI #100. Some jerk (hope you are reading this, asshole) throws the ball back and hits Stanton as he is rounding the bases. No harm, no foul, but what an asshole. He was kicked out, deservedly so.

Ugly eighth as Kahnle gives up a run. 8-3.

Ugly ninth with Holder before Chapman closes it out. Give up 2 runs, cut it to 8-5. Then Chappy.

McCutchen 2 hits.
Stanton 3 hits, HR (Yankees HR #266), 2 RBI.  RBI #100
Andujar 2 hits, (2 doubles) 2 RBI. Passes Joe D. for most doubles by a Yankees’ rookie in one season.
Bird 2 hits, RBI
Torres HR (he broke the record with HR #265, also set record of every position in lineup, 1-9, giving 20 or more HR) and 2 RBI

German 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 W, 3 K.   5.57
Tarpley 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.   3.68
Lynn (W, 10-10, 4.77 Min/NYY) 3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 W, 4 K.
Gray 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K.  4.90
Kahnle 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 2 W,  0 K.  6.56
Holder 1/3 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 0 W, 1 K.   Gave up 1 HR.   3.14
Chapman (S, 32)  2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K.    2.45

CC suspended first 5 games of next year for what happened Thursday. He is appealing. So if he retires (he is 38), what are they going to do, put him on house arrest?

Game 160. Yanks beat Boston, get the wild card game at home, tie for all-time single season HR record.

The Yankees (99-61) beat Boston 11-6 Friday night to ensure that they will play the wild card game against Oakland next Wednesday night in the Bronx.

They denied Boston a 110 win season, and there are only (I think) five teams in MLB history who have accomplished that. One being the 1927 Yankees, another the 1998 Yankees.

The Yanks hit 4 HR in the game and by doing that, have 264 on the season, tying the 1997 Seattle Mariners for the most in one season by a team. They have two games left to hit one HR to break the record.

Gary Sanchez started the scoring in the the top of the third with his 18th HR of the season. With two out, Aaron Judge walked, and singles by Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton made it 2-0 Yanks.

The Yanks got six in the fourth inning. With one out, Miguel Andujar doubled. Gary Sanchez walked and Gleyber Torres doubled in two runs to make it 4-0. Andrew McCutchen singled in Torres to make it 5-0. After Aaron Judge singled, Hicks hit a 3-run HR (27) to make it 8-0.

In the sixth, manager Aaron Boone made a mistake. With two out and men on second and third, Yankees’ starter J.A. Happ walked Xander Bogaerts to load the bases. Up came Steve Pearce, who has killed the Yanks this year.

Not only that, but Pearce had 5 career HR off of Happ.

Make that six. Grand slam. 8-4 Yanks. Boone never should have let Happ pitch to Pearce there.

The Yanks came right back with two in the seventh. With two out, Luke Voit homered (14, and his 13th as a Yankee) to make it 9-4. Didi Gregorius, playing for the first time since injuring his wrist, singled. Andujar walked and Sanchez reached on an error, Didi scoring. 10-4.

Didi looked good tonight in his first game back from the injury. Very encouraging. That cortisone shot to help him recover from torn cartillage in his right wrist seems to be helping.

In the top of the eighth, Aaron Judge homered (27). It was his first HR since coming off the DL from the broken wrist, and that HR not only made it 11-4, but also was #264 of the season, enabling the Yanks to tie the 1997 Seattle Mariners for the all-time single season record.

Of course, there was no DH before 1973, so the 1961 Yankees, who hit 240, didn’t have that luxury (also, Death Valley at the old Stadium killed a lot of potential HR balls).

Things then got sloppy. Boston scored a run in the bottom of the eighth and left the bases loaded.

In the bottom of the ninth, Didi made an error, Boston scored another run to make it 11-6, and they once again left the bases loaded.

Judge 2 hits, HR
Hicks 2 hits, HR, 3 RBI
Stanton 2 hits, RBI
Voit HR
Sanchez 2 hits, HR
Torres 2 RBI

Happ (W, 17-6, 3.65, Tor/NYY) 6 IP, 4 R, 4 H, 2 W, 7 K. Gave up grand slam. (7-0 as NYY)
Green 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.   2.50
Betances 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 2 W, 1 K.   2.70
Britton 1 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 3 W, 0 K.    3.10 (Balt/NYY)

Game 154. Yanks clinch playoff spot with 3-2 win. Stay 1 1/2 up on A’s.

The Yanks (95-59) clinched a wild card spot in the playoffs with a 3-2, 11-inning, win over the Bad News Bears (oops, 44-110 Baltimore Orioles) yesterday, but whether the Yanks will be playing that one-game, sudden-death wild card game in the Bronx is very much still up in the air.

Oakland scored in the bottom of the ninth, thanks to a Minnesota error and a passed ball (hmm, Twins imitating Sanchez) that let in the winning run, and won 3-2. The A’s remain 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees for the top wild card spot.

The Yanks’ magic # over the A’s to ensure that the wild card game will be played in the Bronx is 6. Any combination of Yanks’ wins and A’s losses adding up to 6 and the game will be in the Bronx. The Yanks own the tiebreaker.

The Yanks got two runs in the second on homers by Aaron Hicks (26) and Luke Voit (12, 11 as a Yankee). They now have 251 HR on the season, on pace to tie the 1997 Seattle Mariners for the all-time single season record by a team (264).

Gary Sanchez continued his defensive woes, committing a PB and a throwing error in the third inning that allowed the Orioles to score a run. Besides a PB and an error, Sanchez also went 0 for 4, striking out twice, and his batting average dropped to .182. He was dropped to eighth in the lineup, and you really wonder if it’s just best right now to have Romine in there instead.

The Yanks could really have been in trouble except that Steve Wilkerson was twice thrown out at home.

Baltimore tied it in the fifth, and would have had more except for one of those times Wilkerson was thrown out at home (by Judge) and the fact they left the bases loaded.

After the Voit HR, the Yanks didn’t do too much offensively, and it became a battle of the bullpens.

Jonathan Holder got out of a huge jam in the top of the 10th. The Orioles left the bases loaded.

Finally, in the bottom of the 11th, Didi Gregorius singled, and Aaron Hicks double drove in Didi with the winning run.

Hicks 2 hits, HR, 2 RBI
Andujar 2 hits
Voit HR

Lynn 5 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 W, 4 K.  4.80 (Min/NYY)
Green 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K.  2.60
Chapman 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.  2.59  Encouraging outing since just off DL
Betances 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 3 K.   2.64
Britton 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K.  3.26 (Balt/NYY)
Holder 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K.  2.97
Kahnle (W, 2-0, 6.75) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.

MLBTR states that CC wants to return in 2019, even if not to the Yanks. Tough call. Questionable knee, doesn’t go too deep into games. 39 next July. Yanks may want to cut the cord, so to speak.

Also, MLBTR reporting that Yanks have interest in bringing back McCutchen (a free agent) if the price is right, but that probably means buying out Brett Gardner’s option at $2MM instead of bringing him back at $12.5MM. Also, you have Clint Frazier and Jacoby Ellsbury (both of whom missed most or all of this year due to injuries) to think about…

Then again, Bryce Harper is a free agent….

Game 152. Boston clinches AL East, beating Yanks 11-6. Yanks lead over A’s 1.5 games.

It wasn’t a good night for the Yanks, who lost 11-6 to Boston as Boston clinched the AL East with the win.

Also, the A’s routed the Angels yesterday, so the Yanks’ (93-59) lead over the A’s for the top wild card spot is down to 1 1/2 games. The Yanks’ magic # over the A’s (since the Yanks hold the tiebreaker) is 8, and the Yanks magic # to make the playoffs is 3 over Tampa Bay, 2 over Seattle.

Masahiro Tanaka started and struggled, giving up a run in the first and two in the second.

Luke Voit cut Boston’s lead to 3-2 with a 2-run HR in the bottom of the second that set a couple of records. Voit became the 12th Yankee to hit 10 or more HR this season (it was his 11th HR, his 10th as a Yankee), and that set a MLB record for most players on a team with 10 or more. It also was the Yanks’ 246th HR of the season, setting a new team single season record.

But Boston came back with a run in the third. 4-2. Mookie Betts killed the Yanks in this game, getting 4 hits and driving in 5 runs.

In the fourth, Giancarlo Stanton hit a grand slam (his 35th HR) to put the Yanks up 6-4.

But Tanaka gave up a run in the fifth and the Yanks’ bullpen couldn’t hold the lead.

Up 6-5 in the seventh, the Yanks gave up 3 runs in the seventh and another 3 in the eighth to lose 11-6.

Ex-MLB pitching star and current broadcaster for the MLB network, Jim Kaat (who once pitched for the Yanks briefly) was critical, and rightly so, of some pitching decisions made by either the Yankees’ pitchers or by catcher Gary Sanchez.

Chad Green, who smoked batters in the sixth, gave up a game-tying HR to Jackie Bradley in the seventh on a changeup. Kaat pointed out that his fastball was electric, and that Green has thrown maybe 15 changeups all year long, and you should not get beat on what is, for Green, his third best pitch, and one that is a work in progress. Two more runs scored after this. 8-6 Boston.

The Yanks had to get Aroldis Chapman some work, since he just came off the DL, in order to get him ready for the playoffs, and some rust showed. He gave up a 3-run HR to Betts, 11-6. Once again, Kaat was critical because the HR came off a slider, and not Chapman’s vaunted fastball.

McCutchen 2 hits, 2 walks
Stanton grand slam
Gregorius 2 hits
Voit 2-run HR.

Tanaka 4+ IP, 5 R, 8 H, 0 W, 3 K. Gave up 1 HR.  3.67
Robertson 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  2.81
Green (BS, 4; L, 8-3, 2.64) 1+ IP, 2 R, 2 H, 0 W, 3 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Betances 1 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K.  2.73
Chapman 2/3 IP, 3 R, 2 H, 1 W, 1 K. 2.64 Gave up 1 HR.
Holder 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K.  3.02
Cole 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.  5.21 (Wash/NYY)
Tarpley 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K.  5.79

 

Game 151. Yanks rout Boston, 10-1.

 

Not yet, Boston.

The Yankees once again delayed Boston’s clinching of the AL East (Boston’s magic number is 2 over the Yanks) with a 10-1 win over the Red Sox Wednesday evening.

Before the game, the Yanks activated Aroldis Chapman off of the DL. During the game, Justus Sheffield made his MLB debut.

Luis Severino pitched like the Severino we saw in the first half of the season, when he got off to a 13-2, 1.98 start. Good news since he has been slumping lately.

Miguel Andujar got the scoring started in the second inning with his 25th HR of the season. The Yanks later loaded the bases and with two out, Aaron Judge’s grounder went through Eduardo Nunez’ legs for an two-base error and two runs. Yankee fans used to call Nunez Noon-E when he was with the Yanks. 3-0 Yankees.

Luke Voit, who had 4 hits and two HR in the game, hit his first HR of the game in the fourth to make it 4-0 Yanks.

Boston got their only run in the game in the fifth on when Nunez doubled and came around to score on a single.

The Yanks got four in the sixth to break  the game open. Gary Sanchez walked and Voit hit his second HR of the game to make it 6-1. This HR was Voit’s 10th of the season, and ninth as a Yankee. If he can hit one more homer as a Yankee before the season ends, he will become the twelfth Yankee with 10 or more HR this season, and that would set a MLB record.

Voit’s HR was the Yanks’ 245th of the season, tying their all-time team record, set in 2012.

Later that inning, Andrew McCutchen and Aaron Judge singled, and Aaron Hicks tripled them both in to make it 8-1.

The Yanks got more insurance runs in the eighth. Voit got his fourth hit of the game, Gleyber Torres singled, and after a groundout that moved both runners up, Greg Bird, pinch-hitting for Judge since the Yanks had a big lead, got an RBI groundout to make it 9-1. Hicks then got an RBI single to make it 10-1, the final score.

The win puts the Yanks at 93-58. There are 11 games left in the season. They remain 2 1/2 games up on Oakland for the top wild card spot. The Yanks’ magic numbers are 8 over Oakland (since the Yanks own the tiebreaker) for the top wild card spot, and 4 (Over Tampa Bay, 2 over Seattle) to clinch any playoff spot.

Hicks 2 hits, 3 RBI
Andujar 2 hits, solo HR
Voit 4 hits (4 for 4), 2 HR, 3 RBI, 4 runs scored.

Severino (W, 18-8, 3.38) 7 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 1 W, 6 K.
Holder 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.  3.03
Sheffield 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K.  0.00   MLB DEBUT