White Sox Use Five Pitchers in Shut Out of Guardians

There were four MLB playoff games today as the Division Series kicked off with the first

games a best-of-five format. Here’s a little summary of the action:

The Chicago White Sox used the highly efficient Relief-Pitcher strategy in shutting out the

home team Cleveland Guardians in this afternoon’s game.

Five White Sox hurlers surrendered only three hits while striking out twelve batters. Hagen

Smith threw the first two and two-third innings, Bryan Hudson went just a third of an inning,

and Jordan Hicks tossed two-thirds of an inning without giving up any hits. Anthony Kay lost

the group no-hitter, giving up a double in the fourth while throwing an inning and a third,

and Grant Taylor got the save by going the final four innings, surrendering two hits while

striking out six. In fact, the final three batters for Cleveland went down swinging to seal the

deal for the White Sox.

The Guardians’ first hit came in the bottom of the fourth as Travis Bazzana doubled to right

field. Nathan Lowe had the second hit of the night for Cleveland with a double to right in

the bottom of the sixth. Their final hit was a single off the bat of Patrick Bailey in the bottom

of the seventh.

The White Sox got their first two runs in the top of the fourth as Miguel Vargas led off with a

single to left and came around to score on Munetaka Mrakami’s massive 440 ft. home run

to right field. 2-0 Chicago.

The Sox scored an insurance run in the top of the seventh as Kyle Teel walked and later

came around to score on Colson Montgomery’s double to left field.

And that’s all it took for the visiting Chicago White Sox to win the first game of this Division

series and their third playoff game in a row, all on the road.

Game two on Monday at 5:00 ET.

Dodgers Score Early, hold on to Defeat the Braves

The Los Angeles Dodgers got six strong innings from their ace-starter Tarik Skubal and

scored their five runs off of three homers to defeat the visiting Atlanta Braves 5-3.

Skubal gave up two hits and one run while striking out six.

The Dodgers started the scoring in the bottom of the fourth. With one out Freddie Freeman

drew a base-on-balls. Teoscar Hernandez followed with a two-run blast to center field. 2-0

LA.

The Braves first run came courtesy of Sean Murphy’s lead-off homer in the top of the sixth.

The Dodgers doubled their run total in the bottom of the sixth. With one out Teoscar

Hernandez singled to center field and came around to score on Kyle Tucker’s two-run

dinger to right field. With two outs Max Muncy also smacked a long ball to right. 5-1 Los

Angeles.

Atlanta did mount a comeback attempt in the top of the ninth. Ronald Acuna led off with a

single to left and scored on Ozzie Albies’ two-run homer to center field. But that’s all they

could muster. Final score: Dodgers 5 and Braves 3.

Game two tomorrow at 8:00 ET.

Rassmussen and Aranda lead Rays over the Yanks

Drew Rassmussen threw eight innings of shut-out baseball and Jonathan Aranda hit a home run for the games only run to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a victory over the visiting New York Yankees. Rassmussen took a no-hitter into the top of the eighth. The Yankees’ Austin Wells hit a liner down the right-field line for a double but was thrown out at third on the play. Gerrit Cole started for New York, going five innings while giving up the only run of the game and five hits while striking out five Rays’ batters. Bryan Baker got the save for the Yankees with a three-up three-down final inning. Not much else to say about this one. If you like a pitcher’s duel, this was the game for you. The next contest is scheduled for Monday at 8:00 ET.

Milwaukee’s Roof Saves the Game for the Brewers

In one of the strangest plays I’ve ever seen, Ty France’s soaring fly ball ricocheted off the roof of American Family Field and landed in the glove of left fielder Jackson Chourio for the second out in the top of the ninth. The ball looked like a sure home run and would have given San Diego a one run lead. Maybe it’s just the Brewers’ year… Jacob Misiorowski started the game for the Brewers. Their star pitcher lasted four innings giving up two runs on four hits while striking out six. The Padres pushed across a couple of runs against Misiorowski in the top of the second. With one out Xander Bogaerts, Ethan Salas, and Luis Campusano all singled, scoring Bogaerts in the process. Jake Cronenworth’s force out scored Salas. 2-0 San Diego. The Brewers tied up the game in the bottom of the third. Garrett Mitchell led off with an infield single and came around to score on Jackson Chourio’s home run to center field. The game remained tied until the bottom of the seventh. With two outs William Contreras hit a home run to center field. 3-2 Brewers. Then that crazy ninth inning play stopped the Padres from taking the lead and the Brewers held on for the victory. Five Milwaukee relievers ended up shutting out the Padres over the final five innings. Game two happens tomorrow at 4:00 ET. Who knows what might happen?

Two-Out, Two-Run Single in Bottom of the Ninth gives Brewers the Victory

Sunday, October 4, 2026 There were two MLB Division games today, both in the American League. Here’s a little summary: It doesn’t get any better than this… Jackson Chourio’s two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth gave the Milwaukee Brewers a 4 to 3 victory over the San Diego Padres. This is the same Jackson Chourio who tied up last night’s game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third. Chourio is a 24-year-old outfielder from Venezuela. He’s been with the Brewers’ organization since 2021 and made his Major League debut on opening day in 2024. This past season Jackson had a .291 batting average with 25 home runs and 75 RBIs. And tonight he was the hero… The Padres started the scoring in the top of the first. With two outs Manny Machado walked and later scored on Ty France’s single to right. 1-0 San Diego. SD pushed across their second run in the top of the fifth with the help of two fielding errors. Luis Campusano led off with a single to left field. Throwing errors by Brice Turang and Cooper Pratt helped Campusano score. 2-0 Padres. The Brewers were held hitless until the bottom of the fifth. But that was soon to change. With two outs Christian Yelich doubled to right field and came around to score courtesy of Sal Frelick’s single to center. 2-1 San Diego. The Padres third run, in the top of the seventh, was also scored with the help of a miscue. Fernando Tatis reached first base on a fielding error by David Hamilton. Manny Machado walked, sending Tatis to second base.

Tatis then scored off Ty France’s single to right field. 3-1 SD. Milwaukee pushed a run across in the bottom of the seventh. Garrett Mitchell led off with a single to right and worked his way around to third base on a walk and a force out. Mitchell then scored with the help of a throwing error by Jake Cronenworth. 3-2 Padres. And we now come to the super-exciting bottom of the ninth.

The Padres sent their fireball reliever Mason Miller to the mound. He’d pitched a perfect bottom of the eighth and was now tasked with closing out the Brewers. Miller’s season stats were an impressive 5 wins and 2 losses with a 1.67 ERA. Miller was throwing over 100 MPH. His fastest pitch, according to the speed gun, registered at 103 MPH. That is crazy… Miller ended up being his own worst enemy, however, as he walked the bases loaded. With two outs and two strikes, Jackson Chourio smacked a single back up the middle, scoring Christian Yelich and Sal Frelick with the tying and winning runs. 4-3 Milwaukee. What a game… The teams travel to San Diego tomorrow and play game three on the West Coast this Tuesday at 9:30 ET.

Atlanta Holds on to Tie Series against the Dodgers

In what was basically a seminar of pitching excellence, the Atlanta Braves managed to hold off the LA Dodgers and head back to Georgia with a 1-1 series tie. A total of thirteen pitchers took the mound in another close contest. Atlanta started the scoring in the top of the first. With one out Ronald Acuna singled to right and Matt Olson walked. Ozzie Albies followed with another base-on-balls, loading the bases. Mauricio Dubon then singled home Acuna.

1-0 Braves. Freddie Freeman tied up the game in the bottom of the fourth with a home run to right field. The Braves retook the lead in the top of the fifth. Michael Harris tripled to left field and came home on a wild pitch. 2-1 Atlanta. Atlanta added another run in the top of the seventh. Matt Olson singled to left and came home on Michael Harris’s doubled to right. 3-1 Braves.

Then with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Max Muncy crushed a home run to left field. But that was all the Dodgers could manage. Final score 3-2 Atlanta. Didier Fuentes retired eleven Dodgers in a row in the late innings before giving up that home run to Muncy. Raisel Iglesias then came in to get the last out and earn the save. Quite an entertaining game. I just can’t get over how fast these pitchers are…100 MPH seems to be the norm.

As they say, hitting a baseball is one of the most difficult things to do as far as professional sports are concerned, and I can certainly see why. Game three will be this Tuesday in Atlanta at 6:00 ET. Dave’s Dime…The Evolution of post-season Baseball Back when I was a young lad and a burgeoning baseball fan, the post-season, as far as Major League baseball was concerned, could not be any more straight-forward. The first semi-official World Series started back in 1903 and became an annual affair in 1905. From that date until 1969, the winner of the National League played the winner of the American League in a best-of-seven series. And that was it. Easy peasy.

Well, in 1969 expansion and the creation of the East and West Divisions in each league led to a League Championship Series in order to determine the pennant winners. This LCS was originally a best-of-five affair but became a best-of-seven series in 1985. And then in 1995, after the leagues added a third division because of expansion, a Division Series (best-of-five) was added to the League Championship Series and the World Series. Also, the first wild-card team was added to the mix.

The non-division winner with the best record became the wild-card addition to the playoff format. So, the division winner with the best record would play a best-of-five series against the wild-card participant and then play the winner of the other Division Series between the two remaining division champions.

Let me read this again to see if it makes sense………………..okay, we’re good. Believe it or not, in 2012 a second Wild Card spot was added. The two non-division winners with the best records would play a single game to see which club would advance to the Division Series. And finally, in 2022 a third wild-card team was added as well as a best-of-three Wild Card Series in each league.

That led to the top two teams in the American League and National League having a first-round bye. Who knows what will happen next. Especially if AI suddenly decides baseball isn’t an essential part of the grand scheme anymore and eliminates the game altogether. I’m assuming the abandoned stadiums will be revamped into data centers… Dave Carter