What to see on the last day of the MLB regular season?

October 1, 2023

Chaos? Not quite. Just a couple of days ago, it looked like we were in for a wild final day of the MLB season. Even heading into Saturday, there was still the possibility of a three-team tie in the American League West, with the Toronto Blue Jays potentially tying the West teams with 89 wins. But then a record was set for most playoff berths earned in a 90-minute span. Quickly, the Miami Marlins got a wild card after beating the Pittsburgh Pirates; The Texas Rangers did it with a victory over the Seattle Mariners. The Blue Jays secured the ticket with the defeat of the Mariners; The Arizona Diamondbacks clinched their developing game with a loss to the Cincinnati Reds, and then the Houston Astros earned their playoff berth by beating the Diamondbacks.

Oh!

So the 12 teams for the 2023 MLB playoffs are already defined, but there are still a couple of things to decide. Here’s what to watch Sunday in the playoff races and elsewhere.

Who will win the American League West?
The Rangers beat the Mariners 6-1 and gave Luis Castillo his shortest outing of the season; The Astros beat the Diamondbacks 1-0 behind Justin Verlander’s five scoreless innings to clinch their seventh consecutive postseason berth. The Rangers, in the playoffs for the first time since 2016, have a one-game lead over the Astros, but the Astros won the season series, so if Houston wins and Texas loses, the Astros take the division title and They are seeded in the classification. position number 2.

The Rangers will likely opt for some type of bullpen play, as they did five days ago. They haven’t announced their starter yet: Cody Bradford started the game but pitched in relief on Saturday. They could go with Martín Pérez, but he last started on July 29, before his banishment to the bullpen. They could also go with Dane Dunning on three days’ rest after he threw 87 pitches in seven scoreless innings against the Angels on Wednesday. The Astros will have Cristian Javier on regular rest.

Both teams will do everything they can to try to avoid the unpredictability of a three-game series, so I doubt either team was partying too late on Saturday night. Remember, last season three of the four road teams won their wild card series. A few extra days of rest for their bullpen and lining up their rotation for the division series is a strong incentive for both teams this Sunday.

How will the classification be played in the American League?
The Rangers enter Sunday with 90 wins; the Astros and Blue Jays have 89. The AL West winner is determined first, so here are the scenarios:

  1. All three teams finish with 90 wins. The Astros are division champions and second place. The Rangers won the season series over the Blue Jays (6-1), so they are in fifth place and the Blue Jays are in sixth. This is arguably a plus for Toronto, as the Blue Jays would travel to Minnesota while the Rangers head to Tampa Bay.
  2. The Rangers finish with 91 wins, and the Astros and Blue Jays finish with 89. The Blue Jays won the season series 4-3 over the Astros, so they would be the No. 5 seed and the Astros the No. seed. 6. .
  3. The Rangers and Astros finish with 90 wins and the Blue Jays with 89. The Astros are division champions, the Rangers are the fifth seed, and the Blue Jays are the sixth seed.

Seattle’s loss that clinched a playoff spot for Toronto was a huge gift for the Blue Jays. With a postseason berth up in the air, they would have been forced to start ace Kevin Gausman (remember, all Sunday games start at the same time), which meant he wouldn’t have been ready to start the series. wildcards. Now he won’t have to pitch and can prepare for Tuesday.

What about the National League wild card race?
The first four seeds are already defined: Atlanta, Los Angeles, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. The Marlins are 84-76 and the Diamondbacks are 84-77. The Marlins have a suspended game against the Mets in which they are leading 2-1 in the ninth inning and which may have to end on Monday at Citi Field. The scenarios for the fifth and sixth favorites:

  1. The Marlins win and the Diamondbacks lose. The Marlins secure fifth place and will not have to finish the game suspended.
  2. Both teams lose. The Marlins won the season series against Arizona, so this would also secure them the fifth seed.
  3. The Diamondbacks win and the Marlins lose. The Marlins would have to complete the game suspended. If they win, they will be the fifth seed; If they blow the lead and lose, they drop to sixth place.
  4. Whatever happens, it’s been quite a ride for the Marlins, who make the playoffs in a full season for the first time since 2003. They also did so after playing below .500 in 133 games. The last team to be below .500 in a season and make the playoffs was the Minnesota Twins in 2009.
  5. Can Freddie Freeman achieve his 60th double?
  6. Freeman isn’t chasing a record, but he is chasing the most underrated achievement of 2023. There have been fewer 60-double seasons than 60-homer seasons, and the six players who have accomplished it are all in black-and-white photographs. . Joe Medwick and Charlie Gehringer were the last to do so, in 1936, when Medwick reached 64 and Gehringer reached 60. Todd Helton reached 59 for the Rockies in 2000 and Nick Castellanos came close in 2019, when he reached 58 for the Tigers and Cubs. (and missed the final four games of the season).
  7. This will be the third time in four seasons that Freeman has led the majors in doubles, and he has done so in dominant fashion, with 17 more than his closest competitor, Corey Seager. When Castellanos reached 58 in the spirited 2019 season, for example, Rafael Devers and the campaign of Earl Webb, who achieved the record with 67 and had a lead of 20 doubles. Freeman’s doubles are testament to two things:
  8. 1.- his sheer ability to hit, since players who hit a lot of doubles are hitting foul lines against each other and that is Freeman, similar to a left-handed version of Hall of Famer Edgar Martínez.
  9. 2.- He is a guy who is coming out of the batter’s box and taking that extra base.
  10. Can the Braves hit three home runs?
  11. That’s the amount Atlanta needs to surpass the Twins’ single-season record of 307 home runs from 2019. The Braves have tied the Twins with five sluggers with 30 home runs; became the first team with four players to hit 35 home runs and Matt Olson set the franchise record with 54 home runs. But we don’t just look at home runs.
  12. The Braves are also slugging .501 heading into the final game. If they have a good day, they will be the first team to slug .500 in a season. Let’s put it this way: the entire team is hitting .275/.343/.500, which is a higher OPS than the career totals of Carl Yastrzemski, Robinson Canó, Eddie Murray, José Altuve, Roberto Clemente or Manny Machado, among others. others. .
  13. Join the club!
  14. With stolen base totals on the rise and home runs still hitting out of the park, it’s been refreshing to see the speedy player’s return, reminding fans of the 1980s, ’90s and early 2000s, when the 30-30 seasons, and then 40-40. , with José Canseco the first to achieve it, were symbolic goals for the versatile player. Ronald Acuña Jr., of course, has been the headliner, becoming the fifth member of the 40-40 club and the founding member of the 40-70 club.
  15. Acuña, Francisco Lindor, Julio Rodríguez and Bobby Witt Jr. are already members of the 30-30 club in 2023, the first time four players have reached those marks since 2011. It is the fourth time in history that multiple players have done so. But wait: Kyle Tucker has 29 home runs and stole his 30th base on Saturday night, so he has a chance to become the fifth member. Witt is one stolen base away from reaching 50, which would put him in a club that includes only Acuña, Eric Davis (1987) and Barry Bonds (1990). This year there have been 18 players who have reached 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases, just one shy of the record set in 1999.
  16. American League batting title at stake
  17. There are only nine players who hit .300 this season. Don’t be so surprised!, and only four qualified hitters in the American League. Since the wild card era began in 1995, these will be the fewest .300 hitters. The previous low? Last season, when only 11 players did it. (Hey, hitting is hard.)
  18. Still, winning a batting title is still a good line for a player’s resume. Luis Arráez has had a comfortable margin all season in the National League, but the American League enters the final day with the Rangers’ Corey Seager hitting .330 and the Rays’ Yandy Díaz hitting .330. Diaz missed several games last week with a hamstring issue, returned on Friday and pinch-hit on Saturday, so we’ll see if he’s in the lineup. Seager was at .344 on September 15, but he hit .222 in 14 games before Saturday.
  19. We say goodbye…
  20. It will be the end of the game for at least a couple of days.