Los Angeles Angels third baseman David Freese, left, and relief pitcher Cam Bedrosian both reach for an infield hit by Texas Rangers Delino DeShields during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, October 4, 2015.
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Texas is back in the postseason for the first time since 2012, when it lost the inaugural American League Wild Card Game to the Orioles.
The Rangers entered the seventh inning with a 3-2 lead and piled on six runs to seal the victory, capped off by an Elvis Andrus two-run double.
Rockies 7, Giants 3 • Corey Dickerson hit a three-run homer, pinch-hitter Justin Morneau delivered a two-run single and visiting Colorado rallied for seven runs in the ninth inning. Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Kang Jung-ho has been ruled out for the season with a leg injury, but the Bucs have won one of the NL’s two wild cards.
Sports Illustrated’s Ted Keith and Stephen Cannella discuss which of the four potential wild-card teams would have the best shot at making it all the way to the World Series.
Mike Trout and Albert Pujols gave the Los Angeles Angels an early lead in a playoff bid that improbably remained alive on the final day of the regular season.
The Texas Rangers put their personal victory cigar on the mound in the biggest game of the season Sunday at Globe Life Park.
Royals 6, Twins 1: Salvador Perez hit a home run, Johnny Cueto allowed one run in five innings and Kansas City secured home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs by beating host Minnesota. That’s when the postseason opens with Keuchel and the Astros taking on New York ace Masahiro Tanaka in the AL wild-card game.
The bullpen was gassed…when Richards was pulled after six, the only people they could really go to were Cam Bedrosian and Cesar Ramos.
In Los Angeles, left-hander Clayton Kershaw became the first major league pitcher in 15 years to strike out 300 batters in a season during the Dodgers’ 6-3 win over San Diego.
Jeff Wilson recaps the win and notes that the Rangers became just the sixth team since the division era to win their division after trailing by eight games or more in August. It marks the first time the Astros have played in the post-season since 2005 when they were still a NL team. After Deven Marrero and Jackie Bradley Jr. knocked in the go-ahead runs, Betts applied the finishing touches with a two-run homer.
Tim Cowlishaw chimes in to pen a sonnet for the Hamels trade which has already paid off for Texas as the Rangers paid the Nick Williams premium for games just like Sunday. He struck out six and walked two.
“I thought we had a four-run lead and a guy in the game that had been so good for us“, Banister said. Texas finished the season with 45 wins in its final 70 games to vault up the standings.
Houston is returning to the playoffs for the first time in a decade despite ending the regular season with a loss to Arizona.
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NEW YORK – Right fielder Curtis Granderson’s solo homer with one out in the eighth inning snapped a scoreless tie, and seven New York Mets pitchers combined on a two-hitter. That was a one-out double in the second by Shane Victorino.
