The Dodgers are about to play another end-of-season tiebreaker. It's a scenario that hasn't been kind to them over the years.Los Angeles will take on Colorado for the NL West title Monday, one of two one-game playoffs that day in the National League. The Cubs and Brewers also need to break a tie for the NL Central.These aren't elimination games — the losers will end up as the NL wild cards — but there will still be some pressure, since the division winners head straight to the Division Series. The tiebreakers are considered part of the regular season, and stats are counted accordingly.For the Dodgers, these not-quite-postseason games have been fraught with peril. When they were in Brooklyn, the Dodgers finished tied with the rival Giants for the 1951 NL pennant, and then famously lost a three-game series to New York on a home run by Bobby Thomson . The 1946 pennant was also decided by a best-of-three tiebreaker, with the Cardinals beating Brooklyn in two straight .After moving to Los Angeles,... [More]

A look at what's happening around the majors today:WIN OR GO WILDIn a big league first, a pair of tiebreaking Game 163s will be played on the same day to sort out the NL playoff picture. First, the Cubs host the Brewers to settle the NL Central at Wrigley Field. Then the Dodgers host the Rockies to determine an NL West champ. The losers of those games will play Tuesday in the NL wild-card game.Chicago will call on left-hander Jose Quintana (13-11, 4.09), who is 6-2 with a 1.60 ERA in 10 starts against Milwaukee. The Brewers are countering with Jhoulys Chacin (15-8, 3.56). The Midwest rivals might not be done with each other after Monday, either — the winner of the wild-card game will face the NL Central champ in the NL Division Series. How about a rematch?Colorado is attempting to end Los Angeles' five-year reign atop the division and win its first NL West crown. Walker Buehler (7-5, 2.76 ERA) gets the start for the Dodgers, and the Rockies will counter with German Marquez (14-10, 3.76... [More]

Triple Crown contender Christian Yelich and the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. Nolan Arenado and the big-hitting Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.October baseball is about to begin with Game No. 163 on Monday.Two tiebreakers on the same day for the first time in major league history. Both to divvy up divisions, too."It's interesting that baseball is such a perfect game in some ways that it takes 162 to not decide anything," Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and the Cubs begin the doubleheader drama when they host Milwaukee for the NL Central crown. Later in the afternoon, Dodgers rookie Walker Buehler is set to start when Los Angeles faces Colorado for the NL West title.There's a catch, though.All four teams are already assured playoff spots, either as a division champ or wild card. The Dodgers, Rockies, Brewers and Cubs knew that going into Sunday, the final scheduled day of the regular season, and then romped by a combined score of 48-5.So, it means... [More]

Triple Crown contender Christian Yelich and the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. Nolan Arenado and the big-hitting Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.October baseball is about to begin with Game No. 163 on Monday.Two tiebreakers on the same day for the first time in major league history. Both to divvy up divisions, too."It's interesting that baseball is such a perfect game in some ways that it takes 162 to not decide anything," Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and the Cubs begin the doubleheader drama when they host Milwaukee for the NL Central crown. Later in the afternoon, Dodgers rookie Walker Buehler is set to start when Los Angeles faces Colorado for the NL West title.There's a catch, though.All four teams are already assured playoff spots, either as a division champ or wild card. The Dodgers, Rockies, Brewers and Cubs knew that going into Sunday, the final scheduled day of the regular season, and then romped by a combined score of 48-5.So, it means... [More]

Triple Crown contender Christian Yelich and the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. Nolan Arenado and the big-hitting Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.October baseball is about to begin with Game No. 163 on Monday.Two tiebreakers on the same day for the first time in major league history. Both to divvy up divisions, too."It's interesting that baseball is such a perfect game in some ways that it takes 162 to not decide anything," Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and the Cubs begin the doubleheader drama when they host Milwaukee for the NL Central crown. Later in the afternoon, Dodgers rookie Walker Buehler is set to start when Los Angeles faces Colorado for the NL West title.There's a catch, though.All four teams are already assured playoff spots, either as a division champ or wild card. The Dodgers, Rockies, Brewers and Cubs knew that going into Sunday, the final scheduled day of the regular season, and then romped by a combined score of 48-5.So, it means... [More]

A look at what's happening around the majors Monday:WIN OR GO WILDIn a big league first, a pair of tiebreaking Game 163s will be played on the same day to sort out the NL playoff picture. First, the Cubs host the Brewers to settle the NL Central at Wrigley Field. Then the Dodgers host the Rockies to determine an NL West champ. The losers of those games will play Tuesday in the NL wild-card game.Chicago will call on left-hander Jose Quintana (13-11, 4.09), who is 6-2 with a 1.60 ERA in 10 starts against Milwaukee. The Brewers are countering with Jhoulys Chacin (15-8, 3.56). The Midwest rivals might not be done with each other after Monday, either — the winner of the wild-card game will face the NL Central champ in the NL Division Series. How about a rematch?Colorado is attempting to end Los Angeles' five-year reign atop the division and win its first NL West crown. Walker Buehler (7-5, 2.76 ERA) gets the start for the Dodgers, and the Rockies will counter with German Marquez (14-10, 3.76... [More]

Triple Crown contender Christian Yelich and the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. Nolan Arenado and the big-hitting Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.October baseball is about to begin with Game No. 163 on Monday.Two tiebreakers on the same day for the first time in major league history. Both to divvy up divisions, too."It's interesting that baseball is such a perfect game in some ways that it takes 162 to not decide anything," Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and the Cubs begin the doubleheader drama when they host Milwaukee for the NL Central crown. Later in the afternoon, Dodgers rookie Walker Buehler is set to start when Los Angeles faces Colorado for the NL West title.There's a catch, though.All four teams are already assured playoff spots, either as a division champ or wild card. The Dodgers, Rockies, Brewers and Cubs knew that going into Sunday, the final scheduled day of the regular season, and then romped by a combined score of 48-5.So, it means... [More]

A look at what's happening around the majors Monday:WIN OR GO WILDIn a big league first, a pair of tiebreaking Game 163s will be played on the same day to sort out the NL playoff picture. First, the Cubs host the Brewers to settle the NL Central at Wrigley Field. Then the Dodgers host the Rockies to determine an NL West champ. The losers of those games will play Tuesday in the NL wild-card game.Chicago will call on left-hander Jose Quintana (13-11, 4.09), who is 6-2 with a 1.60 ERA in 10 starts against Milwaukee. The Brewers are countering with Jhoulys Chacin (15-8, 3.56). The Midwest rivals might not be done with each other after Monday, either — the winner of the wild-card game will face the NL Central champ in the NL Division Series. How about a rematch?Colorado is attempting to end Los Angeles' five-year reign atop the division and win its first NL West crown. Walker Buehler (7-5, 2.76 ERA) gets the start for the Dodgers, and the Rockies will counter with German Marquez (14-10, 3.76... [More]

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies were swept two weeks ago in Los Angeles, and their NL West title hopes looked all but finished.Well, look who's back.The Rockies have a chance to end the Dodgers' five-year reign as division champions in a tiebreaker game Monday in Los Angeles. Colorado has never celebrated an NL West crown in franchise history."At this point, I think everybody understands the magnitude of the game," said Rockies slugger Matt Holliday, whose team trails the season series 12-7. "Take a deep breath and go out there and try to execute and just do what you can do."The winner hosts Atlanta in a best-of-five Division Series starting Thursday; the loser is on the road for the NL wild-card game Tuesday against the loser of Monday's Brewers-Cubs NL Central tiebreaker.Not many saw this sort of scenario shaping up when the Dodgers won three straight over Colorado on Sept. 17-19. But the Rockies won nine times in 10 games to force a game 163, part of the first season in major league... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — In a season of haves and have nots, Christian Yelich's quest to become the National League's first Triple Crown winner since 1937 will extend to a 163rd game Monday.Yelich is assured the Brewers' first batting title with a .323 average. He has 36 homers going into Monday's NL Central tiebreaker game at the Chicago Cubs, one behind Nolan Arenado's league-leading total for Colorado, and Yelich's 109 RBIs are second to the Cubs' Javier Baez, who leads with 111.Arenado and the Rockies also have one more game, a Monday NL West tiebreaker at the Los Angeles Dodgers.Yelich was acquired from payroll-slashing Miami in January. Yelich was 0 for 2 with a pair of walks when he was removed by manager Craig Counsell with two outs in the top of the eighth, even though he was due to lead off the bottom half. Yelich jogged from center field to the dugout to a standing ovation from Brewers fans, tipping his cap."I don't know what I was supposed to do there, so I hope that was good enough,"... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — In a season of haves and have nots, Christian Yelich's quest to become the National League's first Triple Crown winner since 1937 will extend to a 163rd game Monday.Yelich is assured the Brewers' first batting title with a .323 average. He has 36 homers going into Monday's NL Central tiebreaker game at the Chicago Cubs, one behind Nolan Arenado's league-leading total for Colorado, and Yelich's 109 RBIs are second to the Cubs' Javier Baez, who leads with 111.Arenado and the Rockies also have one more game, a Monday NL West tiebreaker at the Los Angeles Dodgers.There has not been a Triple Crown winner in the NL since Joe Medwick for the St. Louis Cardinals. Detroit's Miguel Cabrera in 2012 won the AL's first Triple Crown since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.Boston's Mookie Betts won this year's AL batting title at .346, and with 32 homers and 30 stolen bases became the first player to lead either league in batting as part of a 30-30 season.Highlighting how teams decided... [More]

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies' Charlie Blackmon completed a cycle by hitting an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday.Blackmon doubled down the first-base line off Washington Nationals reliever Kyle McGowin. It was the ninth cycle in the Rockies' 26-year history and the first of Blackmon's career.Blackmon tripled in his first at-bat and homered into the right-field seats in the third inning. He beat out an infield single in the fourth while going 4 of 5 on the day.Blackmon's cycle was the first by a Colorado player since Nolan Arenado completed one by hitting a game-ending home run against the San Francisco Giants June 18, 2017.

The NL West and NL Central were on track for tiebreaker games when the Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies, Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers all took leads in Game 162.Any tiebreakers would be one-game matchups Monday and would be played at Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium. If there are two games, the winners would get the division title and the losers would meet in the NL wild-card game Tuesday.The Dodgers and Rockies were both at 90-71 entering Sunday, while the Cubs and Brewers were deadlocked at 94-67.Los Angeles led 14-0 at San Francisco in the eighth inning. Justin Turner, Manny Machado, Matt Kemp and Brian Dozier all had big hits.Colorado was ahead 9-0 at home against Washington in the eighth on two home runs by Nolan Arenado. The Nationals scratched ace Max Scherzer in a game with no meaning for them and started rookie Erick Fedde.Milwaukee held a 4-0 lead against visiting Detroit in the seventh on Jesus Aguilar's home run and RBI single.The Cubs were up 8-4 at home against St. Louis in the sixth. Anthony Rizzo had three hits for Chicago.The NL West winner advances to a best-of-five Division Series against Atlanta starting Thursday, and the NL Central winner moves on to a Division Series against the winner of Tuesday's wild card game.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The NL West and NL Central were on track for tiebreaker games when the Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies, Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers all took leads in Game 162.Any tiebreakers would be one-game matchups Monday. They would be played at Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium, if necessary.The Dodgers and Rockies were both at 90-71 entering Sunday, while the Cubs and Brewers were deadlocked at 94-67.Los Angeles led 14-0 at San Francisco in the seventh inning. Justin Turner, Manny Machado, Matt Kemp and Brian Dozier all had big hits.Colorado was ahead 7-0 at home against Washington in the seventh on homers by Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon and David Dahl. The Nationals scratched ace Max Scherzer in a game with no meaning for them and started rookie Erick Fedde.Milwaukee held a 3-0 lead against visiting Detroit in the sixth on Jesus Aguilar's home run and RBI single.The Cubs were up 8-2 at home against St. Louis in the fifth. Anthony Rizzo had three hits for Chicago.The NL West winner advances to a best-of-five Division Series against Atlanta starting Thursday, and the NL Central winner moves on to a Division Series against the winner of Tuesday's wild card game — between the second-place teams in the West and Central.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The NL West and NL Central were on track for tiebreaker games when the Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies, Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers all took leads in Game 162.The Dodgers and Rockies were both at 90-71 entering Sunday, while the Cubs and Brewers were deadlocked at 94-67.Any tiebreakers would be one-game matchups Monday. They would be played at Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium, if necessary.Los Angeles led 14-0 at San Francisco in the fourth inning. Justin Turner, Manny Machado, Matt Kemp and Brian Dozier all had big hits.Colorado was ahead 7-0 at home against Washington on homers by Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon and David Dahl. The Nationals scratched ace Max Scherzer in a game with no meaning for them and started rookie Erick Fedde.Milwaukee took a 3-0 lead against visiting Detroit on Jesus Aguilar's home run and RBI single.After falling behind in the first, the Cubs took a 4-2 lead in the third when Ben Zobrist tripled in a run and scored on a wild pitch, Anthony Rizzo hit an RBI double and Jason Heyward followed with a run-scoring single.The NL West winner advances to a best-of-five Division Series against Atlanta starting Thursday, and the NL Central winner moves on to a Division Series against the winner of Tuesday's wild card game — between the second-place teams in the West and Central.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

SEATTLE (AP) — The Oakland Athletics clinched their first playoff berth in four years, then beat the Seattle Mariners 7-3 Monday night behind Khris Davis' major league-leading 46th home run.Jonathan Lucroy, Jed Lowrie and Matt Chapman also homered for the A's, assured no worse than an AL wild card.Oakland was one out into the game when Tampa Bay was eliminated with a 4-1 loss to the New York Yankees. The A's went on to win after Chapman broke a 3-3 tie with a two-run drive in the seventh off Shawn Armstrong (0-1).Coming off three straight last-place finishes in the AL West, the A's (95-62) are 4½ games behind AL West-leading Houston. They trail the Yankees by 1½ games for home-field advantage should they meet in a wild-card matchup.Robinson Cano and Dee Gordon homered for the Mariners.The Athletics will be making their fourth playoff appearance in the last seven seasons, all under manager Bob Melvin, and their 27th overall. The A's lost at Kansas City 9-8 in 12 innings in the 2014 wild-card... [More]

SEATTLE (AP) — The Oakland Athletics clinched their first playoff berth since 2014, then beat the Seattle Mariners 7-3 Monday night behind Khris Davis' major league-leading 46th home run.Jonathan Lucroy, Jed Lowrie and Matt Chapman also homered for the A's, assured no worse than a wild-card berth.Oakland was one out into the game when Tampa Bay was eliminated with a 4-1 loss to the New York Yankees. The A's went on to win after Chapman broke a 3-3 tie with a two-run drive in the seventh off Shawn Armstrong (0-1).Coming off three straight last-place finishes in the AL West, the A's (95-62) are 4½ games behind AL West-leading Houston. They trail the Yankees by 1½ games for home-field advantage should they meet in a wild-card matchup.Robinson Cano and Dee Gordon homered for the Mariners.The Athletics will be making their fourth playoff appearance in the last seven seasons, all under manager Bob Melvin, and their 27th overall. The A's lost at Kansas City 9-8 in 12 innings in the 2014 wild-card... [More]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Aaron Hicks injured his left hamstring running up the first-base line in the Yankees' 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night, another concern for New York heading into next week's AL wild-card game.Hicks' 11th-inning double on Saturday drove Didi Gregorius with the run that clinched a postseason berth, and on Sunday the Yankees learned Sunday that Gregorius had torn cartilage in his right wrist during his headfirst slide across the plate.Hicks, who had fouled a pitch off his left ankle just before the double, left Monday's game with left hamstring tightness.New York's win eliminated the Rays and ensured a postseason berth for Oakland, which is likely to be the wild-card opponent but also is still alive in the AL West race. At 96-60, New York is assured of its best record since going 97-65 in 2011.Gardner had a go-ahead single off Ryan Yarbrough (15-6) in a two-run fifth inning.New York used eight pitchers and gave its starters extra rest ahead of the... [More]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Aaron Hicks injured his left hamstring running up the first-base line in the Yankees' 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night, another concern for New York heading into next week's AL wild-card game.Hicks' 11th-inning double on Saturday drove Didi Gregorius with the run that clinched a postseason berth, and on Sunday the Yankees learned Sunday that Gregorius had torn cartilage in his right wrist during his headfirst slide across the plate.Hicks, who had fouled a pitch off his left ankle just before the double, left Monday's game with left hamstring tightness.New York's win eliminated the Rays and ensured a postseason berth for Oakland, which is likely to be the wild-card opponent but also is still alive in the AL West race. At 96-60, New York is assured of its best record since going 97-65 in 2011.Gardner had a go-ahead single off Ryan Yarbrough (15-6) in a two-run fifth inning.New York used eight pitchers and gave its starters extra rest ahead of the... [More]

DENVER (AP) — Trevor Story is going over the top to get back on the field, altering his throwing motion to take some of the stress off his sore right elbow.The Colorado Rockies All-Star shortstop returned to the lineup Monday night after missing a week with the ailment. Story batted fifth as the playoff-chasing Rockies opened a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies."It's tough just sitting and watching," Story said. "It's not ideal. The timing of it was pretty brutal. Just really tried to keep my focus .on the treatment and getting better."Story tweaked his elbow on a throw in the first inning Sept. 17 in Los Angeles and aggravated it on a swing in the fourth."It's gotten better every single day, and I'm ready to play," Story said.Story has been practicing throwing from a more straightaway angle, which cuts down on elbow stress. He also worked on spin moves Sunday in Arizona and said "it felt good," he said. "There are little things I can do to take pressure off."At the plate,... [More]