SAN DIEGO (AP) — Wil Myers is back. While Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado have grabbed most of the attention on the playoff-bound Padres, Myers’ comeback performance has also been instrumental in returning San Diego to postseason play for the first time since 2006. Myers’ six-year sojourn with the Padres has been twisted and often dismal, both at the plate and as a player on a team that lost with regularity. The longest-tenured Padres player, Myers has bounced back from his worst season and is putting up impressive numbers in the pandemic-shortened season. The outfielder is hitting .291 with 14 homers and 38 RBIs in 52 games. Fittingly, Myers hit a big three-run home run in the Padres’ playoff-clinching, 11-inning victory against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. “Throughout my entire career I’ve hit some home runs, but this one the other day was pretty big,” he said. “To be able to have a hit that helped push us to get there was really cool.” In January 2015, Mye... [More]

A look at what's happening around the majors today: ___ CRUNCH TIME Eight teams in the National League are vying for four available postseason spots heading into the regular season’s final weekend, and Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty can get St. Louis a crucial win in the opener of a doubleheader against Milwaukee. The clubs opened a five-game series Thursday that could have huge implications on the race, as none of the six other contenders are facing each other. The Marlins, Phillies, Cardinals, Reds, Brewers and Giants are the top teams still in contention -- and they’re packed tightly with slots available for one team from the NL East, another from the NL Central and then two wild cards. The Mets (26-31) and Rockies (25-31) are mathematically eligible but need to win out just to have a shot. AL-MOST OVER Only one playoff spot remains open in the AL, and Michael Brantley and the Astros are on the verge of clinching it. Houston is visiting the Rangers this weekend. The Twins are tryi... [More]

A look at what's happening around the majors Friday: ___ CRUNCH TIME Eight teams in the National League are vying for four available postseason spots heading into the regular season’s final weekend, and Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty can get St. Louis a crucial win in the opener of a doubleheader against Milwaukee. The clubs opened a five-game series Thursday that could have huge implications on the race, as none of the six other contenders are facing each other. The Marlins, Phillies, Cardinals, Reds, Brewers and Giants are the top teams still in contention -- and they’re packed tightly with slots available for one team from the NL East, another from the NL Central and then two wild cards. The Mets (26-31) and Rockies (25-31) are mathematically eligible but need to win out just to have a shot. AL-MOST OVER Only one playoff spot remains open in the AL, and Michael Brantley and the Astros are on the verge of clinching it. Houston is visiting the Rangers this weekend. The Twins are try... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Raimel Tapia hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 11th inning, and the Colorado Rockies rallied to keep contending San Francisco from gaining ground in the NL wild-card race by beating the Giants 5-4 on Thursday. Jairo Díaz earned his fourth save by getting Austin Slater to ground into a game-ending double play. Several cheering Rockies jumped over the dugout rail celebrating. The Giants (28-28), winners of three of their last five, dropped behind idle Cincinnati for the first NL wild card. The Reds (29-28) visit Minnesota over the final weekend as the playoff-bound Padres come to San Francisco. Trevor Cahill (1-2) took the loss after San Francisco had a chance in the 10th. Brandon Belt — who homered in the eighth inning to tie the game on his 1,000th career hit — and Brandon Crawford were intentionally walked by Daniel Bard (4-2). Shortstop Trevor Story fielded Evan Longoria’s grounder and threw Alex Dickerson out at home as San Francisco couldn’t capi... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The New York Mets placed Michael Conforto on the injured list Thursday with a hamstring injury, ending the outfielder’s regular season. Conforto was first hurt Sunday, sat out two games and then returned in Wednesday’s loss to Tampa Bay. Manager Luis Rojas said Conforto aggravated the injury running to first base in the eighth inning. “He’s in the position where he’s not going to be able to go out there,” Rojas said. “He’d probably aggravate it even more.” Conforto was hitting a career-high .322 with nine home runs and 31 RBIs for the Mets. He also was sixth in the National League in on-base percentage (.412), tied for eighth in runs (40) and ninth in batting average. “He had a great regular season,” Rojas said. “He was solid throughout, from the beginning until he was not able now. He just played really well. Offensively, his numbers are there. He was unbelievable. He did a great job improving some of the parts he said he wanted to improve in his game offensively, and he also improved some of the parts he wanted to improve defensively.” ___ More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MIAMI (AP) — Don Mattingly returns this weekend to Yankee Stadium, where his best years as a player always ended when the regular season did. Now Mattingly is enjoying perhaps his best year as a manager, leading the Miami Marlins as they try to extend their improbable season into next week. His young team is staggering toward the finish line, with four consecutive losses heading into Thursday night's game in Atlanta. But the Marlins still control their own destiny, and will head to New York for a three-game series hoping to clinch their first postseason berth since 2003. “Nobody picked this club to be able to do anything this season, but we believed in ourselves,” Mattingly said. “It’s easy to be proud of these guys, the way they have dealt with everything.” It would be rich irony for Mattingly’s team to clinch a postseason spot in Yankee Stadium, where he was an MVP, a batting champion and a six-time All-Star — but made the playoffs only in the final season of his 14-y... [More]

The absence of fans didn't stop Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto from receiving an ovation after hitting a homer to put his team ahead for good. All that applause Wednesday came from the Reds grounds crew. When they haven’t been keeping Great America Ball Park in tip-top shape, the groundskeepers have loudly cheered for the Reds from the stands. Teams throughout the major leagues have found different ways to maintain intensity without the benefit of fans in the ballpark. The Milwaukee Brewers have formed a makeshift band in the bullpen. Whenever Minnesota’s Sergio Romo leaves the bullpen to pitch, the other Twins relievers play maracas. But the most notable example arguably involves the Cincinnati grounds crew. Votto, who gave the crew noisemakers earlier this season, said the groundskeepers’ constant cheering even caused an opposing player to comment to him. “He said, ‘I hate that group,’" Votto said. “And I thought, ‘That’s exactly what we want.’ That’s... [More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Royals outfielder Alex Gordon, the former first-round pick whose rollercoaster career took him from near bust to All-Star and Gold Glove winner, announced Thursday he will retire after the season. Gordon was the second overall pick in the 2005 first-year player draft following a standout career at Nebraska, where he won the Golden Spikes Award as the best amateur in baseball. He made his big league debut two years later and, after a few years shuttling back and forth to the minors, moved from third base to the outfield and finally found success. He wound up playing his entire 14-year career in Kansas City, joining only George Brett and Frank White as position players with that much longevity with the franchise. He heads into a weekend four-game series against Detroit with the third-most walks (682), fourth-most homers (190), fifth-most doubles (357) and sixth-most games played (1,749) in club history. The three-time All-Star also holds the dubious ... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Yan Gomes was asked about the 2019 World Series champion Washington Nationals essentially playing out the string over the last four games of this season, the catcher was put off by the premise. “I don’t think we’re technically out of it yet,” Gomes said. Technically, at that moment, he was right. About four hours later, once Wednesday had turned into Thursday and a game involving other teams ended the wrong way for Washington’s tiny remaining hopes, the Nationals were officially done. For the second straight season, manager Dave Martinez’s club got off to a 19-31 start. This time, there were not enough games to dig out of that hole. A year after winning the franchise’s first championship thanks to a historic turnaround, the Nationals woke up Thursday in last place in the NL East with a 23-33 record and no mathematical chance of returning to the playoffs in a pandemic-shortened 2020. That extends a trend: No team has won the World Series in consec... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Randy Arozarena homered twice and the Tampa Bay Rays clinched their first AL East title in 10 years Wednesday night with an 8-5 victory over the New York Mets. Joey Wendle and Brandon Lowe also went deep to help Tyler Glasnow (5-1) win his fifth straight decision. Tampa Bay will be home at quirky Tropicana Field for a best-of-three first-round playoff series beginning next Tuesday. It is the third division crown for the thrifty Rays, who also won the AL East in 2008 and 2010. Their inaugural season was 1998. After missing a chance to clinch Tuesday, the Rays went into Wednesday again needing just a win or a New York Yankees loss against Toronto to lock up the division championship. The Rays (37-20) broke a 2-all tie in the sixth on Arozarena’s two-run homer off Michael Wacha (1-4) and pulled away. As has become customary during this pandemic-shortened season, the celebration was muted. After Nick Anderson fanned Andres Gimenez for the final out, the closer exchange... [More]

A look at what's happening around the majors on Thursday: PADRES PREDICAMENT Fresh off clinching their first playoff berth in 14 seasons, San Diego is hoping for good news concerning Mike Clevinger. Clevinger was suddenly pulled after only one inning of his start Wednesday and sent for an MRI on his right biceps. The Padres got him a big trade with Cleveland on Aug. 31 and he had been the presumed Game 1 starter in the wild-card round next Wednesday. If Clevinger can’t go, that role could go to Dinelson Lamet. Clevinger’s start had been pushed back from Saturday night because of tightness in his right biceps. He had thrown a bullpen session this week and seemed fine to go, but his biceps tightened up after he threw a curveball to the second batter of the game against the Angels. “We’re comfortable with our options, yeah, but like I said, we’re not going to flip out and freak out,” manager Jayce Tingler said. A NEW ERA No Brewers pitcher has won an ERA title -- Corbin Burnes... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — NL Cy Young Award contender Max Fried lasted just one inning in his final start of the regular season, leaving a game against the Miami Marlins after tweaking his ankle fielding a bunt Wednesday night. Fried (7-0) retired the first two hitters, including Starling Marte who dropped a bunt down the third-base line. The left-hander bounded off the mound, planted his left foot, grabbed the ball bare-handed, spun and threw to first just ahead of Marte. Fried didn't appear hurt but wasn't the same pitcher after that play. After not giving up a homer all season, he grooved a fastball that Jesus Aguilar drove off the facade of the second deck. Brian Anderson sent a drive into the center-field seats and Garrett Cooper just missed a third straight homer, doubling off the wall. Fried got out of the inning trailing 2-0, but he did not return in the second. He sat solemnly in the dugout chatting with manager Brian Snitker and getting what appeared to a pep talk from teammate Fre... [More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals placed outfielder Bubba Starling and right-hander Kyle Zimmer on the injured list and returned left-hander Mike Montgomery and outfielder Franchy Cordero from rehab assignments as part of a series of roster moves to set them up for the final five games of the season. Kansas City also recalled right-hander Jakob Junis, optioned infielder Erick Mejia to its alternate training site and transferred right-hander Matt Harvey to the 45-day injured list to create the necessary roster space. The Royals faced the Cardinals on Wednesday night before a four-game set against the Tigers to wrap up the season. Montgomery has been out since his start July 27 in Detroit with a lat strain and Cordero had been sidelined by a sprained wrist. Zimmer left his appearance Tuesday night with what manager Mike Matheny called a “zinger” in his right elbow while Starling's frustrating season at the plate will end because of back spasms. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Right-hander Mike Clevinger of the playoff-bound San Diego Padres lasted only one inning in his start against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. The team said the right-hander's departure was unplanned but didn't provide any other information. Clevinger's start had been pushed back from Saturday night because of tightness in his right biceps. Manager Jayce Tingler said on Tuesday that the right-hander threw a bullpen session on Monday and seemed good to go for Wednesday afternoon's start. A few days earlier, Tingler held out hope that Clevinger might even be able to make two more starts before the regular season ended, if even if the second one was brief. Clevinger, obtained in a blockbuster trade with Cleveland on Aug. 31, breezed through the first inning on 12 pitches, including striking out Mike Trout and David Fletcher. Rookie Adrian Morejon began warming up in the bullpen while the Padres batted in the bottom of the inning and came out to start the second. Morejon allowed a two-run home run to Shohei Ohtani and solo shots to Justin Upton and Anthony Bemboom that gave the Angels a 4-2 lead. The Padres have clinched their first playoff berth in 14 seasons and their magic number remains at two for clinching homefield advantage in the wild-card round next week. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

A look at what's happening around the majors on Wednesday: RAYS THE BANNER Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow (4-1, 4.21 ERA) gets his final tuneup for the postseason when he faces Robinson Canó and the New York Mets at Citi Field. Glasnow and the playoff-bound Rays hope to make it a special night -- they can clinch their first AL East title with a win, or a loss by the Yankees to Toronto. “I go into it with maybe a little bit more confidence than I did last year,” Glasnow said. “Just an exciting time.” Glasnow is pegged to start the second game of Tampa Bay’s best-of-three, first-round playoff series next week, manager Kevin Cash said. Blake Snell is lined up for the opener, and Charlie Morton would pitch a potential Game 3. All three would have two extra days of rest. “I feel good,” Glasnow said. “It definitely is starting to feel more like, in a rhythm.” Glasnow is 4-0 in his last five starts. TUNEUP TIME Cleveland ace Shane Bieber (8-1, 1.74 ERA) had his start pushe... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — José Ramírez pushed the Cleveland Indians into the playoffs with one swing and strengthened his case for the AL MVP award. Ramírez hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning, giving Cleveland a 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox that clinched a postseason berth Tuesday night. Ramírez’s drive to right off José Ruiz scored César Hernández and Francisco Lindor, setting off a wild celebration at home plate as the Indians reached the postseason for the fourth time in five years. Lindor had pulled Cleveland within one on a two-out double that plated Roberto Perez, who began the inning on second base. After Matt Foster (5-1) walked Hernández, Ruiz entered and gave up the game-ending drive. BRAVES 11, MARLINS 1 ATLANTA (AP) — Bryse Wilson pitched five scoreless innings, Marcell Ozuna drove in five runs with four hits that included two homers and Atlanta clinched its third straight NL East title. Atlanta hit five homers, including drives by Dansby Swan... [More]

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shortstop Andrelton Simmons has opted out of the remainder of the Los Angeles Angels' season. The Angels announced the four-time Gold Glove-winning shortstop's decision Tuesday before they faced the San Diego Padres. Los Angeles (24-31) is still technically in the playoff race with five games left in the regular season, and Simmons clearly caught the Angels by surprise, although the club said it respected his decision. The 31-year-old Simmons, who can be a free agent this winter, is finishing his fifth year with the Angels. After spraining his ankle in late July and missing 22 games, Simmons is currently batting .297 with 10 RBIs while playing his usual stellar defense, albeit with four errors in 30 games. “At this time, I feel this is the best decision for me and my family,” Simmons said in a statement. “We don't know what the future holds, but we would like to sincerely thank the Angels organization and Angels fans for welcoming and making us feel at ho... [More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals shut down Dakota Hudson for the season by transferring him to the 45-day injured list Tuesday while activating reliever Kodi Whitley and optioning Junior Fernandez to their alternate training site. Hudson left his start last Thursday against Pittsburgh after two innings with elbow tightness, and Cardinals president John Mozeliak said an MRI exam revealed a “flexor tendon issue.” Hudson was supposed to see Cardinals medical director Dr. George A. Paletta Jr. for another exam Tuesday but that has been delayed. The 25-year-old Hudson, who won 16 games last season, will finish 3-2 with a 2.77 ERA in eight starts this season. Whitley is the last Cardinals player that was part of the team's COVID-19 outbreak to return. The reason he's been out so long has been elbow soreness. He threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings in two appearances before he was sidelined. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Mariners second baseman Dylan Moore’s season is over after he was placed on the seven-day concussion list Tuesday. Moore was hit in the head for the second time in a week, taking a 92 mph fastball from Houston Astros reliever Brandon Bielak off the helmet in a 6-1 win over Houston on Monday night. Moore remained in the game, but began to feel effects afterward, Mariners manager Scott Servais said. Moore also briefly stayed in the game after taking a 99 mph pitch to the head from San Francisco Giants reliever Sam Coonrod last Wednesday. He was pulled before taking the field the next inning. Moore returned to the lineup the next day. Ty France will take Moore’s place at second base and the Mariners called up outfielder Jake Fraley to take his roster spot against the Astros on Tuesday night. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins reinstated right-hander Homer Bailey from the 45-day injured list on Tuesday so he could start their series opener against Detroit. Bailey made just one start with his new team before getting hurt, picking up the victory by logging five innings in Minnesota's home opener on July 28 against St. Louis. The 34-year-old missed the next 51 games with right biceps tendinitis. He signed a one-year, $7 million contract with the Twins, and his salary was prorated once the coronavirus pandemic prompted an abbreviated 60-game schedule. The Twins have used the injured list 16 times this season, covering 13 different players, but Bailey's activation leaves only right-hander Jake Odorizzi, second baseman Luis Arraez and outfielder Brent Rooker still sidelined. Rooker is done for the season because of a broken forearm, but Odorizzi (finger blister) and Arraez (knee tendinitis) are expected to be available next week once the postseason starts. Arraez suffered a minor ankle sprain on Monday at the team's alternate training site. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports