The chill is in the air, the days of summer feel long gone already, the weather is changing, the leaves are falling and it could only mean that one thing is on the horizon – postseason baseball.
The field was set on Sunday as baseball fans had their eyes on a handful of teams. The Philadelphia Phillies needed a win to get in and avoid a devastating collapse and the Houston Astros just needed a victory to clinch their spot in the playoffs.
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Luckily, for both teams, disaster was averted.
Kyle Schwarber’s two-run double and Bryce Harper’s solo home run propelled the Phillies to a 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. It gave Philadelphia a wild-card berth as the team finished 88-74 on the year.
Philadelphia had lost six of its last eight games before Sunday’s win.
Houston just needed a win to wrap up the American League West division title. The Astros responded with a 9-0 victory over the Athletics in Sacramento. Ethan Pecko gave Houston three innings of strong work, allowing only one hit and striking out two. The rest of the bullpen did its job to close the door. Christian Walker hit his 29th home run of the season in the sixth to bolster the Astros’ chances.
The Astros finished the year 81-81.
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October baseball will finally be upon us after a wild season.
The American League division winners include the Tampa Bay Rays (AL East), Cleveland Guardians (AL Central) and the Astros (AL West). The National League division winners include the Atlanta Braves (NL East), Milwaukee Brewers (NL Central) and Los Angeles Dodgers (NL West).
The Rays, Guardians, Brewers and Dodgers each have a bye into the Division Series.
The Wild Card portion of the bracket begins Tuesday. The Braves take on the Phillies, the Astros meet the Chicago White Sox, the New York Yankees go up against the Boston Red Sox and the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs battle it out.
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The Wild Card round is a best-of-three. The Phillies and Braves begin the postseason at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
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