#wild-card-series

#wild-card-series

It's pretty evident that the Red Sox missed Rafael Devers's bat in their Wild Card Series loss to the Yankees. Boston scored just six runs over the three-game set, getting shut out with the season on the line in Thursday's Game 3. As a team, the Red Sox hit .198 in the series. Trevor Story's homer in Game 2 served as the Red Sox' only home run in the series, while the team only had four total extra-base hits (zero in Game 3).

Aaron Boone's big-game and postseason ledger is expansive between his game-winning home run in Game 7 of the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox in 2003, playing in that ensuring World Series against the Florida Marlins, and then navigating the Yankees through six previous postseason appearances with an American League pennant to show for it last year.

The Toronto Blue Jays will open the post-season with an afternoon matchup. MLB announced the schedule for the first two games of the American League Division Series on Wednesday. If Boston wins its AL Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees, Toronto begins the playoffs Saturday against the Red Sox at 1:08 p.m. ET. Should New York advance, the Blue Jays will take on the Yankees on Saturday at 4:08 p.m.

The Padres selected Martín Maldonado back onto the 40-man roster on Tuesday morning. That was required to carry him as the backup catcher for their Wild Card Series against the Cubs. Reliever , who is out for the season with a quad injury, was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Maldonado was in the organization on a minor league deal after being released from the MLB roster in August.

In his four starts since being called up, he hasn't looked like a rookie at all. Sometimes, simply throwing enough pitches is enough to get you through an outing, and Early has several. Here are his pitch movements from his last outing: There are six distinct shapes here, and he's been able to throw strikes with most of them. He doesn't need to give you seven shutout innings, either,

The Los Angeles Dodgers are concluding the regular season on Sunday with nothing to play for in terms of the postseason and with Clayton Kershaw making his final start of the year. Kershaw announced plans to retire after his 18th season, which allowed for a celebratory moment with his last start at Dodger Stadium. He then addressed fans before the Dodgers played their final home game of the regular season.