The awe and excitement that filled T-Mobile Park was palpable.

The 35,476 fans, many of them wearing custom-made Hello Kitty Mariners’ starter jackets (don’t ask), had just witnessed the smiling face of the team’s future display power rarely seen in the two-plus decades of the stadium’s existence.

Lazaro Montes’ three-run homer in ...Read more

CHICAGO — Inserted the words “Chicago White Sox magic number” into Google on Tuesday and came up with a picture of Mike Vasil and his magic wand.

Oh well.

Suffice it to say, the White Sox are close to pulling off one of the most amazing sports stories in years — going to the postseason two years after setting a modern major league ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Royals starter Michael Wacha continues to set career milestones in his third season with the organization.

On Tuesday, Wacha reached a career-high in innings pitched in a season. He now sits at 182 2/3 innings after tossing six shutout frames against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Wacha eclipsed his previous high ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants have been out of the playoff picture for most of the summer, but it wasn’t until Monday that the gavel officially came down. Even in victory, San Francisco was officially eliminated from postseason contention. All that’s left to do is play out the string of a fifth straight non-winning season, a first in ...Read more

The Padres didn’t have a ton of history with the arms lined up for the Nationals’ bullpen game on Tuesday night.

But it was baseball’s second-worst bullpen.

Flummoxed early by unfamiliar arms, the Padres scored five runs over their final two at-bats for a 5-4 win that allowed them to keep pace with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who won in ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Alec Bohm stopped when he should have gone. Brandon Marsh kept going when he should have stopped.

In the balance, the Phillies lost.

It all happened within a five-pitch span of the seventh inning Tuesday night in a 6-5 loss to the Astros that prevented the Phillies from gaining ground in both the division and wild-card races. ...Read more

ATLANTA — Coming off a series split against a sub-.500 Rangers team that manager Kevin Cash deemed “not good enough,” the Rays seemed to face a greater challenge Tuesday in opening a three-game set against the National League East-leading Braves.

A lot went well for the Rays in the 7-1 win.

Junior Caminero hit his (for now) American ...Read more

NEW YORK — The results were never going to be the most important part of Aaron Judge’s return to the Yankees.

Just having the three-time American League MVP back in the lineup after a three-month stint on the injured list for a broken rib made Tuesday night a rousing success for the Yankees.

So while Judge went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts ...Read more

Bubba Chandler ended his night with a fist pump.

His start wasn’t the only thing worth celebrating.

The Pittsburgh Pirates pummeled the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night at Rate Field in Chicago, winning 9-3 behind six strong innings from Chandler and an early offensive explosion. The Pirates scored five runs before White Sox starter Sean ...Read more

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge is back — but not built up all the way.

That’s why the Yankees plan to exercise caution with the slugger, who returned to their lineup — playing right field, batting third — on Tuesday night after missing the previous 84 games with a broken rib.

“He won’t play the whole game today, even though he wants to,...Read more

Sean Manaea flirted with perfection before allowing five consecutive hits and being pulled in the sixth inning.

But the Mets’ offense did enough in the early innings to secure a series win in Miami.

The Mets won, 7-4, with the offense starting the night hitting three home runs off Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara.

Francisco Lindor’s ...Read more

Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup again Tuesday, as the Dodgers ease him back into regular play after four days off to address lingering right biceps and left knee injuries.

“Came out of [Monday] well, but talking to the training staff, it’s more of the thought of, ‘Let’s build him up slowly,’ ” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. ...Read more

DETROIT — Of the many, many questions facing Tigers’ president Scott Harris after the season, what to do about Drew Anderson, while maybe not priority one, will be a tough one.

The Tigers hold a $10 million option on the 32-year-old right-hander for 2027. That’s well below the going rate for a versatile, multi-weaponed starting pitcher. ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — He homered, he flapped, he Euro’ed, he curtain called. It was quite the weekend for Ronald Acuña Jr., the Braves’ right fielder and newest Philly villain.

Acuña is a five-time All-Star, the 2023 National League MVP, and, in many respects, Atlanta’s version of Phillies superstar Bryce Harper, from his sense of style to ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Despite blowing a late lead for a second straight day, the Giants defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Labor Day at Oracle Park as Shay Whitcomb delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning.

The Giants entered the top of the ninth inning leading 3-2, but the Cardinals’ Joshua Báez and Thomas Saggese led ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As Shohei Ohtani strode up to the plate Monday, Michael Bublé’s voice crooned over the Dodger Stadium speakers as always. But after four games out of the lineup, the song seemed to be asking fans to believe:

“I’m feeling ... good.”

Ohtani at least looked more comfortable in the batter’s box than he did last Wednesday...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Nick Pivetta came back after nearly five months and pitched like it was a year ago.

The right-hander with a tenuous right elbow worked five scoreless innings on Monday, and the Padres held on for a 3-2 victory over the Nationals.

That was about as good as could be expected from a guy who was shut down with an elbow flexor strain ...Read more