ATLANTA — While Jesús Luzardo was warming up in the bullpen on Sunday in Tampa, Fla., to face hitters for the first time in 20 days, J.T. Realmuto was taking swings in the indoor batting cage.

The catcher was preparing for his next at-bat against the Rays in the Phillies’ eventual 7-3 win, which clinched a berth to the National League wild...Read more

HOUSTON — Colson Montgomery’s pro career was just getting underway the last time the Chicago White Sox reached the postseason.

“I remember when I got drafted (in 2021), that was the last time we were in the playoffs,” the shortstop said Sunday at Rate Field. “First we were high on top of the world being in the playoffs, and then down ...Read more

NEW YORK — When you’re in the eye of the storm that is baseball’s greatest rivalry, there is no escaping the venom or the glare. Ron Guidry, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, they can all tell you about it, the pressures that go with pitching the kind of game Cam Schlittler will be pitching Tuesday night in Yankee Stadium.

�...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Let's get the rose-colored story line out of the way, right away.

The postseason starts Tuesday, and it could be the last we see of Major League Baseball for a long, long time. The owners expect to lock out the players when the collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, and the owners have made their pitch loud and clear: ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — It seems like a simple equation: $338 million produces 100.

That's the Los Angeles Dodgers season-ending payroll and victory total. But to assume a franchise can merely buy a playoff berth is a stretch.

The New York Mets sit at home — or more likely at lavish vacation destinations, given their perch at the top of baseball's ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — The Chicago Cubs begin their playoff journey Tuesday against the same wild-card foe as last year, hoping for the same outcome.

Many of the same core players are back on both the Cubs and San Diego Padres, though the Cubs added Alex Bregman, who could be the X factor in the series.

What makes this Cubs team believe it can repeat...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — They haven’t avoided disaster yet. For now, all they have done is postpone it.

That’s a good thing, of course. Much better than the alternative. The Phillies arrived at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday with a chance to irrevocably damage their legacy by completing one of the most sudden and improbable late-season collapses in ...Read more

SEATTLE — The sunshine made Sunday afternoon seem like summer for another day with the forlorn hopes that it and the baseball season wouldn’t end.

The cold wind swirling through T-Mobile Park was a bitter reminder that the warm days are gone and it will be another fall in the Pacific Northwest without baseball.

For the Seattle Mariners and...Read more

DETROIT — For the first time since 2018, the Pittsburgh Pirates have finished with a winning record.

The Pirates earned their 82nd win on Sunday afternoon, beating the Detroit Tigers 4-2 at Comerica Park. They’ll enter the offseason with a victory, although their 82-80 record left them short of their ultimate, postseason goal.

Manager Don ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — The Los Angeles Dodgers closed the 2026 regular season with a 5-1 win against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday, bringing their record to 100-62.

"There's a lot of things that we had to go through this year," manager Dave Roberts said. "And we just continue to remain steadfast and play on."

The Dodgers were already locked ...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A long, strange 2026 Boston Red Sox regular season came to a fittingly unusual end Sunday afternoon, with a 6-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

At Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Boston and Chicago ball clubs flew south late Friday night, after the Red Sox swept their split-doubleheader at Fenway Park, to ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins, reduced to playing spoiler for the final weeks of the regular season, carried out their last goal of the 2026 season with a 6-4 victory that eliminated the Texas Rangers from their own playoff chase.

There was a mix of highlights from cornerstone players and guys who may not return to the Twins’ roster ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Houston Astros gave the Chicago White Sox fits during their regular-season meetings.

The Sox hope for better results when the teams square off in an American League wild-card series. The best-of-three matchup begins on Tuesday at Daikin Park in Houston.

“Excited about it,” Sox manager Will Venable said. “We know how good ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals concluded their 2026 season on a high note.

After a disappointing campaign that fell far short of expectations, the Royals sent their fans home with a victory — and questions awaiting answers.

The Royals must address their pitching this offseason. Their starting rotation was ravaged with injuries ...Read more

MILWAUKEE — The St. Louis Cardinals, who spent so much of the season with comebacks as their calling card, had one last threat in them late in their final game of the season.

They’ll have to wait to pull off their next one, however.

The Cardinals stirred from quiet seven innings at the start of the end of their season for four runs in the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Common sense prevailed at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, as the club announced that Cam Schlittler will start Game 1 of the wild-card series against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.

Schlittler is set to become the AL Cy Young, but the Yankees had been debating whether or not to have him start Game 2 to get him some extra rest. Instead, ...Read more

NEW YORK — With the Yankees’ last game of the regular season rained out, the club turned its full attention to the playoffs on Sunday afternoon.

The Yankees, having failed to win a division title for the second straight year after finishing an injury-ravaged campaign with a 93-68 record, will begin postseason play with a wild-card rematch ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A season that couldn’t end soon enough was extended by another hour Sunday afternoon because of the same nor’easter that has ravaged much of the East Coast. The New York Mets lost 6-4 at Nationals Park in game 162, but it didn’t matter for them or for the Washington Nationals, the NL East’s two worst teams in 2026.

Still,...Read more

SEATTLE — As fans made their way into T-Mobile Park for the final game of what has likely been the most disappointing season in franchise history, the Seattle Mariners players and staff gathered for one last team meeting before heading out on to a crisp and sunny Sunday to play the Los Angeles Angels.

These sort of season-ending meetings ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — On a clear June evening in Washington, D.C., earlier this year, the Phillies were down to their final strike of the game. Improbably, unbelievably, they pulled off an eight-run comeback anyway. A night later, they did it again, needing only two runs that time.

On an August night in Anaheim, Calif., there were two outs in the ...Read more