Phillies Seal Wild Card, Astros Clinch AL West With 7-3 and 9-0 Wins

Q: Will the renewed Yankees-Red Sox rivalry or Houston's unprecedented .500 playoff berth deliver the biggest October baseball shocker?

The bigger October shocker is Houston reaching the playoffs at 81-81. A Yankees-Red Sox postseason meeting is dramatic, but it is not unprecedented. The rivals have met six previous times in October and are split 3-3 all-time in postseason series. This year’s matchup is compelling because Boston surged from a miserable start, fired Alex Cora in April, then ripped off a 15-game winning streak and a 32-5 stretch, while New York still finished 93-68 and won the season series 7-6. That makes it a major TV event and a real baseball story, but not a structural surprise. Houston’s berth is different. The Astros became the first team in a full MLB season to make the postseason at exactly .500, and they did it by winning an AL West widely described as historically weak. That is a genuine outlier in modern baseball and a more meaningful shock to the sport’s competitive norms than a renewed rivalry series, even one with prime-time visibility at Yankee Stadium. That said, the bigger on-field surprise from here could still come from New York-Boston. Those clubs are stronger than Houston’s and have enough pitching to disrupt the bracket, with the winner advancing to face the top-seeded Rays. Houston, however, is not harmless. The Astros host the White Sox, went 5-2 against Chicago in the regular season, and still have a proven October threat in Yordan Alvarez. So the headline shock is Houston’s .500 playoff entry; the louder theater is Yankees-Red Sox.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 27

Philadelphia grabbed the final NL wild-card spot at 88-74 by beating Tampa Bay 7-3, ending a skid in which the Phillies had lost six of their previous eight games.
Kyle Schwarber’s two-run double and Bryce Harper’s solo homer drove that win, while Houston locked up the AL West with a 9-0 rout of the Athletics after entering the day needing one victory.
Christian Walker’s 29th homer backed Astros pitching that opened with three one-hit innings from Ethan Pecko, helping Houston finish an even 81-81.
The results completed the postseason field: Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Milwaukee and the Dodgers earned Division Series byes, while the wild-card round starts Tuesday in a best-of-three format.
Tuesday’s matchups are Braves-Phillies, Astros-White Sox, Yankees-Red Sox and Padres-Cubs, with Philadelphia opening at Atlanta at 2 p.m. ET.