Wednesday’s games have come and gone, and two other teams were sent packing along with the Red Sox as Boston’s season ended unceremoniously at the hands of the Yankees. Plenty more ex-Red Sox made impacts on their respective games, and the playoff picture for the divisional round is now set…. on the AL side, anyway. To borrow my usual Minor Lines segueing line, let’s get into it.
The only series to get tied up in game 2 did so in dramatic fashion as this game is also the only game of the postseason thus far to reach extra innings. Things looked bleak for the Phillies’ season when they gave up two runs in the seventh; the Phillies had Christopher Sanchez putting in work but his production was just a hair under that of the Braves’ Tyler Mahle. But, Mahle couldn’t stay in forever, and after 7 innings of allowing just one run, he was pulled and Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper took full advantage in the 8th with back-to-back homers. Alec Bohm then got in on the action with a solo shot of his own in the 10th off of Didier Fuentes. Game 3 begins at 8:00 PM tonight.
The White Sox’s first playoff advancement in more than 20 years came with another decisive victory including some heavy offense in the first inning. The White Sox, who led the league in 1st inning runs this season, got Hunter Brown for four runs before the frame was over. This included a two-run knock by Andrew Benintendi followed by another RBI by Tristan Peters. The Astros answered with a lead-off home run by Jeremy Pena, and stayed in the game due to an unusual outing by Sean Burke wherein he struck out eight but allowed three home runs; thankfully for him, those were all solo shots.
The reaper’s kiss for Houston came from Chicago’s Chase Meidroth, who belted a three-run shot to put this game, and the series, out of reach. And, yes, Meidroth was part of the return for Garrett Crochet, who also saw some playoff reps on Wednesday. Chicago will now head to Cleveland to begin their divisional series on Saturday afternoon.
Xander Boegarts was involved in both defining plays for the Padres on Wednesday night as they advanced to the divisional round. He hit an RBI single in the second inning and was also on base when Gavin Sheets tore the game open (or, as it was only the fourth inning, at least put it on notice) with a two-run shot. The inning could have gotten even uglier for Chicago, but Pete Crow-Armstrong had one last leaping catch at the wall in him for 2026 to end the inning. The rest of the game rolled on without incident or too much clamor, and the final score stayed 4-1. The guy who started the game for San Diego? You might recognize him – it was Nick Pivetta. The Padres now head to Milwaukee to face a pretty powerful contender for their best-of-5.
