Baseball Playoffs Set as Regular Season Concludes Along With Some Notable Careers

It came down to the final day of the baseball season before the post season matchups were set, but after 162 games, we are here.

In the National League, the Atlanta Braves (104-58), winners of the East and the Los Angeles Dodgers (100-62), winners of the West, will get first round byes. In the Wild Card round, the Milwaukee Brewers (92-70) and winners of the Central, will host the Arizona Diamondbacks (84-78), while the Philadelphia Phillies (90-72) will host the Miami Marlins (84-77). These are best of three series, with all three games held in the host city. Recall that the Phillies were the lowest seed in the NL Wild Card round last year, and won the National League Pennant, so anything can happen.

In the American League, the Baltimore Orioles (101-61), winners of the East, and the Houston Astros (90-72) winners of the West and the defending World Series champs, will have first round byes. The Astros needed a win on the last day of the season and a loss by the Texas Rangers to win the A.L. West, and that’s what happened. The Astros beat Arizona and Texas (90-72) lost to Seattle. The Astros held the tie breaker over Texas, so Houston gets a few days off while the Rangers will play at Tampa Bay (99-63) in a Wild Card matchup. The Minnesota Twins (87-75), winners of the Central, will host the third A.L. Wild Card Toronto Blue Jays (89-73).

Notable Departures: Some longtime major leaguers wrapped up their careers as the season concluded. Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers concluded his brilliant 21 year career in front of the home fans. Cabrera was 0-3 with a walk in the 5-2 Tigers’ victory over the Cleveland Guardians. Cabrera played for the then Florida Marlins from 2003 through 2007 when he was traded to Detroit. He spent the remainder of his career there. Cabrera’s career stats include a .306 batting average, 511 home runs, 3174 hits, and 1881 RBIs. He’s one of only seven players with 500 homers and 3000 hits. He won four A.L batting titles with Detroit, including the 2012 season, where he became the first major leaguer to win baseball’s Triple Crown since 1967. He hit .330 with 44 homers and 139 RBIs that year. He’ll be a lock to enter the Hall of Fame when he’s eligible in five years.

Here’s a look at Cabrera’s farewell:

Speaking of the Cleveland Guardians, longtime manager Terry Francona is also hanging it up. Francona won two World Series while managing the Boston Red Sox, and ends his career with a record of 1935-1661 in regular season games with Philadelphia, Boston, and Cleveland. His post season record is 44-34; besides his two Red Sox World Series championships, he also managed Cleveland to an American League pennant in 2016 before losing the World Series in seven games to the Chicago Cubs.

In St. Louis, longtime Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright made the final appearance of his 18 year career not on the mound but at the plate. He struck out. His final pitching stats include a record of 200-128 with a 3.53 ERA. In Kansas City, righthander Zack Greinke picked up the victory in the Royals’ 5-2 win over the New York Yankees. It’s been a horrible season for the Royals, who finished with a record of 56-106, but its been a nightmare for Greinke. It was just his second victory of the season, against 15 losses, with a 5.06 ERA in 30 games. That shouldn’t detract from his career numbers of 225-156 with a 3.49 ERA in 20 years with six major league clubs, beginning and ending in Kansas City. Greinke hasn’t announced any future plans, but its likely that he’ll retire.