The Month That Was in Baseball: October 2024

Tuesday, October 1

The best-of-three first round in the MLB playoffs, now in its third year, is supposed to give the higher seed dominant advantage by hosting every game of the series—but once again, the visitors seem to have the upper hand. 

The 2024 postseason begins in Houston, where the Detroit Tigers—eight games below .500 as late as August 10 before suddenly surging to a wild card berth—keep their momentum going with a 3-1 victory over the AL West-winning Astros. Houston starter Framber Valdez, known for his high rate of ground balls, is burned in the second inning when the Tigers bat around on a series of grounders that eludes Astros infielders and results in all three of Detroit’s runs. From there, Tarik Skubal keeps Houston silent through six shutout innings; the Astros don’t threaten until the ninth, when they score once and have the bases loaded—only to watch in frustration as Jason Heyward’s scorching liner is aimed right at Detroit first baseman Spencer Torkelson, who gloves it for the final out. 

This Houston loss is their first to begin a playoff series after winning the previous 10 postseason openers. 

Valdez has lost his last four postseason starts, with an 8.27 ERA. 

Inexperience be damned: The Astros’ playoff roster enters the series with 581 games’ worth of playoff experience; the Tigers have only 12, all of them belonging to third baseman Matt Vierling—who played on the 2022 NL champion Philadelphia Phillies. 

The Kansas City Royals eke out a 1-0 victory in their series opener at Baltimore over the Orioles, as Bobby Witt Jr. brings home the game’s only run with an RBI single in the sixth off Corbin Burnes. Cole Ragans (four hits and no walks allowed, eight strikeouts) pitches six scoreless for the Royals, followed by three relievers finishing up the shutout; Burnes pitches one batter into the ninth, the first hurler to make it that far into a playoff game since 2019. 

Playing off the high of earning a wild card berth the day before in Atlanta, the New York Mets bounce back from several early deficits and defeat the Brewers at Milwaukee, 8-4. A five-run fifth, capped by a two-run, pinch-hit single from J.D. Martinez, provides the Mets with the killer rally. It’s playoff loss #7 in a row for the Brewers—the last four of which they had a two-run lead at some point. 

The San Diego Padres emerge as the lone home team on the day to nab a victory, shutting down the Braves, 4-0. Fernando Tatis Jr. provides an early spark with a two-run homer in the first inning, then Michael King takes over—becoming the first pitcher making his playoff debut to strike out 12 batters with no runs and no walks, allowing five hits over seven frames. 

The news is no better for Atlanta off the field, as the Braves announce that NL Cy Young Award candidate Chris Sale—who missed the team’s final regular season game the day before due to back spasms—will not be available for at least the rest of this short series. 

Wednesday, October 2

Road-field advantage gets the edge once again as two of three first-round playoff series are concluded in favor of the visitors. 

The AL West-winning Astros are out as their top relief combo of Ryan Pressly and Josh Hader cannot contain an eighth-inning outburst by the Tigers, who erase a brief 2-1 deficit and score four times on their way to a 5-2 victory. Pinch-hitter Andy Ibanez provides the crucial blow for Detroit with a two-out, tie-breaking double to clear the bases. Houston goes quietly over its final two ups, with Will Vest—the last of seven Detroit pitchers, all of them relievers—closing things out in the ninth for the Tigers. The loss eliminates the Astros, the team with the weakest (88-73) record among the six divisional champions, and snaps a record eight-year run in which they went as deep as the American League Championship Series. It’s also their seventh straight postseason loss at home. 

The #1 wild card seed is also out as the Orioles continue their long postseason slump, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Royals and bowing out in two straight. The ultimate winning run comes in the sixth as Bobby Witt Jr. races down the first-base line to beat out a throw to first, scoring Kyle Isbel from third with two outs. The Orioles’ offense is lifeless over their final four innings, producing two baserunners—neither of whom reach scoring position. For the Orioles, it’s their 11th straight playoff defeat, ending a season in which they began strong but played no better than .500 through the second half. (Some sources have the Orioles losing 10 straight playoff games, but we looked it up.)  

The Mets are six outs way from being a third team to complete a two-game road sweep, but the Brewers—and Jackson Chourio—have other ideas. The 20-year-old rookie, who earlier led off the Milwaukee first with a home run—goes deep again to start the eighth; four batters later, Garrett Mitchell blasts a two-run homer to give the Brewers a 5-3 lead which will hold to the end. Chourio is the second youngest major leaguer to hit two homers in a playoff game; Atlanta’s Andruw Jones, age 19 in 1996, remains the youngest. 

This is the first time in 27 postseason games that the Brewers triumph when trailing after seven innings. 

The Padres finish off the visiting Braves in two straight, scoring all five of their runs in the second capped by a two-run Jackson Merrill triple—on their way to a 5-4 victory. In celebration, there’s concern for San Diego starter Joe Musgrove, who exits in the fifth with tightness in his pitching elbow. After his departure, Atlanta does its best to bounce back, with home runs from Jorge Soler and Michael Harris II closing the Padres’ lead down to one by the eighth. But San Diego closer Robert Suarez shuts down the Braves in the ninth, clinching the series. 

Two days later, Musgrove—who in 2021 threw the first no-hitter in San Diego history—is told he’ll have to undergo Tommy John surgery, ending his year and the next as well. 

The ongoing legal battles between MLB and cash-strapped Diamond Sports Group (DSG) reaches a new chapter—not Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which DSG has already experienced—as DSG reveals in court that they are dropping regional TV contracts on Detroit and Tampa Bay and want to renegotiate with five other teams (the Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals) still under contract for 2025. DSG will retain its current contract the Braves. MLB expresses renewed dismay at DSG, whose financial problems have created a volatile broadcast environment for nearly half of MLB’s teams over the past couple of years; the league complains that it had no advance notice of DSG’s latest intentions and feels “sandbagged.”  

Thursday, October 3

Seventy-three years to the day of Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” that won the NL pennant for the New York Giants, the Mets—the league’s current New York-based team—experiences similar series-winning euphoria as Pete Alonso’s three-run homer with one out in the ninth erases a 2-0 Milwaukee lead in an eventual and stunning 4-2 comeback win to take their first-round series, two games to one. 

Outside of two early hits from Francisco Lindor, the Mets have nothing to show on offense against Milwaukee rookie starter Tobias Myers and three relievers. But the Brewers fail to take advantage as Mets starter Jose Quintana balances the game with six shutout innings. After his departure in the seventh, the Brewers finally strike on back-to-back homers from two unlikely sources: Jake Bauers (.199 regular season average) and Sal Frelick, who had hit just two homers in 475 regular season at-bats. The 2-0 lead, and the prospects of moving on, look safe for the Brewers as closer Devin Williams takes over in the ninth. But Williams gives up four runs—one more than he allowed in an injury-shortened 21.2 innings during the regular season—on three hits, a walk and a hit batter. David Peterson, who last threw seven innings of one-hit shutout ball against the Brewers on September 29, pitches a scoreless ninth to move the Mets to the NLDS and a series of dates with NL East rival Philadelphia. 

Alonso is the first major leaguer to hit a go-ahead home run with his team trailing in the ninth inning of a winner-take-all playoff game. 

The Brewers have lost six straight postseason series, and have only won two of their past 12 playoff games. 

Surprising reports out of Cincinnati say that former Boston and Cleveland manager Terry Francona, retired for a year after health issues caused him to quit the Guardians, will become the new pilot for the Reds. The 65-year-old Francona has 1,950 career victories, good for 13th on the all-time list; he can jump to 11th with 91 wins next year at Cincinnati. 

Friday, October 4

Tomoyuki Sugano, a veteran of 12 seasons for Japan’s Yomiuri Giants, has announced that he will make himself available to MLB teams this coming offseason. The 34-year-old right-hander has a career 136-75 record and 2.45 ERA in Japan—and he was especially sharp this past season, posting a 15-3 record and 1.78 ERA. But any MLB team that signs Sugano should not confuse him for a workhorse; only once (2018) as he thrown more than 200 innings in a season. 

Saturday, October 5

For one game, the Cleveland Guardians put the Tigers in their wild card place—becoming the first team in AL playoff history to score five runs before the first out, cruising to a 7-0 win over Detroit in ALDS Game One. Detroit ‘opener’ Tyler Holton is charged with four of those first five runs without retiring anyone, though one is unearned due to a Zach McKinstry error. Tanner Bibee is removed with two outs in the fifth, one out shy of earning the win for the Guardians—but four relievers to follow don’t allow a hit as the Tigers show no claw-back. 

There had been 2,326 previous games between Cleveland and Detroit; this is the first time they’ve met in a postseason game. 

The Mets show off their late-inning magic once more in their NLDS opener at Philadelphia against the Phillies, notching five runs in the eighth to take a 6-2 win. For the first seven innings, the Phillies feel a winning vibe. Kyle Schwarber smacks a leadoff home run in the first off surprise New York starter Kodai Senga—making only his second appearance of the entire season—and Zack Wheeler holds up the 1-0 lead for seven innings, allowing one hit, four walks and inducing 30 swings and misses from Mets hitters while striking out nine.  But two normally reliable Phillies relievers (Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm) immediately cough up the lead in the eighth, as the Mets bat around to take control with a 5-1 lead. 

Like the Guardians and Tigers above, this is the first time that the Phillies and Mets—long-time NL East rivals— have played each other in the postseason. 

The leadoff homer from Schwarber, who set a major league record during the regular season with 15 such blasts, is the fifth of his postseason career—two more than any other player in MLB playoff history. 

It’s a back-and-forth affair between the Royals and Yankees at New York to begin their ALDS, exchanging the lead five different times—the most ever in a postseason game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The fifth and final lead change—and the win—belongs to the Yankees, as Alex Verdugo singles home Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the seventh to forge a 6-5 result in their favor. 

That Chisholm is still even on the basepaths at the moment of Verdugo’s hit is the result of a controversial video review in which Chisholm, on a stolen base attempt of second, appears to be tagged out; initially ruled safe, a lengthy review results in no overturning of the call. (You be the judge.) 

The Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Royals Bobby Witt Jr., who are widely expected to place 1-2 in the upcoming AL MVP vote, are a combined 0-for-9 with four strikeouts and a walk.  

Starting a rematch of its 2022 NLDS, San Diego feels the upset bug once again as Manny Machado’s three-run homer at Los Angeles gives the Padres a quick 3-0 advantage over the Dodgers. But when the Padres won that earlier series, the Dodgers didn’t have Shohei Ohtani; now they do. And in the second inning, Ohtani—playing in his very first postseason game after six years of being shut out of October as a member of the Angels—powers a three-run homer of his own to tie the game. The Padres will rebound to retake the lead, but Ohtani will figure in a three-run rally in the fourth, producing a broken-bat single and later scoring as the Dodgers take the lead for keeps in an eventual 7-5 decision. 

However long the postseason goes for the Dodgers, it will be played without Clayton Kershaw. The long-time team ace is ruled out due to a persistently painful left big toe, with surgery a possibility. Kershaw has a $5 million player option for 2025, which could rise to $20 million if he achieves all performance bonuses. 

Sunday, October 6

In NLDS Game Two, the Mets flash their late-inning heroics yet again—but in a plot twist, they end up being out-hero’d by the Phillies. 

In. game full of late dramatics, Nick Castellanos—who led the majors during the regular season with four walk-off hits—drills a rope to the left-field wall with two outs in the ninth, scoring Trea Turner from second to give the Phillies a 7-6 victory and a split in the series’ first two games. The Mets had tied it in the ninth on a two-run homer from Matt Vientos, his second of the game; he also doubled and walked, driving in four runs in total. The inning before, the Phillies had erased a 4-3 lead, bringing home three runs—two on Bryson Stott’s triple against Mets closer Edwin Diaz, raising his career ERA at Citizens Bank Park to 9.37. 

If you think the Mets-Phillies series is getting feisty, it’s tame compared to what’s going on between the Padres, Dodgers and some of the fans at Los Angeles. In NLDS Game Two, the Padres smash six home runs—tying an all-time postseason record—with two from Fernando Tatis Jr. to drub the Dodgers, 10-2, and even up that series. After Tatis’ initial homer in the first, the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts appears to have the game tied when he sends one toward Dodger Stadium’s short left-field fence. San Diego left fielder Jurickson Profar reaches up and snatches the ball away from competing bleacher fans—then quietly backs away facing the crowd, leaving most in the ballpark to believe he didn’t catch the ball; Betts even thinks he’s got his home run (as does Fox, which splashes a “home run” graphic) until Profar turns and throws the caught ball back to the infield. As Yu Darvish serves up seven excellent innings on just 82 pitches for the Padres, the tension ratchets up. Profar and Dodgers catch Will Smith have words after Tatis is hit by a pitch. Later, Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty carries on a profane, long-range debate with Padres third baseman Manny Machado. Then, before the bottom of the seventh, Profar gets incensed after several baseballs are thrown from the bleachers towards him, prompting a 12-minute delay as umpires and stadium security figure out how to lower the temperature.  

Monday, October 7

ALDS Game Two between the Tigers and Guardians features the league’s best pitcher and best closer. One is on top of his game. The other isn’t. For seven innings, Detroit ace Tarik Skubal clamps down on the Guardians, allowing four baserunners (three hits and an HBP) while striking out eight. But he leaves with the game scoreless—and it stays that way until the ninth, where’s it more than figured that Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase will likely keep it 0-0. Clase will get the first two Tigers out, but then Jake Rogers and Trey Sweeney—batting eighth and ninth in the Detroit order—poke singles to bring Kerry Carpenter up. The Detroit DH delivers; on a 2-2 slider—the third straight thrown by Clase—Carpenter blasts it to right for a three-run homer, the defining moment in the Tigers’ 3-0 victory to even the series at a game apiece. Carpenter’s homer is the first go-ahead postseason shot hit with two outs and two strikes in the ninth inning since Kirk Gibson’s historic homer for the Dodgers against Dennis Eckersley and the A’s in the 1988 World Series. At 110.8 MPH, it’s the hardest hit ball of Carpenter’s three-year career. 

It’s Clase’s first blown save since May 19; he only gave up five earned runs during the regular season, and didn’t allow multiple runs in any of 74 appearances. 

The Royals earn a split in the first two games of their ALDS against the Yankees, scoring all four of their runs in the fourth against New York starter Carlos Rodon to grab a 4-2 victory. Salvador Perez’s leadoff homer begins the rally to erase an early 1-0 Yankee lead; four ensuing singles and a wild pitch complete the splurge. 

This is the first time in LDS history that each of the four series is tied after two games. 

Tuesday, October 8

Luis Tiant, the flamboyant Cuban-born pitcher who never seemed to be without a cigar off the field and experienced a baseball life full of ups and downs, passes away at the age of 83. The son of a former Negro League namesake, Tiant enjoyed an early career evolution which peaked in 1968 when he posted a 1.60 ERA—third lowest in Cleveland history, behind two seasons by Addie Joss during the 1900s—a team-record streak of 41 consecutive scoreless innings which still stands, and an opposing .168 batting average that’s only been bested by Shane Bieber in 2020 (albeit in a 60-game season). But he lost 20 games the next season, then fell apart by 1971, finding himself pitching part of that year in the minors. He rediscovered himself in 1972 with the Red Sox, winning his second ERA title (1.91) and winning at least 20 games three times through 1976. Using an unorthodox pitching motion in which he turned his back on the hitter before uncoiling to make his delivery, Tiant went 3-0 in four postseason starts for Boston in their memorable 1975 season which ended with a seven-game World Series defeat to Cincinnati. During that series, Tiant was able to see his parents—allowed into America by Cuba strongman Fidel Castro—for the first time in 14 years. Tiant himself didn’t step foot back in his native land until 2007. Over 19 major league seasons, Tiant put together a 229-173 record with 187 complete games, 49 shutouts and a 3.30 ERA. 

The NL’s two top seeds find themselves on the brink of a first-round exit after dropping road games to intra-division wild card foes. 

At New York, the Mets build up a 6-0 lead over the NL East-winning Phillies and breeze to a 7-2 win to put them ahead in the NLDS, two games to one. Mets starter Sean Manaea, enjoying a bounce-back first campaign at Flushing Meadows, allows a run on three hits through seven innings; Pete Alonso smacks his third homer of the 2024 playoffs to initiate the scoring in the second inning. 

Out in San Diego before a packed and highly audible Petco Park crowd, the Padres and Dodgers exchange early big rallies before much improved pitching takes over, leading to a 6-5 win for the Friars to take a 2-1 game lead in its NLDS. In an eerie moment of déjà vu from Game Two, Mookie Betts’ first at-bat ends with a long drive sent over the left-field fence—except this time, it counts as a solo home run as the ball just eludes the reach of the Padres’ Jurickson Profar. Betts thought he had homered in that Game Two sequence; this time, he believes Profar catches it again, turning to go back to the dugout between first and second before being redirected to finish his trot. The real action begins in the second when the Padres rough up Dodgers starter Walker Buehler for six runs—the last three coming on Fernando Tatis Jr.’s fourth playoff homer. The Dodgers counter an inning later on a Teoscar Hernandez grand slam off the Padres’ Michael King. Both Buehler and King will settle down and survive through the fifth; from there, each team’s bullpen nullifies the other’s bats with only one baserunner (a single by the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, who limps off with a still-nagging ankle), keeping the game in favor of the Padres to the finish. 

Wednesday, October 9

The wild-card Mets are the first team to reach the LCS level, scoring all four of their runs on one swing off the bat of 2024 team hero Francisco Lindor—a sixth-inning grand slam that gives New York a 4-1 home win over the favored Phillies in NLDS Game Four. The slam is the second of Lindor’s postseason career; among other major leaguers, only Jim Thome and Shane Victorino have cleaned the bases twice in their playoff careers. It’s a second straight disappointing playoff exit for the Phillies, who lost the final two games of last year’s NLCS at home to Arizona; their lack of hitting is one issue, but the team’s bullpen is a much bigger one; in 12.2 innings against the Mets, Philadelphia relievers give up 16 earned runs. Jeff Hoffman, who serves up Lindor’s slam, allows six runs on three hits, two walks, two wild pitches and a hit batter in just 1.1 collective NLDS innings. 

The Mets await the Game Five winner between the Dodgers and Padres, as Los Angeles forces the winner-take-all with an 8-0 laugher at San Diego. Mookie Betts belts another first-inning home run, followed later by two-run shots from Will Smith and Gavin Lux. Eight Dodgers relievers, giving a depleted rotation the night off, combine to shut down the Padres on seven hits and two walks. 

In front of the largest baseball crowd in the 25-year history of Detroit’s Comerica Park, the Tigers do not disappoint as opener Keider Montero and five relievers to follow shut down the Guardians on six hits (all singles) and two walks in a 3-0 victory to bring the Tigers within one game of an ALCS berth. It’s the second straight shutout loss for Cleveland, which has failed to score over its last 20 innings; throw in the Guardians’ 3-0 Game One win, and it’s the first time since the 1905 World Series dominated by New York Giants pitchers Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinnity that the first three games of a postseason series have ended in shutouts. 

Giancarlo Stanton, maligned thus far in October for his slug-like speed, emerges as the hero in the Yankees’ 3-2 ALDS Game Three win in Kansas City, putting New York in the driver’s seat for advancement. The 34-year-old slugger has three of the Yankees’ four hits; an RBI double in the fourth, a sixth-inning single, and a solo homer in the eighth to put the Yankees ahead for good. Perhaps more impressively than any of the above, Stanton even manages his first stolen base in four years. 

Hurricane Milton, with Category-3 winds of 120 MPH, takes direct aim at the Tampa-St. Petersburg area—and shredding most of the fiberglass panels that make up Tropicana Field’s roof, built to withstand winds of up to 115 MPH. Debris thus litter the field below where the Tampa Bay Rays normally play; it had been converted into a staging area for first responders with tables and cots placed on the playing field. But authorities worried about the hurricane’s intensified power and barred people from the field area as the storm hit.  

Thursday, October 10

The Yankees are headed to their fourth ALCS in eight years, winning ALDS Game Four over the wild-card Royals at Kansas City, 3-1. Gerrit Cole tosses seven solid innings to earn the win, while two relievers to follow (Clay Holmes and Luke Weaver) each pitch 1-2-3 frames to wrap up the series. Offensively, New York takes a 3-0 lead with RBI singles in three different innings; the Royals finally show life in the sixth with their lone run, but the chance for more dies on Salvador Perez’s pop out. 

The Royals’ loss is their ninth straight at home, including their final seven regular season contests. Their all-time record for consecutive home defeats in regular season play is 11. 

New York’s opponent for the next round is still yet to be determined, as the Guardians force a winner-take-all Game Five with a taut 5-4 victory over the Tigers at Detroit. For much of the game, it appears Detroit might be ready to clinch the series—erasing two early Cleveland leads, then moving ahead in the sixth on a bloop RBI single from Wencell Perez. But to the rescue for the Guardians comes David Fry—who in the seventh hits a two-run, pinch-hit homer to give the lead back for Cleveland. Fry adds a very important insurance run in the ninth on a safety squeeze bunt that scores Brayan Rocchio, as the Tigers pull back within a run in the bottom of the ninth against Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase before running out of outs. 

The Minnesota Twins are for sale. Joe Pohlad, whose grandfather bought the team for $44 million in 1984, has hired a banker to help oversee a purchase of the franchise that is currently believed to be worth upwards of $2 billion—nearly 50 times what the Pohlads paid. The Twins have been run by two families going back over 100 years. Former pitcher Clark Griffith bought the then-Washington Senators in 1919; his son Calvin sold the team to Carl Pohlad 65 years later. 

Friday, October 11

The Dodgers are NLCS-bound, as Yoshinobu Yamamoto and four relivers quiet the Padres on two singles and a walk while riding solo homers from the two Hernandezes—Kiké and Teoscar (not related)—in a 2-0 Game Five win at Los Angeles. The five shutout innings for Yamamoto, allowing both San Diego hits, is his best and certainly most crucial since returning from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for nearly three months. It’s the sixth time this season that the first-year Japanese native has allowed no runs over five or more innings. 

After exploding for six runs in the second inning of Game Three, the Padres do not score for the remaining 24 innings of the series, batting just .136 (11-for-81) with two extra-base hits. 

Saturday, October 12

The Guardians overcome likely AL Cy Young Award recipient Tarik Skubal, snapping his streak of 28.1 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to mid-September with a five-run rally—the last four on a grand slam by Lane Thomas—to knock out the Tigers in ALDS Game Five, 7-3, and advance to the ALCS against the Yankees. Detroit makes a comeback bid with single runs in each of the next three innings following Thomas’ slam, but the Guardians push back with single tallies of their own in the seventh and eighth, making the road easier for Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase to wrap up a two-inning save. 

The Guardians’ Steven Kwan has three hits for the third straight game, matching Tim Anderson (in 2020) and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Lou Brock (in 1968) in playoff annals. 

The Tigers strike out 16 times in the game; only in one of their 126 other postseason games did they whiff more, with 17 against Bob Gibson and those same 1968 Cardinals in the World Series. The 16 K’s are the most collected by Cleveland in a nine-inning playoff game; they struck out 23 Orioles in a 12-inning ALDS contest in 1996. 

Sunday, October 13

The Dodgers open the NLCS with a one-sided, 9-0 romp of the Mets at Los Angeles, with Jack Flaherty and two relievers joining forces to shut down New York on three hits and three walks. The shutout extends the Dodgers’ streak of consecutive scoreless innings to 33—tying the all-time postseason record held by the Orioles in the 1966 World Series…against the Dodgers. In an attempt to recreate the narrative of NLDS Game One, New York sends Kodai Senga to the mound for the start—but the second-year Met is far more unstable than he was against the Phillies, allowing three runs on two hits and four walks (with no strikeouts) over just 1.1 innings; only 10 of his 30 pitches are strikes. The Dodgers continue to peck away after Senga’s departure, with three runs in the fourth and three more in the eighth on Mookie Betts’ bases-clearing double. 

Monday, October 14

The Mets even up the NLCS and end the Dodgers’ postseason record-tying streak of 33 consecutive innings when the game’s very first batter—New York postseason hero-thus-far Francisco Lindor—smokes his second playoff homer off Dodgers ‘opener’ Ryan Brasier. But it’s Landon Knack, the second Los Angeles pitcher, who really gets rattled by the Mets, allowing five runs—the last four on Mark Vientos’ third-inning grand slam after an intentional walk to Lindor loads the bases—puts New York well ahead in a game they’ll win, 7-3. Sean Manaea gets the victory for the Mets, starting strong before two walks followed by a Jose Iglesias error in the sixth knocks him out of the game. The Dodgers score twice in that frame to close the gap to three runs, but never get any closer after that. 

Vientos’ slam is the second hit by the Mets this October. The only MLB team with three slams in a postseason is the 2021 Boston Red Sox. 

The Yankees take ALCS Game One with a little help—actually, a lot of help—from their opponents, the Cleveland Guardians. After Juan Soto’s solo jolt gives New York a 1-0 lead in the third, Cleveland starter Alex Cobb walks the bases loaded, leading to his dismissal. His replacement, Joey Cantillo, is even worse; he uncorks two wild pitches that score two more runs for the Yankees, then picks up where he left off in the fourth with another pair of walks and wild throws each to net the Yankees an additional run. In the seventh, Giancarlo Stanton’s 439-foot blast will cap the scoring for New York in a 5-2 victory. Carlos Rodon is every bit as sharp as Cobb and Cantillo is sloppy, striking out nine while walking none over six strong innings to pick up the win. 

Cantillo’s four wild pitches does not set a playoff record; that still belongs to Rick Ankiel, who in a 2000 NLDS game for St. Louis chucked five wild pitches while walking six in 2.2 innings of work. The Cardinals would still win that game, 7-5, over the Braves. 

Tuesday, October 15

Aaron Judge finally comes alive, the Guardians bungle up on defense, and the Yankees take a 2-0 ALCS lead over the Guardians with a 6-3 Game Two victory. Judge, who came into the game with just two hits and an RBI in 15 playoff at-bats, contributes in many different ways, starting a first-inning pop-up muffed by Cleveland shortstop Brayan Rocchio that scores Gleyber Torres with New York’s first run, followed by a sacrifice fly in the second, then finally a two-run homer in the seventh to cap the night’s scoring. The Guardians are forced to use eight pitchers as Tanner Bibee is pulled after just 1.1 innings—far less than what was hoped. Fortunately for Cleveland, there’s a day off to recover before the next three games at home—where they’ll have to win at least two to stay competitive in the series. 

Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson is extended an additional year through the 2026 season after taking the Phillies to the postseason for a third straight time. The 61-year-old manager has a 250-185 record since taking over the Phillies 50 games into the 2022 season, which resulted in a surprise NL pennant. 

Wednesday, October 16

The Dodgers pitch a fourth shutout over their last five games, easily dispensing of the Mets at New York by an 8-0 count in NLCS Game Three. The final nail in the Mets’ coffin is provided by Shohei Ohtani, whose three-run homer in the eighth puts the game beyond doubt for Los Angeles—taking a 2-1 lead in the series. Walker Buehler starts for the Dodgers but fails to get credit for the win as he lasts just four innings, throwing 90 pitches—but allowing no runs. The Mets leave six men on base against the right-hander, who hasn’t won in any of his last 15 starts. 

Ohtani has 17 hits in his last 20 at-bats (an .850 batting average) with runners in scoring position, dating back to the end of the regular season. With no one on base, Ohtani is thus far 0-for-22 in the postseason. 

Thursday, October 17

In an ALCS Game Three full of late-inning, seesaw dramatics, the Guardians emerge over the Yankees as a 7-5, 10-inning victor—and in the process avoid dropping to a nearly insurmountable 3-0 hole in the series. 

The contest is relatively mundane through the first seven innings, as the Guardians erase an early 1-0 New York lead on Kyle Manzardo’s two-run homer in the third, adding insurance on an RBI single in the seventh from Andres Gimenez. After Hunter Gaddis walks Juan Soto with two outs in the eighth, Cleveland calls in closer Emmanuel Clase to notch the last four outs, starting with likely AL MVP Aaron Judge. Clase nails Judge to a two-strike count, but then serves up a 99-MPH cutter that Judge blasts the opposite way to tie the game. The next batter, Giancarlo Stanton, also gets into an 0-2 hole—but then takes advantage of a hanging slider from Clase for a solo shot to center, putting the Yankees in front. After a Gleyber Torres sac fly adds another run to the New York lead in the ninth, the Guardians are down to their last out with a runner on second when pinch-hitter Jhonkensy Noel—with five hits, no homers and a single RBI over his last 58 at-bats—parks a no-doubt-about-it, game-tying homer off Yankee closer Luke Weaver over the wall to draw Cleveland even.

With no gift runner to pollute the postseason environment, the first extra-inning playoff game of the year produces two walks but no runs for the Yankees in the top of the 10th; in the bottom half of the frame, the Guardians get a leadoff single from Bo Naylor, who moves to third with two outs—and that’s when David Fry, he of the series-saving home run in ALDS Game Four against Detroit, launches a 399 to left-center to give Cleveland the win and renewed life in the ALCS. 

In six innings pitched over five postseason appearances thus far, Clase has allowed six earned runs and three home runs; that’s one more of each than he gave up during the entire regular season. 

Shohei Ohtani quickly sets the tone for another laugher of a win for the Dodgers, taking a 3-1 NLCS lead with a 10-2 smashing of the Mets in New York. The 50-50 man drills a 422-footer to right-center on the game’s second pitch from Jose Quintana; the Mets avoid him the rest of the way, walking him in each of his next three at-bats with just two strikes thrown amid 14 total pitches. The Mets will pay for their avoidance; Mooke Betts (batting second behind Ohtani) cracks a double and homer among four hits, Tommy Edman—being given the unusual role of starting in the cleanup spot for only the third time in his six-year career—raps out a pair of doubles, and Max Muncy extends a streak of consecutive plate appearances reaching base safely to 12, as the Dodgers pull away with seven unanswered runs after the third. 

Muncy’s streak ties a postseason record held by Reggie Jackson from 1977-78; his run includes eight walks, two singles and a pair of homers.

Friday, October 18

It’s a second straight night of third-act dramatics at Cleveland—but the Yankees flip the script, fending off a late challenge from the Guardians and breaking through to an 8-6 victory, giving them a 3-1 advantage in the ALCS. The Yankees appear to have the game in check when Giancarlo Stanton belts a three-run homer in the sixth, upping their lead to 6-2. But the Guardians fight back, with three runs in the seventh on back-to-back doubles from Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor, followed by a game-tying gift run in the eighth when David Fry’s weak, two-out grounder down the first-base line results in an error as Yankee reliever Al Leiter Jr.’s off-balanced throw goes through the legs of first baseman Anthony Rizzo, allowing Bo Naylor to score. Beleaguered Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase, brought in to keep the game knotted in the ninth, fails once again. Using singles rather than round-trippers, and aided by a Bryan Rocchio error, the Yankees rally for two runs off Clase to give them an 8-6 lead. The Guardians get runners to first and second with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but the comeback effort runs dry as the Yankees hold for the win. 

Stanton’s homer gives him 15 in a playoff career consisting of just 35 games; it’s the second postseason in which he’s hit at least four. Only Reggie Jackson had previously accomplished that feat. 

It’s another NLCS rout at Citi Field, allowing at least another day of life for the Mets as they storm to a 12-6 victory over the Dodgers in Game Five—denying Los Angeles a chance to clinch. The Mets waste no time on Dodgers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty. They notch three runs in the first on Pete Alonso’s home run, then rally for five more tallies in the third on a triple, double, two singles and a pair of walks. The Dodgers put themselves closer in the Mets’ rear-view mirror by reducing the deficit to four (10-6) in the sixth, but that’s as near as they’ll get as the Mets later plate twice more. 

The average run differential thus far in the NLCS is 6.4 runs; the closest margin of victory came in Game Two with the Mets winning, 7-3. 

Starling Marte features for the Mets with three doubles, the 18th time that a player has provided a hat trick of two-baggers in a playoff game. 

In an absolute rarity for this day and age, the Mets go through the entire game without striking out. It’s only the third time that a playoff team has scored 10 or more runs without once whiffing; the other two teams to do so were the Angels in Game Two of the 2002 World Series…and the 1960 Pirates, in their famed Game Seven win over the Yankees on Bill Mazeroski’s home run. 

Saturday, October 19

The Yankees are World Series-bound for the first time in 15 years, hoisted to the AL pennant by Juan Soto’s three-run homer in the 10th to break a 2-2 tie and defeat the Guardians at Cleveland in ALCS Game Five, 5-2. Soto’s game-winning shot is made possible by an error from Bryan Rocchio—his third of the series—when he takes his eyes off the ball that glances off his glove while attempting a force play at second. Two batters later, when the inning should have been over with no runs, Soto blasts away for three unearned as determined by the official scorer. 

MVP honors for the series goes to the Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton, whose 446-foot, two-run homer with two outs in the sixth ties the game against Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee, hoping to complete another shutout inning. It’s Stanton’s fourth homer of the ALCS—he has no other hits—and his fifth of the postseason thus far. 

This will be the 41st World Series appearance for the Yankees, all of them over the last 104 years. The Dodgers have the second most with 21; they can push that number to 22 by clinching the NLCS against the Mets in Los Angeles. 

The Guardians’ defeat extends their run of consecutive seasons without a world title to 76, the longest active streak in the majors. Their 2024 roster is expected to remain intact for next year with only four free agents—back-up catcher Austin Hedges and pitchers Alex Cobb, Matt Boyd and Shane Bieber, neither of whom made a significant impact on the ballclub this past season. 

Rudy May, owner of a career 152-156 record and the AL ERA champ in 1980 with a 2.46 figure, passes away at the age of 80. A childhood friend of Joe Morgan in the Oakland area, May debuted for the California Angels in 1965 and, in his first start, took a no-hitter into the seventh, eventually giving up a single hit over nine shutout innings without a decision as the Angels lost in 13 innings to Detroit. After going 4-9 with a 3.92 ERA that first season, injuries slid May back to the minors—not returning to the major league scene until 1969. From there, he enjoyed stints with the Angels, Orioles, Montreal Expos and two different tours of duty with the Yankees, appearing in six postseason games from 1980-81. 

Sunday, October 20

The Los Angeles Dodgers grab their fourth pennant in their last eight years, defeating the Mets in NLCS Game Six at Los Angeles, 10-5. They’ll now have a chance to win their first World Series since 2020—and their first in a full season since 1988—with a familiar Fall Classic foe in the Yankees, who they’ve previously met 11 times, most recently in 1981. It will be the fifth time since the start of wild card play in 1995 that the teams with each league’s best record will face each other in the World Series. 

The Mets draw first blood in the top of the first with a scratch run on Pete Alonso’s bloop infield single, but the Dodgers quickly respond in the bottom of the frame with a two-run double from Tommy Edman; three innings later, they add four more on the strength of a pair of two-run homers from Edman and Will Smith. Mark Vientos’ two-run blast in the fifth closes the L.A. lead to three, but the Dodgers’ bats won’t stop, turning the affair into a rout in the eighth with their final three runs on the night. 

Edman, once again batting an unlikely fourth in the series clincher, wins NLCS honors with 11 hits (three doubles and a homer) in 27 at-bats; his 11 RBIs are the most he’s collected in any six-game stretch of his career. 

With six more walks drawn against the Mets, the Dodgers set a postseason record by accumulating 42 for the series. Max Muncy has 11 of them, followed by Shohei Ohtani with nine. 

The Dodgers’ +20 run differential is tied for the fourth highest in postseason history; remaining at the top of the list are the 1960 Yankees, who were +28 in the World Series—yet still lost in seven games to the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

The bowing out by the Mets ends a terrific late-season run in which they posted a 65-38 regular season record after June 2 and upset the favored Brewers and Phillies in the first two rounds of the playoffs. They now face a potential free agency exodus this winter as their top slugger in Alonso, three of their top starting pitchers (Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana and Luis Severino), and surprise contributors in Jose Iglesias and Jesse Winker all hitting the market. If anyone can bring some or all of them back, it’s Mets owner Steve Cohen, the wealthiest of all MLB owners. 

Monday, October 21

MLB announces that artificial turf will not be installed at Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, which will serve as the temporary home of the A’s through at least the next three seasons while a new yard is built in Las Vegas. The fake grass was considered due to the fact that the A’s would share the ballpark with the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A farm club, and that a true grass field would wear out from the constant use. But the players’ union was concerned that the fake turf would intensify the Sacramento summer heat—which typically surpasses 100 degrees—making conditions unbearable for players. After conversations with MLB field consultant Murray Cook, the league has decided to keep the grass. 

Tuesday, October 22

Fernando Valenzuela, the portly, quiet young pitcher who took Baseball by storm in 1981, passes away at the age of 63. Discovered in his native Mexico by legendary Dodgers scout Mike Brito, Valenzuela arrived in Los Angeles late in 1980 with little more than the clothes on his back. “I met Valenzuela during his first day as a Dodger,” said teammate Steve Sax. “He had hair down the middle of his back and was bouncing fastballs right and left. But, when Bobby Castillo taught him the screwball, that’s when his career just took off.” 

A 20-year-old Valenzuela started his 1981 rookie season in unstoppable fashion; he started, completed and won each of his first eight games, allowing a total of four earned runs. He would go on to win Rookie of the Year and Cy Young honors with a 13-7 record and 2.48 ERA, adding three more victories in a World Series-winning postseason during that strike-shortened season. But it was more than just the numbers; his blazing start and unassuming disposition gave rise to “Fernandomania,” energizing the Los Angeles area’s Latino base for the long run and increasing Dodger Stadium’s already rich gate to an even more profitable level as attendance soared toward four million fans per year. Valenzuela’s career after 1981 remained solid, peaking in 1986 with 21 wins and 20 complete games—the last major leaguer to date to achieve the latter—and he tossed a no-hitter in 1990, his final season with the Dodgers before taking on a nomadic life performing for five other teams through the 1990s. His 173-153 career record wasn’t strong enough to gain entrance into Cooperstown, but he’s fondly remembered at Chavez Ravine, where he returned to the organization in 2003 as a Spanish-language broadcaster and had his #34 jersey retired in 2023. 

Will Tropicana Field be ready for the start of the 2025 season? There’s doubt in the wake of Hurricane Milton’s shredding of the ballpark’s fiberglass roof earlier this month. While crews are at work clearing up the debris inside the Trop and figuring out a quick, safe fix, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred insists that any temporary home for the Rays will be based in the Tampa-St. Petersburg region. There are five minor league facilities in the area, with the largest capacity being 11,000 at George M. Steinbrenner Field, spring home of the Yankees. Given the Rays’ struggles to bring in fans, that should be enough. 

Wednesday, October 23

Bidding on the ball Shohei Ohtani hit to become Baseball’s first 50-50 player has ended, resulting in a sale price of $4.392 million—the largest ever for any baseball, ever. The question is: Who’s going to get all that money? Ownership of the ball is currently tied up in the courts, where several fans who muscled for the ball smacked into the bleachers at Miami’s loanDepot park on September 19 are claiming it belongs to them. Hence, the ball physically remains in hold before the anonymous buyer gains possession of it. 

Thursday, October 24

On the eve of the 2024 World Series, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pours cold water on rumors that Shohei Ohtani will be available to pitch. Ohtani has managed to put together one of the greatest offensive campaigns in MLB history despite recovering from Tommy John surgery, after last pitching for the Los Angeles Angels in August 2023. In taking a reporter’s question on Ohtani’s pitching availability, Roberts is politely terse. “There is no possibility, none whatsoever,” he answers. “Thank you for asking.” 

Friday, October 25

Stealing from history, the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman—hobbled by a bad ankle—evokes Kirk Gibson from 1988 and puts the lights out on the visiting Yankees with a walk-off grand slam in the 10th, giving Los Angeles a 6-3 victory in World Series Game One. It’s the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history, and the third game-winning homer belted while trailing, after Gibson’s famed clout and Joe Carter’s series-winning walk-off for Toronto in 1993. 

Early on, the game has the makings of a pitching duel as the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and Dodgers’ Jack Flaherty both look sharp. But Cole bends in the fifth when Kiké Hernandez triples and next scores on Will Smith’s sac fly. An inning later, the Yankees will muscle ahead of Flaherty on Giancarlo Stanton’s two-run, 412-foot blast down the left-field line, leaving the bat at 116.6 MPH—the hardest hit World Series homer since Statcast went into business nine years earlier. With both starters gone by the eighth, the Dodgers even the score on another sac fly, with Mookie Betts bringing home Shohei Ohtani—who had reached third on a double and throwing error by New York right fielder Juan Soto.Tied into the 10th, the Yankees go a notch ahead when Jazz Chisholm Jr. singles, steals his second and third bases of the night (tying a Fall Classic record) and scores on Anthony Volpe’s grounder. The Dodgers respond; with one out, Gavin Lux walks, Tommy Edman reaches on an infield single, and both automatically advance one base when Ohtani next pops out to left fielder Alex Verdugo, who crashes into the short side wall past the foul line and into the stands. Betts is given a free pass to first by Nestor Cortes—making his first appearance in 38 days—not just to set up a force at any base with two outs, but also to provide the Yankees with a lefty-on-lefty match-up as Freeman takes to the plate. The first pitch: A no-doubt-about-it launch 10 seats into the bleachers in right-center, clearing the bases, clinching the win, and providing Freeman with his most famous moment to date in a career that’s likely to land him in Cooperstown. 

This is the third game this postseason that’s gone into extra innings; all three have been finalized in the 10th. Neither needed the gift runner to keep it short. Please pass the memo on to commissioner Rob Manfred. 

Despite the excitement generated by the first game, it’s a relatively quiet start for each team’s megastars—Ohtani and the Yankees’ Aaron Judge, the first two players to oppose one another in a World Series with 50+ homers. Each player has a hit in five trips, but no eye-opening moments. 

Stanton’s homer gives him five homers for each of his last five hits—something he also did in 2020. The only other player to do that even once in a postseason was Pittsburgh’s Bob Robertson in 1971. It’s also the second time in Stanton’s postseason career that he’s gone deep in four straight games; no one else has done it multiple times. 

Saturday, October 26

The Dodgers take early command of the World Series, winning Game Two at Los Angeles, 4-2—but a shock wave of mass concern hits the Dodgers and their fans with the status of superstar slugger Shohei Ohtani, who on an unsuccessful stolen base attempt suffers what’s initially diagnosed as a minor dislocation of the left shoulder—not his throwing shoulder as Ohtani pitches right-handed. Another star Japanese-born Dodger grabs the spotlight as starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto allows just one hit—a Juan Soto solo homer in the third inning—through 6.1 innings and 86 pitches. He’s backed by three L.A. homers, blasted between the second and third innings, that account for all four Dodgers runs: A solo blast by Tommy Edman in the second, and back-to-back shots from Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez in the third. If Ohtani’s injury doesn’t provide enough worry for the sellout Dodger Stadium crowd, the Yankees rally in the ninth as they notch one run and have the bases loaded with just one against reliever Blake Treinen. But Anthony Volpe strikes out and Jose Trevino, facing Alex Vesia, flies out on one pitch to end the game. 

Ohtani’s fateful stolen base attempt comes in the seventh after a walk; he’s now 0-for-2 on attempted steals this postseason after going 59-for-63 during the regular season. 

Vesia is the first pitcher to gain a World Series save throwing just one pitch. 

The Dodgers are still a very good team sans Ohtani—and the Yankees will have to acknowledge that as they’re faced with the burden of having to win four games in at most their next five to grab the trophy. But they’ll also need a lift from Aaron Judge, whose postseason blues continue; he’s 6-for-40 this postseason with 19 strikeouts—and since 2020 is batting .145 (16-for-110) with seven homers and 44 K’s in playoff action. 

Sunday, October 27

A day after Shohei Ohtani’s remarkable 2024 season appeared to prematurely end, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announces: “He’s playing tomorrow.” Ohtani suffered a mild separation—a subluxation—of his left shoulder after being tagged out on a stolen base attempt in World Series Game Two. A hush came over the Dodger Stadium crowd as fans feared for their star player, writhing around the infield in pain. But further tests show that Ohtani’s injury isn’t severe enough to keep him from continuing his DH duties. 

Monday, October 28

The Dodgers are on the brink of their eighth world title in franchise history, taking a commanding 3-0 World Series lead with a 4-2 win at New York over the Yankees. Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer in the first inning sets an early tone, and Walker Buehler maintains it through five shutout innings—netting his first win since May 18, a span of 15 starts in which he otherwise lost six with a 6.46 ERA. Six Los Angeles relievers combine to nullify the Yankees the rest of the way; Alex Verdugo’s homer with two outs in the ninth spoils a shutout, but the blast is two runs, too late. 

This is the fifth straight World Series game in which Freeman has gone deep; besides the first three games of this series, he also hit homers in the final two games of the 2021 Fall Classic as a member of the Braves. George Springer, from 2017-19, is the only other player to hit round-trippers in five straight Series contests. 

Veteran Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez is named the 2024 recipient of the Roberto Clemente Award, given to the player who best exemplifies his selflessness in helping communities off the field. In this case, Perez—the first member of the Royals to be bestowed with the award—is honored not just for his work in the Kansas City area, but also in both his native Venezuela and neighboring Colombia. 

Tuesday, October 29

The Yankees stay alive in the World Series, avoiding a sweep in Game Four as their offense finally comes to life in an 11-4 rout of the Dodgers at New York. The victory comes despite a sixth straight World Series game in which the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman cranks a home run—breaking a Fall Classic record—that gives Los Angeles an early 2-0 lead, and the Yankees that sinking feeling that a Dodger sweep is on the horizon. But the Yankees tally one run in the second, and an inning later get blessed with a game-changing moment when second-year shortstop Anthony Volpe drills a grand slam to lift the Yankees into the lead for keeps. The Dodgers stay close until the eighth, when the Yankees explode for five final runs, three on Gleyber Torres’ home run, against reliever Brent Honeywell Jr.—who labors through a 50-pitch inning as the Dodgers save their better relievers for Game Five and beyond (if necessary). 

Volpe’s slam is a postseason-record sixth hit by a major leaguer in 2024. 

The Yankees steal five bases (including two from Volpe) to set a team mark for a postseason game. 

This is the first time in 12 games this October that a playoff game involving the Yankees ended in a margin of four or more runs. 

The Chicago White Sox, coming off a record-setting 121-loss campaign, hire Will Venable as their new manager. The 42-year-old Venable, an outfielder from 2008-16, has since served on the coaching staffs of the Cubs, Red Sox and Rangers—who employed him as Bruce Bochy’s right-hand man in the dugout for the past two seasons, including in 2023 when Texas won its first-ever world title. 

Wednesday, October 30

With a bit of help from an errant Yankee defense, the Los Angeles Dodgers rally from a 5-0 deficit to take World Series Game Five at New York, 7-6, and win their eighth world championship. It’s the Dodgers’ first title since 2020, and first in a full season since 1988. 

Trying desperately to keep the series alive after dropping into a 3-0 hole and winning Game Four, the Yankees bolt out to a 5-0 lead on back-to-back home runs in the first inning from Aaron Judge (his first clout of the series) and Jazz Chisholm Jr., an RBI single from Alex Verdugo in the second, and a solo homer from Giancarlo Stanton in the third. With Los Angeles starter Jack Flaherty knocked out after just 1.1 innings, the Dodgers are forced to rely the rest of the way on a bullpen that pitched all nine innings the night before. Looking for help, the Dodgers get it from an unlikely source: Their opponent. 

In the fifth, Los Angeles rallies for five runs—all unearned—off Yankee starter Gerrit Cole to tie the game. Numerous gaffes by the New York defense include a dropped fly ball by Judge in center field, an errant throw by shortstop Anthony Volpe on an attempted force play at third, and a mental error by Cole when he fails to cover first base on a Mookie Betts grounder toward first, incorrectly assuming that Anthony Rizzo would make the play unassisted. 

The Yankees bounce back in the sixth, taking a 6-5 lead on Stanton’s sac fly. But they leave the bases loaded—for the third time in the game. 

In the seventh, the Dodgers small-ball their way into a bases-loaded scenario of their own—and capitalize with a pair of sac flies from Gavin Lux and Betts to grab their first lead of the night at 7-6. It’s a lead the Dodgers will hold to the end; the Yankees fail to score despite two more baserunners in the eighth, and quietly go 1-2-3 in the ninth against Walker Buehler—called on to relieve the Los Angeles bullpen with his first relief appearance since 2018 and first save since 2017, when he was pitching at the Triple-A level. 

Freddie Freeman, who strokes a two-run single in the midst of the Dodgers’ five-run fifth, is declared the World Series MVP. The veteran first baseman hits four homers—including the walk-off grand slam in Game One—and knocks home 12 runs, tying the Series record held by the Yankees’ Bobby Richardson in 1960. 

The anticipated showdown between each team’s top two megastars—Judge and Shohei Ohtani—fails to materialize. Judge’s home run and double in Game Five still doesn’t mask an overall underwhelming performance (4-for-18, seven strikeouts), while Ohtani, admirably playing on despite a mild shoulder separation sustained in Game Two, ends the series with just two hits in 19 at-bats. 

Game Five lasts three hours and 42 minutes—the longest game by time this postseason. 

The Yankees now must decide whether to go all in on retaining free agent Juan Soto, who followed up a fabulous regular season with a .327 batting average, three doubles, four homers, nine RBIs and 14 walks in 14 postseason games. Soto clearly states he will test the market, telling reporters after the game, “I’m going to be available to all 30 teams.” 

Thursday, October 31

Baseball’s offseason gets off to an active start with numerous transactions and retirements. 

Arizona’s Jordan Montgomery and Boston’s Lucas Giolito, who had forgettable (if not invisible) 2024 campaigns, don’t waste any time exercising player options for 2025. Giolito had season-ending surgery on his pitching elbow before Opening Day; Montgomery finished with an 8-7 record but a horrible 6.23 ERA, a possible byproduct of the lack of proper preparation after holding out as a free agent and signing with the Diamondbacks on the eve of the regular season. 

The Cardinals say adios to two of their starting pitchers from this past season, Kyle Gibson (8-8, 4.24 ERA) and Lance Lynn (7-4, 3.84), while the Brewers decline a $12 million option on veteran pitcher Wade Miley, who underwent Tommy John surgery after making just two starts this past season. And in Chicago, the White Sox depart from eight-year infielder Yoan Moncada, thus avoiding a $25 million payout to the native Cuban in 2025. 

Outfielder/slugger Jorge Soler continues his travels, as he’s traded from the Braves to the Angels for pitcher Griffin Canning. Soler’s up-and-down career to date took a turn for the underside this past year, batting .241 with 21 home runs split between the Giants and Braves after hitting 36 the year before for Miami; the Angels will be his fifth team since 2021. Canning was 6-13 with a 5.19 ERA, and no AL pitcher gave up more earned runs than his 99. 

Fresh off earning his second World Series ring, reliever Daniel Hudson calls it quits at age 37. The right-hander became an important asset in the Dodgers’ desperate attempt to keep their pitching staff stitched together; in 65 games, Hudson was 6-2 with a 3.00 ERA and 10 saves. Converted to a reliever in 2014 after four years as a starter and back-to-back Tommy John surgeries, Hudson wraps a 15-year career with a 65-45 record, 3.74 ERA and 43 saves over 574 total appearances; he also was a member of the champion 2019 Nationals. 

Off the field, another notable retirement comes from the broadcast booth as Hall-of-Fame announcer Bob Costas says he’s called his final game. The 72-year-old Costas, who articulately drew from his voluminous knowledge of baseball history while on air—to the consternation of some viewers who didn’t care about anything before they were born—earned his early stripes in the 1980s as NBC’s main voice for its Saturday morning Game of the Week alongside Tony Kubek, later doing play-by-play duties for TBS and MLB Network, the latter of which he’ll continue to do studio work for. 

If you get your two best teams in the World Series, the viewers will follow. The just-completed Fall Classic between the Dodgers and Yankees drew an average of 15.81 million viewers, the highest since the entertaining seven-game series between the Dodgers and Astros in 2017. The per-game viewership is also a significant 43% jump from last year’s average of 9.11 million that tuned in for Texas and Arizona, a battle of low-seed wild cards. 

Granted, the representation of America’s two TV markets in the World Series helped prop up the ratings, but even had Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh produced MLB’s two best records and reached the Series, it still would have attracted more eyeballs than a pair of teams who got lucky getting in and upsetting their way to the end.