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MLB News & Moments You Should Know: 9/19/2024

Wednesday Night: A Good Night.

Asher Dratel
MLB Morning News 9/19/2024

Stay updated on everything baseball with our morning MLB News & Moments articles. We’ve got you covered to keep you in the know.

Absolutely ideal double-clutch day for me, as my favorite NL and AL teams both locked in a postseason spot. Only thing that could have made it better is if the Yankees had clinched the division, too.

 

Today’s Headlines

 

Brew Crew Punches Through

In the first of our two-part series on postseason clinches, we go not-so-live to Milwaukee, where the Brewers downed the Phillies 2-1 in dramatic fashion:

 

Well, we should probably go back a little bit, to the Cubs/A’s game earlier on Wednesday. The A’s won out 5-3 in Chicago, a Mason Miller save that the whole Brewers team watched together, which locked the Brewers in as NL Central champs.

“When we got here today, we knew the situation and we saw the Cubs game and we knew we clinched already,” said Freddy Peralta, who racked up nine strikeouts over five innings on Wednesday night and is a lock to start Game 1 of the playoffs. “We talked among ourselves and let everybody know, ‘We’re not going to do anything. We still need to win tonight.’”

And win they did, thanks in no small part to Peralta’s sterling five inning start, featuring nine strikeouts, and only two hits and a single run. (It should be noted that Aaron Nola had an arguably even better day, going seven innings with nine Ks, giving up three hits and just the one run.) The action kicked off the in the bottom of the ninth inning thanks to a triple from Jackson Chourio, followed by an IBB to William Contreras. Garrett Mitchell went down swinging for the first out, but a Willy Adames walk would load the bases for the above Jake Bauers heroics. It’s worth noting that had the Phillies won, they would have actually also clinched a postseason spot, which would have been one of the stranger double-clinch days I can think of, with teams celebrating in both clubhouses of the same stadium?

Turns out it will remain just a fun thought experiment, though, because all of the partying was in the home clubhouse. And oh, there was partying.

 

(Am I the only one who is a total sucker for the post-clinch team photo? I love seeing the whole team together like that.)

For one legend in particular, there may have been slightly too much partying?

And on the other end of the dial, there was one man we know definitely didn’t party too hard, 20-year old rookie Jackson Chourio, even as he promised more celebrations to come:

I gotta say, in a room full of Miller High Life and I would have to assume more than a few Spotted Cows, a guy being forced to drink non-alcoholic Coors seems downright cruel.

And for posterity, FanGraphs odds graph for the Brewers winning the division this year:

A chart of the Brewers' projected odds of winning the NL Central, starting at 17.6% at the beginning of the season.

The Brewers have 10 more games to play in the regular season, but they’re definitely going to be thinking about 11 specific wins they’ll be chasing come October.

In A New York Minute

In the second half of our clinch doubleheader today, we have everybody’s favorite team, the Yankees, who became the first AL team to lock up a postseason berth, and they didn’t skimp on the drama either. Seattle’s Bryce Miller pitched six innings of one run ball, punching out eight and only giving up two hits, although he put four men on via walks, with the run scoring in the top of the second thanks to a Jasson Domínguez steal of second that turned into him being on third thanks to the ball being thrown into the outfield on the attempt to catch him. Anthony Rizzo then brought him home with a double.

That would be the only New York scoring in regulation time, although they did load the bases with two outs in the third as well, but Miller was able to induce a swinging strikeout from Jazz Chisholm Jr. to neutralize the threat.

Opposite Bryce was Hialeah’s Own, Nestor Cortes Jr. who spun a gem of his own, going six innings with six strikeouts, giving up four hits, three walks, and no runs. Seattle would tie the game in the eighth inning thanks to a Justin Turner dinger off of Clay Holmes (his 13th blown save of the year.)

The game would remain knotted at one run apiece and head into extra innings, and it was again up to the speedy Jasson Domínguez, who started on second, to be driven in by Anthony Rizzo, in more a straightforward manner:

Where it would be a combination strikeout and heads-up ball that would end up being decisive. Ian Hamilton was on the mound trying to keep the game tied for New York, but a leadoff Cal Raleigh single meant that the Manfred Man, Seattle’s own speedster Julio Rodríguez was now on third with no outs, and Randy Arozarena up to bat. Hamilton got Randy to strike out swinging on a slambio, inducing such a gross swing that the bat flew from his hands and…

Just an absolutely insane play, which you can tell by the fact that the live director couldn’t even get back to the correct camera to capture it in real time. To quote Sam Miller quoting Dan Dickerson quoting Ernie Harwell, “Every time you go to the park, you have a chance to see something you’ve never seen before.”

Hamilton got Justin Turner swinging directly after the dust settled, ending the game and locking up the berth for the Bronx Bombers. I think he was pretty amped.

Cue party montage:

All I’m gonna say is that for a team as perennially snakebit as the Yankees, there are a lot of guys not wearing their protective goggles in these photos. Unlike the Brewers in the NL Central, the AL East is still up for grabs, although the Yankees’ magic number is down to a mere six.

We could be seeing other divisions locked up as soon as Thursday afternoon, so champagne season is definitely upon us.

 

Tigers, Tigers, Burning Bright

Keeping on the postseason beat, the wild card races are showing no signs of slowing down, as the surging Tigers are on a four-game win streak, and it’s helping them make up some serious ground in their quest for October:

The drama isn’t confined just to the standings, either, as Detroit put a run up in the third inning on one of the most wild slides I’ve ever seen:

Is that some kind of weird go go gadget leg? How do you sneak around the catcher like that foot first?!

Detroit gets Thursday off, but this weekend they fly to Baltimore for a series with big playoff implications for both teams. DRAMA!

 

Best Moments From Yesterday

 

Corbin 2: 20-20 Again: Electric Boogaloo

Arizona’s had a bad trip to Colorado, looking to avoid a sweep at the hands of the hapless Rockies. Leave it up to Corbin Carroll to give them the offense they needed:

Not only did Carroll help the D-Backs to a 9-4 win, he helped himself hit a milestone for the second year in a row:

Taking One For The Team

Corbin might be setting career records, but Willi Castro is out here selflessly setting franchise records:

Ow, congrats?

Painterly Pepiot

And now, enjoy an immaculate inning from Rays’ starter Ryan Pepiot:

 

 

Injuries and Other Moves

 

⚾ Baltimore has had enough and DFA’d Craig Kimbrel after his six-run meltdown on Tuesday. It seems rather unlikely any team will bother claiming him at this point in the season for a myriad of reasons. The most pressing probably being the 25 runs he’s given up since mid July.

⚾ The O’s are lookng to get Jordan Westburg and Ramón Urías back soon, though, they’re both set to begin AAA rehab assignments today.

⚾ It is “very unlikely” that the Dodgers will be getting Gavin Stone back on the mound at all this season due to ongoing shoulder soreness.

⚾ The Dodgers also optioned Bobby Miller and Michael Grove.

⚾ Mets rookie pitcher Christian Scott announced that he will need full Tommy John surgery and be getting an internal brace, as well. At this point, it means he’ll be on the shelf for the entirety of the 2025 season, most likely.

 

Articles You Should Read

 

Is It Possible To Strike Out 300 Batters in a Day? – Michael Baumann, FanGraphs

The Mistaken Identity on a Jackson Merrill Baseball Card: Who is it and What Went Wrong? – Dennis Lin, The Athletic (sub req’d)

 

Fantasy Baseball Coverage

 

Is It Legit?

Closing Time

Starting Pitcher Streamers

Asher Dratel

Asher hails from Brooklyn, wears a 2008 Joba Chamberlain jersey to every Yankees game he attends, and pronounces BABIP funny. Appreciator of Beefy Lad dingers and beers. @asherd.xyz on Bluesky.

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