There's no end of flak that can be flung at Russell Martin for the epic fail that is his project at Rangers.

But watching his reaction when Mohamed Diomande got a deserved red card four minutes before half-time at Ibrox made you feel for the man.

Rangers had been second best. Fitful at the back, wasteful in possession, headless chickens in too many areas. Again.

Even before the red, it looked likely that Martin's period of calm after Saturday's League Cup win over Hibernian was about to come to a shuddering and noisy end.

In losing the plot, Diomande more or less ensured that Rangers were losing this Europa League opener against Genk, currently Belgium's 14th best team.

In lunging in on Zakaria El Ouahdi, Diomande left his team-mates in a terrible lurch, already struggling with 11 and now sitting ducks with 10.

The lack of self-control was unforgivable, the look of confused innocence on his face in the aftermath a complete nonsense.

Diomande, who on his very best days looks like a player worthy of the jersey, has been nowhere near it this season. Too often he's been lazy in his work and now he was ridiculous in his discipline.

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'Rangers engulfed in deepening apathy'

And so Martin was left, once again, to reap the whirlwind of those Rangers supporters who remained until the end.

Around 12,000 tickets went unsold - a reflection of a deepening apathy. The boos, now as much a part of the match-day experience as Broxi Bear, were heard again.

The chants demanding the manager's head were cranked up for the umpteenth time. It was grim. The cameras panned to the directors' box, where chairman Andrew Cavenagh and chief executive Patrick Stewart stood stony-faced.

A penny for Cavenagh's thoughts. The Rangers fans would cough up a lot more than that for an audience with the man, for a chance to air their views by way of a venting of the spleen.

Cavenagh has made it known that he's behind his manager, but it's just not credible to think that he has no doubts about what he's seeing. And it's unimaginable that he has no concerns about the way his - and other people's - money has been spent.

Is any single part of Rangers' operation working? Not really. Quality of play, results, recruitment, relationship with supporters - nothing is functioning.

Rangers were, and are, a hard, hard watch. They were, and are, pedestrian and predictable. Laborious. Tiresome. Everything looked so slow, so difficult, so unthreatening, save for the odd moment of energy from Djeidi Gassama on the left.

Genk missed a sitter at 0-0, then hit a post, then missed a penalty, or rather had it saved by Jack Butland. All of those moments happened before the break when the score was level.

Diomande's act of foolishness just put the tin hat on it. It gave Martin an excuse, and in his news conference later he took it.

But there was not a lot of positivity in Rangers' performance before that and there was no reason to believe that it would have been any better had Diomande not taken himself out of the game.

Genk are in the midst of a poor run themselves, with one win in five coming into this. This was their first clean sheet in 11 games, which is the kind of thing that happens when your goalkeeper doesn't have a save to make.

Like Rangers, they were under pressure. Like Rangers, they had cause to be anxious and negative, playing it tight and hoping for the best.

But they weren't. They were ambitious on the ball. They attacked the game, while Rangers flailed wildly. Their intensity, away from home, was impressive.

Whatever their coach Thorsten Fink said to them beforehand, they looked full of belief, a stark contrast to their hosts.

'Diomande just latest to let Martin down'

The lack of incisiveness in Martin's team is remarkable for a set of players put together for a relative king's ransom.

We're told that Rangers' net spend this summer has been £21m, including transfer fees and loan payments. You could put a dot between the 2 and the 1 and still wonder if they've got value.

They had Youssef Chermiti up front, a 21-year-old brought in from Everton at a cost of £8m.

It's easy to bash the young striker, but he didn't lack hunger or work-rate. What he lacked was a modicum of a chance, a sniff at goal. Just one.

The life of a Rangers centre-forward is a lonely existence right now. Isolated and joyless. They're on their own up there. Sink or sink would appear to be the range of their options.

Diomande's moment of madness was the last thing Martin needed, but it was Martin who picked him and it was Martin who picked others who struggled to make passes.

It was Martin, again, whose management of this team produced very little threat while giving up big chances even when it was 11 versus 11.

His midfielder let him down on Thursday, and on other days and nights it was others who let him down, didn't show enough leadership, failed to make a difference.

The cast of characters on that front is long and thunderously unimpressive.

Martin gets filleted but the Rangers players can't escape censure here. A lot of this mess is down to the manager, but not all of it.

He said the red changed the game and he was correct, but there's always something - players being anxious, a red card, a penalty not given, another decision given in error. There's a fatalism about all of this.

And on Sunday they have a trip to Livingston. Plastic pitch, canny manager, physical team motivated to the high heavens. A gauntlet awaits this meek Rangers outfit.

The Yankees maintained their place tied atop the AL East standings on Thursday night, sweeping the lowly White Sox, 5-3, at Yankee Stadium.

They weren't able to claim sole possession of first place for the first time since July 3, however. The division-rival Blue Jays own the head-to-head tiebreaker, and they wrapped up Thursday with a 6-1 home win over the Red Sox.

Due to these results, the worst-case scenario for the Yankees will be hosting a best-of-three Wild Card series next week. Their opponent just may be the Red Sox, too.

Here are the takeaways...

-- The Yankees were primed to dig the White Sox into an immediate hole, as a single from Trent Grisham, a double from Aaron Judge, and a walk from Cody Bellinger set the bases loaded with nobody out in the first inning. But they fell short of inflicting much damage against Davis Martin, as their lone run from the threat came on a weak fielder's choice groundout from Ben Rice. Davis proceeded to strike out Giancarlo Stanton and force Jazz Chisholm Jr. into a groundout.

-- The missed opportunity to tack on runs came back to bite them in the second, as Carlos Rodón allowed a leadoff single and then hit a batter. After a sac bunt that pushed the runners into scoring position, Corey Julks flied out to deep center that brought the tying run home. It was still a milestone inning for Rodón, however. He ended the frame with his 200th strikeout of the season, becoming the sixth left-hander in franchise history to accomplish the feat. His first 200-strikeout campaign came in 2022, as a member of the Giants.

-- Yet another bases-loaded rally for the Yankees was squandered in the second, as Bellinger grounded softly to first with two outs to end the threat and keep the game tied. But the table was set on a whopping 35th intentional walk to Judge this season, a new AL record. The Yankees' captain was briefly tied with legend Ted Williams, who set the mark back in 1957. The free-pass stat became official two years earlier.

-- The lack of run support hurt Rodón in the fourth, when he served up a two-out, two-run homer to Michael A. Taylor that gave the White Sox a 3-1 lead. It was the 22nd long ball allowed by the veteran southpaw this season, but compared to the career-worst mark (31) he set in 2024, the Yankees can declare some progress to his long-established homerless bugaboo. Luckily for Rodón, his teammates eventually came through in the batter's box.

-- Stanton entered Thursday with a measly .175 average across 69 plate appearances in September, and his monthly strikeout total climbed to an ugly 35 through his first two at-bats. But the veteran slugger made the most of his third trip to the plate in the fifth, delivering a three-run double down the left-field line off reliever Tyler Gilbert that put the Yankees ahead, 4-3. It was somewhat of a gift for Stanton -- while he ripped the ball 109 mph to third, the grounder was misplayed by Curtis Mead on a backhand attempt. The wet grass slowed the ball down just enough to clear the bases.

-- Rodón flirted with trouble in the sixth, allowing a leadoff double to highly-touted rookie Colson Montgomery. But the youngster ruined the White Sox's threat on the basepaths, mistakenly running on contact on a grounder hit to shortstop just two pitches later. Anthony Volpe took advantage of Montgomery standing too far off second, throwing over to third so Ryan McMahon could force the tag. Rodón then capped off his final regular-season start by inducing a strikeout and groundout. Overall, he allowed three runs on four hits and one walk with five punchouts over six innings. Fans should tip their cap to Rodón, who logged a career-high 33 outings and 195.1 innings with a commendable 3.09 ERA. It was also his 18th quality start of 2025.

-- Luke Weaver took over in the seventh, retiring the side on seven pitches. He's now registered five straight appearances without a run allowed (4.2 innings). The Yankees blew another bases-loaded chance in the sixth, bumping their left-on-base total to an alarming nine, but they managed to send a fifth run home on a deep RBI double from Austin Wells in the seventh. Stanton set up the opportunity with a leadoff walk, and Jasson Dominguez wound up crossing the plate as his pinch-runner.

-- Devin Williams entered the eighth looking to extend his scoreless appearance streak to eight, and he did just that. But the inning wasn't stress-free. While he induced a pair of strikeouts, he sent the go-ahead run to the plate after allowing a walk and a single. Williams' third out was a hard liner to left from Miguel Vargas that Bellinger shrewdly tracked. No harm, no foul for the high-leverage reliever. The Yankees were able to exhale. David Bednar handled the ninth with ease, recording his 26th save of the season with two groundouts and one strikeout on 18 pitches.

Game MVP: Giancarlo Stanton

It took a while for the Yankees to produce a back-breaking hit, but Stanton's three-run double in the fifth gave them a lead they didn't relinquish. 

Highlights

200 strikeouts this season for Carlos Rodón 👏 pic.twitter.com/9B1QHqSQKd

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) September 25, 2025

GIANCARLO STANTON CLEARS THE BASES! pic.twitter.com/zJI7JKtHyT

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) September 26, 2025

Austin Wells rips an RBI double 💪 pic.twitter.com/Ho00nt8VqJ

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) September 26, 2025

What's next

The Yankees (91-68) will wrap up their regular season slate at home, with a weekend series against the last-place Orioles. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

RHP Will Warren (8-8, 4.35 ERA) is lined up to take the mound, opposite LHP Trevor Rogers (9-2, 1.35 ERA).

The Dodgers are not the norm in baseball. For the majority of teams in the major leagues, the last week of the regular season is the last week until spring training.

As the Angels played out their final week, the Angel Stadium store featured a “Thank You Fans” sale, with up to 50% off caps, T-shirts, polo shirts, jackets, even authentic Mike Trout jerseys.

Inside the clubhouse, the reminders for players had the feel of the final week of school: return your team-issued iPad; order your gloves for next season; take your exit physical.

As the Dodgers play out their final week of the regular season, on the road, the Dodger Stadium store is stocking up on blue “October Baseball” T-shirts, the same ones the players wore last week, when they clinched a postseason spot.

Read more:Dodgers defeat Diamondbacks to clinch their 12th NL West title in 13 seasons

On Thursday, the Dodgers clinched the National League West, again. On Tuesday, the Dodgers will make their 13th consecutive postseason appearance, one shy of the major league record. Only once in those 13 seasons did the Dodgers fail to win the NL West: in 2021, when they won 106 games and the San Francisco Giants won 107.

For the Angels and their decorated closer, and for 17 other teams, Tuesday will be the second day of the offseason. That is the norm in baseball, at least outside Chavez Ravine, the Bronx, and recently Milwaukee.

Kenley Jansen played October baseball for the Dodgers from 2013-21, and for the Atlanta Braves in 2022.

In 2023, the first time in 11 years Jansen did not appear in the postseason, his family alerted him that the Dodgers’ playoff opener was on television, with good friend Clayton Kershaw pitching.

Jansen had no interest in watching.

“I’m like, guys, I’m not on the Dodgers anymore,’ ” he said this week at Angel Stadium.

He wanted to be around his family. His friends and family members wanted to be around him, which they assumed meant around baseball.

Read more:Kenley Jansen gets 475th save as Angels defeat the Royals

“I get it,” he said. “I still feel like I’m going to get those calls: Did you watch that game?”

He appreciates how difficult it is to get to the playoffs. In his first two full seasons, the Dodgers vs. the rest of the league at Dodger Stadium was a sideshow to the main event: Frank McCourt vs. Major League Baseball in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

Never mind whether the Dodgers would make the playoffs. Would the players get paid?

“We went from the bankrupt Dodgers to getting into the playoffs every year,” Jansen said. “I think it was the core group, the leadership that we had, plus the front office and the ownership wanting to win a championship every year. They make it competitive.

“They’ve got to keep that train going.”

In Anaheim, for the first time in 50 years, the Angels are bound for a second consecutive last-place finish. Their last postseason appearance: 11 years ago. Their last winning record: 10 years ago.

This playoff drought included the stretch in which Trout and Shohei Ohtani played together. The Dodgers are more — much more — than Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.

“For me, on the other side now, I see how hard it is to get in the playoffs,” Jansen said. “It’s not easy. You’ve got to have depth — not only here in the big leagues, but depth in the system — to give yourself a chance to win the division.”

It’s too bad the Dodgers and Angels could not complete a trade to get Jansen back to Los Angeles, where he would immediately have become the Dodgers’ most reliable right-handed reliever.

Jansen has a 2.64 ERA this season, and he has converted 28 of 29 save opportunities. He hasn’t given up a hit in more than a month.

But the Angels didn’t sell at the trade deadline, declaring they were in serious contention without buying any serious upgrades.

Read more:Roki Sasaki and Clayton Kershaw boost bullpen, Dodgers magic number reduced to 1

Dodgers fans should take it from Jansen: Don’t take this golden era for granted. Take a few days to appreciate it. On Wednesday, Jansen said, he’ll start his offseason workouts.

On Tuesday, the Dodgers will start the playoffs, trying to become baseball’s first back-to-back champions in 25 years. The percentages are not in their favor: As of Thursday, Baseball Prospectus gives the Dodgers a 9.6% chance to win the World Series, a smaller chance than the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Seattle Mariners.

The Angels have been so bad for so long that a division championship would be cause for great celebration. The Dodgers have been so good for so long that nothing but a World Series championship would suffice.

And so, on Tuesday, the days of gratitude can end, and Dodgers fans can resume reflexively criticizing their manager and grimacing about whether they can trust anyone in their bullpen.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

It was not supposed to be this difficult. It was not expected to feel so frustrating.

Six months ago, the question was not whether the Dodgers would win the National League West, but how far out of the water they’d blow the competition.

It wasn’t whether they’d enter October in position to defend their World Series title, but if they could set a single-season wins record along the way.

Read more:Shaikin: Dodgers fans should take a moment to appreciate team's success before anxiety returns

“Everyone,” first baseman Freddie Freeman recalled, “was talking about our "superteam.'"

What played out instead, of course, was a disappointing regular season relative to the club’s lofty preseason expectations.

The team will not win 100 games, let alone the 120 that some predicted ahead of the year. It will not have a bye for the first round of the playoffs, having limped through much of the second half of the schedule. It did not realize the full potential of its $400 million roster, hampered by starting pitching injuries early in the year, bullpen implosions down the stretch and an extended funk from the lineup in the middle of the summer. It did not play like the star-studded juggernaut or villainous evil empire or ascendant dynastic power the rest of the baseball world had labeled it to be.

“This is not the route we envisioned,” Freeman said.

“It hasn't been easy,” manager Dave Roberts added.

Now, however, none of that matters anymore.

Because as far as the regular season is concerned, the team checked the only box that matters.

With an 8-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday at Chase Field, the Dodgers clinched their 12th division title in the last 13 years. They ensured that they will open the playoffs at home, even though it will start with a best-of-three wild-card round beginning next Tuesday. And most important, despite their struggles over the last couple months, they feel they are entering October playing the kind of baseball that had eluded them for much of the year, finally starting to feel like they are reaching their tantalizing ceiling.

“I do feel that in totality, we're playing our best baseball of the season,” Roberts said. “The win-loss hasn't reflected it, but I think that's what's most important. There's just been a lot of good things and a lot of growth from a lot of players, which has been fun to see.”

Fun is not a word that has often been associated with the Dodgers this season.

Early in the year, their best starters were hurt and many of their best hitters were struggling. They still built a nine-game lead in the division in early July, only to play 10 games under .500 for the next two months, allowing the San Diego Padres to get back in the division race.

“This year was harder than ever, to get to this point,” said third baseman Max Muncy, who missed extensive time himself with knee and oblique injuries. “We went through a lot. We had a lot of injuries. We had a lot of ups and downs.”

They will also begin October facing a litany of questions — none bigger than a bullpen that has been run down by a heavy workload and let down by the struggles of its most trusted veteran relievers.

But with Thursday’s division-clincher, they have won 12 of their last 17 games, and will enter the postseason riding some long-missing momentum.

“Even when it was our darkest, I just always saw our guys stay together and compete,” Roberts said. 

“That’s what’s going to make us stronger during October,” echoed pitcher Blake Snell. “It’s what we needed.”

The last two days have epitomized that orthodoxy, with the Dodgers (90-69) sewing up the division with a pair of resilient victories.

After familiar bullpen collapses on Sunday and Tuesday, the team got creative in an extra-innings win on Wednesday, following a strong start from Blake Snell with relief appearances by Roki Sasaki and Clayton Kershaw.

Then, on Thursday, the offense set an early tone by scoring four times in the second inning (on home runs from Freeman and Andy Pages, plus a two-run single from Mookie Betts) and four more in the fourth (on a pair of two-run blasts from Freeman and Shohei Ohtani), giving Yoshinobu Yamamoto plenty of breathing room in a scoreless six-inning start.

“It's been a weird year for everybody, but we're here, we won again,” said Kershaw, shirtless and beer-soaked in what was the final division-clinching celebration of his 18-year career. “Obviously, we've got a lot more to accomplish. But you've got to enjoy this moment. We are. It's a great group of guys. And we're going to have a ton of fun.”

The Dodgers will have to replicate a similar blueprint in the playoffs, needing superb starting pitching, out-of-the-box bullpen management and some intangible connectivity to successfully defend their World Series championship.

For much of this year, they couldn’t produce those ingredients consistently.

But now, it “doesn't really matter what happened to this point, how we got here,” Kershaw said.

Indeed, with another division crown captured and the pursuit of a second-consecutive title awaiting, the slate has been wiped clean.

Read more:Can Roki Sasaki’s return provide Dodgers trustworthy relief? Early signs were promising

“We have an opportunity to make history,” Roberts said, acknowledging the difficulties that have come with trying to become MLB’s first repeat champion in 25 years. “But that’s part of it. It shouldn't be easy.”

For much of this year, they couldn’t produce those ingredients consistently.

But now, with another division crown captured and the pursuit of a second-consecutive title awaiting, the slate has been wiped clean.

“We have an opportunity to make history,” Roberts said, acknowledging the difficulties that have come with trying to become MLB’s first repeat champion in 25 years. “But that’s part of it. It shouldn't be easy.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.