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See you in October: Red Sox clinch playoff spot on Rafaela's walk-off triple originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

For the first time in four years, the Boston Red Sox will play postseason baseball.

The Red Sox punched their ticket in dramatic fashion Friday night when Ceddanne Rafaela launched a triple to dead center field in the ninth inning off Detroit Tigers reliever Tommy Kahnle. Romy Gonzalez scored from first base to give Boston a walk-off 4-3 victory, which secured its spot in the playoffs.

Friday’s dramatic win helped end a three-year playoff drought for the franchise, which last made the postseason in 2021. That run included a win in the AL Wild Card Game over the Yankees and a 3-1 series win over the Rays in the American League Division Series. The Red Sox jumped out to a 2-1 series lead over the Astros in the American League Championship Series but lost three straight games to lose the series in six games. The Astros outscored the Red Sox 23-3 over those final three games.

The Red Sox will look considerably different this postseason, as Garrett Whitlock is the only member of the active roster who played in that ALCS against Houston. (Tanner Houck, who made five appearances that postseason, remains on the Boston roster but went on the IL in May.) The 2021 season was manager Alex Cora’s first season back with the Red Sox after he served his season-long suspension from MLB in 2020.

Though the ultimate story of the 2025 Red Sox will depend on what happens in the playoffs, making the playoffs at all was widely considered an impossibility as late as June, when the Red Sox traded superstar third baseman Rafael Devers and flip-flopped around the .500 mark for the entire month.

They entered June in fourth place, 8.5 games out of first place in the AL East and 3.5 games out of a wild-card spot, and they finished the month in almost the same spot: seven games back in the East, three games out of the wild card.

Yet a season-long 10-game winning streak before the All-Star break put the team above .500 for good. And though they emerged from that break to go 2-5, they’d win their next four series to firmly establish their place in the postseason picture.

That footing was once again questioned in early September, when rookie sensation Roman Anthony suffered an oblique strain that ended his regular season and could keep him out of the entire postseason. A 5-8 stretch followed the Anthony injury but the Red Sox, at risk of falling out of the playoff picture, won consecutive road series in Tampa and Toronto to reestablish their spot, then punched their postseason ticket with their MLB-leading 10th walk-off win on Friday night.

The Red Sox became the fourth team in the American League (and third in the AL East) to clinch a playoff spot, joining the Blue Jays, Mariners and Yankees. Their opponent is yet to be determined, but they’re almost certain to begin their postseason journey on the road for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on Tuesday, Sept. 30.

They could be heading to New York, Detroit, Toronto or Cleveland, depending on how the weekend’s games play out across the league.

The Mets have made one decision regarding their starters this weekend.

Manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed before Friday's series opener against the Marlins that Clay Holmes will take the mound Saturday. The news comes just a few days after Holmes pitched an inning out of the bullpen in Chicago. 

When asked what their plans for Sean Manaea are, and whether he can pitch out of the bullpen or even start Sunday's regular season finale, the Mets skipper was non-committal and is only thinking about Friday's game.

"We’ll see, we got to get through today and we’ll go from there," he said. "The only thing we know is Clay will start and we’ll go from there."

Manaea piggybacking off of Holmes' start on Saturday is on the table. It worked against the Padres in mid-September but was less effective against the Nationals when the Mets swapped their order last week. Both pitchers came out of the bullpen on Wednesday against the Cubs and had mixed results but Mendoza pointed to how they "bounced back" from that outing as the reason for Holmes starting over Manaea.

The questions for Mendoza were directed toward Sunday's game. Again, the team has yet to name a starter and the options are plentiful, but Mendoza remains focused on Friday's game.

"We’re not thinking about Sunday. We got to take care of business today and then take care of business tomorrow and see where we’re at," he said. "We’re not planning ahead. This is literally one day at a time here. We know Clay is going to start tomorrow and then we’ll see who‘s available. We got to get through today’s game and how many bullpen arms are going to be available after today’s game. There’s a lot of moving pieces here."

David Peterson, who would be pitching on normal rest if he got the ball for the regular season finale, is an option to start, but Mendoza didn't rule out Peterson coming out of the bullpen. 

"We’ll get through today and see if we need him out of the bullpen tomorrow, or we’ll need him to start the next day. It’s literally one day at a time," he said."

Kodai Senga update

Senga's status for the rest of the regular season/postseason is still unknown. Mendoza confirmed the right-hander is still in Port St. Lucie and threw another bullpen. When asked if the team is considering shutting down Senga, Mendoza said, "We haven’t got there yet." 

Earlier this week, Senga threw a live BP that produced some concerning results. Senga's velocity was noticeably down, but the weather was affecting him, so the team is unsure what to do with their third-year pitcher.

What we learned as Trevor McDonald impresses again in Giants' win over Rockies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO — As a team, there’s not much for the Giants to play for this weekend. Sure, they’d like to finish strong, and a .500 record is certainly better than finishing with a losing season, but they were eliminated from postseason contention on Tuesday and can’t even play spoiler.

But there’s a lot on the line individually during the final series of the year, both in terms of milestones and impressing the front office. In that respect, it was a good night for quite a few Giants. 

Willy Adames got closer to breaking the 30-homer curse, Heliot Ramos hit a loud three-run shot, and Trevor McDonald continued his September surge as the Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 6-3. They’ll send Justin Verlander and Logan Webb to the mound the next two days in hopes of sweeping the Rockies and finishing the year at 81-81.

Here are some of the boxes that were checked in Game 160: 

One He Won’t Forget

This was always going to be a memorable night for Adames, who was honored before the game after winning the Willie Mac Award. In that speech, Adames noted that it was a special honor because it was voted on by teammates, and he later caught ceremonial first pitches from his parents. 

A few minutes later, Adames blasted a two-run shot to left, ending a run of 14 games without a homer. The shortstop is now at 29 and has roughly nine or 10 at-bats against a bad pitching staff to try and become the first Giant since 2004 to hit 30 homers. 

WILLY ADAMES BLASTS HIS 29TH HOMER OF THE SEASON

JUST ONE AWAY FROM BREAKING THE STREAK 👀 pic.twitter.com/K0T4I5UoCn

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 27, 2025

The 29th of his first year in San Francisco left the bat at 110.2 mph, making it his hardest-hit ball of the year. Adames flew out, got hit by a pitch, struck out and walked in his next four plate appearances. 

Milestone Night

With a single in the bottom of the fifth, Matt Chapman reached 1,000 hits in the big leagues. He had 509 in Oakland, 245 in Toronto, and now 246 in San Francisco. Chapman also made one of his better plays of the year …

A five-time Gold Glove Award winner, Chapman might have a hard time defending his NL crown, in part because he missed 32 games with hand injuries. He is third among NL third basemen in Outs Above Average, but at four OAA, he is well behind Ke’Bryan Hayes, who has 21 and was the 2023 NL Gold Glove Award winner at third. The SABR Defensive Index, which accounts for roughly 25 percent of voting, also ranked Chapman well behind Hayes in the most recent public update. 

Remember The Name

McDonald has been on the 40-man roster all year, but he didn’t get called up until last week. There might not be anyone in orange and black who has done more recently to improve their standing heading into next spring. 

Five days after he opened eyes with a strong start at Dodger Stadium, McDonald struck out 10 and walked none over seven innings. The lone blemish came in the fifth, when he gave up a couple of singles and then hung a curveball that Ezequiel Tovar lined over the center field wall. McDonald got 18 swinging strikes, which is tied for the eighth-most by a Giants starter this season. 

The Giants are likely to seek multiple rotation additions in free agency, but McDonald has certainly passed a few other young starters on the organization’s overall depth chart. At the very least, he should get a chance to follow the 2024 Landen Roupp path and win a bullpen job. 

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Nola climbs to 2nd-most strikeouts in franchise history as Phils best Twins originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Since his return from the injured list in mid-August, manager Rob Thomson has been unwavering in his confidence when it came to starting pitcher Aaron Nola. Through a trio of six earned run outings, bad innings and general mediocrity during those seven starts, Thomson didn’t flinch.

Nola proved him a knowledgeable man Friday night as he retired the first 17 batters he faced and carried the Phillies to a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Twins at Citizens Bank Park on a beautiful early fall evening. In the last three games, Phillies starting pitchers combined to go 24 2/3 innings without giving up a run.

Whether Nola was auditioning for a starting spot in the playoffs, a long relief role out of the bullpen or anything else, he aced his outing with a terrific mix of pitches and precision command as he finished his eight innings by allowing just two hits, no walks and nine strikeouts on just 90 pitches. The lone blemish was a solo home run by Christian Vazquez in the sixth.

“It feels good to get back out there in the eighth again. It’s been a while,” said Nola. “Since I got off the injured list I don’t think I’ve even been in the seventh. It’s good to go deep tonight and save that bullpen out there a little bit and Duran come in and close that game out. Good game all around by all the guys.

“I know that one inning has been biting me a lot this year. It’s good to kind of roll through the first half of the game with no runs, it kind of makes things easier. Those early outs definitely helped a lot. Ground ball outs. The leadoff guy almost every time was big.”

Pressed before the game whether Nola was part of his starting pitching rotation when the postseason begins on October 4, Thomson would commit to nothing, saying that he wanted Nola to go out and pitch well.

Mission accomplished. In doing so, Nola passed Phillies legend Robin Roberts for second on the all-time Phillies strikeout list with 1,876, trailing only Steve Carlton’s 3,031.

“He was great,” said Thomson. “His fastball command. Touched 94. He was 93 in the eighth, so he held his velocity. Landed the curveball, his changeup was good. He was fantastic. That’s who he is. With a guy like Nols, you know how hard he works, how hard he prepares. The competitor that he is. You know it’s there. I don’t worry about him at all. I really don’t. I think it’s great for him. He’s dealt with some injuries, obviously, and come back from them, building back up. So that’s a good way to end the year.”

The Phillies gave Nola the lead in the first on a rare Kyle Schwarber infield single, a single by Bryce Harper and a sacrifice fly by Alec Bohm. Red hot Edmundo Sosa hit a solo home run to left in the fifth and Philadelphia tacked another on in the sixth when Bohm scored on a Brandon Marsh double down the rightfield line.

But the story of the night was Nola. While perfect through 5 2/3, his most impressive inning may have come in the seventh. Former Phillie Kody Clemens tripled to the wall in center to lead off the inning. Nola then got Ryan Jeffers to strike out swinging on four pitches, Trevor Larnach to strike out looking on three pitches and Brooks Lee to fly weakly to left on his second pitch.

“That was huge. That was a big spot in the game,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “In the playoffs there’s obviously going to be moments like that. So, to see him come through, strike out two hitters in a row, get the third popup, that’s a huge moment in the game and a big moment for him.”

The whole game was a big moment as Nola convinced just about everyone, except his manager, who needed no convincing, that he’s still capable of gems like this.

“I feel like the more I throw, the more I pitch, the more I keep feeling healthy,” said Nola. “The fastball command usually creeps up a little bit. I feel like over the years once I start the season it takes a little bit to get rolling. Once I came off the IL it was kind of the same thing, took a second to get rolling.”

He was rolling so well that when Thomson asked if he wanted to go out for the eighth, there was little hesitation from his starting pitcher. And all that happened in that final inning for him was three more outs on just 10 pitches and another boost in confidence for most.

“Everything was working,” said Realmuto. “That was the sharpest I’ve seen him this season. Curveball had good bite to it, the changeup was as good as I’ve seen and then he was locating the fastball. Just had everything going for him.

“It was great to see. You know Nola, he’s a competitor. This season, obviously, wasn’t the one he wanted but to see him go out on top and throw a really good start and take some momentum into the postseason, it’s really good to see. Nola’s who he is for a reason. He’s been really good for us for a long time, especially coming off a start like that, the confidence is definitely high with him.”

And now he finds himself second on a list with only one of the greatest pitchers of all time ahead of him.

“It’s humbling, for sure, to be on a list with those guys that played here,” he said. “Lot of really great pitchers that have pitched in a Phillies uniform. To be up there with those names is pretty humbling.”