Here’s the Guardians lineup:

Here’s the Royals lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

The result of Blake Snell’s final pitch Saturday, a fastball that San Francisco Giants third baseman Shay Whitcomb lined into left field, mattered far less than the fact that the left-hander had passed the 75-pitch mark without incident.

Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández threw out Whitcomb at second. And Snell walked off the field to complete a four-inning start in the Dodgers’ 4-3 win.

“Definitely needed to pitch today,” Snell said of his first start in a week and a half. “Definitely showed that. I was trying to go up and in, I was missing up and away. Even the last pitch of the game, I try to go up and in and miss right down the middle. I don’t know the last time I did that. It’s been a while.”

The Dodgers (99-62) entered locked in as a No. 2 seed for the playoffs. So, the stakes of their last two games of the regular season boiled down to health and preparation for the postseason. There was no better example of that give-and-take than Snell’s five-hit, one-run start.

Read more:Dodgers' Blake Treinen likely to miss playoffs after sustaining injury in bullpen

Because Snell left his previous start with tightness in his left groin, the Dodgers planned for a short outing Saturday, prioritizing his health for the postseason.

“We were confident,” Roberts said of Snell’s recovery from the injury. “But it’s still good to see it. And it’s good also that we got it out of the way, that rust off — versus whatever game in the postseason, then he’s rusty, and you’ve got to kind of pick up the pieces in a playoff game. So I thought today it was really best-case scenario.”

The only run Snell gave up was the result of a double, stolen base and sacrifice fly in the third. He had three strikeouts and no walks.

Snell’s changeup was about two miles per hour faster than usual, something he wants to address before his next start. And he wants to hone the release on his curveball. But his slider, the pitch he would be most worried about if his groin injury wasn’t resolved, had promising velocity and shape.

“To throw a 92 [mph] with good horizontal break, and to see the trust I had in the back leg when throwing that, that’s a really good sign,” Snell said.

Snell said he thinks he’s fully past the injury, and didn’t even think about it during the start.

“Definitely happy about where I’m at,” he said. “Now, it’s a big week for me. Catch has to be great, bullpens have to be great. I’ve really got to focus on getting in my legs, and the consistency of every throw. So to be able to pitch today and learn all of that is bigger than I could ever really express.”

Snell, who missed time because of a late spring training build-up and arthroscopic surgery in May to remove loose bodies from his left elbow, finished the regular season with just 42⅔ innings pitched. But he posted an impressive 1.90 ERA in that time.

The team considered replacing Snell’s start Saturday with a live batting practice session, Roberts said, which would have still given Snell feedback from hitters, but in a more controlled environment.

“We gave him and the training staff every out to do so,” Roberts said. “But there was a lot of confidence that he’s in a great spot.”

Read more:Shaikin: Dodgers' three-peat hopes rest on their four aces — and bottom-of-order production

Snell’s recent workload was another reason for the Dodgers to be conservative with his workload Saturday. Over the past two weeks, he’s only thrown one inning.

“So there’s a balance between getting your work in, making sure you feel good coming out of it,” Roberts said. “Even for example, I could’ve pushed Tarik [Skubal in his start Friday], given his efficiency. But to me, to what end?”

Snell should be full-go for the playoffs, Roberts said. But count Snell among the Dodgers players who can benefit from the wild-card bye.

“This is still an important one,” Roberts said of Snell’s start Saturday, “to go into it feeling good, to then take that extra six, seven, eight days.”

Six to eight days off would line Snell up to start Game 2 or 3 of the National League Division Series. But Roberts declined to tip his hand on rotation order. The days off give the Dodgers extra flexibility to line up their pitching.

“You’re looking at, the first series, who could pitch on regular [rest], who needs extra, how potentially the next series lines up,” Roberts said. “How you can ... maximize those four guys. And I do think with those four guys, it doesn’t matter the opponent, so that’s not a variable.”

Roberts also said alternating between right- and left-handers was not a variable.

“To be honest with you, you could put them all in a hat, and you could make a case for any order you put them in,” Roberts said.

Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the stalwart of the rotation, certainly has performed to the level of a Game 1 starter, both this season and in a heroic World Series run last year.

For Game 2, it would make sense to choose a pitcher who’s comfortable starting on four days rest. Then, thanks to a pair of off days built into the series, both the Game 1 and Game 2 starters could be available to throw in an if-necessary Game 5.

Read more:Tarik Skubal dominates in final tuneup before playoffs in Dodgers' win over Giants

Skubal has pitched on regular rest this season more than any of his rotation mates, making him a strong option to take the ball in the second game.

If the Dodgers do, indeed, go in that direction for Games 1 and 2, Snell would then be the natural choice for Game 3, on eight days’ rest. And right-hander Tyler Glasnow could take an if-necessary Game 4.

The Dodgers, however, don’t need to finalize their pitching decisions just yet.

“I love our starters,” Snell said. “I love the staff, the way we push for each other to be great and support each other. So, I can’t wait. It’s what we’ve all been waiting for, and now it’s time to prove it.”

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Go Rays!

Blake Snell looked healthy in his final regular season start and Kiké Hernández homered in the ninth inning to give the Dodgers a 4-3 win over the Giants on Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

Snell allowed only one run in his four innings and at the very least showed no limitations from leaving his start with left groin tightness on September 16 in Cincinnati. The Dodgers weren’t going to push Snell on Saturday, but more wanted to make sure he got one more start in before the postseason starts in a week.

“If he can go five innings and come out of it feeling great, that would be fantastic,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters at Oracle Park earlier Saturday, as shown on SportsNet LA. “There’s a balance between getting your work in and making sure you feel good coming out of it.”

Snell threw 77 pitches in his four innings so he wasn’t all that efficient, though he didn’t walk anyone and threw his two fastest pitches of the season — first-inning fastballs at 98.6 mph and 98.2 mph — while averaging 96.8 mph on the fastball on Saturday.

The lone run came when Jonah Cox doubled to open the third inning, stole third base, and scored on a sacrifice fly.

San Francisco swiped two bases Saturday off Snell, who has allowed 10 steals in his nine starts this season. But Snell has limited the damage by simply not allowing many people to reach, with only 25 hits and 14 walks in 39 2/3 innings, a .260 on-base percentage since returning from the injured list.

Snell since returning allowed only five runs, never more than one in any start. On the season he did not allow a home run, his 42 2/3 innings the seventh-most by a Dodgers pitcher in the live-ball era without giving up a long ball.

Just like last Sunday at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers did the bulk of their damage after Matt Wilkinson left. The rookie left-hander, who pitched five scoreless innings in Los Angeles before the Dodgers scored single runs in the next three innings to complete a weekend sweep, on Saturday held the Dodgers without a run until Mookie Betts hit one into the left field seats in the third inning.

Betts has seven home runs in September, after hitting five combined home runs in July and August. It’s been a month to remember for Betts, who raised his seasonal OPS from .701 at the start of September to .783 now, with just one day remaining in the regular season.

Wilkinson was done after three innings, and the Dodgers immediately responded with four singles and a walk in the fourth inning to score two runs.

San Francisco clawed back with single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, before Hernández took Trent Harris deep to open the ninth inning.

Treinen hurt

Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen injured his shoulder while warming up in the bullpen, likely ending his season. More on that here.

Saturday particulars

Home runs: Mookie Betts (23), Kiké Hernández (4)

WP — Evan Phillips (3-2): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 strikeout

LP — Trent Harris (0-1): 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 run

Sv — Tanner Scott (25): 1 IP, 1 hit, 2 strikeouts

Up next

One more regular season game to go, with the Dodgers and Giants starting at roughly the same time as nearly everybody else in the majors on Sunday (12:05 p.m., SportsNet LA).

In a meaningless end-of-season matchup, Brent Suter served as the opener for Atlanta, as the Marlins threw their own opener in Jack Ralston.

It ended up being about an ideal game for Atlanta. Everyone stayed healthy, the offense got in a decent rhythm, there weren’t any pitching blowups, and it was an enjoyable, comfortable win. Michael Harris looked good in the leadoff spot, Ha-Seong Kim had a decent game, and they got homers from Baldwin and Dominic Smith. See the recap as it happened below.

Atlanta struck first with a reassuring leadoff double from Michael Harris, an Acuna groundout to move him over to third, and an Olson sac fly to bring him home. Brent Suter solidified the lead with a scoreless first, with some help from a great jumping catch by Ronald Acuna.

A Yastrzemski walk and a Dominic Smith home run tacked on another two for Atlanta in the second and they weren’t done. Ha-Seong Kim drew a walk against former Braves’ prospect Victor Vodnik, followed by a ground ball single from Harris and another groundout from Acuna to bring home a run for a 4-0 lead. The Braves were able to plate another two in the fourth with a Kim triple that was pretty well-hit, a soft Harris double, and singles from Olson and Baldwin. Suter was able to complete a third scoreless inning before giving way to Dylan Dodd. Dodd gave up a shallow solo homer for Miami’s first run and a single, hit batsman, and single brought another run home. The singles were pretty soft, but a run counts on the scoreboard for a 6-2 Braves lead. The fish brought another run back on a soft single and a ringing line drive triple against Robert Suarez.

Michael Harris hit another single in the ninth and Drake Baldwin homered to make it an 8-3 game, as the cherry on top of a great comfortable win in Miami.

Join us again tomorrow for the last game of the regular season at 3:10 PM ET in Miami.

The St. Louis Cardinals will invade American Family Field again Saturday night for game 2 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Quinn Mathews will put on the pearls for his final start of the season Saturday night for St. Louis while it will be former Cardinals starter Dustin May taking the mound for the Brewers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10pm central time Saturday night and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.

1. JJ Wetherholt (L) 2B
2. Iván Herrera (R) DH
3. Alec Burleson (L) 1B
4. Jordan Walker (R) RF
5. Leo Bernal (S) C
6. Nolan Gorman (L) 3B
7. Bryan Torres (L) LF
8. Masyn Winn (R) SS
9. Nathan Church (L) CF

With just two games left in the regular season, time is running short to tie (i.e., catch) the Cleveland Guardians for first place in the AL Central and the associated free pass to the ALDS via the American League’s No. 2 seed. Naturally, that makes tonight’s final night game of the regular season a must-win — and as should be clear from the above, the White Sox could not have written a better script to send off their season.

Former ace/No. 2 starter Davis Martin takes the mound, for the White Sox, on paper a nice advantage with most matchups. And while you might not expect much of a starting pitcher challenge from a 57-win Rockies team, we’re catching a couple of Colorado’s weakest to finish the season. That begins with Old Friend Jose Quintana taking the mound for the purples on Saturday.

Jose is pitching to a 5.40 ERA over 10 starts, and believe it or not he’s lucky to have that modest an ERA given 18 walks against a mere 22 strikeouts this season. At 37, he’s just about done for his career, and he will retire as the best Columbian-born MLB pitcher ever. He also forever remains the best, if not only, “lottery ticket” pickup for the White Sox by GM Rick Hahn.

The White Sox have their “vs. lefties” order rolled out tonight, which unfortunately is missing Chase Meidroth (hamstring) but includes Tommy Pham (GM intimidation). However, with the shift of Sam Antonacci to second base opening up left field for Randal Grichuk, there may not be a lot lost without Meidroth despite how scorching hot he was for the Kansas City series.

Mild roster news comes from the maternity ward, as Jake Rogers is on the verge of becoming a dad and thus has taken the weekend off for paternity leave; Drew Romo, close enough to the club to have been featured as a non-rostered participant in the beer and champagne showers on Thursday, slots in Rogers’ stead.

Finally, for the many of you who have lost faith in Chicago’s ability to tie (overtake) Cleveland here in the season’s waning days, note that a few Royals are licking their chops at the prospect of digging in against tonight’s Guardians starter Tanner Bibee:

The Royals and Guardians tip off at the same 6:10 p.m. CT the White Sox do, and all season finale games run at the same time tomorrow, so it will be quite the scoreboard-watching weekend.

CHSN/WMVP-AM/La Ley 107.9 FM on your dials as usual, and Chrystal O’Keefe will be around to supply your celebratory recap postgame.

Well, folks. It’s been a…well I was going to say it’s been a good season. But it hasn’t. So I’ll say, “It’s been a season.”

This is my last game preview for the 2026 Royals calendar. I, along with the rest of the usual suspects, will be posting discussion threads for the playoffs, but even if I think you should pick a team to root for, there just isn’t the same emphasis on previewing those games.

Anyway, let’s do this one more time for this year.

Michael Wacha will take the mound for the Royals. He needs to pitch 5.2 innings to reach 200 for the season for the first time in his career. The Royals probably need him to pitch eight or nine if they’re going to win the game, based on how atrocious the bullpen has rebounded to be over the past week or so. Lest you doubt me, the team had a 4.03 bullpen ERA until the Pirates series; that’s not good, but it’s not horrendous. Since then, they have a 6.10 ERA, second-worst in baseball, only to the Angels.

The Guardians will send out Tanner Bibee. I had a sense that I had written about him in a game preview earlier this year. I was right! He faced Wacha back on August 28th, and I had this to say about him then:

The other good news, at least relative to the remainder of the weekend, is that the Guardians will counter with Tanner Bibee. Two years ago, Bibee was the Guardians’ ace. No longer. Now he’s on something of a Michael Wacha trajectory where he pitches better than you think, but not as well as anyone hoped after those first couple of seasons. And, importantly, he’s right-handed. That sets him apart from the other two starters the Royals will face this weekend.

I also noted that his most-used pitch is the cutter and that the Royals should look out for it. That’s still true. They apparently didn’t heed my advice last time, as Bibee’s pitching wasn’t the problem in that game; he allowed only one run in six innings. It’s just that Wacha pitched the best game of his Royals’ career: 8 shutout innings with no walks, 4 hits (all singles), and 10 strikeouts. It would be swell if Wacha replicated that effort again tonight.

Lineups

Hey look, the Royals like the word penultimate, too!

Nick Loftin went on the paternity list earlier today, ending his season. So, with Maikel Garcia getting the day off, Josh Rojas is back in there one more time. Kyle Isbel gets the day off in favor of shifting John Rave to center and putting Isaac Collins in left field. Hopefully they’ll play better defense than they did last night.

With their playoff seed wrapped up Tuesday night, the Yankees have played four (and will have played five) games in which the results do not matter. 

Apart from obligation, the main point of this stretch for the club is to ensure each hitter and pitcher is feeling well at the right time. In that way, perhaps Luis García Jr.’s effort in an otherwise meaningless nightcap of Friday’s doubleheader will matter. 

The slugging first baseman/DH, who has been cold for most of the month, put together some of his most encouraging at-bats in the 6-3 win over the Orioles. 

In the fourth inning, against righty Brandon Young, García crushed a fastball right back up the middle — 105.3 mph off the bat — right into the glove of shortstop José Barrero, which was “really good to see,” manager Aaron Boone said. 

After a sixth-inning walk, García grounded an RBI single up the middle against lefty Grant Wolfram in the seventh. 

“He’s such a good hitter that you know it’s going to come around,” Boone said. “Kind of hoping the timing of a little lull here the last 10 days or so is just in time to heat up at the right time.” 

Prior to the game, García — who had been so good in August after coming over from the Nationals at the trade deadline — was hitting just .224 with a .579 OPS in his first 18 September games. 

Perhaps most notably, he had walked once and struck out 18 times in the span. 

“He’s just been kind of mis-hitting some balls where it feels like he’s on time for some for the last week or 10 days,” Boone said Friday. “Where he ends up with the lazy fly ball to the outfield, where he’s just off there a little bit.” 

The left-on-left at-bat against Wolfram was particularly encouraging considering the pitchers the Yankees are about to see. García is among the best bats in the game against right-handed pitching (.865 OPS) and often benched against lefties (.653 OPS), and the Red Sox’s staff is loaded with southpaws. 

It will be curious to see how Boone deploys García in the wild-card series. If Paul Goldschmidt starts at first base against a lefty and Ben Rice — who has hit lefties better than García — starts at DH, García likely would be a powerful bat off the bench. 

Also standing out in the nightcap was Ryan McMahon, who may be making a (very) late argument for October playing time. 

After coming through with a double and a single, the third baseman is 4-for-8 with a homer and six RBIs in his past two starts. Previous to this spurt, he had not tallied a multi-hit game in his past 21 tries, a brutal stretch in which he hit .143 with a .387 OPS. 

Consider it one more thing for Boone to consider on Tuesday, when he will choose McMahon (mostly for his third base defense), Amed Rosario (for his righty bat), or José Caballero or Anthony Volpe (who are more balanced options) as his starting third baseman against Boston. 

Due to the heavy rains and winds expected especially later in the afternoon, Sunday’s regular-season finale with the Orioles was moved up to 1:05 p.m. 

They’ve gone from fighting for a division title to cruising to a wild card berth to a final chance to save their season.

And now the Philadelphia Phillies have just one more day to squirm their way into Major League Baseball’s playoff field.

For the fourth consecutive night, the Phillies had a chance to nail down a National League wild-card berth. And for the fourth consecutive night, they failed, this time in embarrassing fashion as the finest team in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays, dealt them a 12-1 loss on Saturday, Sept. 26 that at least temporarily wrested destiny from their hands.

The Phillies extended their shutout streak to 21 innings before scoring a meaningless unearned run in the seventh inning. They have been outscored 23-2 on the four nights they had a chance to clinch or at least shave their magic number to one. They have lost six of their past eight games.

Meanwhile, surprise starter Aaron Nola was blitzed for three runs on four extra-base hits in the first inning and the Rays piled on from there.

Now, their last hope: Ace Zack Wheeler, trying to beat a Rays team with nothing to play for but a need to stay sharp with five days off before their AL Division Series begins. They will start All-Star right-hander Nick Martinez, who is 15-5 with a 2.94 ERA.

In a more ideal Phillies world, Wheeler would be resting up for a Game 1 NLDS assignment against Chris Sale. Now, he has no choice but to pitch and save the Phillies’ season.

And stave off the Arizona Diamondbacks, while he’s at it.

The D-backs took a six-game winning streak into Saturday, trailing Philadelphia by a game and owning the head-to-head tiebreaker that could vault them in the playoffs. But they lost to the San Diego Padres10-7 at Petco Park, missing a chance to control their own destiny on the season's final day.

Regardless, Sunday stays the same: A Diamondbacks win and a Phillies loss ends yet another Phillies season that once had such high hopes.

USA TODAY Sports provided live updates of the Phillies-Rays battle:

Somehow, every season, 160 baseball games aren’t quite enough. There’s always plenty of drama that spills over into games 161 and 162. 2026 is no different, with lots to be decided around the league during the last weekend of the season.

The Colorado Rockies have two more against the playoff-bound Chicago White Sox with a lot of divisional and Wild Card jockeying going on around the league.

The AL Central remains up for grab in a tight race. The Cleveland Guardians won 12-9 in extras last night, giving them a one-game cushion over the White Sox for the division lead. The Guardians square off against the Kansas City Royals in a 5:10 p.m. MT matchup as well, so Southsiders will be scoreboard watching throughout the evening.

Chicago will try to hold their own and hope for an assist from KC. For their part of the equation, they’ll send out Davis Martin. Martin is 9-7 across 27 starts this season with a 3.84 ERA and a 1.294 WHIP. His production has declined as the season has gone on, as he’s 0-2 in his last seven games with a 4.76 ERA and 0-5 in the last 15 games with his ERA ballooning to 5.51 in that stretch. Despite starting the year with three wins in his first four starts, he hasn’t logged one since back in early June. He did, however, have a strong game in his last outing, going 4.1 scoreless innings, only giving up three hits with six strikeouts.

The Rockies couldn’t play spoiler against an Arizona Diamondbacks squad looking to be the third NL West team in the playoffs this year as they try to chase down the stumbling Philadelphia Phillies. Now, the Rockies try to log a rare September win and ruin some of Chicago’s fun. They’ll start Jose Quintana, who enters with a 2-3 record through 10 starts. The lefty carries a 5.40 ERA, a 1.511 WHIP, and 22/18 K/BB. After returning from a few months on the injured list with a sprained elbow, Quintana gave up three runs on five hits – including two home runs – in four innings of work for a no-decision in a 5-3 win for the Rockies.

The Rockies will see some old friends on the other side of the diamond, with both Brenton Doyle and Randal Grichuk in Chicago’s starting lineup (and with Drew Romo being recalled from Triple-A). The Rockies will look for more progress from their youngsters and try to reach some milestones across the rest of the batting order, including one more Hunter Goodman home run to reach 40 and two more triples to get Jake McCarthy to a 15-15-15 season.

The final days of regular season baseball are here. It will be an exciting finish around the league. Hopefully the Rockies have at least one more win left in the tank.

First pitch: 5:10 p.m. MDT

TV: Rockies.TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

White Sox SB Nation:South Side Sox

Lineups:

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks! 

I thought many of you would like to follow along this evening with the two games that could affect the Cubs’ postseason position, since the Cubs are off today.

Here’s what you need to know about the Phillies/Rays and Padres/Diamondbacks games.

Rays at Phillies, 6:15 p.m. CT

Griffin Jax, RHP (Rays) vs. Aaron Nola, RHP (Phillies)

Nola is going on two days’ rest and he threw 88 pitches three days ago.

Lineups:

TV: Fox-TV (full national broadcast, no blackouts). Announcers: Wayne Randazzo, John Smoltz.

The weather forecast for Philadelphia both today and tomorrow is not very good. That could throw things into chaos.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Diamondbacks at Padres, 7:40 p.m. CT

Taylor Clarke, RHP (Diamondbacks) vs. Walker Buehler, RHP (Padres)

Clarke is a reliever who’s clearly serving as an opener in this game. The Diamondbacks have won six in a row.

Lineups:

TV: MLB.TV (see streaming link above)

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

The usual game thread rules apply here. Discuss amongst yourselves, and let’s hope the results wind up favorable for the Cubs.