The Morning Horsehide Herald — the Eight-and-Twentieth of September, Two Thousand and Twenty-Six

Is it spring training yet? No — but the championship season is upon us, a finer thing still.

The Game of the Day

LEVEL AT SUNRISE, CROWNED BY SUNDOWN — HOUSTON POURS NINE PAST THE WHITE ELEPHANTS WHILE TEXAS FALLS IN MINNEAPOLIS, AND THE WEST'S CROWN COMES HOME AT EXACTLY ONE-AND-EIGHTY WINS: ASTROS 9, ATHLETICS 0

The dead heat this paper has chronicled for a week is settled inside of three innings at West Sacramento — Spence, the taxi-squad thunderbolt, triples home two in a four-run third, Walker thunders his nine-and-twentieth, Alvarez drives home his hundred-sixth on the afternoon his batting crown is sealed, and six Houston pitchers pass a five-hit shutout hand to hand; word arrives from Minneapolis that the Rangers have fallen 6-4, whereupon a club that stood 20-31 in the middle of May is champion of the West at one-and-eighty and one-and-eighty, with the South Siders due at its yard on the morrow

The schedule-maker, a dramatist at heart, had saved the season's last open question for the season's last open afternoon: Houston and Texas level at eighty wins apiece, the American's wild cards all long since spoken for, and the loser of the West — as this paper set out in Sunday's dispatch — to go home outright. Houston declined to let the suspense ripen. By the middle of the third inning at West Sacramento the question was, for all practical purposes, answered.

The third began with small industry — Altuve's groundout cashing Peña, Diaz doubling Alvarez across — and ended with a thunderclap from the least likely quarter: Lucas Spence, the undrafted taxi-squad man whose three-homer Wednesday this paper sang in its Friday columns, lined a two-run triple, the first three-bagger of his big-league life, and it stood 4-0. Christian Walker added his nine-and-twentieth home run in the sixth, Alvarez singled home his hundred-and-sixth run on the very afternoon his .316 average was sealed as the American's batting crown, and the nine ran to a dozen hits. Behind them, six pitchers — Lambert opening, the rookie Pecko taking the decision with three spotless frames, then Ullola, King, VanWey, and Imai — passed the whitewash hand to hand, permitting the Athletics five scattered hits.

In Minneapolis, meanwhile, Texas was breathing its last. Josh Bell struck a two-run blast among three driven home, Royce Lewis added another, and though Corey Seager's two-run answer in the ninth drew the Arlington men to 6-4, no nearer did they come — of which defeat the card below gives the particulars. The wire's obituary was unsparing: the Rangers' season, wrote the Texas correspondent, went out not with a bang but a whimper. And so the ledger closed on one of the strangest championships the divisional age has offered: Houston, champion of the West by a single game, at precisely break-even — one-and-eighty wins, one-and-eighty defeats — the only club of October's twelve without a winning record, and the club that stood twenty wins and one-and-thirty losses in mid-May with Brown, Hader, and Peña all lodged in the infirmary. "Now, we go," ran the word from the Houston clubhouse, and it will serve for a motto.

The wage of the crown — an eighth Western title in the franchise's ledger — is a home date: the South Siders come to Houston Tuesday at five o'clock Eastern to open the Wild Card round, a guest at 84-78 calling upon a host at 81-81. The curiosity this paper mused upon Saturday — an October guest richer in victories than its host — now stands engraved upon the card, and the champions, who took five of seven from Chicago this summer, are invited to prove the standings' arithmetic beside the point.

News Around the League

THE OCTOBER DESK: THE BRACKET IS ENGRAVED ENTIRE — FOUR WILD CARD SERIES OPEN TOMORROW FROM LUNCHEON TO MIDNIGHT, EACH A REMATCH WITH ITS OWN OLD SCORE TO SETTLE

The twelve are known, and the schedule is a banquet: four best-of-three series open Tuesday, every game at the higher seed's park, carried across the NBC and Peacock wires. The card, in order of first pitch: Philadelphia at Atlanta at two o'clock, where the Braves took nine of thirteen meetings this summer but the Phillies have won all three prior October quarrels between the clubs, the ancient left-hander Sale — a 2.16 figure across seven-and-twenty starts, and a career's mastery of Harper and Schwarber besides — waiting to set Atlanta's tone; the South Siders at Houston at five, a rematch of the 2021 October meeting and, for readers of longer memory, of the 2005 World Series itself; Boston at New York at eight, the seventh postseason chapter of the game's oldest quarrel, the Yankees having taken last October's edition two games to one; and the Cubs at San Diego at ten, a rematch of last year's Wild Card round, which Chicago won by the same count — the North Siders having also taken five of six from the Friars this season, one of them by the outlandish score of 23-3.

The four who rest are handsomely rewarded for their summers: Tampa Bay at eight-and-ninety wins and Cleveland in the American, Milwaukee at one hundred three and the Dodgers at one hundred in the National, all idle until the Division Series open Saturday, the third of October, each at home against a Wild Card survivor.

THE ARMORY DESK: NEW YORK HANDS GAME ONE TO SCHLITTLER AND HIS 1.95 — PHILADELPHIA COUNTS ITS SPENT CARTRIDGES, COUNSELL SHOWS NOBODY HIS HAND, AND BOSTON MAY UNCRATE CROCHET

The Yankees settled their deliberations by the simplest of logics: Cam Schlittler, whose 1.95 earned-run average led the American League entire, takes the ball against Boston in Tuesday's opener, with Fried and Cole to follow. The wire desks already speak of the young man as the Cy Young presumptive — this paper reminds its readers that the writers' ballot is not announced until November, and no poll ever threw a strike. The captain Judge, twice an invalid this summer — four-and-eighty games lost to the ribs, then a September calf — declares himself planning to play, though nothing about the leg is certain.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, reaches October counting spent cartridges: Wheeler was pressed into the season's final Sunday and will stand on short rest all series; Sánchez is not fully rested until Wednesday; Luzardo's four-pitch, one-two-three eighth on Sunday was his first work since the seventh of September; and the relief corps carries a 5.79 September figure, the worst in the game. In Chicago's camp, Counsell declines to name so much as a Game One pitcher, preferring, as ever, to hold every card against his chest. And Boston may yet produce a surprise from the crate: the ace Crochet, unseen since the five-and-twentieth of April, threw well in a Saturday session and will likely join the club in New York — as a relief hand, if he is carried at all.

THE CROWNS DESK: THE TABLES CLOSE AND ALONSO TAKES TWO CROWNS IN ONE AUTUMN — A FEAT WITHOUT PRECEDENT IN THE RBI LEDGER, WHILE MORENO NIPS THE HOBBLED ARRAEZ BY A SINGLE POINT

The season's tables are final, and Baltimore's Polar Bear owns the American's summit twice over: Pete Alonso finishes with three-and-forty home runs and one hundred thirteen runs driven in, crowns both — and the runs-batted-in laurel makes him the first man in the game's history to lead each league in that column, having led the National with a hundred thirty-one as a Metropolitan in 2022. Alvarez of Houston takes the American's batting title at .316, with two-and-forty home runs beside; young Simpson of Tampa Bay claims the stolen-base crown at six-and-forty; Gray of Boston leads with eighteen victories; and Schlittler's 1.95, as the armory desk attests, rules the pitching table.

In the National, the batting crown was decided by the width of a hair and a turned ankle: Moreno of Arizona at .311 edges Philadelphia's Arraez at .310 — the race's erstwhile keeper having watched the final days from the invalid list with the sprained ankle this paper has chronicled. The home-run race this paper tracked to the wire ends in a shared crown after all: Crow-Armstrong and Schwarber, locked at five-and-forty apiece since Friday, both went without on the final day, and the two will divide the laurel — though not the October stage, where both appear Tuesday. Burleson of St. Louis takes the National's RBI title at one hundred sixteen, and Nuñez of Washington its stolen-base crown at nine-and-forty.

THE MANAGERIAL DESK: WILSON TAKES HIS LEAVE OF SEATTLE ON THE SEASON'S LAST MORNING — AND IN ARIZONA, LOVULLO, WINNINGEST OF ALL SNAKE SKIPPERS, SAYS ONLY THAT HE WANTS TO BE WANTED

The season's final Sunday claimed its first manager before the first pitch: Dan Wilson gathered his Mariners players and staff in the morning and told them he will not return in 2027, the word reaching the wire through the usual unnamed channels before the club had played out its 76-86 string. The nine, to their credit, sent him off with a 7-3 victory over the Anaheim men, as the card records.

In San Diego's visiting clubhouse, meanwhile, a harder scene: Torey Lovullo, a decade in the Arizona chair and the winningest manager the franchise has known at 750-768, finished out a one-year contract with an eighth October missed in nine years — this one by the width of a weekend, two straight defeats at Petco Park when two victories would have carried the day. Asked whether he wished to return, he said of course; asked whether he would, he could only offer: "I just want to be wanted. I'll leave it at that." The Herald, which watched his club win six straight to force the question to the final afternoon, submits that the man's stock ought to be judged by the chase and not the catch.

THE INFIRMARY WARD: CONTRERAS RETURNS TO BOSTON'S ORDER IN TIME FOR OCTOBER — GASPER AND GUERRERO TAKE HIS PLACE ON THE ROLLS

The ward's ledger balanced itself cruelly in St. Petersburg: Willson Contreras, eight games absent since taking a pitch off the right hand in Texas, returned to Boston's lineup for the finale — hitless in two turns, but the manager Tracy pronounces him ready for the Wild Card round, and his men call the news "huge" for an order that has missed his thunder, .276 and seven-and-twenty home runs' worth before the injury. The corresponding entries are grimmer: Mickey Gasper, whose biceps gave way swinging at a sweeper — a misfortune this paper recorded Saturday — goes formally to the ten-day rolls, and the reliever Tyron Guerrero, his shoulder strained anew after a September already lost to inflammation, to the fifteen-day. Eaton and Olds were recalled to fill the vacancies while the club debates the shape of its October roster.

The Rest of the Card

WHEELER SPENDS HIMSELF GLADLY AND THE COLLAPSE IS CANCELLED AT THE LAST HOUR — FOUR DOUBLES IN TWO INNINGS, TWO LATE THUNDERCLAPS, AND A FIFTH OCTOBER RUNNING: PHILADELPHIAS 7, RAYS 3

The fortnight of agonies this paper has chronicled ended in an afternoon of plenty: Stott, Realmuto, and Schwarber rattled run-scoring doubles to build a 4-0 lead inside two innings, Harper and Sosa added home runs in a three-run fifth, and Wheeler — pressed into the breach on the season's last day — gave six strong innings for his fourteenth victory as Citizens Bank Park exhaled at last. DeLuca homered twice in a gallant Tampa Bay cause; the Rays rest at eight-and-ninety wins and the first seed regardless. Philadelphia banks a fifth consecutive October and travels to Atlanta for Tuesday's opener — and Arizona, whose fate rode on this scoreboard, was thereby dismissed, as the next line tells.

THE DESERT CLAWS LEVEL AND THE FRIARS ANSWER WITH FIVE INSIDE AN INNING — ARIZONA'S SEASON DIES IN THE SEVENTH AT PETCO PARK: FRIARS 9, SONORAN NINE 4

Needing victory and Philadelphia's failure alike, Arizona got neither: down 4-1, the Sonoran nine rallied level in the seventh on doubles and industry — Carroll, Tawa, and Nootbaar each driving home a run — whereupon San Diego answered with five before the frame and its successor were done, Cronenworth walking home the go-ahead run with the bases full and Fermin lining a two-run single toward his three on the night, Hays adding two more in the eighth. The Friars thus close at 91-71, a third consecutive ninety-win campaign built on a 41-18 charge from eleventh place in late July, and will greet the Cubs at ten o'clock Tuesday; the Snakes go home at 86-76, full of honor and empty of October, their manager's melancholy entered at the managerial desk.

BELL'S THUNDER TOLLS THE HOUR AND THE ARLINGTON MEN GO OUT WITH A WHIMPER — SEAGER'S NINTH-INNING PAIR ARRIVES TOO LATE TO MATTER: NORTH STARS 6, ARLINGTON MEN 4

Texas's half of the West's dead heat perished at Target Field: Josh Bell struck a two-run blast among three driven home, Lewis added his fifteenth, and Kremer took the decision while the scoreboard told Houston's tale, the front page giving the full obituary. Corey Seager's two-run twentieth in the ninth, Nimmo aboard, dressed the final line at 6-4 and changed nothing; the Rangers finish 80-82, one game shy of a crown and shut out of October entire, while Minnesota closes a losing year with six wins in its last ten and the small satisfaction of an executioner's steady hand.

A BROKEN FACE, TEN DAYS' REST, AND TWO HOME RUNS — BREGMAN ANNOUNCES HIMSELF FIT FOR OCTOBER AS THE EXILED FINALE PASSES QUIETLY BENEATH THE FLORIDA ROOF: NORTH SIDERS 6, FENWAY MEN 2

The season's strangest fixture — Boston's home finale, played a thousand miles from Fenway under the Tropicana roof to which the nor'easter drove it, as this paper's almanac desk foretold — belonged entirely to Alex Bregman, who in his second game back from the facial fractures a foul ball dealt him struck his seven-and-twentieth and eight-and-twentieth home runs, doubled besides, and drove home four of Chicago's six. Rutschman answered with his thirteenth, and Contreras's return to the order is gladly entered at the ward. The North Siders close at 89-73 and fly for San Diego; the Fenway men, their business at this roofed house long since concluded — they clinched beneath it a week ago — turn for the Bronx.

SEVEN INNINGS, SEVEN STRIKEOUTS, AND PERHAPS A PERIOD — SCHERZER, ON SHORT REST, LEAVES THE LEDGER THREE SHY OF HIS OLD STABLEMATE: MAPLE LEAF NINE 5, QUEEN CITY NINE 1

The vigil this paper promised to keep was rewarded: Max Scherzer, pitching on short rest in what may have been the final start of his life, gave Toronto seven innings of six-hit, one-run baseball and struck out seven — each whiff a stroke against the account, so that the career strikeout ledger this paper reported at ten in Verlander's favor on Sunday now stands at three. Valenzuela's two-run blast and McAdoo's homer and sacrifice fly carried the 5-1 verdict behind him. Only one man may tell Scherzer when it is over, the Toronto correspondent observed, and that man will render no verdict before winter; the Herald holds its edition of the farewell accordingly.

LINDOR RINGS UP THREE HUNDRED AND THE REGISTER OPENS FOR ONLY THE SECOND SWITCH-HITTER OF HIS KIND — THE WASHINGTONS TAKE THE FINALE ANYWAY: WASHINGTONS 6, FLUSHING NINE 4

Thirteen games without a home run ended in the grandest of round numbers: Francisco Lindor's second-inning blast, his one-and-twentieth of the year, was the three-hundredth of his career, making him but the second switch-hitter in the game's annals to join three hundred home runs to two hundred stolen bases. Mauricio homered in the same frame for a 4-1 New York lead, whereupon Washington answered with steady industry — Chaparro homering twice, Abrams tripling home his hundred-and-sixth run — to close its season 6-4 winners, Crews doubling and the young Senators generally auditioning for next April.

MISIOROWSKI TAKES HIS BOW TO A STANDING HOUSE AND THE SUDS MEN BANK ONE HUNDRED THREE — TURANG'S SINGLE IS HIS HUNDREDTH RUN DRIVEN HOME: SUDS MEN 6, MOUND CITY NINE 4

Milwaukee's record-setting summer closed as it was conducted throughout — in front, and in full voice: Jacob Misiorowski, cheered to the mound and cheered from it, took his sixteenth victory against five defeats as the club banked win number one hundred three. Chourio drove home two, Gary Sánchez struck a two-run twelfth, and Brice Turang's first-inning single cashed his hundredth run batted in of the season. St. Louis made it honest late — Bernal's three-run blast in the eighth the freight, Walker reaching one hundred two driven home — but Drohan sealed it, and the first seed now rests until Saturday's Division Series at its own yard.

NINE INNINGS OF STALEMATE, THEN PAGES POURS FOUR THROUGH THE TENTH — THE HUNDREDTH WIN MAKES ROBERTS'S SIXTH SUCH SEASON, A RECORD EQUALLED: DODGERS 5, ORANGE AND BLACK 1

Level at one apiece through nine by the bay, the champions settled matters in the tenth: Call doubled home the go-ahead run and Andy Pages followed with a three-run blast, his three-and-twentieth, for four runs driven in on the night and a 5-1 verdict. The win was the Dodgers' hundredth of the season — and the sixth hundred-win campaign of Dave Roberts's managerial life, equalling the record for the chair. Los Angeles rests until Saturday's Division Series at home; San Francisco closes its books at 65-97, five defeats running.

CONINE'S NINETEENTH HAS THE LAST WORD AND THE FISH CLOSE A WINNING HOUSE — ATLANTA'S TUNE-UP ENDS A HALF-STEP SHORT: FISH 5, BRAVES 3

Miami's farewell was a seesaw won late: Dubón's homer and single had Atlanta ahead and then within one at 4-3 in the seventh, whereupon Griffin Conine's nineteenth restored the two-run margin and Alcantara closed the door. Hernández homered and Serna doubled home two among the Fish's freight; the Marlins thus finish 80-82 — but a stout 47-34 at their own park, where they made a season's habit of inconveniencing their betters. The champions of the East, 94-68 and the National's third seed, lose nothing but tidiness and turn to Tuesday's two o'clock opener against Philadelphia, of which the October desk sings.

PASQUANTINO STRIKES TWICE AND THE SECOND ONE SETTLES IT — THE LAKE ERIE MEN DROP THE FINALE AND LOSE NOT AN INCH: KANSAS CITY NINE 3, LAKE ERIE MEN 2

A finale of pleasant inconsequence for Cleveland turned on Vinnie Pasquantino's bat: the big first baseman homered in the fifth and again in the eighth, the latter breaking a 2-2 knot, while Adell and Schneemann supplied the visitors' answers. Erceg sealed the 3-2 verdict, a parting grace upon Kansas City's 69-93 year. The Lake Erie men rest at 85-77 with the American's second seed and its bye already in the vault, idle until Saturday, when the Division Series opens at Progressive Field against the survivor of the South Siders' errand in Houston.

TWO TWO-RUN THUNDERCLAPS IN A SINGLE THIRD — GRICHUK AND DOYLE SEND THE PALE HOSE TO HOUSTON ON A ROLL: PALE HOSE 4, COLORADANS 2

Chicago's tune-up finished in a single frame: Grichuk and Doyle struck two-run home runs in the third, turning a 1-0 deficit into the whole of the evening's requirement, Kay taking his tenth win and Richards the save while Carrigg's late homer dressed Colorado's line. The Pale Hose close at 84-78 with seven wins in their last ten — the sharpest late form of the American's October class save Cleveland's — and entrain for Houston, where Tuesday's five o'clock opener offers them a division champion owning three fewer victories than themselves. The Coloradans finish 58-104, and are owed a winter's rest.

ON THE MORNING THE MANAGER SAYS FAREWELL, THE EMERALD CITY NINE WIN HIM ONE MORE — AROZARENA'S DOUBLE CAPS A SIX-RUN CUSHION: EMERALD CITY NINE 7, ANAHEIM NINE 3

Hours after Dan Wilson told his men he would not return — the managerial desk gives that account — Seattle played him a proper recessional: three early runs by way of Raleigh's knock and assorted groundwork, then a three-run sixth crowned by Arozarena's two-run double, his four-and-thirtieth two-bagger. Siri's two-run homer off the Anaheim bench's late charge and a Grissom sacrifice fly made the visitors' three; Bazardo took the decision. Two clubs long excused from October thus close at 76-86 and 62-100 respectively, each with an autumn of harder questions than box scores ahead.

THE ROOKIE GRIFFIN OPENS WITH THUNDER AND CLOSES A WINNING YEAR — McGONIGLE AND VALENCIA ANSWER TOO SOFTLY, TOO LATE: CORSAIRS 4, DETROITS 2

Konnor Griffin's first-inning home run, his sixth, set the tone, and his fourth-inning single drove home the last of four Pittsburgh runs — Mangum and Cook supplying the middle freight — as the Corsairs closed their books at 82-80, a winning season banked. Detroit's late answer came from Saturday's heroes: McGonigle's eighteenth and Valencia's eighth, back to back in the seventh — the latter a quieter blow by far than the walk-off thunder this paper sang in Sunday's columns — before Montgomery sealed the 4-2 verdict. The Bengals finish 76-86, their farewell to Verlander already the season's keepsake.

THE ONE LINE LEFT BLANK — THE SEASON'S LAST CARD LOSES ITS BRONX ENTRY, AND ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-ONE GAMES MUST SERVE: ORIOLES AT YANKEES, CANCELLED

The fifteenth fixture of the final day was never played: Baltimore's call at Yankee Stadium was cancelled outright, and with the schedule's book now closed it will not be made up — nothing rode upon it, New York's fourth seed and Tuesday's date with Boston being long since engraved and Baltimore's season long since spent. Both clubs thus close their ledgers at one hundred sixty-one games, a line short of the full complement, the Yankees at 93-68 and the Orioles at 79-82; the scorekeepers will simply rule the page and carry down the totals.

The Monday tables, then — fourteen contests entered, one line ruled blank in the Bronx, and the regular season of 2026 laid to rest entire: every crown assigned, every table closed, and the twelve of October known by name. This day the game rests — the schedule shows not a single contest anywhere in the land — and the combatants travel: Philadelphia to Atlanta for two o'clock tomorrow, the South Siders to Houston for five, Boston to the Bronx for eight, the Cubs to San Diego for ten, all in the best-of-three fashion, while Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and the Dodgers sharpen their blades for Saturday's Division Series. Tomorrow's dispatch will keep the vigil of the idle day; the one after brings the first October verdicts, whereupon this paper trades its summer economy for October's fuller measure. Until the next dispatch, keep your scorecards near and your enthusiasms nearer.

~ THE HERALD ~

The Herald Acknowledges Its Debts

MLB Box Scores — Monday, September 28, 2026 — Boxscore
Baseball-Reference.com — Upcoming Schedule and Upcoming Dates — Baseball-Reference
Brian McTaggart, Astros endure obstacles, clinch 8th AL West title: 'Now, we go' — MLB.com
Kennedi Landry, 'Incredibly disappointing': Rangers come up short of playoffs on final day — MLB.com
Todd Zolecki, Phillies put tumultuous week behind them to punch playoff ticket — MLB.com
Steve Gilbert, D-backs push postseason fight to Game 162, but battle ends there — MLB.com
Lovullo admits future is murky as Arizona misses playoffs again — ESPN
Daniel Kramer, Wilson will not return as Mariners' manager in 2027 — MLB.com
Jake Rill, Alonso becomes first player to win RBI title in both leagues — MLB.com
Bobby Blanco, Lindor just 2nd switch-hitter with 300 HRs, 200 SBs after milestone blast — MLB.com
Sonja Chen, Roberts ties record with 6th 100-win season as manager — MLB.com
Keegan Matheson, Scherzer's brilliance, fire and stubbornness on display in 7-K Game 162 gem — MLB.com
Scherzer strikes out 7 on short rest as Blue Jays win season finale — ESPN
Bryan Hoch, Yanks turn to Cy favorite Schlittler to start G1 of Wild Card Series — MLB.com
Schlittler gets Game 1 nod against Red Sox, with Fried and Cole to follow — ESPN
What you need to know about the Wild Card Series matchups — MLB.com
2026 MLB postseason schedule — MLB.com
Counsell playing Cubs' postseason rotation close to the vest — MLB.com
Luzardo throws 4-pitch eighth in return, ready for 'whatever Phillies need' — MLB.com
Joey Johnston, Willson returns to lineup, should play in WC Series; Gasper, Guerrero placed on IL — MLB.com
Adam McCalvy, Jacob Misiorowski finishes historic 2026 season strong vs. Cardinals — MLB.com
Jordan Bastian, Fresh off facial fractures, Bregman mashes 2 homers in 2nd game back — MLB.com
AJ Cassavell, Padres finish out 3rd straight 90-plus-win season with statement at home — MLB.com