MLB Bullets Is A Walk-off Winner

I think in the annals of baseball, it was the first time a team mobbed the man standing in the on-deck circle after a walk-off win. It's also got to be very strange that on the last day of the season, I'm not leading off with a story about the playoffs, but rather about a 100-loss team.

• The regular season ended on Sunday and Henderson Alvarez no-hit the Detroit Tigers in the final game of another tough season for the Marlins. The game was still tied 0-0 after Alvarez retired the Tigers in the top of the ninth, so the Marlins had to score in the bottom of the inning for Alvarez to get credited with the no-no. Fortunately, Giancarlo Stanton scored from third base on a two-out wild pitch for the winning run with Alvarez on deck. Somewhat hilariously, Alvarez admitted he thought the score was 1-0 in the top of the ninth and briefly didn't understand why his team wasn't mobbing him after he retired the Tigers.
• Jay Jaffe puts the Alvarez no-hitter in the context this year's other no-hitters, late-season no-hitters and the Marlins miserable season.
• Anthony Castrovince looks at that no-hitter and says no one has ever seen anything like it before. It's also things like this that make us all love baseball so much.
• Rob Neyer echos Castrovince's sentiments about this is why we love baseball so much and confirms it is the first no-hitter to end on a wild pitch. Or at least since 1916, which is as far as the play-by-play data is available. But probably in history. He also looks at the other the no-hitters that ended with a walk-off.
• David Schoenfield says despite the fact that Miguel Cabrera, Torii Hunter and Austin Jackson didn't play in this game, Alvarez's no-hitter is more evidence that the Tigers are struggling heading into the playoffs. All I have to say is the 2000 Yankees finished the season 3-15 and then went 11-5 in the postseason on their way to their third straight World Series victory.
• At Friday night's game in Miami, Prince Fielder shook hands with his father Cecil. A small gesture, but it's a massive improvement in their relationship.
• Before leaving the Marlins and going on to other teams, they fired their president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest on Friday. Beinfest was replaced by GM Mike Hill on Sunday and Dan Jennings took over as the Marlins new GM. But all the real power and decisions come from owner Jeffrey Loria, as Jennings almost admitted on Sunday. Hill and Jennings can brag that the Marlins are undefeated in their new positions the entire off-season though.
• We didn't get that three-way tie that we were all pulling for, but the Rays and the Rangers will play tonight in a one-game playoff in Arlington to get into a one-game playoff.
• The starters in tonight's game are David Price for Tampa Bay and Martin Perez for the Rangers. It sounds like a mismatch, but Price has a very poor career record against Texas.
• Danny Knobler thinks it might just be Price's last start for Tampa Bay. He argues that if they can't sign him to a long-term deal (and they can't), then the time to trade him is this off-season when his value is at the highest.
• The Rangers will activate Nelson Cruz for tonight's game as he has finished his 50 game suspension for his role in the Biogenesis PED scandal.
• Ian Kinsler was disappointed that Sunday afternoon's decisive game with the Angels wasn't a sellout. Ironically, fans at the non-sellout game chanted "baseball town" at Josh Hamilton.
• Rangers fans haven't been happy with the job Matt Garza has done for them this season, but GM Jon Daniels denied reports that ownership pressed him to acquire Garza.
• Oh, and for those of you upset that there's not going to be a three-team playoff: blame umpire Angel Hernandez. Remember that home run back in May that Oakland's Adam Rosales hit that Hernandez refused to overturn on replay, despite that everyone saw that it went out? That was against Cleveland. Had the Indians lost that game, we'd have a three-team playoff. Oh, and Oakland would have home field advantage throughout the playoffs and wouldn't have to face Detroit in the first round. Now admittedly, that HR would have only tied the game in the ninth, so the Athletics might still have lost. But that mistake ended up being crucial.
• Jed Lowrie has been a quiet star for the A's this season. You probably didn't know that.
• Scott Kazmir got trapped in an elevator in a Minneapolis hotel for 90 minutes. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like a group of people from all walks of life with different racial, ethnic, religious and political backgrounds were trapped with him, so it didn't become a sitcom pilot.
• Bob Nightengale notes that three of the five lowest revenue teams made the playoffs and if Tampa Bay beats the Rangers tonight, it will be four of the lowest five.
• Bud Selig is doubtlessly happy about this development, and Ken Rosenthal takes a look back at Selig's, in Rosenthal's opinion, mostly successful term as commissioner. (VIDEO) He also talks about who might replace him.
• Richard Justice lays it on thick, calling Selig "the best Commissioner baseball has ever had." Of course, that's a little like saying he's the best player on the Houston Astros, so maybe I can see his point. But he still lays it on thick in his praise of Selig.
• The Cuban government announced that Cuban ballplayers may pursue professional playing opportunities overseas as long as they fulfill their "commitments at home" (likely meaning playing in the Cuban domestic winter league and for the Cuban national team) and pay taxes on their earnings. Unfortunately, that last part is going to be the stickler as far as MLB goes, since the US embargo on Cuba would forbid the players from paying taxes to the Cuban government. Which leads me to wonder if the Blue Jays might not try to sign someone to just play in home games.
• What is more likely to happen, however, is that Cuban players would play in Mexico or possibly Japan and Korea.
• There is a report, however, that Cuban pitcher Raicel Iglesias has been detained after a defection attempt.
• Add Jonathan Bernhardt to those who think that the Braves behavior when someone hits a home run off of them is childish. He also notes that the Braves only go nuts against bad teams in non-critical games, so if Yasiel Puig admires a home run too long in the playoffs, he doesn't expect the Braves to do anything.
• Speaking of the Dodgers, they got bad news as Matt Kemp is out for the rest of the year.
• Brian Wilson started yelling at Giants owner Larry Baer on the field over why he hadn't received his World Series ring from 2012. The Giants say it's all a big misunderstanding and Wilson won't comment. But Wilson got his ring after the game.
• Clayton Kershaw has a 1.83 ERA and his record is 16-9. #killthewin
• The Giants signed Hunter Pence to a 5 year, $90 million contract. He would have been a free agent at the end of the season.
• Cliff Corcoran says that after taking a closer look, the deal with Pence looks like a good one for the Giants. And Pence made it clear he wanted to stay in San Francisco, so it looks like everyone is happy.
• The suspect in the Dodger fan stabbing death in San Francisco has been released as the police try to obtain more evidence.
• Todd Helton played his final game on Sunday. He got a tribute from Vin Scully and a standing ovation from the sold out Dodger Stadium crown.
• I have absolutely no idea what Brandon Phillips is talking about and I'm not sure I want to.
• Eric Wedge won't return as the Mariners manager next season, and Ken Rosenthal says he was never a good fit in Seattle.
• Davey Johnson managed his last game for the Nationals. He called it "a fun journey."
• Tom Verducci collected memories of Mariano Rivera from the people who worked with him.
• Andy Pettitte ended his career with a complete game victory over the Astros. He was helped by this wonderful example of Astros skill at baseball. Seriously, I've never seen a catcher throw the ball there before.
• The Astros lost their last 15 games. Did they not realize they had already sewn up the first pick in the draft again? In any case, the last team to finish the season on a 15 game losing streak was the infamous 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who weren't even bothering with playing home games at that point of the season.
• Bob Nightengale looks at the timeline of and what's at stake in Alex Rodriguez's appeal of his suspension. His prediction? The suspension is upheld but reduced to 100 games.
• The Orioles would like to bring Scott Feldman back next season and the feeling is mutual.
• For those looking for a chink in the Cardinals armor this postseason, closer Edward Mujica is a "mess" at the moment, says Drew Silva.
• Ned Yost says the Royals need another hitter next season. I've got an idea. How about Wil Myers?
• Finally, this "leaping" catch by Alex Gordon is the strangest I've ever seen. It has the added advantage of making Hawk Harrelson and the people who run the fireworks at the Cell look foolish.