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It’s another glorious Friday, the second-to-last of the regular season.
- The Yankees and the Red Sox are playing each other in a three-game series in Boston with a spot in the playoffs pretty much on the line. Mike Lupica looks at what’s at stake this weekend and critical Yankees/Red Sox series from years past.
- The Red Sox insist that they’re not superstitious, but they’ll be wearing the yellow “City Connect” jerseys that they’ve won five times over their past five games while wearing them. The Red Sox have won seven straight overall.
- A discussion of the wild American League Wild Card battle.
- Kaitlyn McGrath examines what the Blue Jays have to do to make the playoffs. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Over in the National League, Gabe Lacques takes stock of the wild NL West pennant chase where both the Giants and Dodgers are likely to win over 100 games and one of the two teams will have to settle for a one-game Wild Card.
- Dodgers first baseman Albert Pujols tells Alden Gonzalez that playing in a pennant chase with LA has brought “the joy” back to playing baseball for him. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
- The Padres have crashed out of that race with a poor second half, but Dan Szymborski writes that there is still hope for San Diego. It’s just that the Padres are going to have to wait until next year to realize it.
- Kevin Goldstein explains what happened to the Cardinals that allowed them to get so hot and seize the second NL Wild Card spot.
- Jay Jaffe looks at how Jon Lester has been able to succeed since his trade to St. Louis.
- Sticking with former Cubs heroes, the Padres have designated Jake Arrieta for assignment after four starts and a 10.95 ERA with San Diego.
- Michael Baumann asks if NL MVP-candidate Bryce Harper can yet drag the Phillies into the postseason.
- Zach Crizer has six veteran players on potential playoff teams who are still looking for their first World Series ring.
- As the negotiations for the next collective bargaining agreement continue, Evan Drellich looks at what happened in the last two CBA negotiations and how they influence this year’s talks. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- This link comes with a flashing light warning, OK? It should be obvious from the description. Michael Rosenberg speaks with legal and ethical experts from the BDSM community about the allegations made against Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer. Obviously don’t read it if reading about alternative sexual subcultures and violence against women are going to be difficult for you. But if you’re not going to read it, everyone seems to agree that Bauer crossed a lot of lines that shouldn’t be crossed in his encounter with the woman who sought a restraining order against him. It was definitely a violation of BDSM ethics. Whether what Bauer did met the legal definition of a crime is much murkier, if only because the laws which govern such situations are so unclear.
- From a very serious controversy, we’re moving on to Matt Snyder’s five silliest controversies of the 2021 season.
- Peter Gammons profiles Blue Jays infielder Marcus Semien, who won’t win the MVP, but he’s been extraordinarily valuable to Toronto this season, (The Athletic sub. req.) notes Gammons.
- MLB will introduce pre-tacked baseballs to a few random Triple-A games over the rest of the year. Why not all games? Because MLB doesn’t have enough sticky balls at this point.
- Dan Szymborski tells us to appreciate it when Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera gets his 3,000th hit, probably some time early next year, because it’s going to be a long time before another player reaches that milestone.
- Neil Paine looks at the great AL home run title chase of 2021.
- Athletics pitcher Chris Bassitt returned to pitch for the first time after he was hit in the face with a 100 mile per hour line drive. He pitched well, but the A’s lost anyway.
- Sam Dykstra and Jonathan Mayo have one remarkable stat from one minor leaguer in each team’s system.
- Braves outfielder Adam Duvall lost a home run after he passed teammate Austin Riley on the bases.
- The Diamondbacks have already lost 104 games this year, which makes the following news all the more surprising. D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo received a one-year extension to manage the team in 2022.
- A minor league baseball game was interrupted when a very good bat dog ran out onto the field. A very good dog indeed.
- Former All-Star Darryl Strawberry has asked for the public’s help in locating his missing granddaughter. MyLisa Reid was last seen in the Las Vegas area on Wednesday.
- And finally, another difficult but important read. Stephen J. Nesbitt has the story of Sang Ho Baek, a pitcher for George Mason who died after complications from Tommy John surgery. (The Athletic sub. req.) Baek was an immigrant whose family moved to the US to chase the American dream. Sang’s dream was to be a major league pitcher.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.