2015 – With a 13 – 7 win over the Colorado Rockies, the Pirates clinch a spot in the postseason for the third straight year, and the clinching game has come today in all three years. Neil Walker has a career-high 6 RBIs to lead the offense.
2014 – The Pirates clinch a spot in the postseason for the second straight year, thanks to a 3 – 2 win over the Braves. The Bucs fall into an early 2 – 0 hole but rally against Alex Wood, a scenario typical of the last three weeks, during which they have gone 15-3.
Arizona names Dave Stewart as the team’s fourth general manager in franchise history. The former All-Star big league pitcher, a 20-game winner for four consecutive seasons beginning in 1987, will report to the Diamondbacks’ chief baseball officer Tony La Russa, who was his manager when he posted a 119-78 record (.604) during his eight seasons with the A’s.
The Orioles suffer a double blow in their postseason chase when they lose, 5 – 4, to the Rays on James Loney’s 9th-inning walk-off pinch homer. In the 7th inning, young 3B Manny Machado suffers a season-ending injury when he steps awkwardly on first base and twists his knee.
The Pirates clinch a postseason berth for the first time since 1992 with a 2 – 1 win over the Cubs, thanks to Starling Marte’s tie-breaking 9th-inning homer. The Reds soon join them with a 10-inning, 3 – 2 win over the Mets, secured on Shin-Soo Choo’s game-ending single. With the Cardinals having clinched a postseason slot a few days earlier, it will be the first time that three teams from the same division play together in the postseason. The three teams have been bunched up all season, and their order of finish is still to be determined.
With their 2-1 win over Chicago thanks to�Starling Marte’s ninth-inning homer, along with Washington’s defeat in St. Louis, the Pirates will appear in the postseason for the first time since 1992. The victory assures the Bucs one of the two wildcard berths, with a division title still within reach.
Struggling all month in their bid to lock up a wild card slot, the Rangers annihilate the woeful Astros, 12 – 0, as Alex Rios hits for the cycle and Derek Holland pitches a complete game shutout, striking out 9. Rios only needs 6 innings to complete his feat, and then leaves way for Engel Beltre with Texas already ahead, 11 – 0. For the Astros, it is loss number 106, one shy of the franchise record.
Jered Weaver wins his 19th game of the season to help the Angels complete a three-game sweep of the White Sox, 4 – 1. Albert Pujols records his 100th RBI in the win, the 11th time he has been in triple digits in his 12 major league seasons. The win brings the Halos within 2 1/2 games of a wild card berth, but they are finding it hard to overcome a 6-20 start, and a 14-22 streak immediately after the All-Star break.
2011 – The movie Moneyball receives its theatrical release across the United States. Starring Brad Pitt and based on Michael Lewis’s book of the same name, the story focusses on Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane and his unconventional statistics-based approach that made the team surprisingly competitive during the 2002 season in spite of a tiny payroll. The film will earn a number of Academy Awards nominations.
Starlin Castro becomes the youngest Cubs player to collect 200 hits in a season when he singles off Chris Carpenter leading off the game in St. Louis. The Cubs’ 21 year-old shortstop accomplishes the feat at an age two years younger than Billy Herman (1932) and Augie Galan (1935), who were both 23 at the time.