Labor Day Postseason check-in | Morning Lineup (MLB Daily Recap)
Garnier is down to their final out, down two runs. This is cut by the former guardian Josh Naylor helps put a ball on a Mariners win from mlb.com. This is the Morning Lineup podcast. I’m your host, Anthony Castros. Happy September and Happy Labor Day. Everybody. Today is Monday September 1st and did you know the M LB postseason begins this month? It’s true. There will be October baseball on September 30th. So with precious little time remaining on today’s show, we’ll take stock of the remaining races and get you caught up on everything else you need to know about baseball today. Let’s begin. Our Labor of Love. Labor Day is considered by many to be the unofficial end of summer, but you and I know better, right? Because you and I are baseball fans through and through and summer doesn’t really end until the baseball season ends. That said Labor Day is a good time to take stock of the remaining playoff races in MB. There’s temptation to assume we already know the playoff field after all the 12 teams in a current playoff position haven’t changed at all since July 31st, but much like summer it ain’t over till it’s over with the Yankees and Red Sox both playing well of late. The Mariners slipped into the third A L wild card slot and Then over the weekend dropped the first two games in Cleveland against a Guardians team. Still trying to catch them in that wild card race. On Sunday. The Guards had an early two nothing lead with a chance to pull within two games of the MS for that spot. But Then randy arose. Arena smacked a two run blast to the bleachers to tie it. And in the seventh inning, Julio Rodriguez came to bat with the bases loaded and two out cup set 32 ground ball over the mound behind the back schieman not in time and the Mariners take the lead two runs come home. Crawford and Young right by a replay review confirmed that Julio had beaten the throw to first and the Mariners ability to get two runners home on that infield single made the difference in a 4 to 2 victory. Sunday was a great day for the Mariners. Their win over the Guardians combined with the Astros three to nothing lost to the Angels to pull them within two games of Houston for the A L West top spot. The Mariners also picked up a game on the Yankees who had seized the A LS top wild card spot in the last week with a season best seven game winning streak when aaron Judge went deep in the first inning. Judge hammers that in the air left center there is number 358. The ODI has some company as Aaron Judge has broken into the top Yankees history. That was the 358th home run of judges. Great career tying him with Yogi Berra for fifth place on the Yankees all time list but it was for not in a 3 to 2 loss on the South side with the Blue Jays beating the Brewers 8 to 4. The Yankees fell back to three games behind the Jays in the A L East. The Red Sox who are in the second A L wild card spot were also happy to see the Yankees finally drop one. The Red Sox too gained a game on their rivals. Thanks in large part to what Jaron Durant did in the fifth inning at Fenway. The Sox and Pirates were tied 1 to 1 when Durant came up to bat with two aboard and two out and smashed a line drive to the triangle area in right center field and that’s a shot toward the alley. Carlos in to score. It gets by the outfielders. Here comes Bregman rounding third. It goes all the way to the triangle. Another run in here comes Durant , he’s trying to score, he’s going to score Durant’s three run inside the Parker proved the difference in Boston’s 5 to 2 win which snapped a five game losing streak. At home. So the Red Sox are just a half game behind the Yankees for the top wild card slot. While the Mariners are three back of the Yankees and 2.5 back of the Sox, things are more straightforward in the senior circuit. The Dodgers Padres race in the NL West remains tight and the second place Cubs and Mets will continue to try to chase down the first place Brewers and Phillies in their divisions. But the six NL teams in playoff position actually haven’t changed at all throughout the second half. The team in the best mathematical position to upset the Apple Cart is the Cincinnati Reds, but Terry Francona’s club has struggled to get traction going 11 and 15 in August entering Sunday’s play. Finally following a team meeting Sunday morning, the Reds were tied 3 to 3 with the visiting Cardinals in the fifth inning when Ellie de La Cruz chopped a leadoff double down the third base line and Then austin Hayes came to bat. Payoff is in the air left field watches. That is two run shot, a 53. Cincinnati Hayes’s homer was huge in the Reds 7 to 4 victory , which combined with the Mets 5 to 1 home loss to the Marlins pulled Cincinnati within four games of New York and that race is not over because guess who’s coming to Great American ballpark this coming weekend. That’s right. The Mets, the Reds will be pulling the Tarp off a New Marty Brenneman statue during that series and they’ll also be looking to close the gap coming up. A playoff hero is Philly. Well, actually Lehigh Valley Bound, that’s after the break. Walker Buehler famously emerged from the Dodgers bullpen last fall to record the final outs of the World Series, but he hasn’t recorded many outs since signed to a one year deal with the Red Sox for 2025. Bueller was a disappointment. He wore number zero but his, er , a was 5.45. Boston released him last week still while Bueller hasn’t been the same pitcher since returning from Tommy john last year. It’s hard to shake the memory of the two time all star being one of the absolute best pitchers in baseball from 2, 18 to 2021 and delivering 10 scoreless innings total in the LCS and World Series rounds last year. So the Phillies having recently lost a Zack Wheeler for the rest of the season are taking a chance on that Bueller potentially showing up again. On Sunday. They signed the veteran right hander to a minor league contract. He’ll report to AAA Lehigh Valley. But because he joined the organization just before the calendar flipped to September, he is eligible to pitch for the Phillies in the postseason. Meanwhile, on the field, the Phillies face the Braves on Sunday night baseball looking to complete a four game sweep, they got six and two thirds scoreless innings from Jesus Lizardo and had a one nothing lead going into the eighth inning, but the Braves tied it in the eighth and in the ninth nl rookie of the year candidate Drake Baldwin put Atlanta on top, need a base in pitch on the way and a fly ball to left field has some carry to it. March to the wall. Look it up. It’s gone. Drake Baldwin just cracked the fire out of that thing to left field. It’s a two run homer and the Braves take a 31 lead in the ninth in Philly. That homer gave the Braves a 3 to 1 lead. They would not relinquish as Atlanta avoided the sweep elsewhere in MLB. The Dodgers look pretty flat in their first two games against the D backs this weekend. But in the bottom of the ninth inning, Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium will smith pinch hit with the game tied at four and made some magic hits the spot in the air. Left center. The Dodgers prevailed 5 to 4 while the Padres lost 7 to 2 to the twins bringing Las lead in the west to the two games while that’s the closest division race. The most lopsided division race belongs to the Tigers in the American League central where they lead the second place Royals by 9.5 games after Tarik Scoble did what Terri Scoble does in Kansas City on Sunday, Scoville seven scoreless innings in a 5 to 0 win. Augmented his case for his second straight. A Cy Young award, former Tiger Justin Verlander won’t be winning his fourth career Cy Young this season but he did do something striking out 10 Orioles batters in a 13 to 2 win for the Giants. Brandon Lau joined Ben Zobrist and Carlos Pena as the only players to hit five grand slams in their Rays career as Tampa Bay beat the Nats 7 to 4. Finally, the Rockies Mickey Moniak walked off the Cubs with 1/9 inning RB I triple in a 65 win. It was the second walk off triple of this MLB season and get this Cubs reliever. Danielle Palencia allowed both of them. Sorry for bringing that up. Daniel. That’s all for today’s show. If you’re off work today, put your feet up and enjoy a boatload of day baseball, including the MLB dot TV free game of the day when Chris Bassitt and the first place Blue Jays visit hunter Greene and the Reds at 1:10 p.m. Eastern time. I’ll be back with you tomorrow until Then. Thanks for listening. Please be sure to leave us a rating and review. Share this episode with the baseball lovers in your life and have a great Labor Day. Everyone.
All the important storylines from 8/31/2025 across MLB including: what the Postseason picture is looking like for the AL and NL, Walker Buehler signing with the Phillies + MORE!
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