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Chicago White Sox’s Munetaka Murakami (5) and Braden Montgomery celebrate after their baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo.<\/p>\n
Charlie Riedel\/AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel<\/p>\n
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) \u2014 The Chicago White Sox became the first team to follow consecutive 100-loss seasons by reaching the playoffs on Thursday, throttling the Kansas City Royals 9-1 to ensure no worse than one of the three AL wild-card spots for the postseason.<\/p>\n
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They could still win the AL Central, too. The White Sox began the day one game behind the Cleveland Guardians.<\/p>\n
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Chicago has three games left at home against the last-place Colorado Rockies, while the Guardians wrap up their series in Boston on Thursday night before flying to Kansas City, where they coincidentally have three left against the Royals. The White Sox win mathematically eliminated Baltimore from postseason contention.<\/p>\n
Kyle Teel homered and reached base five times, and five different White Sox drove in runs. David Sandlin (3-2) allowed one run on five hits over six innings against the club that drafted him out of Oklahoma four years ago.<\/p>\n
Randy Dobnak (3-5) allowed six runs \u2014 four earned \u2014 for Kansas City. He also made two errors while retiring just four batters.<\/p>\n
Salvador Perez homered for the Royals, reaching 20 in a season for a club-record 10th time.<\/p>\n
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The first couple of innings summed up what the White Sox have done so masterfully this season: They capitalized on mistakes.<\/p>\n
Sam Antonacci opened the game with a single, Teel reached on a bunt when Dobnak\u2019s throw was wide of first base, and Miguel Vargas followed with an RBI single. Andrew Benintendi added a sacrifice fly and, after Vargas stole second to get into scoring position, Tristan Peters brought him home with another single to make it 3-0.<\/p>\n
More hijinks ensued in the second: Braden Montgomery singled leading off, Dobnak walked Antonacci, then the right-hander threw to nobody covering first base for his second error. That allowed Montgomery to easily score from second.<\/p>\n
By the time Dobnak plunked Teel and Vargas added another RBI single, the champagne was probably on ice in the clubhouse.<\/p>\n
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The White Sox improved to 82-77, a record number of wins for a club coming off three straight 100-loss years. They head home having won four of their last five with their first playoff appearance since 2021 in their pocket and a division title still in their sights.<\/p>\n
PITTSBURGH (AP) \u2014 Ronny Simon raced home on Spencer Horwitz\u2019s eighth inning sacrifice fly and Pittsburgh assured themselves of the club\u2019s first non-losing season in eight years with a win over St. Louis.<\/p>\n
Simon reached on a walk by Ryne Stanek (2-3), advanced to second on a wild pitch and scooted to third when the throw from catcher Ivan Herrera skipped into center field for an error. Horwitz\u2019s flyball to center was plenty deep enough for Simon to score.<\/p>\n
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Luke Weaver (4-1) got the final out of the eighth for Pittsburgh. Mason Montgomery struck out the side in the ninth for his 17th save in 19 chances as Pittsburgh improved to 81-78 with three games to go. The club\u2019s previous non-losing season came in 2018 when it won 82 games.<\/p>\n
Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes ended an uneven year by his standards with 6 1\/3 excellent innings in his 32nd and final start.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old, whose performance this year has been met with mild criticism locally, allowed one run, three hits and two walks and six strikeouts. He received a loud ovation when he was removed by manager Don Kelly after recording his 200th strikeout of the season when Cardinals designated hitter Leo Bernal was caught looking leading off the seventh.<\/p>\n
Skenes became just the second pitcher in the franchise\u2019s 145-year history to reach 200 strikeouts in consecutive seasons. He finished 10-11 with a 3.82 ERA, nearly double the MLB-leading 1.97 ERA he posted in 2025.<\/p>\n
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St. Louis fell to 77-82, assured of consecutive losing seasons for the first time since the shortened 1994 and 1995 seasons.<\/p>\n
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) \u2014 Josh Jung and Corey Seager homered, Kumar Rocker pitched five solid innings and Texas closed out its home schedule with a win over New York that ensured that the Rangers would remain at least tied for the AL West lead heading into the regular season\u2019s final weekend.<\/p>\n
Texas (79-80) stopped a three-game losing streak and moved a half-game ahead of Houston, which played Thursday night at the Athletics. The Astros (78-80) hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Rangers.<\/p>\n
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Texas, which finishes the regular season with three games in Minnesota, went ahead to stay on Jung\u2019s two-run homer in the first inning off rookie left-hander Zac Thornton (5-6). Seager snapped an 0-for-15 skid when he led off the sixth with his 19th homer.<\/p>\n
Rocker (6-11) struck out four while allowing one run and three hits. Jordan Montgomery, the fourth Rangers reliever, worked a perfect ninth for his second big league save. He\u2019s made 161 starts and 17 relief appearances over nine big league seasons.<\/p>\n
Francisco Lindor led off the game with a double and scored on Carson Benge\u2019s two-out single to put New York up 1-0. Benge has a Mets rookie record 160 hits.<\/p>\n
Thornton struck out four and walked one in his five innings. He allowed four hits and the only runs he surrendered were on Jung\u2019s 12th homer. Seager went deep off Jefry Yan, another rookie.<\/p>\n
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CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Pete Crow-Armstrong joined the 40-40 club by stealing his 40th base to go along with his major league-leading 45 home runs, and Chicago clinched its second straight postseason berth a victory over Miami.<\/p>\n
Seiya Suzuki homered for the Cubs (88-71), who assured themselves of one of the NL\u2019s three wild card berths.<\/p>\n
Chicago also was a wild card last year, when the Cubs beat San Diego in the first round and lost to Milwaukee in a Division Series. The Cubs will be making consecutive postseason appearances for the first time since four straight from 2015-18, which in 2016 included their first championship since 1908.<\/p>\n
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The Cubs clinched their berth shortly after the White Sox earned their postseason trip with a 9-1 win at Kansas City.<\/p>\n
Miami (78-81) was assured its third straight non-winning season.<\/p>\n
A favorite to win the NL MVP award, Crow-Armstrong became the seventh 40-40 player, joining a group that includes Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. Jose Canseco was the first with the 1988 Oakland Athletics.<\/p>\n
DIAMONDBACKS 12, ROCKIES 8<\/p>\n
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DENVER (AP) \u2014 Gabriel Moreno and Nolan Arenado homered in a six-run first inning, and Arizona had a season-high 18 hits, keeping its slim postseason chances alive with a win over Colorado.<\/p>\n
Arizona (85-74) began the day three games back for the final NL wild card with four games to play and went on to extend its winning streak to five heading into a weekend series at San Diego.<\/p>\n
Moreno hit his 16th homer, a three-run drive, and Arenado hit his 29th, a two-run shot. Arenado, who had three hits, has eight homers in September and reached safely in 18 straight games.<\/p>\n
Arizona had its most hits since 21 on June 20 last year, also at Coors Field.<\/p>\n
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Colorado has lost 16 of 19, getting swept for the 13th time this year, and dropped to a major league-worst 57-102, the third-most losses in club history. The Rockies are the first team with four straight 100-loss seasons since the 1962-65 New York Mets.<\/p>\n
The Rockies have allowed a major league-high 137 runs in the first inning. Colorado had 17 hits, its most in a Coors Field loss since June 16, 2019, against San Diego.<\/p>\n
PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 Milwaukee reached 100 wins for the first time, and Jackson Chourio hit his 25th homer to lift them to a victory over Philadelphia that slowed its playoff push.<\/p>\n
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The Phillies needed a win to at least have a shot at clinching their fifth straight trip to the playoffs. They instead can try again to clinch for the third straight game on Friday against Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n