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The Chicago Cubs and President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein reportedly agreed to a long-term contract extension Wednesday. 

Bruce Levine of 670 The Score and Chris Cotillo of SB Nation reported Epstein’s new deal with the Cubs is for five years.      

USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale reported the deal is expected to be worth more than $50 million. 

Epstein, 42, joined the Cubs after the 2011 season and has promptly built a World Series contender, largely through a combination of smart drafting and savvy moves in free agency. The team made the postseason in 2015, ending a six-year playoff drought, though it lost to the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series.

The Cubs got off to a strong start in 2016, going 17-5 in April, and are the only MLB team to win at least 100 games this season. They won the NL Central for the first time since 2008. 

Before joining the Cubs, Epstein spent 10 seasons as the Boston Red Sox general manager, helping build two championship rosters (2004, 2007) and ending the team’s title drought that dated back to 1918.

The Cubs are hoping he can build the team that finally ends their title drought that dates back even further, to 1908.

While Epstein knows expectations are high in Chicago, he’s trying to keep everything in perspective, as he told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune:

The expectations thing, I know it can kind of create this subtext that hangs over the club with every two-game losing streak or every game that goes wrong or every injury. People try to put it in context that the ultimate goal is the World Series.

But the reality is that’s not how we feel internally. We know it’s a grind. We know it’s a process. We know what we’re shooting for. We’re here to win the World Series. But you don’t think about that on a daily basis. You think about the challenges the game presents, how you can overcome those and coming together as a team and as an organization and working your tail off to move forward and progress. That’s what drives us.

In the end, if you don’t win the World Series, you’re very disappointed. If you do, it’s worthwhile because you focused on the journey.

Without question, Epstein is one of the top executives in baseball and has worked wonders with the Cubs in his time at the organization. Locking him up for the long haul was a smart move from the team, as Epstein will continue building around the team’s established superstars, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester, along with one of baseball’s strongest supporting casts.

Ultimately, the Lovable Losers are hoping Epstein can help them shed that old nickname altogether.

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter. 

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Pete Rose is making his case to the Baseball Hall of Fame in an effort to get on the ballot 27 years after agreeing to a permanent ban from Major League Baseball for betting on games during his time as a player and manager for the Cincinnati Reds.

On Wednesday, USA Today‘s A.J. Perez shared a copy of a letter Rose’s attorneys, Raymond Genco and Mark Rosenbaum, sent to the Hall of Fame:

We are writing to respectfully request that Pete Rose be treated exactly the same way that every other Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager has been treated from the start of the National Baseball Hall of Fame voting in 1936 until 1991. We humbly submit to you that Rule 3A should be amended in a limited way, to allow Pete Rose to be treated in exactly the same way as every other player and manager before him had been treated.

This is not the first time Rose has tried to get back into baseball’s good graces. In December, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred denied Charlie Hustle’s request to be reinstated, with this explanation, per MLB.com’s Paul Hagen:

Mr. Rose has not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life either by an honest acceptance by him of his wrongdoing, so clearly established by the Dowd Report, or by a rigorous, self-aware and sustained program of avoidance by him of the circumstances that led to his permanent eligibility in 1989. Absent such credible evidence, allowing him to work in the game presents an unacceptable risk of a future violation by him of Rule 21, and thus to the integrity of our sport. 

In 2015, William Weinbaum and T.J. Quinn of ESPN’s Outside the Lines reported documents showed that Rose bet on baseball games during his playing career after he had insisted for years that the only time he bet came during his time as a manager from 1986 to 1989.

Since the Baseball Hall of Fame is owned and operated by groups separate from MLB, it adopted its own rule in February 1991 against voting for any player on MLB’s permanently ineligible list. 

Rose’s first year of eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame would have come in December 1991, two years after former MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti and Rose agreed to his ban from the sport. 

Since the Hall of Fame has been following MLB’s lead with all of the players on the latter’s permanently ineligible list, Rose’s plea feels like another Hail Mary in an effort to get the all-time hit king into Cooperstown, New York.

Rose was inducted into the Reds’ Hall of Fame in June during a pregame ceremony in which his No. 14 jersey was retired. 

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A public memorial service was held Wednesday for former Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jose Fernandez, and his family and friends held a private service Thursday.

The 24-year-old died Sunday morning in a boating accident.

WSVN 7 News shared Scott Boras‘ eulogy during Fernandez’s funeral Thursday. Boras was Fernandez’s agent:

The Sun Sentinel‘s Craig Davis posted a photo of fans honoring Fernandez on Wednesday at a memorial set up outside Marlins Park:

ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reported approximately 150 fans were on hand to pay tribute early in the day:

The Miami Herald‘s David Smiley reported an automobile procession began at Marlins Park on Wednesday and ended at Ermita de la Caridad (Shrine of Our Lady of Charity), and a public viewing was scheduled at St. Brendan Catholic Church.

The Miami Herald‘s Andre Fernandez showed the procession arriving at the church in the afternoon:

Upon its arrival, Jose Fernandez’s family draped his casket with his 2016 All-Star jersey, as Andre Fernandez shared:

Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald posted a photo of Jose Fernandez’s teammates surrounding his hearse at Marlins Park:

WSVN‘s Katrina Bush shared a clip of the players escorting the hearse down its route:

WPTV’s Jason Hackett showed fans lining the route outside the stadium:

Fernandez’s death sent shock waves throughout baseball. He was one of the brightest talents and best pitchers in MLB. He reached his second All-Star Game earlier in the year and was a strong contender for the National League Cy Young Award.

The Marlins canceled Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Braves after Fernandez’s death was confirmed. In Miami’s first game back Monday, second baseman Dee Gordon led off with a solo home run:

It was Gordon’s first homer of the season.

“I ain’t never hit a ball that far, even in [batting practice],” he said of the moment, per Walter Villa of USA Today. “I told the boys, ‘If you all don’t believe in God, you better start.’ For that to happen today, we had some help.”

Team owner Jeffrey Loria announced Monday that the team will retire Fernandez’s No. 16 jersey. Jackie Robinson, whose No. 42 jersey is honored leaguewide, is the only other player to have his number retired by the Marlins.

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Tim Tebow took his next steps toward trying to reach Major League Baseball by going 1-for-6 with a solo home run in his first instructional league game as a member of the New York Mets against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

Any doubters were silenced, at least in Tebow’s first at-bat. The former Heisman Trophy winner hit a home run on the first pitch he saw, driving the ball over the wall in left-center field. 

Making Tebow’s homer even more impressive is that it came off a left-handed pitcher, and he went the other way with the pitch. 

While Tebow does deserve all of the praise for hitting that first pitch out, Shandel Richardson of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel shared his thoughts on the Cardinals pitcher:

SB Nation’s Michael Katz was able to humorously equate Tebow’s prolific power to an MLB legend:

The Cespedes Family BBQ podcast jokingly speculated about Tebow helping the Mets in October if they are able to make the postseason:

Before we get Tebow’s bust ready for Cooperstown, Joe Trezza of MLB.com did run down the list of players who homered in their first-ever at-bat at the MLB level:

A home run in your first at-bat doesn’t guarantee any kind of success, regardless of the level of baseball at which it occurs. Tebow still has a long way to go while learning the craft of playing the game, and things will only get more difficult when he moves up the minor league ladder. 

Things did calm down for Tebow after that home run. He followed it up by grounding into a double play, grounding out to shortstop, hitting a hard liner to center that was caught and grounding out to third base in his final plate appearance.   

Tebow also played in left field for five innings, though he didn’t have many chances to showcase his defensive skills. 

Per ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin, Tebow’s only defensive chance came when he cut off a ground ball that held a St. Louis hitter to a single. 

After a three-inning game Tuesday in preparation for Wednesday’s contest, Tebow’s confidence as a baseball player seemed like it was as high as it has been since his workout in August.

“I feel like every day I’m getting a little more comfortable,” Tebow said, per Bill Whitehead of the AP. “It’s great just to see live pitching and get live at-bats. I’m just getting a little bit better every day. That’s the goal.” 

This is a perfect setting for Tebow to continue honing his skills as a baseball player because instructional league games are a low-key environment with young minor leaguers still developing and an occasional veteran MLB player rehabbing injuries. 

Tebow won’t be hitting a homer every day, but as long as he is showing improvement as a baseball player, the Mets’ investment in him will give him a chance to make the 25-man roster at some point. 

It’s going to take Tebow at least two years because of the difficult nature of baseball. He also hasn’t played in an organized setting since his junior year of high school, so the acclimation process is going to take some time, but the first homer showed there is something for the Mets and Tebow to build off going forward.

Post-Game Reaction

In a funny bit on social media, Cardinals pitcher John Kilichowski had some words for Tebow about the first-pitch homer he allowed:

As he is known to be, Tebow was very positive about the way his professional baseball debut went. 

“It was fun,” Tebow said, per USA Today. “I just wanted to have the approach that I was going to be aggressive,” Tebow said. “That’s something that we’ve been talking about here every day and practicing it.”

While the solo homer will get most of the attention because it was his only hit in six at-bats, Tebow was encouraged by most of his plate appearances.

“I liked a lot of my at-bats today,” Tebow said. “I hit the ball really hard four out of the six times. … Four of the at-bats I felt really, really good about. Didn’t swing at any breaking balls, didn’t feel like I got fooled seeing it out of the (pitcher’s) hand.”

Baseball is a game built on adjustments. As he gets more at-bats and scouting reports come out, his ability to make adjustments and attack offspeed stuff will determine how far he goes. 

For now, though, Tebow can enjoy owning his first professional home run.

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Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, who is retiring after the 2016 season, spoke with Sports Illustrated‘s Tom Verducci about retiring, steroids, his approach to the game and more in a lengthy interview.

One of the topics discussed was why Ortiz, who is hitting .318 with 37 home runs and 124 RBI, would retire after a campaign where he’s a candidate to win the American League MVP. 

For Ortiz, his decision is about much more than his performance.

“Well, like everybody knows, I’ve been dealing with injuries the past four years,” he told Verducci. “Also, [I’m] not getting any younger, man. You look around, everybody’s 20 years old. Also, this traveling thing, it catches up with you.”

He added: “The reality is a lot of us give up on chasing things as we get older because our body, our mind, you know. … In my case, man, I want to be good. I want to continue being productive. My hitting coaches know that. I chase things still, knowing that I’m going to retire after this season. I’d like to give that to our fans.”

Certainly, Ortiz’s curtain call has been spectacular. The Red Sox are first in the AL East and a threat to win the World Series, and Ortiz is having one of his finest seasons. Even at 40, the passion to be great drives him.

“I work extremely hard on my hitting, man,” he said. “Like I’m a psycho when it comes down to hitting. Like I live for that. I always tell our younger hitters. … I mean, we sit down, batting practice, videos, stuff like that, and we just talk about it.”

That guidance has paid off. A number of Boston hitters are having enormous seasons:

But Verducci and Ortiz also talked about the biggest scandal of his career—the fact that, in 2009, he was named as one of the players to fail a 2003 drug-screening test. Those results were supposed to remain confidential but were leaked publicly, and Verducci asked Ortiz what he could do to convince people that he didn’t use steroids.

Ortiz said:

I don’t think I can do anything. A noise comes out, and do you think I’m just going to sit down and believe what somebody I don’t know comes off saying? That came out [in] 2009, [but it was] about 2003. [MLB’s] drug policies started in 2004. I never failed a test. I kept on banging. So, you know, the reality is that it’s a noise that I think was more damaging [to some players’ careers] than anything else, because a lot of guys that were pronounced [as having tested] positive for things or having been caught using things, their careers went away. Yet I am [here]. Let me tell you, there’s not one player in baseball, not one player, that has been drug-tested more than David Ortiz. I guarantee you that. I never failed a test.

Verducci then wondered why Ortiz, or any other player, wouldn’t have used banned substances if they saw other players doing so. Why wouldn’t Ortiz also want that edge? 

Because there’s one thing that I have been afraid of my whole life: chemicals. I don’t like to put chemicals in my body. I’m a happy person. I’m a person that believes in nature. I’m a person that believes in secondary effects when you start using things that you are not supposed to.

And it was something that never came to my attention. Yes, I used to go to GNC and buy supplements like everybody else. I mean, I’m an athlete. I’m a high-performing athlete. So it was legal to go to GNC. [Now] I don’t even know where GNC is, since they told us not to go to GNC to buy any supplement. Now we get [information] from our trainers so you don’t get caught in any kind of trouble.

Ortiz’s link to steroids, fair or not, may always remain a part of his legacy. So will the relatively slow start to his career. On the other hand, he has three World Series titles, 10 All-Star selections and his reputation as one of the most outgoing, friendly players in the game.

Many people will miss his presence. But Ortiz thinks baseball will be fine without him. In fact, he thinks the game is in a great place.

“Well, I don’t know how a lot of people are going to feel about what I’m going to say, but I think this game right now is at its best,” he noted. “Like I don’t think this game is going to get better, or used to be better than it is right now.”

We might say the same about Ortiz.

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter. 

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Fact: Buster Posey recorded his 1,000th career hit with a home run in the Giants’ 12-1 win over the Rockies on Tuesday night. He is the first player to get his first 1,000 hits with the Giants since Rich Aurilia in 2003.

Bleacher Report will be bringing sports fans the most interesting and engaging Cold Hard Fact of the day, presented by Coors Light.

Source: B/R Insights

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The MLB postseason is quickly approaching, but many teams around the league already have their sights set on the offseason and potential improvements before the 2017 campaign.

After all, the World Series dreams have been extinguished for plenty of squads, leaving them with no choice but to focus on the long-term future. What’s more, even the contenders need to pay attention to the upcoming offseason if they hope to remain in favorable position beyond just this year. 

With that in mind, here is a look at some of the latest rumors from around the league and predictions for where some impending free agents will land before the 2017 season.

Blue Jays Sluggers Set to Hit the Open Market

As of Tuesday, the Toronto Blue Jays were tied for fifth in all of baseball in total runs scored, per ESPN.com. However, they may lose two key players in their powerful lineup this offseason.

According to Jeff Blair of Sportsnet, Edwin Encarnacion “is going to have a larger market than some expect because there are at least a couple of National League teams who view him as an everyday first baseman.”

Blair also discussed free-agent-to-be Jose Bautista, although he allowed that “more teams think Encarnacion can play first base everyday than think Bautista can still be an effective right fielder.”

Blair pointed out whether Encarnacion even wants to play first base full time will impact his free-agency decisions. Blair predicted the Houston Astros would pursue the slugger and noted “the fact Texas has no state income tax will help them since Encarnacion will want to keep as much as possible from what is likely his first and last big payday.”

Encarnacion will be 34 years old next season and does have experience in the National League from his time on the Cincinnati Reds (2005-09). However, he was a younger player at the time, and staying in the American League would give him the opportunity to prolong his career and continue mashing home runs as a designated hitter.

He can use the National League interest as leverage when negotiating with an Astros team that can use the absence of a state income tax as a selling point.

What’s more, Minute Maid Park in Houston has an inviting short porch in left field. According to MLB.com, the left field wall is just 315 feet away, which is likely enticing to Encarnacion considering he has at least 34 home runs in each of the last five seasons. He’s already surpassed 40 in 2016, which marks the second time he’s done so in that five-year span.

As for Bautista, he will be 36 years old next season and apparently won’t have the same market pull as Encarnacion to use as leverage.

That’s not to say a power hitter who drilled 40 home runs last year won’t generate interest on the open market, but his numbers have declined this year. As of Tuesday, he had 21 home runs and 67 RBI after drilling 40 and 114 last year, respectively. He also sported a .238 batting average, which would be his lowest mark since 2009.

The Blue Jays will lose Encarnacion this offseason and won’t want to watch another face of their franchise leave in Bautista. They will take advantage of the lesser market and keep the powerful slugger in their lineup next year with some of the money they could have used on Encarnacion. 

Prediction: Encarnacion heads to Houston; Bautista stays put in Toronto.

Lourdes Gurriel Attracting Attention from Notable Contenders

Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball noted Cuban prospect Lourdes Gurriel already had “a successful open showcase” and will have private workouts with the Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros and Miami Marlins, among others.

Heyman described Gurriel as a “shortstop by trade” but someone who is versatile enough to play at third base or the outfield. Considering he is 6’4”, he could move from shortstop to another position by the time he reaches the major league level.

Gurriel is No. 6 on MLB.com’s international prospects list, which said he is “a good runner with a good glove” and “athletic enough to play infield or outfield, which is part of his appeal to scouts.”

The prospect slashed .277/.362/.426 with 27 home runs and 23 stolen bases during six seasons in Cuba, per Heyman.

Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors pointed out Gurriel is subject to international bonus pools for the time being, but that will no longer be the case on Oct. 19 when he turns 23 years old.

“At that point, he’ll be free to sign with any MLB club for any amount, so the Red Sox will have a shot at him even though they’re currently restricted in their signings of players that are subject to international bonus restrictions,” Adams wrote.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported in July that MLB banned Boston from signing international players for a year because it “circumvented signing-bonus rules.”

The fact Gurriel won’t be subject to the restrictions is key here, especially since the Red Sox will look to take advantage of their limited opportunity to make an impact on the international market this offseason. They will jump at the chance to do so with Gurriel and make him one of their primary acquisitions before the 2017 campaign.

Prediction: Red Sox sign Gurriel.

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I can fly higher than an eagle, for you are the wind beneath my wings…

1. Vin Scully and the Dodgers Match Walk-Offs

One by one, we say goodbye to the greatest summers of our lives.

A man in Pasadena, California, shakes his head, smiles and clicks off the television after the final out.

A Dodgers outfielder pauses on his way to the batter’s box, turns to the press box and waves to Vin Scully high up in Dodger Stadium.

A woman in Camarillo, California, feels a lump in her throat as Scully greets the television picture of two little gap-toothed boys, noting how “we’re happy to have you here, growing boys with growing teeth.”

Thousands across the country settle in so they can hear the great voice one last time on MLB Network Radio or MLB Network television.

And 50,000 people dab their eyes in unison as Scully takes the microphone one last time in Dodger Stadium, following the Dodgers’ NL West-clinching victory Sunday, thanking them, telling them he would be nothing without them, and asking them to indulge him in one last thing, to listen to his recording of “The Wind Beneath My Wings” as he dedicates it to them.

“I know it’s modest, I know it’s amateur,” Scully says. “Do you mind listening?”

And those 50,000 people immediately go library-silent. And on the infield, the Dodgers, who have just clinched the division, delay popping the champagne corks until the final line, “Thank God for you, the wind beneath my wings,” fades into the late afternoon.

We pause here ourselves, both to give thanks and to remind that following Sunday’s weepfest, we still get Scully three more times this weekend from San Francisco.

Savor them.

It’s a strange thing, these long goodbyes. We’ve known all summer that the force of nature that is Scully, 88, will retire following Sunday’s game. We think we’re prepared for it. And then…

“Here’s Joc Pederson, and there’s another pristine helmet. You wonder, what in the world did Josh Reddick do to get that helmet in the mess it’s in? [The television camera cuts to the dugout and shows Reddick’s helmet covered in patches of pine tar.] Yes, there it is [chuckling]. It’s not been condemned by the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, but it’s on the edge. Foul, outside of first base. Two-and-two is the count. Craig Biggio, his helmet was covered. I’ve never forgotten that. It looked infected.”

This was Saturday night, fourth inning, with the Dodgers en route to a 14-1 cruise over Colorado. But it could have been any night over the past 67 years. Vin Scully doesn’t broadcast a baseball game so much as he narrates it. In a world fast losing civility, trust and gentle good humor, the courtly Scully is the epitome of each.

Full disclosure: I’ve spoken to Scully several times over the past three decades, but I cannot say I know him. When Ernie Harwell retired in Detroit, that hit me even harder. Because I grew up in the Midwest listening to Harwell, and then I became well-acquainted with him as I settled into my own career. It is partly because of this that melancholy has seeped in to an almost overwhelming degree this week. I will miss the cheerful voice of baseball’s poet laureate coming through my television screen on summer nights, and next summer will feel a lot lonelier without him. And to those with an emotional connection to the Dodgers through Vin, that’s where the Harwell memories stir in me. I get it.

“The President of the United States has said it is time to go back to work. And so, despite a heavy heart, baseball gets up out of the dirt, brushes itself off and will follow his command, hoping in some small way to inspire the nation to do the same.”

This was on Sept. 17, 2001, on baseball’s first night back following the horror of 9/11. But the thing is, while Vin has been there for so many grand and important moments over the years, it is the accumulation of small moments that he’s narrated that get into your bloodstream. Because, after all, that’s what life is, right? A collection of small, mundane moments punctuated by the sudden flash of a big moment. Just like baseball.

And so while it is the no-hit and World Series calls that stick with us (“In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!” following Kirk Gibson’s Game 1 pinch-hit homer in the 1988 World Series), what we fall in love with is the nightly companionship that brightens our lives. Staying home on a summer Saturday night, the family gathered in the front room, and maybe your young son or daughter makes an observation that makes you chuckle, and 10 years later, you still remember it. Maybe that’s not as exciting as the day you graduated or the day you got married or the day your first child was born, but not every night can be a party. Yet it is the collection of those quieter nights that make for a rich life. And so it is with Scully’s unparalleled body of work.

“[Colorado shortstop] Pat Valaika went to UCLA. Anybody know how UCLA did? They were playing Stanford in the Rose Bowl. We’ll find out and we’ll break the news to you. [A moment later.] It’s halftime and UCLA is leading 10-3 over Stanford. Did Christian McCaffrey show up yet? No, I’m only kidding.”

This was Saturday night, third inning, in that same Dodgers-Rockies game. For 67 years, Scully has been the community barbershop. He is where so many have gone to get cleaned up, feel good, catch up on the goings on about town. He’s there with the hard news, and he also consistently dispenses small nuggets of unbelievable information. Fascinating information. He comes up with gems that even those of us in the business full-time don’t know or haven’t heard.

Always, he has been great, and if you think this week’s current river of nostalgia is simply some kind of a lifetime achievement award, go back to his call in 1974 on the night Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s record, in Atlanta. He announced the home run, went silent for 44 seconds, allowing the crowd noise to wash through the radio speakers, and then this:

“What a marvelous moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking the record of an all-time baseball idol, and it is a great moment for all of us.”

Like the sun, the grass and ice cream, he’s been with us for so long that he became easy to take for granted. And as the world changes—in many ways, for the better; in some ways, for the worse—what we’re losing with Scully is something we’ll never get back.

“Scully made an art out of baseball broadcasting,” Jim Murray, one of the greatest sports columnists ever, once wrote in the Los Angeles Times. “He also made journalism out of it. In a profession so full of ‘homers’—not the four-base kind, the kind where the guy in the booth root-root-roots for the home team—Scully distanced himself from partisanship.”

Murray wrote those words in August 1990. And a quarter-of-a-century later, yes, again in Saturday night’s broadcast, with the Dodgers leading Colorado 14-0, the graceful Scully continued to work under that lifelong guiding principle:

“It’s kind of tough to see a big league club get pushed around, but at the same time, although it might be a little embarrassing and frustrating, it’s not too hard to take. It’s a lot easier to lose, oh, 14-0 than 3-2 in the ninth inning. 0-and-2 is the count.”

Listen to Scully and one of the things you heard was empathy. How often do we hear that baseball is a game of failure, that even the best hitters fail seven out of 10 times? Same in our daily existence. Life is a series of small battles—some we win, some we lose. Nobody comes close to going undefeated, although when Scully is on the air, he makes things seem better.

“Fernando Valenzuela has pitched a no-hitter! If you have a sombrero, throw it to the sky!”

In one way, his work kept this unbroken bond with each of us: As long as he kept returning for another year, the rest of us could go on feeling as if we were still young. Even when we turned 50, or 60, or 70. Hearing Scully on the business end of the television or radio meant that some things in life don’t change. We could still feel, on some nights, exactly as we did when we were 10, or 15, or 25. Well, almost.

Now, after this weekend, Scully will ease into a life of retirement, and for the rest of us, well, we won’t ease into anything. We will lurch forward, sometimes coughing and sputtering, and we will be forced to find another place to congregate for our fleeting grabs at the Fountain of Youth.

All that’s left is to offer an enormous thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. And, oh yes, to make sure we find a way to listen to him three more times this weekend.

Emotions always flow toward bittersweet near the end of another season, another summer, but this one, oh, this one is tough.

“It’s a mere moment in a man’s life between the All-Star Game and an old-timer’s game,” he once memorably said, and, man, as if that isn’t being hammered home in this season’s final days.

2. Vin, Part II

A couple of final thoughts:

If you somehow did not see his postgame talk from the press box on Sunday, here it is. Make sure to grab a box of Kleenex. And if you’re at work, well, maybe have a co-worker cover for you for a few minutes:

Also—and yes, this is pure advertisement—but my friend Jayson Stark over at ESPN.com hit one out of the park with this oral history of Scully last week. Do have a look.

3. Tragedy in Miami

The wrenching Trail of Tears this week through Miami in the aftermath of the horrible death of Jose Fernandez, 24, and his two friends in a boating accident overnight Saturday will continue for a long time. And as the Marlins played the Mets on Monday night in Miami in their first game back, emotions were as raw as you’ll ever find in a baseball stadium.

And then Dee Gordon, a close friend of Fernandez, smashed a leadoff home run and could not finish his trot before dissolving into a puddle of tears:

That followed many, many tweets from around the league, like this one:

From pregame tribute to the postgame memorial, if you didn’t see it, make sure to watch this:

4. Nationals Clinch, or National Alert?

Washington barely had time to celebrate its NL East title in manager Dusty Baker’s first season managing before that great Baseball GPS in the sky rerouted the Nationals to a path that could make it very difficult to get past the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series that starts next week:

• Bryce Harper, already said to be battling a neck injury worse than he and the club are copping to, is out for a few days after injuring his left thumb while sliding into third base the other night. The good news for Washington is that the X-rays were negative, but the worrisome news is that any finger injury can be trouble for a hitter, especially in the near term. And the playoffs begin in the near term.

• Stephen Strasburg’s elbow injury is keeping him as just questionable for the postseason. General manager Mike Rizzo told reporters Tuesday that Strasburg is unlikely to pitch in the NLDS, per Chase Hughes of CSN Mid-Atlantic, which would seriously dilute the rotation and make Tanner Roark a key figure for the Nationals.

• Catcher Wilson Ramos hurt his right knee in the sixth inning of Monday’s game against Arizona, and the Nats’ concern was justified, as MRI results showed a season-ending ACL tear, according to CSN Mid-Atlantic.

So the Nationals will take inventory next week as they prepare to face the Dodgers. Though Washington has won three NL East titles in the past five seasons, the Nats have not advanced past the NLDS.

Of course, last year they were sitting home in October after allowing a good start to melt away. Which is what was foremost in the mind of ace Max Scherzer over the weekend when Washington sprayed champagne, as he told reporters (via Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports):

This one is personal to me because of last year and how we didn’t finish strong. That really stung the whole offseason. I hated that. I hated last offseason. So for us to be able to come out there and take care of business is huge. It’s huge because this is the stuff that it takes to put yourself in a place to win the World Series. And that’s the goal now, to win the World Series.

5. Olympic Gold and Swimming in Champagne

Great moments from a clincher: The flamboyant and always-entertaining Bryce Harper rocked the swim cap of a certain Washington-area Olympic hero:

6. Weekly Power Rankings

1. Sully: Good flick about a heroic pilot. Tom Hanks was great, but doggone it, I thought I was going to see Scully.

2. Big Papi: Farewell lap this week for David Ortiz. Well, until he takes another farewell lap deep into October.

3. Brangelina: Most emotional split since Derek Jeter and the Yankees.

4. Strep throat: Old-school malady makes a stretch run appearance by knocking Mets ace Noah Syndergaard from Saturday night’s start into this week. WHIP this.

5. Pumpkin Spice: At this point, I hear they’re going to start making throwback uniforms, rosin bags and pine tar that smell like the stuff. I’m totally making this up, but the way pumpkin spice is overtaking the world in the fall, I bet you believed me for a sec, didn’t ya?

7. Boston Pea Party

Talk about hitting peas: The Red Sox, who lead the majors in runs scored, are hot at the right time and turning the AL East into a romp. Before losing Tuesday at New York, Boston had won 11 consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 13-27, 1949.

Last time the Red Sox won 11 in a row, this happened:

Ted Williams is long gone, but David Price, before a lackluster start Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, had been riding a 2.78 ERA and a minuscule 0.85 WHIP over his past eight starts.

And in Sunday’s game at Tampa Bay, Red Sox pitchers set an MLB record by fanning 11 consecutive hitters. The previous record was 10 in a row, set on April 22, 1970, at Shea Stadium in New York, when 10 consecutive Padres struck out against Tom Seaver.

8. Chatter

• To review: The last time the Chicago Cubs won 100 or more games, it was in 1935.

• Beware, Cubs: In 25 seasons since 1990 (not including the 1994 strike season), only four teams that finished with that season’s best overall record have gone on to win the World Series: the 1998 and 2009 Yankees, and the ’07 and ’13 Boston Red Sox.

• Beware, Cubs, Part II: Of the 22 teams to win 100 or more games in the wild-card era (beginning in 1995), only two have gone on to win the World Series: the ’98 Yankees and the ’09 Yankees.

• Read it and weep, Giants bullpen: Through Tuesday, the Texas Rangers bullpen had produced a streak of 25.0 consecutive scoreless innings and had allowed just one unearned run over its past 32.1 innings. San Francisco, of course, leads the majors with 30 blown saves.

• One reason the wild-card chase has become a scramble for the Toronto Blue Jays: Ranked second in the American League in homers with 219, the Blue Jays, through Tuesday, nevertheless ranked 12th in the AL during the month of September with 23.

• Damning comment last week from White Sox slugger Jose Abreu, who said the only thing that separates Chicago from Kansas City is “desire.” White Sox manager Robin Ventura continues struggling to hold on to his job.

• Heralded Detroit rookie Michael Fulmer was 0-2 with a 5.50 ERA in three September starts before Friday night’s gem against Kansas City, when he allowed only one run and eight hits over seven innings, striking out nine and walking none.

• These also are the final days of Ryan Howard in Philadelphia. He will be given a $10 million buyout and sent on his way. No chance the Phillies pick up his $23 million salary for 2017. The question now becomes, is Howard finished, or will an American League team pick him up as a designated hitter?

• De Jon Watson was fired as senior vice president of baseball operations in Arizona when he pressed the issue of his 2017 contract, according to B/R sources. Understandable, in that the later baseball people are fired, the more difficult it is for them to find a job for the following season. The contracts of Watson, president of baseball operations Tony La Russa and general manager Dave Stewart all contained a clause by which a decision was supposed to be made by Aug. 31. La Russa and Stewart agreed to let it pass and keep working.

• Good for the Mariners in reacting quickly and decisively, essentially kicking catcher Steve Clevenger off their team following his offensive tweets about the rioting in Charlotte, North Carolina, last week.

• As SNY pointed out during a Mets telecast the other night, the club has had to use nine different starters in the past 36 games through Saturday and still owned one of the two wild-card slots (as of now).

• Paul Hoynes, an authoritative Cleveland beat writer for the Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com for the past four decades, wrote why the Indians are doomed in the playoffs and took a bunch of grief. Increasingly, and instructively, too many people today only want to hear opinions they agree with.

9. Toronto Locked and Loaded

As the Blue Jays lick their wounds from Monday night’s brawl with the Yankees, file this away for your playoff scouting report:

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

Of presidential debates, the Mariners suspending Steve Clevenger and so much more going on today…

“Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth 

“‘Rip down all hate,’ I screamed 

“Lies that life is black and white 

“Spoke from my skull. I dreamed 

“Romantic facts of musketeers 

“Foundationed deep, somehow 

“Ah, but I was so much older then 

“I’m younger than that now. 

“Girls’ faces formed the forward path 

“From phony jealousy 

“To memorizing politics 

“Of ancient history 

“Flung down by corpse evangelists 

“Unthought of, though, somehow 

“Ah, but I was so much older then 

“I’m younger than that now 

“A self-ordained professor’s tongue 

“Too serious to fool 

“Spouted out that liberty 

“Is just equality in school 

“‘Equality,’ I spoke the word 

“As if a wedding vow 

“Ah, but I was so much older then 

“I’m younger than that now”

—Bob Dylan, “My Back Pages”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

With the three National League division races wrapped up and the top record in the league already well in hand, the remaining drama in the dwindling days of the 2016 regular season stems from the wild-card race.

The Chicago Cubs, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers have already clinched the NL Central, East and West, respectively, with the former pacing the majors with 101 wins and counting. 

As for the NL wild-card spots, the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants would make the playoffs if the season ended after Tuesday night’s action, but the St. Louis Cardinals are still in the hunt, just a game behind the Giants. 

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins are out of the chase as of Tuesday.

Here’s a look at the key NL standings heading into Wednesday. 

The three teams leading the NL wild-card chase won on Tuesday night, keeping the drama very much alive as the season winds to a close.

After losing 7-3 to the Miami Marlins on Monday in the series opener—as emotional a game as you’ll see due to it being the Marlins’ first since the tragic death of 24-year-old starting pitcher Jose Fernandez—the Mets rebounded to beat the exhausted home side 12-1 on Tuesday. 

Noah Syndergaard struck out eight in six innings of work, while Jay Bruce and Yoenis Cespedes each hit two-run homers. The Mets have one more game against Miami before a travel day to face the lowly Philadelphia Phillies to close out the season. 

The Giants remain a game ahead of the Cardinals and a half-game behind the Mets, courtesy of a 12-3 walloping of the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday. After heading into the All-Star break with the best record in the majors, the Giants have been a disaster in the latter half of the season, with an implosion-prone bullpen perhaps the biggest culprit. 

San Francisco is trying to avoid a special kind of history by clinging to a wild-card spot, as journalist Wendy Thurm noted earlier in September: 

That spectacular first-half cushion this turbulent team built up has them in the playoff hunt with five games left to play. Though all five games are at home, the last three won’t be easy. The Giants have to play the rival Dodgers, who might still be looking to secure home-field advantage in the NLDS by surpassing the Nationals in the standings.

If the Giants do get into the playoffs, they can only hope that even-year magic miraculously takes over and saves them from getting bounced immediately from the postseason competition. 

The Cardinals kept up in the chase with a 12-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds. The key moment of the game was a fourth-inning grand slam from shortstop Aledmys Diaz, playing with a heavy heart after the death of Fernandez, a close friend. 

Here’s a look at Diaz‘s first career grand slam, per the MLB: 

“He just had a purpose,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said, per USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale. “He was doing something with a purpose. His mind was somewhere else, but in a good place.”

According to Nightengale, Diaz grew up with Fernandez in Cuba and spent Monday visiting the pitcher’s grieving family before returning to St. Louis to help his team close out the season. 

The Cardinals, who won 100 games last season and reached the NLCS, close out the regular season with two more games against the Reds and a three-game series at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were eliminated from the playoff race on Tuesday, after losing 6-4 to the Cubs and seeing the Giants prevail against the Rockies.

Though they have been prone to sparring in the postseason in recent years, the Cardinals will be hoping the Dodgers can help them out by taking a game or two from San Francisco and allowing them to reach the playoffs for the sixth year in a row.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Less than a week remains in the 2016 MLB regular season, and there are still a handful of playoff spots up for grabs.

On the American League side, the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers have clinched their respective divisions, and the Boston Red Sox have locked up a playoff spot with their magic number at one to clinch the AL East.

That leaves the Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros to duke it out for the two wild-card spots, with the Astros the furthest team out of the race at just 2.5 games back.

In the National League, the Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers have already cemented themselves as division winners, with the Cubs locking up the best record in the league as well.

The wild card is anything but decided, though, as the New York Mets, San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals are separated by just 1.5 games, and a crazy three-way-tie scenario still remains a realistic possibility.

At any rate, what follows is a look at each remaining contender’s chances of reaching the postseason, with the following factors taken into account:

• Current standings
• Recent performance
• Future schedule
• Injury concerns

So, with the regular season set to wrap up on Oct. 2, here is an updated division-by-division look at the playoff chances of all the remaining contenders from where they stood one week ago.

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