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After a brilliant 11-game winning streak in September allowed them to move into first place and clinch the American League East title, the Boston Red Sox (93-69) played indifferent baseball in the final week of the season and lost five of their final six games.

That allowed the American League Central champion Cleveland Indians (94-67) to take advantage and finish with a better season-long record than the Red Sox and earn home-field advantage in their American League Division Series.

The best-of-five series begins Thursday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Red Sox and Indians will play two games in Cleveland (Game Two is Friday), followed by two games at Fenway Park (Sunday and Monday), while a fifth game would be played Wednesday in Cleveland, if necessary.

Even though the Indians have the advantage of playing a potentially decisive game on their own turf, they could have a difficult time surviving this series. Injuries have hurt the Cleveland pitching staff, while the Red Sox starting pitching has improved throughout the season.

Earlier in the year, the Indians appeared to have the starting pitching advantage with Trevor Bauer, Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco. However, Salazar and Carrasco are both on the shelf with injuries.

The Red Sox have Cy Young candidates Rick Porcello and David Price at the top of their rotation followed by the resurgent Clay Buchholz and Eduardo Rodriguez.

The Indians are likely to go with veteran right-hander Josh Tomlin as their Game 3 starter, before returning to Bauer and Kluber for the final two games, if necessary.

Porcello had a brilliant season, compiling a 22-4 record along with a 3.15 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP, according to CBSSports.com. Price was inconsistent for more than half the season, but he found his stride after the All-Star Game and finished with a 17-9 record and a 3.99 ERA.

Bauer was 12-8 with a 4.26 ERA this season, but he was not effective when facing the Red Sox. Bauer gave up six runs on 10 hits in two games against Boston, and his ERA was 9.00 against them, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.

The Red Sox have a powerful lineup that includes Dustin Pedroia (.318 batting average, 201 hits), Mookie Betts (.318, 31 home runs, 113 RBI, 26 stolen bases), David Ortiz (.315, 38 HR) and Hanley Ramirez (30 HR, 111 RBI), and they may be licking their chops for a chance to get at Bauer.

The Indians have a couple of strong power bats in Mike Napoli (a former Red Sox star) and Carlos Santana. Both players slugged 34 home runs this season and they will be difficult to shut down.

Porcello had just one start vs. the Indians and pitched well in 5.2 innings, while Price was 1-0 with a 3.15 ERA against Cleveland.

Red Sox manager John Farrell said his team is still in good shape even though it had a tough final week. “We’re still very confident,” Farrell told Cafardo. “We’re very confident in how we’ve played on the road. That’s what we’re dealt with and we’ll deal with it.”

The Red Sox would seem to have an advantage in this series because of their powerful offense. They scored a league-high 878 runs, 101 more than the Indians who finished second in that category. Combine that with the health of the starting pitching and the Red Sox are likely to be moving on to the American League Championship Series.

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For the second time in his career, Rick Renteria will try his hand at managing in Chicago. The White Sox announced the 54-year-old as their next manager Monday, a day after Robin Ventura said he would not return for a sixth season.

Renteria served as Ventura’s bench coach in 2016. He previously managed the Chicago Cubs to a 73-89 record in 2014 before being fired in favor of Joe Maddon.

The hire had become one of baseball’s worst-kept secrets in recent days. Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reported Saturday that a replacement plan was already in place, though Ventura and Renteria refused to comment on the matter before the regular season ended.

Ventura, whose contract expired after 2016, went 375-435 in his five seasons with the franchise. The White Sox have not made the playoffs since 2008 but were expected to compete near the top of the AL Central this season. Instead, they went 78-84 to record their fourth straight losing campaign.

“We came up short, and I feel like that falls on me,” Ventura said while noting the organization needed a new voice, per Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. “You just do what you can do and [control] how you conduct yourself. It’s not like they’re going to be putting a statue out on the concourse [of me]. You do what you can, and that’s all you can really do.”

A baseball lifer who spent his playing and managerial careers scraping his way through and hoping for a big league shot, Renteria’s lone chance at MLB management was a bit of a fiasco. He was a placeholder on the 2014 Cubs, a roster laden with pieces that weren’t yet ready to be put into a puzzle.

The Cubs enacted their sweeping plan to be contenders after firing Renteria that winter, hiring Maddon in his place, signing big-ticket free agents and calling up a swath of elite young talent. In a statement announcing Renteria’s firing, Cubs president Theo Epstein said the manager “deserved to come back for another season.” Maddon’s sudden departure from Tampa Bay simply proved too tempting.

Renteria should get a more legitimate shot next season, although it’s an interesting call to promote from within. It wouldn’t have been a surprise to see the White Sox completely clean house after starting 23-10 and then falling apart.

Instead, they’ll roll the dice on Renteria and hope the managerial instincts he showed in 2014 carry over. 

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.

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After an exciting September that featured tightly contested postseason races in both leagues, the 2016 MLB playoffs are finally upon us with the field already set despite the regular season ending on Monday.

The quest for the World Series begins Tuesday with the American League Wild Card Game, while the National League Wild Card Game begins a day later. Although these contests are winner-take-all showdowns, they could have had serious implications on the rest of the postseason. In 2014, the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants used wild-card wins as springboards to meet in the Fall Classic.

With that in mind, let us take a look at the schedule for the 2016 playoffs, including dates and start times for each round, television coverage and live-stream information.

The playoffs begin with a contest that pits two powerful teams against each other in he Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays. The Orioles led the league in home runs during the regular season by a landslide with 255, while Toronto finished fourth with 221 dingers. Both teams also allowed 183 home runs each, so both are equally susceptible to the long ball.

Yet the difference in this game could be whether Baltimore can earn a late lead, as Orioles closer Zach Britton led the league with 47 saves while posting a microscopic 0.54 ERA.

On the NL side, a pair of aces are set to take the hill, per MLB Network’s Heidi Watney:

The San Francisco Giants’ Madison Bumgarner (15-9 with a 2.74 ERA) and the New York Mets’ Noah Syndergaard (14-9 with a 2.60 ERA) finished with near identical numbers this season. Thus, playoff experience looks to be a crucial factor this Wednesday.

Syndergaard was solid in his postseason debut last year, going 2-1 with 3.32 ERA in 19 innings. However, Bumgarner is an established baller in October. In 88.1 innings pitched, he is 7-3 with a 2.14 ERA and a save. The 27-year-old is dominant when the stakes are at their highest, so it is tough to believe he will not pitch a gem Thursday.

When looking ahead in the NL, the Chicago Cubs undoubtedly stand out as the top storyline. The Cubs were clearly the best team in baseball throughout the season, as they led the league in team ERA while finishing third in MLB in runs scored. Still, the Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908, but another piece of history is on their side, per ESPN Stats and Info:

Chicago boasts an unbelievable lineup led by Kris Bryant (39 homers and 102 RBI), Anthony Rizzo (32 homers and 109 RBI) and Addison Russell (21 homers and 95 RBI). The batting order boasts tremendous depth as well, with Javier Baez, Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist also posing palpable threats. 

If that’s not enough, Kyle Hendricks—who finished with the lowest ERA in baseball with a 2.13 mark—Jake Arrieta, John Lackey and Jon Lester give the Cubs a solid four-man rotation for this postseason. The team also has a sensational closer in Aroldis Chapman, who finished with 16 saves and a 1.01 ERA since coming over from the New York Yankees at the trade deadline.

The American League looks to be wide open, but look out for the Boston Red Sox.

This team can flat-out score with Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and a resurgent David Ortiz leading the charge. Boston comfortably led the majors with 878 runs and a .282 batting average, and its .246 opposing batting average was good for seventh-best in baseball.

The Red Sox have the luxury of trotting out experienced players in Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia, but the team’s hopes could lie with pitcher David Price. 

The ace brushed off an abysmal 2016 start to finish with a 17-9 record, but his postseason history leaves much to be desired. Price is 2-7 in 14 appearances with a 5.12 ERA. If he can even marginally improve on these numbers in 2016, Boston should have enough offense to be successful. Still, these playoffs will be huge for Price’s standing among the game’s top arms.

Statistics are courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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Sometimes sports can be cruel, and the American and National League Wild Card Games are perfect examples. 

Major League Baseball’s 162-game regular-season schedule is a serious commitment for players and fans alike. The players must grind through the dog days of summer and all the peaks and valleys that come with them, while the fans must devote significant chunks of their time to watching, attending and following such a large number of games.

However, that investment and journey will come to a sudden end for two teams and their fanbases in the single-elimination, do-or-die Wild Card Games. The Toronto Blue Jays will host the Baltimore Orioles in the American League contest on Tuesday, and the New York Mets will host the San Francisco Giants in the National League’s on Wednesday.

With that in mind, here is a deeper explanation of the format as well as an unfortunate prediction for the eventual National League winner.

Format Explanation

The MLB playoffs previously included just four teams for each league (three division winners and a wild card), but a fifth team was added in the form of a second wild-card squad in 2012.

Since then, the two teams with the best records in the National League that didn’t win a division have faced off in the Wild Card Game for the right to advance to the Divisional Series. The same format is used in the American League, and the team with the better record hosts the game.

The winners of the two Wild Card Games will battle the No. 1 seed in each respective league in the Divisional Series.

This year’s winner-takes-all American League Wild Card Game pits the Orioles against the Blue Jays on Tuesday. The National League Wild Card Game takes place on Wednesday and features a showdown between the Giants and Mets.

The American League Divisional Series starts Thursday, and the National League Divisional Series begins Friday. While the Wild Card Games are each one-game battles, the Divisional Series is a best-of-five affair, with the better seed enjoying home-field advantage in Games 1, 2 and 5.

The No. 1 seed faces the Wild Card Game winners, while the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds in each league play in the other Divisional Series.

Prediction: National League Wild Card Winner Will Lose the Divisional Series

Despite the fact the wild-card teams will face the No. 1 seeds in the Divisional Series, it is actually going out on more of a historical limb to say the winner of the NL Wild Card Game will lose the best-of-five showdown. 

The Chicago Cubs advanced all the way to the National League Championship Series last year after starting in the Wild Card Game. The 2014 World Series featured two teams that began their postseason journeys as wild cards, when the Kansas City Royals faced the San Francisco Giants, and the St. Louis Cardinals reached the NLCS in 2012 after winning the Wild Card Game.

However, this year’s wild-card winner will have a short postseason, largely because of the team it will face in the Divisional Series. It will already be fighting an uphill battle in the pitching matchups after using Madison Bumgarner (if it’s San Francisco) or Noah Syndergaard (if it’s New York) on Wednesday, and the Cubs will make quick work of it at the next stage.

The 103-58 Cubs sport the best record in baseball under the direction of three-time Manager of the Year Joe Maddon. While they haven’t won a World Series since 1908, they are perfectly positioned to change that this year with a dominant starting pitching staff, formidable offense and shutdown bullpen trio.

Jake Arrieta won the National League Cy Young last year, and he is likely the third-best starter on the Cubs in 2016 thanks to the presence of Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks. Lester and Hendricks were both forces in this year’s Cy Young race and will give Chicago a potent one-two punch before shifting to Arrieta.

As for the offense, Kris Bryant is a National League MVP candidate, and Anthony Rizzo provides plenty of lefty pop. Complementary pieces to that powerful heart of the order include Addison Russell, Dexter Fowler, Ben Zobrist and Javier Baez. Even Jason Heyward is capable of driving any given pitch despite his struggles this year.

If the offense gets the lead and the combination of Lester, Hendricks and Arrieta maintains it, Maddon will hand the ball to a bullpen that features Pedro Strop, Hector Rondon and Aroldis Chapman.

Tom Fornelli of CBSSports.com pointed out just how difficult a task beating the Cubs in October will be for the Wild Card Game winner:

That formula could lead the Cubs to a drought-busting triumph, and they will start their postseason with a relatively straightforward Divisional Series victory.

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Two American League East clubs will vie for their postseason lives when the Toronto Blue Jays host the Baltimore Orioles in Tuesday’s AL Wild Card Game.

MLB nearly faced a scheduling nightmare when a four-team tie remained plausible as late as Saturday. If the Detroit Tigers were required to make up a rained-out game Monday, they could have forced another tiebreaker game before playing the actual elimination game.

Toronto and Baltimore, however, made things easy by taking care of business. Behind power-fueled offenses, both squads finished at 89-73 after winning Sunday.

Last year, Toronto ousted the Texas Rangers in a feisty American League Division Series matchup most remembered by Jose Bautista‘s game-winning home run. (OK, probably more the ensuing bat flip). A win Tuesday night would set up a rematch.

Let’s take an early look at the AL’s play-in game.

AL Wild Card Game: Baltimore Orioles vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto

Date: Tuesday, October 4

Time: 8:08 p.m. ET

TV: TBS

Live Stream: MLB on TBS

Preview

With both teams needing to clinch a spot Sunday, each side used its most exciting young starter. As a result, Baltimore’s Kevin Gausman and Toronto All-Star Aaron Sanchez are unavailable for the Wild Card Game.

So who will take the mound at Rogers Centre? Neither team confirmed its starter as of Sunday night. J.A. Happ pitched Saturday, so the Blue Jays will turn to Marco Estrada (on three days’ rest), Francisco Liriano or Marcus Stroman. Unless they prefer Yovani Gallardo on short rest, the Orioles can employ Chris Tillman or Ubaldo Jimenez, who is highly erratic despite surging to the finish line.

Regardless of the two choices, it’s not a pitchers’ duel like the National League’s clash between Noah Syndergaard and Madison Bumgarner. This game boils down to offense and relief pitching. The starters will do their job by navigating five solid innings.

Buoyed by Mark Trumbo’s MLB-high 47 home runs, Baltimore rounded the bases more than any other MLB team this season. Although Bautista missed some time, only the Orioles, Seattle Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals went deep more than the Blue Jays.

It’s imperative for the Blue Jays to avoid a deficit entering the final inning. They shouldn’t want to take their chances against closer Zach Britton, who allowed four earned runs all season. Stats guru Ryan M. Spaeder noted the reliever’s historic season:

The path to Britton, however, is not as stable as earlier in the season. Brad Brach, who earned an All-Star nod with a 0.91 ERA, inflated his second-half mark to 3.94 after relinquishing four runs Saturday. Darren O’Day is no longer an automatic late-inning option after an ineffective (3.77 ERA) and injury-plagued campaign.

Baltimore could instead peg Dylan Bundy as a high-leverage bullpen option. Although the worn-down rookie yielded five runs in four of his last eight starts, he submitted seven strikeouts in 2.1 relief innings to earn a rotation spot in July. That culminated a string of 14.1 scoreless frames over which he tallied 22 strikeouts.

Meanwhile, foolish baseball shenanigans cost Toronto its hottest reliever. Since arriving from Seattle, Joaquin Benoit allowed one run over 25 appearances. On Sept. 26, he tore a calf muscle while running from a bullpen to join an on-field altercation against the New York Yankees.

“It felt like something hit me,” Benoit said, per an Associated Press report, via USA Today. “I won’t be able to get on the mound anytime soon, so personally this is really disappointing.”

Days later, Jason Grilli and Roberto Osuna blew a lead to Baltimore by allowing three runs over the final two frames.

“It was big,” Tillman said after Wednesday’s rally, per Reuters. “I think that could push a team a long way, those kind of wins. It was a big team win, and everybody played a part in it.”

Devon Travis also jammed his recently surgically repaired left thumb in the ruckus, but he looked fine when homering on Sunday. After debuting in late May, the 25-year-old second baseman hit .300/.332/.454 with 11 long balls in 432 plate appearances.

The Blue Jays were assembled to out-hit everyone, but Bautista, Troy Tulowitzki and Russell Martin have fallen shy of expectations. Not Edwin Encarnacion, who remains one of the game’s sturdiest sluggers. In perhaps his final season with the club, the pending free agent belted 19 of his 42 homers after the All-Star break.

Home-field advantage could give Toronto a major boost, as Baltimore is the only AL playoff team with a losing record (39-42) on the road. Toronto also gained a narrow season edge in head-to-head meetings (10-9), but Baltimore stayed alive by winning two of three at Rogers Centre last week.

No stat or trend in the world will unearth the answer to who claims a winner-take-all baseball game. Especially not when the similarly constructed participants exited 162 of them with identical records.

Anything can happen in the Wild Card Game, but viewers should expect plenty of offense during a close contest. Orioles backup catcher Caleb Joseph went the entire season without recording an RBI, so he’ll probably come off the bench to drive in the winning run.

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No one knows how the 2016 MLB playoffs will end, but we know how they’ll begin: with a clash of titans.

Technically, the first postseason game will be Tuesday’s American League wild-card tussle between the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays. That should be a solid matchup between powerful AL East foes.

But the main opening event will take place in Queens on Wednesday, where the New York Mets and flame-throwing ace Noah Syndergaard will host decorated October hero Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants.

Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal summed things up succinctly: 

Baseball is littered with elite pitchers. This won’t be the only marquee mound bout we witness before the World Series confetti falls.  

But it’s tough to conjure a more enticing showdown. Here are the stats:

Bumgarner has the edge in innings and strikeouts, as he set career highs in both categories. Syndergaard, meanwhile, cracked the 200-strikeout threshold in his sophomore season and paced the pitching field in wins above replacement by FanGraphs’ measure.

Numbers, though, don’t tell the whole story.

Each of these men boasts a certain mystique—a magnetic, intangible quality that turns every start into a must-watch event.

For the 24-year-old Syndergaard, it’s his flowing golden locks, imposing 6’6″ frame and bolt-throwing power arm. It’s the Norse god (or Marvel superhero, depending on your perspective) nickname. 

“It’s like every little kid’s dream come true to pitch in a high-stakes game,” Syndergaard said, per Maria Guardado of NJ Advance Media. “I’ll embrace it. I look forward to it. It should be a lot of fun.”   

Bumgarner is only 27 years old himself, but he’s a grizzled playoff veteran.

The 2014 postseason was his magnum opus, as he tossed an MLB-record 52.2 innings, including 21 in the Fall Classic alone. Overall, Bumgarner owns a 2.14 ERA in 88.1 playoff frames. 

He has experience in the Wild Card Game, too. In 2014, he threw a complete-game shutout with 10 strikeouts against the Pittsburgh Pirates to send San Francisco to the division series. 

Bumgarner has already cemented his status as one of the greatest postseason performers of all time. There is no stage too big…no lights too bright.

Win or go home in New York City? Bring it on.

On the other hand, Syndergaard is no October newbie. His resume is thinner than Bumgarner’s, but he cut his teeth as a rookie during the Mets’ pennant-winning run in 2015, logging a 3.32 ERA with an impressive 26 strikeouts in 19 innings.

Syndergaard has held current Giants hitters to a .176/.250/.235 slash line over his career, per ESPN.com, while Mets hitters own a .261/.316/.382 line against Bumgarner. If you’re a Mets fan searching for some optimism, that could help.

Then again, Bumgarner is 4-0 with a 0.62 ERA in 29 career innings at Citi Field. So there’s that.

“I don’t have an answer for you,” Mets skipper Terry Collins said of besting the Giants lefty, per Ryan Hatch of NJ Advance Media. “He’s a great pitcher. Lately I know he’s pitched a lot of innings, but you can’t let him be on top of you … if you let him get ahead of you, you’re in trouble.”

It’d be foolish to expect anything less than Bumgarner flipping his autumn switch. Syndergaard should be pumping his triple-digit stuff with the full-throated Mets faithful behind him.

This will almost surely be a pitchers’ duel, with runs at a premium. If it goes to the bullpens, New York has an edge. Don’t count on that, though.

These are two thoroughbreds lining up at the starting gate. This is about as good as it gets.

If we’re picking a winner, it has to be Bumgarner, based on his track record and the fact San Francisco is rolling in hot after a season-ending sweep of the archrival Dodgers. That’s far from a lock, however. 

It’s a clash of titans. It’s Bumgarner-Syndergaard. It’s playoff baseball. 

Buckle up.

All statistics current as of Sunday and courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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After battling for the East Division title throughout the summer, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles won the two wild-card spots in the American League playoffs on the final day of the regular season.

The two teams clinched their playoff spots as the Orioles beat the New York Yankees and the Blue Jays defeated the A.L. East champion Boston Red Sox.

The Jays actually won their playoff spot about 45 minutes prior to finishing off their victory. The clinching moment took place when the Atlanta Braves beat the Detroit Tigers and eliminated them from playoff contention.

The Blue Jays will host the Orioles in the Wild Card Game Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre. TBS will televise the game at 8 p.m. ET.

Both teams finished with 89-73 records, but the the Blue Jays earned home field in this matchup since they won the season series by a razor-thin 10-9 margin.

The winner of the Wild Card Game will meet the Texas Rangers in the AL Division Series, since Texas finished as the top seed in the American League.

The Orioles and the Blue Jays had designs on winning the division title as both teams had the lead at various points throughout the summer. However, when the Red Sox won 11 games in a row in September, both teams had to scramble to make the playoffs.

The Orioles have played solid baseball throughout the final month of the season, with the exception of getting swept in a four-game series at home by the Red Sox. Baltimore finished the season by going 17-12 in September and October.

The Orioles went 10-5 in their last 15 road games.

Manager Buck Showalter was not ready to say who would start against the Blue Jays, but it appears that he will most likely hand the ball to Chris Tillman or Ubaldo Jimenez.

The Blue Jays started the month of September with the lead in the American League East, but their powerful hitting attack struggled with its consistency, and their bullpen had issues.

Their 13-16 record in their last 29 games indicates that the Jays are not in top form, but they won two pressure-packed games in Boston to potentially right their ship.

It seems likely that Marcus Stroman or Francisco Liriano will get the start Tuesday night for the Jays, but manager John Gibbons has not announced his starting pitcher.

The Blue Jays and Orioles are powerful, slugging teams capable of hitting the long ball with regularity. The Blue Jays will depend on Josh Donaldson (37 HR, 99 RBI), Edwin Encarnacion (42 HR, 127 RBI), Jose Bautista (22 HR) and Troy Tulowitzki (24 HR) for the bulk of their production.

The Orioles are built in a similar manner, and they need Manny Machado (37 HR, 96 RBI), American League home run leader Mark Trumbo (47 HR), Chris Davis (38 HR) and Adam Jones (29 HR and 83 RBI) to produce.

Prediction

While neither team has announced its starting pitching, this game figures to come down to how well both teams handle the final innings.

Having a lead late in the game would be a good thing for the Blue Jays with the talented and powerful arm of Roberto Osuna (36 saves in 41 opportunities, 2.68 earned-run average), but it would be a near-lock for the Orioles with Zach Britton (47 saves in 47 opportunities, 0.54 ERA). Britton is a legitimate Cy Young contender, and his remarkable sinker is almost impossible to hit.

Playing at home should be an advantage for the Blue Jays, but the Orioles played better baseball during September-October, and they played particularly well on the road.

Look for Machado to drive in the go-ahead run in the late innings and Britton to preserve the lead with a shutdown ninth inning.

Baltimore advances to the American League Division Series with a 6-5 win over the Blue Jays and their raucous fans.

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The San Francisco Giants are headed back to the postseason for the first time since 2014, clinching the final National League wild-card spot Sunday thanks to a 7-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on the last day of the regular season.

MLB shared the news on Twitter:

Dating back to 2010, the Giants have won the World Series every other year, and Sunday’s victory kept the streak alive at least for another few days.

The Giants’ Twitter account was well aware of the team’s recent success:

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports believes in San Francisco’s ability in the playoffs:

The Giants will play the New York Mets at Citi Field on Wednesday afternoon for an opportunity to advance to the National League Division Series for a meeting with the juggernaut Chicago Cubs.

Wayne Randazzo of WOR 710 discussed the pitching matchup for the Wild Card Game battle:

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com provided an interesting note on the regular season’s final game:

Veteran pitcher Jake Peavy addressed the home crowd after the win, as the Giants shared on Twitter:

Meanwhile, the real celebration took place a short time later in the locker room:

The Giants, who have won three World Series titles in the past six years, were coming off a disappointing 2015 campaign in which they missed the playoffs with an 84-78 record. They overhauled their starting rotation, bringing in new signings Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija to support ace Madison Bumgarner, which immediately made them a more threatening team.

Behind their impressive pitching staff, the Giants were the class of the National League for the first half of the season. Through July 10, San Francisco was 57-33, the best record in the big leagues, and was 6.5 games up on the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League West. 

But after the All-Star break, things fell apart, and the Giants went 11-25 over the next month and a half, squandering the division lead to the Dodgers for good.

Los Angeles clinched the division for the fourth straight season Sept. 25, forcing the Giants to fight for their postseason lives in the wild-card race with the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals. 

The Giants and Mets tied for the top spot, although New York will be at home Wednesday thanks to its 4-3 advantage during the regular season. The Cardinals ended up one game out of the playoffs.

Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area noted the Giants are streaking at the right time:

When the Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 World Series, they were an 88-win wild-card team that had gotten hot at the right time.

However, playing the Mets, who rely on home runs, the Giants might not have the power to keep up. San Francisco didn’t have one player record 20 or more home runs this year.

If they get past the Mets in the Wild Card Game, the Giants will have to rely on their pitching and the winning experience of Bumgarner and Cueto to limit the high-powered offensive lineups of other National League contenders in the postseason.

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The Toronto Blue Jays went 21 consecutive years without making the playoffs after winning the 1993 World Series. On Sunday, they clinched their second straight postseason spot.

The Detroit Tigers lost to the Atlanta Braves, 1-0, which locked up Toronto’s wild-card berth.

The team’s Twitter account celebrated the news:

Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet shared the celebratory team on the field:

Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet and Zwelling passed along some of the players enjoying the moment:

With their 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox, they will host the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday in the American League‘s Wild Card Game matchup. 

The Blue Jays won the American League East last year but lost in the American League Championship Series to the World Series champion Kansas City Royals. Toronto led the major leagues in total runs in 2015 by an incredible margin of 127.

Things were different as Toronto clinched a wild-card berth this year after a heated battle with the likes of the Tigers, Orioles, Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros.

The Blue Jays weren’t just offensive mashers in 2016. While they rank eighth in the big leagues in total runs (757), pitching helped carry them to the postseason. In fact, the starting rotation, which ranks fourth in the majors in ERA (3.66), has been effective despite losing last year’s second-half ace, David Price, to the Boston Red Sox during the offseason.

Marcus Stroman, J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez, Marco Estrada and R.A. Dickey have all proved to be durable workhorses with at least 28 starts, and Toronto acquired southpaw Francisco Liriano from the Pittsburgh Pirates during the season to bolster the group.

Any pitching staff benefits from a loaded lineup, and that’s what Toronto brings to the table as it approaches the postseason.

Six players in the order have 20 or more home runs in 2016, and an offense that features Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Troy Tulowitzki, Michael Saunders and Russell Martin will be a difficult out in any playoff series.

Donaldson, the 2015 American League MVP, hasn’t even been the lineup’s most feared slugger. That title goes to Encarnacion, who has drilled 42 home runs and tallied 127 RBI as one of the best run producers in the league. Donaldson isn’t far behind, though, with 37 long balls and 99 RBI.

The Blue Jays have the pieces to make a deep postseason run for the second year in a row. However, this time they will have to play in the pressure-packed, do-or-die American League Wild Card Game, and they will not have the luxury of being able to come back after falling behind 2-0, as they did in last year’s American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers.

The sluggers and formidable pitching must deliver right away if Toronto is going to challenge for its first World Series title since 1993.

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Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura told reporters he is stepping down from his position after a 6-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins on the final day of the regular season, saying his exit was a “personal decision” and that the team “needed a new voice.”

Ventura took over as the team’s manager in 2012, leading the White Sox to an 85-77 record in his debut season. That was his only winning season as a manager, however, and the White Sox have stumbled to a 78-84 record this season despite optimism that they could compete for a playoff spot. 

Ventura finished with an overall record of 376-434 with the White Sox. The team never reached the postseason during his tenure.

The 49-year-old former MLB star—he hit .267 in his 16-year playing career with 294 home runs, 1,182 RBI, six Gold Gloves and two All-Star appearances—will likely attract some attention from teams looking to fill their manager positions this offseason. 

While Ventura may have been the scapegoat for a roster that likely isn’t equipped to compete in the postseason just yet, there are pieces to build around in Chicago for Rick Renteria, whom Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reported Saturday would be named as Ventura’s successor.

Jose Abreu is a bona fide star at first base, while Todd Frazier provides pop at third base. Melky Cabrera and Adam Eaton are nice pieces. Chris Sale is one of the best starters in baseball, and Jose Quintana has established himself as a reliable starter. Carlos Rodon has star potential, while closer David Robertson has provided stability in the ninth inning.

The White Sox, once again, are left with a roster that has obvious flaws and will need key additions. The team hasn’t been able to fill those holes successfully in recent years, and it’s hard to argue that’s not a reason why Ventura lost his job. The team’s next manager will have a big task, then, returning the White Sox to the postseason.

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