Final Night time in Baseball: Jazz Chisholm, Yankees Pressure Sport 3 In opposition to Purple Sox

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves.

Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from the weekend in Major League Baseball:

Yankees 4, Trevor Story 3

The Yankees live to play again, after taking Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series from the Red Sox. New York’s primary nemesis in this matchup was Boston shortstop Trevor Story, who made himself a real pain for most of the game — Story drove in all three Red Sox runs in the game, even. The first two tied the game up, 2-2 in the third, when Story hit a 2-run single that plated Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela.

The Yankees answered in the fifth, but in the sixth, Story delivered again, tying things up with a solo homer.

After that last bit of Story, however, it was time for the Jazz Chisholm Jr. arc. A desperate dive saved a run in the seventh, when the Sox had runners on first and second and Masataka Yoshida nearly put a ball up the middle. 

Instead, Chisholm grabbed it, and while he wasn’t able to record an out on the play, there was basically no chance that lead runner Nate Eaton wouldn’t have scored there. It would then be Chisholm’s hustle that led to the Yankees going up 4-3, as he made it all the way from first to just beat the throw home in the eighth on an Austin Wells single up the right field line. 

The score would hold from there, and now a decisive Game 3 will be played on Thursday night. Winner advances to face the Blue Jays in Toronto on Saturday, loser says goodbye until 2026.

Manny Machado, Mason Miller power Padres

The Padres struggled to score against the Cubs in Game 1 in no small part because Dansby Swanson’s defense kept them from putting rallies together, but in Game 2, Manny Machado hit a ball where even the elite shortstop couldn’t get to it.

This put the Padres up 3-0, and, in need of a win to see another day, San Diego decided it was Mason Miller time. Miller, despite pitching in relief in Game 1, threw 27 pitches in Game 2, across 1.2 innings of relief. The hard-throwing righty struck out all five batters that he faced. Combined with his three strikeouts in Game 1, that gives him eight in a row, tying a record held by Josh Hader for the most batters struck out in a row in the postseason, and giving him a new one for the most struck out in a row to start a postseason career — Miller, per MLB’s Sarah Langs, broke the old record by two. The streak is ongoing, too, though Miller is unlikely to pitch in Game 3 given he’s already thrown 2.2 innings in relief in two days.

Oh, and Miller hit 104 mph with one of his heaters. And not rounded up to 104, either.

Miller threw 104.5 mph, the fastest pitch in postseason history since MLB began tracking that data in 2008. It remains incredible that his best pitch is actually his 89-mph slider, which looks like a fastball just long enough to screw anyone who sees it up. You know, if the records for postseason strikeouts weren’t a hint.

Game 3 serves up former Cubs ace Yu Darvish against Jameson Taillon — winner faces the Brewers in the NLDS. Darvish has bounced between looking like his old self and not having it for most of his 2025, and has been homer prone this summer, to boot: expect the Padres, with their bullpen and having to contend with Wrigley’s sometimes unfriendly winds, not giving him much slack on the mound in Game 3.

The Guardians remembered how to hit

Do you think the Guardians and Tigers are tired of playing each other yet? Or their fans are tired of seeing it? Well, good news there, the two have just the one game left in 2025, regardless of who wins. Cleveland forced a Game 3 with a late barrage. After scoring in the first inning and then basically never even threatening to score again after that, the Guardians unloaded for five runs in the eighth. Brayan Rocchio put them ahead with a solo shot to kick things off:

Then Daniel Schneeman doubled to drive in Steven Kwan:

Finally, Bo Naylor crushed a 3-run dagger to make this game feel even more out of reach than it already was.

“How could a 3-1 game have felt even a little out of reach,” you ask? Well. The Tigers stranded 15 baserunners in the game, and went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position. The Guardians bobbled balls, they made poor decisions, they played some sloppy defense and kept giving up hits, but in the end the Tigers just could not deliver on any of that, and looked like they were incapable of even doing so. What a weird game — Thursday, as said, will serve as the finale.

Dodgers advance to NLDS

While the Yankees, Padres and Guardians all tied up their series to force a Game 3, the Dodgers took care of the Reds once again, becoming the first team to advance to the Division Series. Enrique Hernández did his usual postseason thing early, tying the game up 2-1 in the fourth.

The Dodgers took the lead from there, and starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto got down to business. Despite the pair of early runs, he buckled down and held the Reds scoreless from the second inning into the seventh — Yamamoto ended up lifted after 6.2 innings and 113 pitches, with 9 strikeouts, 2 walks and 4 hits allowed. He started to struggle a bit in the sixth, but ended up getting out of a bases-loaded, no-outs situation without allowing another run.

The Dodgers’ offense then unloaded in the bottom of the inning, plating four runners. Shohei Ohtani drove in a run with a single, Mookie Betts doubled in a pair and Teoscar Hernandez then doubled in Ohtani and Betts.

Betts would add another run in the eighth on another double — he had four hits in Game 2, three of them doubles — to put the Dodgers up 8-2. While the bullpen would allow two runs, Los Angeles had scored enough at that point that it didn’t matter. They now head to Philadelphia for Game 1 of the NLDS, where Ohtani will make his first-ever postseason start as a pitcher opposite Cy Young-hopeful Cristopher Sanchez.

Roki Sasaki intrigues

The Dodgers’ bullpen is undeniably a weakness — it allowed five runs in two days in all of 4.1 innings of work — but the lineup and starters have kept that from hurting them to this point. Another thing that could help? Roki Sasaki.

Sasaki threw a clean inning with 2 strikeouts to close out Wednesday’s series win, and that could have some serious repercussions for a Dodgers’ pen in desperate need of someone reliable. It’s early, sure, but worth monitoring, as Los Angeles’ relief corp could be their most significant obstacle in the way of a repeat, and the Phillies are not the Reds.

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