October 29, 2014: The Madison Bumgarner Game

October 29, 2014: For only the 2nd time since Bud Selig -- now, thankfully, overseeing his final game as Commissioner -- declared in 2003 that the League that wins the All-Star Game would have home-field advantage for the World Series, a Series goes to a Game 7. That means that the Kansas City Royals will host it at Kauffman Stadium.

And the 1st time was in 2011, and the St. Louis Cardinals won Games 6 and 7 to beat the Texas Rangers. And the last time the road team has won a Game 7 in the World Series was the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, 35 years earlier. And that means that, despite most of the San Francisco Giants having at least 1 ring (2012) and many of them 2 rings (2010 and 2012), and the Royals are in their 1st World Series in 29 years, the Giants have no chance, right?

Wrong. The teams trade blocks of 2 runs in the 2nd inning, and in the top of the 4th, Pablo Sandoval reaches on an infield single, and advances to 3rd on a single by Hunter Pence. Michael Morse singles him home to give the Giants the lead.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy gambles, sending Madison Bumgarner out to pitch the 5th on 2 days' rest. "MadBum" gave up a hit, but, in a display that wouldn't have seemed so courageous as recently as the 1970s, didn't allow another baserunner until the 9th, retiring 14 batters in a row.

With 1 out to go, Alex Gordon hits a liner that rolls to the wall, and he gets to 3rd. Salvador Perez had already gotten the game-winning hit in the AL Wild Card game. But Bumgarner induces a foul popup that is caught by Sandoval, completing the longest save in World Series history: 5 full innings.

The Giants win, 3-2, and take their 3rd World Championship in the last 5 years -- their 8th World Series win, counting their New York period. Sports Illustrated named Bumgarner their Sportsman of the Year.

The Royals would have to wait 1 more year to win the World Series. Gordon would have to wait 1 more World Series game to become a baseball legend.

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October 29, 2014 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. There were 12 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lose to the Chicago Bulls, 104-80 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Brooklyn Nets lose to the Boston Celtics, 121-105 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Charlotte Hornets name is officially revived. The original Hornets, who played from 1988 to 2002, moved to New Orleans, but were enticed to give the name up in 2013, and take the name of a former minor-league baseball team, the New Orleans Pelicans. The Charlotte Bobcats, created as an expansion team in 2004, are officially allowed to take the Charlotte Hornets name.

Like the Oklahoma City Thunder did 2 years earlier, the new Hornets play their 1st game at home against the Milwaukee Bucks. Unlike the Thunder, the Hornets win, 108-106 at Time Warner Cable Arena (now the Spectrum Center). Kemba Walker leads all scorers with 26 points.

* The Miami Heat beat the Washington Wizards, 107-95 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 105-101 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Atlanta Hawks, 109-102 at the Air Canada Center (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 103-91 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Detroit Pistons, 89-79 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Utah Jazz, 104-93 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City (then named the EnergySolutions Arena.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 119-99 at the US Airways Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Sacramento Kings, 95-77 at the Sleep Train Arena (formerly the ARCO Arena) in Sacramento.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 106-89 at the Moda Center in Portland. Russell Westbrook scored 38 points in defeat.

There were 2 games in the NHL. The Detroit Red Wings beat the Washington Capitals, 4-2 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington. And the Nashville Predators beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-1 at Rexall Place (as the Northlands Coliseum was then known) in Edmonton.

October 27, 2015: The Alcides Escobar Game

October 27, 2015: Game 1 of the World Series is played at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The Kansas City Royals played in the World Series just last year. The Mets? Not since October 26, 2000, 15 years earlier.

Matt Harvey started for the Mets. The 1st pitch thrown by "The Dark Knight" was hit by Alcides Escobar for an inside-the-park home run, the 1st in Series play since Mule Haas of the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics, 86 years earlier. Curtis Granderson hit a home run off Royals starter Edinson Vólquez, giving the Mets a 3-1 lead. But the Royals tied it in the bottom of the 6th, taking Vólquez off the hook. Only then was he told that his father died earlier in the day.

The Mets took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 8th, and were just 2 outs away from taking Game 1, when Jeurys Familia blew a save opportunity for the 1st time since July 30, by giving up a home run to Alex Gordon. He became the 5th player, the 1st since Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius of the 2001 Yankees, to hit a game-tying 9th inning home run in World Series play.

The game went into extra innings, and Granderson made a sensational catch of a Jarrod Dyson drive in the 11th. But in the bottom of the 14th, David Wright, the Mets' 3rd baseman and Captain -- and, to hear Met fans tell it, "the face of New York baseball" now that Derek Jeter had retired -- made a throwing error that lets Escobar reach 1st. Ben Zobrist singled him over to 3rd, and Eric Hosmer flew out to center, a sacrifice fly that brought home the winning run. Royals 5, Mets 4.

This was the 1st time in World Series history that the same player scored both the 1st run of the game on the 1st pitch, and the last run of the game on the last pitch. The game tied the record for the longest game by innings in World Series history, shared with Game 2 in 1916 and Game 3 in 2005. The loss made 42-year-old Bartolo Colón the oldest player ever to lose a World Series game.

It was also the 7th time in the Mets' 25 World Series games to that point in which they had a lead and blew it. That ratio would get worse.

It was the Mets' 5th World Series. They are 0-5 in Game 1, 2-3 in Game 2, 4-1 in Game 3, 3-2 in Game 4, 2-3 in Game 5, 1-1 in Game 6, and 1-1 in Game 7. So, a typical World Series for the Mets would be: Fall behind 2-0, tie up the Series, lose Game 5, and then, because they've split both Game 6s and Game 7s, it's anybody's guess.

*

October 27, 2015 was a Tuesday. Football was in midweek. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks, 106-94 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 97-95 at the United Center in Chicago.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 111-95 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named the Oracle Arena). Steph Curry scored 40 points.

There were 10 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Columbus Blew Jackets, 3-1 at the Prudential Center.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Arizona Coyotes, 6-0 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia. Zemgus Girgensons scored the winning goal, with 2:31 left in overtime.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-1 at the BB&T Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-0 at the Scottrade Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1 at Bell MTS Place (now the Canada Life Centre) in Winnipeg.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-1 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

October 27, 1985: The Cardinal Meltdown

October 27, 1985: Some baseball teams have a meltdown that lasts an entire season. For some, it lasts a few weeks. For some, one week is enough. The St. Louis Cardinals had a meltdown in just 5 innings, at the absolute worst time: In Game 7 of the World Series.

The Kansas City Royals rout the Cardinals, 11-0, to win their 1st World Championship, and the 1st All-Missouri World Series since the Cardinals-Browns matchup of 1944.

They become only the 6th team to rally from a 3-1 deficit and win the Series. (Only the 2016 Chicago Cubs have done it since.) Series MVP Bret Saberhagen pitches the shutout, while Cardinals ace John Tudor allows 5 runs in just 2 1/3 innings.

The Royals had won the American League Pennant, but lost the World Series, in 1980; and had won the AL Western Division, but lost the AL Championship Series, in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1984. This time, the Royals were crowned.

The Cards were still upset over the blown call by 1st base umpire Don Denkinger, which they believed cost them Game 6. And, 37 years later, despite 5 Pennants and 3 World Series wins, they and their fans are still upset about it.

According to Baseball-Reference.com,if the right call had been made, giving the Cardinals an out, they would have had an 87 percent chance of winning the game. Even with the call blown, they had an 66 percent chance -- just under a 2/3rds chance. They still should have won it. And they still could have won Game 7.

Whitey Herzog wasn't the first postseason manager to, as they say in English soccer, lose the plot, and let it carry over to his players. He certainly hasn't been the last. He could have told his players, "We got screwed, but if win tomorrow night, we're the World Champions. So let's forget tonight's result, and get it done tomorrow night.

Instead, Whitey was still fuming, and his team followed his lead, and allowed it to affect their performances and their minds for Game 7.

To make matters worse, for Game 7, Denkinger was the home plate umpire. Tudor believed that Denkinger was "squeezing" him, shrinking the strike zone. After being lifted from the game‚ Tudor punched an electric fan in the clubhouse, and severely cut his hand.

Herzog replaced him with fellow 20-game winner Joaquín Andújar. The Dominican, for whom English was a second language, was once quoted as saying, "You can sum up the game of baseball in one word: Youneverknow." He also thought Denkinger was squeezing him during Kansas City's 6-run 5th inning, and ended up waving his arms and screaming at Denkinger, who ejected him. Herzog also argued, and was also tossed.

The Cardinals finished the World Series with a .185 team batting average‚ lowest ever for a 7-game Series. There's the reason they lost: They didn't hit.

The Cardinals had won the World Series in 1982, then traded Keith Hernandez to the New York Mets the next year. The Cards lost the World Series in 1985, and again in 1987, blew a 3-games-to-1 lead in the 1996 National League Championship Series, got swept by the formerly "cursed" Boston Red Sox in the 2004 World Series, and also lost in the Playoffs in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005. St. Louis fans began to speak of a "Curse of Keith Hernandez." But they won the World Series in 2006, just 24 years after their last Series win, so that put an end to "curse" talk.

It took the Royals 29 years to even reach the Playoffs again, and I began to wonder if they were cursed. But they won the Pennant in 2014, and went all the way in 2015, so if they were cursed, the curse was broken.

In other baseball news on this day, Billy Martin was fired by the New York Yankees for an unprecedented 4th time (not counting all those firings in 1977 that didn't take), and was replaced by former Yankee outfielder Lou Piniella‚ who had been the team's hitting instructor since retiring as a player in 1984. Billy would be hired a 5th time in 1988, and fired before June was out.

UPDATE: The Royals have a team Hall of Fame. From before their 1st Pennant in 1980, they have inducted 1st baseman John Mayberry Sr., 2nd baseman Cookie Rojas, shortstop Freddie Patek, general manager Cedric Tallis and manager Whitey Herzog.

From the 1980 American League Pennant, but not the 1985 title: center fielder Amos Otis, pitchers Paul Splittorff and Steve Busby.

From their 1985 World Champions: 3rd baseman George Brett, designated hitter Hal McRae, 2nd baseman Frank White, left fielder Willie Wilson; pitchers Dennis Leonard, Larry Gura, Dan Quisenberry, Bret Saberhagen and Mark Gubicza; manager Dick Howser, general manager Joe Burke, scout Art Stewart, owners Ewing and Murial Kauffman, groundskeeper George Toma, and broadcaster Denny Matthews.

From between their titles: Left fielder Bo Jackson, pitchers Jeff Montgomery and Kevin Appier, and catcher Mike Sweeney.

From their 2014 Pennant and their 2015 World Champions: Through the 2025 season, only Stewart, Matthews, left fielder Alex Gordon and manager Ned Yost.

Patek, Mayberry, Herzog, Otis, Splittorff, Busby, Brett, White, McRae, Wilson, Leonard, Quisenberry, Gubicza, Ewing Kauffman, Stewart, Toma, Jackson, Montgomery, Sweeney, Gordon and Yost have been elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. So have 1970s catcher Darrell Porter, 1970s pitcher Al Hrabosky (probably more due to his association with the Cardinals), 1980s catchers John Wathan and Jamie Quirk, 1980s outfielder Jim Eisenreich, 1990s catcher Mike MacFarlane, 2000s pitcher Jeff Suppan, and 2014-15 general manager Dayton Moore.

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October 27, 1985 was a Sunday. These games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants beat the New Orleans Saints, 21-13 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The New York Jets beat the Seattle Seahawks, 17-14 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Buffalo Bills, 21-17 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The New England Patriots beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 32-14 at Tampa Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 26-21 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Cleveland Browns, 14-7 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Miami Dolphins, 31-21 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Green Bay Packers, 37-10 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 27-9 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* It wasn't a good day for the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, either: They lost to the Houston Oilers, 20-10 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 30-10 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Atlanta Falcons, 24-10 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, 28-14 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* And, the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Los Angeles Raiders beat the San Diego Chargers, 34-21 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

There was only 1 game in the NBA: The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors, 116-99 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. There were 5 games in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 7-4 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Minnesota North Stars, 3-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3 at the Winnipeg Arena.

October 7, 1977: The Philadelphia Phillies' "Black Friday"

October 7, 1977: Game 3 is played in each League Championship Series. Dennis Leonard, a Brooklyn native, goes the distance, and the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Yankees, 6-2 at Royals Stadium (renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993). The Royals take a 2-1 lead in the series, and need just 1 more win for their 1st Pennant.

They will be disappointed. But perhaps not as badly as the Philadelphia Phillies. First 1950, then 1969, now 1977: October 7 is not a good day for baseball in the City of Brotherly Love.

It starts out as a great one: The 63,719 fans at Veterans Stadium are so loud, they force Dodger pitcher Burt Hooton to load the bases in the 2nd inning, and then walk 2 runs home. The Phils, who won 101 games (a team record not broken until 2011), look like they're going to win this game, and will need just one more win for their 1st Pennant in 27 years, since the 1950 Whiz Kids.

But in the top of the 9th, trailing 5-3 and down to their last out, the Dodgers benefit from a sickening turn of events. Pinch hitter Vic Davalillo, a 41-year-old Venezuelan outfielder who has already retired from baseball once, shows enough guts to lay down a drag bunt, at his age, with 2 strikes, and he beats it out.

Another again Latin pinch hitter, 39-year-old Dominican Manny Mota, hits a long drive to left field. Ordinarily, Phils manager Danny Ozark would have sent Jerry Martin out to left for defensive purposes, in place of the powerful but defensively suspect Greg Luzinski.

This time, he didn't, and the Bull can only trap the ball against the fence. (In fairness, I’ve seen the play several times, and I don't think Martin would have caught it, either, especially since he was a bit shorter than the Bull.) Luzinski throws back to the infield, but Phils 2nd baseman Ted Sizemore mishandles it, Mota goes to 3rd, and Davalillo scores. It's 5-4 Phils, with 2 out.

Then comes one of the most brutal umpiring screwups ever. Remember, the Dodgers are still down to their last out. Davey Lopes' grounder hits a seam in the artificial turf, and caroms off Mike Schmidt's knee to shortstop Larry Bowa‚ and Bowa's throw is incorrectly ruled late. Instead of the game being over in Philly's favor, Mota scores the tying run. The Dodgers go on to win, 6-5, and win the Pennant the next day.

In Philadelphia, the game is known as Black Friday. The umpire whose call killed the Phils? Bruce Froemming. He had already cost Milt Pappas a perfect game with a bogus ball four call in 1972 (though Pappas kept the no-hitter), and will go on to umpire for a record 37 years (since broken), with his swan song being the 2007 AL Division Series between the Yankees and the Cleveland Indians, when he, as crew chief, refused to stop the game until the Lake Erie Midges left.

*

October 7, 1977 was a Friday. Those were the only baseball games played that day. Football was in midweek. And the 1977-78 NBA, NHL and World Hockey Association seasons hadn't started yet. So those LCS games were the only games on this historic day.

October 3, 2012: Miguel Cabrera Ends the Triple Crown Drought

October 3, 2012: Major League Baseball's regular season comes to an end. The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 1-0 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Although the Tigers have already clinched the American League Central Division title, they go all out to win this game. It takes 4 Tiger pitchers -- Mark Scherzer for 4 innings, Drew Smyly for 2/3rds of an inning, Luis Marte for 3 1/3rd for the win, and Luke Putkonen for 1 -- to pitch a 6-hit shutout. The only run of the game comes in the top of the 5th inning, when Austin Jackson doubles home Omar Infante.

The Tigers' Miguel Cabrera clinches the AL Triple Crown, becoming the 1st player to do so since 1967 when Carl Yastrzemski accomplished the feat with Boston -- making him the 1st player to do it in my lifetime. The 29-year-old native of Maracay, Venezuela leads the circuit with a .330 batting average, 44 home runs and 139 RBIs. Naturally, he was named the AL's Most Valuable Player. He would receive the MVP again the next season.

He helped the Florida Marlins win the World Series as a rookie in 2003. But their cheapness led to his being traded to the Tigers for the 2008 season. They moved him from 3rd base to 1st base. He helped them win the Pennant in 2012. At the close of the 2022 season, he is a member of the 500 Home Run Club, and is just short of the 3,000 Hit Club.

UPDATE: He retired after the 2023 season, with a lifetime batting average of .306; 3,174 hits including 627 doubles, 17 triples and 511 home runs; 1,881 RBIs; a career OPS+ of 142, and 12 All-Star Game appearances. He will be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2029. It is expected that, upon his election, the Tigers will retire his Number 24.

* 

October 3, 2012 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek, and the NBA and NHL seasons were about to start. Elsewhere in baseball:

* The greatest moment in Washington Nationals "Racing Presidents" history. After getting off to a slow start in the regular-season finale against Philadelphia, Teddy Roosevelt finally beats George Washington, Abe Lincoln, and Tom Jefferson to the finish line, winning the race for the 1st time since it made its debut at RFK Stadium in 2006.

The victory, the mascot's 1st after 525 losses, is assured when a green furry creature, who bears a striking resemblance to a phony Phillie Phanatic, waylays the other 3 Presidential contenders in right field. The reason the Phake Phanatic was there was that the Nats were playing the Philadelphia Phillies, and beat them, 5-1.

The Nats had already clinched the National League Eastern Division, ending the Phils' 5-year reign at the top. Beset by injuries, they had fallen to 81-81, ending their greatest run ever: 5 seasons, 5 Division titles, 2 Pennants, and the 2008 World Championships. 

In 2019, Teddy finally had a season in which he won the most races, 31.

* In other dubious baseball action, Texas Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton's 4th inning-error opens the floodgates that allow the Oakland Athletics to erase a 5-run deficit when they score 6 times, en route to their 12-5 victory at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum).

The A's had been 13 games out of 1st place in the AL West on June 30, and 6 games out on August 25. But their hot streak and the Rangers' nosedive leaves the A's as AL Western Division Champions, and puts the Rangers into the new best-2-out-of-3-games AL Wild Card Series.

This comes after the Rangers' pathetic performance in the 2010 World Series and their embarrassing choke job in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series. They do not yet have the choke reputation of, say, the Red Sox, the Cubs, or the Indians — but they should.

* The New York Yankees clinch the AL Eastern Division title, finishing off a tough race against the Baltimore Orioles, and doing so by beating the Auld Enemy, the Boston Red Sox, 14-2 at the new Yankee Stadium. The O's are relegated to the AL Wild Card Series, against the Rangers.

Hiroki Kuroda went 7 innings for the win, while Daisuke Matsuzaka didn't get out of the 3rd inning. Curtis Granderson hit his 42nd and 43rd home runs of the season, while Robinson Canó hit his 32nd and 33rd. Canó had 6 RBIs, Granderson 4. Derek Jeter went 1-for-4.

That one felt pretty good. But it would take the Yankees 7 years to win another Division title -- because, or so it seemed, Brian Cashman's priority wasn't putting the Yankees in the best possible position to advance in the postseason, but rather to sell tickets and stay under the luxury tax threshold.

* Two Cleveland Indians legends each play their last major league game -- but neither does so for the Indians. The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida,, and Jim Thome goes 0-for-4 as the O's DH.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, and Omar Vizquel, at 45 the oldest man ever to play shortstop in the major leagues, and the last remaining MLB player from the 1980s, goes 1-for-3 for the Jays.

* Having already clinched the NL Central Division, the Cincinnati Reds lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 1-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Matt Carpenter provides the only run in the bottom of the 8th, singling home Shane Robinson.

It takes 5 pitchers for the Cards to finish a 3-hit shutout: Shelby Miller allowed 1 hit and 2 walks over 6, and only threw 72 pitches; Sam Freeman allowed a hit and no walks in the 7th, Victor Marté allowed a hit in the 8th and became the winning pitcher, Marc Rzepczynski got the 1st out in the 9th, and Jason Motte got the last 2, neither of them allowing a baserunner.

* The San Francisco Giants had already clinched the NL Western Division, but it probably still bothered them that they lost their regular-season finale to their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Clayton Kershaw outpitched Ryan Vogelsong. 

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. How many Braves pitchers does it take to pitch a 3-hit, no-walk shutout? This may be a record: 8. Ben Sheets pitched the 1st inning, Luis Avilán the 2nd, Julio Teherán the 3rd and the 4th, Randall Delgado the 5th, Cory Gearrin the 6th, Eric O'Flaherty the 7th, Jonny Venters the 8th, and Craig Kimbrel the 9th.

What were the Braves thinking? They had the NL Wild Card Series with the Cardinals coming up, and I guess they didn't want to "waste" a starting pitcher.

* The New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins, 4-2 at Marlins Park (now LoanDepot Park) in Miami.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-0 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Gavin Floyd goes 7 innings, and 2 relievers help him complete the 5-hit shutout.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-1 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 12-0 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. There were 5 shutouts on the final day of the season, and this was the only one that required as little as 2 pitchers: Blake Beavan allowed 7 hits and a walk over the 1st 8 innings, and Stephen Pryor pitched a perfect 9th.