By Oliver Connolly, Editor-In-Chief
Happy Labor day! I declare the 2015 pennant races officially open!
Well, I don’t really have that power and in reality the races have been in full swing for some time. But I can declare the return of the daily rundown to keep you up to date with all the races and biggest headlines from Major League Baseball as we head towards the playoffs. I’m delighted by the return and it in no way is due to pressure from higher-ups. Anyway, onto the rundown.
Results
| MATCHUP | RESULT | WIN | LOSS | SAVE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tampa Bay |
 New York |
NYY 6, TB 4 | Ivan Nova | Chris Archer | Andrew Miller |
 Baltimore |
 Toronto |
TOR 10, BAL 4 | Marco Estrada | Chris Tillman | |
 Cleveland |
 Detroit |
CLE 4, DET 0 | Cody Anderson | Justin Verlander | |
 Milwaukee |
 Cincinnati |
CIN 6, MIL 3 | Michael Lorenzen | Jimmy Nelson | Aroldis Chapman |
 New York |
 Miami |
MIA 4, NYM 3 | A.J. Ramos | Tyler Clippard | |
 Philadelphia |
 Boston |
BOS 6, PHI 2 | Eduardo Rodriguez | Jerad Eickhoff | |
 Atlanta |
 Washington |
WSH 8, ATL 4 | Felipe Rivero | Manny Banuelos | |
 Chicago |
 Kansas City |
CHW 7, KC 5 | Erik Johnson | Johnny Cueto | David Robertson |
 Minnesota |
 Houston |
HOU 8, MIN 5 | Dallas Keuchel | Trevor May | Luke Gregerson |
 Arizona |
 Chicago |
CHC 6, ARI 4 | Justin Grimm | Rubby De La Rosa | |
 Texas |
 Los Angeles |
LAA 7, TEX 0 | Hector Santiago | Colby Lewis | |
 Seattle |
 Oakland |
SEA 3, OAK 2 | Hisashi Iwakuma | Sean Nolin | Tom Wilhelmsen |
 Los Angeles |
 San Diego |
LAD 5, SD 1 | Brett Anderson | Andrew Cashner | |
 San Francisco |
 Colorado |
SF 7, COL 4 | Madison Bumgarner | Yohan Flande | Santiago Casilla |
 Pittsburgh |
 St. Louis |
PIT 7, STL 1 | Gerrit Cole | John Lackey |
Standings
| EAST | W | L | PCT | GB | HOME | ROAD | RS | RA | DIFF | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Blue Jays | 78 | 58 | .574 | – | 47-25 | 31-33 | 747 | 548 | +199 | ||
| New York Yankees | 76 | 59 | .563 | 1.5 | 39-27 | 37-32 | 659 | 572 | +87 | ||
| Tampa Bay Rays | 67 | 69 | .493 | 11 | 33-35 | 34-34 | 515 | 530 | -15 | ||
| Baltimore Orioles | 65 | 71 | .478 | 13 | 38-27 | 27-44 | 591 | 565 | +26 | ||
| Boston Red Sox | 64 | 72 | .471 | 14 | 37-34 | 27-38 | 624 | 655 | -31 | ||
| CENTRAL | W | L | PCT | GB | HOME | ROAD | RS | RA | DIFF | ||
| Kansas City Royals | 82 | 54 | .603 | – | 47-25 | 35-29 | 608 | 523 | +85 | ||
| Minnesota Twins | 70 | 66 | .515 | 12 | 42-26 | 28-40 | 587 | 601 | -14 | ||
| Cleveland Indians | 66 | 69 | .489 | 15.5 | 29-34 | 37-35 | 550 | 551 | -1 | ||
| Chicago White Sox | 65 | 70 | .481 | 16.5 | 33-32 | 32-38 | 530 | 573 | -43 | ||
| Detroit Tigers | 62 | 74 | .456 | 20 | 31-37 | 31-37 | 588 | 684 | -96 | ||
| WEST | W | L | PCT | GB | HOME | ROAD | RS | RA | DIFF | ||
| Houston Astros | 75 | 62 | .547 | – | 48-24 | 27-38 | 596 | 492 | +104 | ||
| Texas Rangers | 71 | 64 | .526 | 3 | 32-32 | 39-32 | 591 | 623 | -32 | ||
| Los Angeles Angels | 69 | 67 | .507 | 5.5 | 41-28 | 28-39 | 548 | 554 | -6 | ||
| Seattle Mariners | 66 | 71 | .482 | 9 | 29-36 | 37-35 | 549 | 629 | -80 | ||
| Oakland Athletics | 58 | 79 | .423 | 17 | 31-41 | 27-38 | 568 | 568 | 0 |
| EAST | W | L | PCT | GB | HOME | ROAD | RS | RA | DIFF | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Mets | 75 | 61 | .551 | – | 45-24 | 30-37 | 565 | 506 | +59 | ||
| Washington Nationals | 71 | 65 | .522 | 4 | 41-26 | 30-39 | 600 | 545 | +55 | ||
| Miami Marlins | 57 | 80 | .416 | 18.5 | 32-37 | 25-43 | 509 | 567 | -58 | ||
| Atlanta Braves | 54 | 83 | .394 | 21.5 | 33-32 | 21-51 | 488 | 665 | -177 | ||
| Philadelphia Phillies | 53 | 84 | .387 | 22.5 | 30-35 | 23-49 | 529 | 705 | -176 | ||
| CENTRAL | W | L | PCT | GB | HOME | ROAD | RS | RA | DIFF | ||
| St. Louis Cardinals | 87 | 49 | .640 | – | 49-22 | 38-27 | 551 | 418 | +133 | ||
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 81 | 54 | .600 | 5.5 | 46-21 | 35-33 | 574 | 494 | +80 | ||
| Chicago Cubs | 78 | 57 | .578 | 8.5 | 43-28 | 35-29 | 564 | 531 | +33 | ||
| Milwaukee Brewers | 60 | 76 | .441 | 27 | 33-39 | 27-37 | 560 | 617 | -57 | ||
| Cincinnati Reds | 56 | 79 | .415 | 30.5 | 30-37 | 26-42 | 544 | 607 | -63 | ||
| WEST | W | L | PCT | GB | HOME | ROAD | RS | RA | DIFF | ||
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 78 | 58 | .574 | – | 47-21 | 31-37 | 558 | 485 | +73 | ||
| San Francisco Giants | 71 | 66 | .518 | 7.5 | 38-27 | 33-39 | 584 | 527 | +57 | ||
| San Diego Padres | 65 | 72 | .474 | 13.5 | 33-35 | 32-37 | 560 | 610 | -50 | ||
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 65 | 72 | .474 | 13.5 | 31-35 | 34-37 | 612 | 603 | +9 | ||
| Colorado Rockies | 56 | 80 | .412 | 22 | 31-40 | 25-40 | 614 | 715 | -101 |
Image of the night
On this day in baseball history
2009:
Thanks to their loss to Chicago, the Pirates become the first franchise in baseball history to post a losing record for 17 consecutive seasons. The dubious streak, which dates back to 1993, surpasses the skid the Phillies endured from 1933 to 1948.
Today’s games
| MATCHUP | TIME (BST) | PITCHING MATCHUP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Baltimore |
New York |
6:00 PM | Wei-Yin Chen vs Michael Pineda | ||
|
New York |
Washington |
6:05 PM | Jonathon Niese vs Max Scherzer | ||
|
Tampa Bay |
Detroit |
6:08 PM | Drew Smyly vs Randy Wolf | ||
|
Pittsburgh |
Cincinnati |
6:10 PM | Jeff Locke vs Anthony DeSclafani | ||
|
Milwaukee |
Miami |
6:10 PM | Zach Davies vs Justin Nicolino | ||
|
Toronto |
Boston |
6:35 PM | Mark Buehrle vs Rick Porcello | ||
|
Cleveland |
Chicago |
7:10 PM | Trevor Bauer vs Chris Sale | ||
|
Chicago |
St. Louis |
7:15 PM | Dan Haren vs Lance Lynn | ||
|
Houston |
Oakland |
9:05 PM | Mike Fiers vs Felix Doubront | ||
|
Colorado |
San Diego |
9:10 PM | Kyle Kendrick vs Ian Kennedy | ||
|
San Francisco |
Arizona |
9:10 PM | Mike Leake vs Patrick Corbin | ||
|
Texas |
Seattle |
11:40 PM | Yovani Gallardo vs Roenis Elias | ||
|
Atlanta |
Philadelphia |
12:05 AM | Williams Perez vs Aaron Harang | ||
|
Minnesota |
Kansas City |
1:10 AM | Tommy Milone vs Yordano Ventura | ||
|
Los Angeles |
Los Angeles |
2:05 AM | Zack Greinke vs Nick Tropeano |
External Links
Buster Olney with an interesting column about lefties and the strike zone (insider)
Scott Boras. I mean Matt Harvey, penned this piece for the players tribune after the recent hoopla surrounding his fake, non-existent, innings limit that could have cost him pitching in the playoffs (that never existed).
Kiley McDaniel on the likely scenarios for front office vacancies.
With football season upon us check out our sister site UKEndZone.
Internal Links
We’ve had graphical overhaul. Lets us know what you think!
Derek Helling analyzes the cost per win ratio for teams thus far.
Patrick and Casey discussed the Matt Harvey drama and much more on the latest edition of Bullpen Banter.
Finally, Casey’s weekly power rankings should give all fans some solace this week.
That’s all for today folks. Have a good labor day. Until next time.
Call to the Bullpen 