Zack Wheeler struck out the first seven Brewers he faced, finished with 11, and Philadelphia walked off with a 6-4 win that puts them one step from clinching. That is the headline in MLB betting news today, and it matters more for what it says about Milwaukee than what it says about Wheeler. These two go again in Philadelphia at 6:41 ET.
Seven in a row to open a ballgame is a strange, ruthless thing to watch. Checked the almanac: that run sits one short of the big-league record for consecutive strikeouts to start a game, which tells you how rarely a lineup gets erased that cleanly in the first three innings. The Brewers did claw back to four runs, so the bats were not dead. The game turned on a two-out single from Bryson Stott in the eighth, which is less a talent verdict than a sequencing one. Right side, wrong night for anyone who liked Milwaukee.
Did the Rays clinch the AL East?
They did. Drew Rasmussen carried a no-hit bid into the seventh and Tampa Bay beat the Yankees 6-1 to lock up the fifth AL East title in franchise history. From here the Rays get to make the fun choices: who rests, who gets a tune-up, who throws two innings instead of six. That is the tell to watch in the rematch at 7:06 ET, because a clinched club's lineup card in late September is a different animal than the one that got them there.
The rest of the American League is nowhere near that comfortable. Two divisions are still up for grabs with a handful of games left, and the schedule stacked the relevant ones: Cleveland at Boston at 7:11 ET after the Guardians took a 3-2 grinder on Tuesday, and Houston at Seattle at 10:11 ET.
MLB scores last night
| Matchup | Final |
|---|---|
| Phillies at Brewers | 6-4 PHI |
| Rays at Yankees | 6-1 TB |
| Guardians at Red Sox | 3-2 CLE |
| Reds at Braves | 4-0 CIN |
| Diamondbacks at Rockies | 7-2 ARI |
| Nationals at Tigers | 3-1 WSH |
| Pirates at Cardinals | 2-0 PIT |
That Colorado line carries weight beyond one night. The Rockies became just the fifth club in MLB history to lose 100 games in four straight seasons, and the first since the Mets did it from 1962 through 1965. Sixty-one years between entries on that list. One beat of wonder, then back to work: Arizona is back in Denver at 8:41 ET.
MLB injury news today
Ronald Acuna Jr. left Atlanta's 4-0 loss to Cincinnati in the third after fouling a ball off his left leg. X-rays came back negative and he is day-to-day with a contusion. The Braves and Reds run it back at 7:16 ET, and whether his name is on the card is the first thing I check when lineups post.
Texas took two hits at once. Joc Pederson went on the 10-day IL with a wrist fracture, and Cal Quantrill was transferred to the 60-day, which ends his season and rules him out for the playoffs. The Mets are in Arlington at 8:06 ET.
In Chicago, the Cubs sound confident Alex Bregman will be ready for the postseason after taking a foul ball to the face Sunday, and they are not ruling him out for this weekend's series in Boston. Good news delivered plainly, which is how I prefer it.
Is Shohei Ohtani playing today?
Yes. Dave Roberts put him at "probably an eight or a nine" on a 1-to-10 scale and said he is back in the lineup Wednesday against San Diego, 10:11 ET in Los Angeles. A healthy Ohtani in the last week of September is the kind of input that quietly re-rates a whole lineup.
What I'm watching
Three things. Whether Tampa Bay empties the bench now that the East is theirs. Whether Acuna's name shows up in Atlanta's lineup. And the two AL division races, which get their real test in Boston and Seattle tonight.
Nothing on my sheet cleared this morning, so I am not manufacturing one. That happens in late September when everyone is priced sharp and rosters are in flux. Small edges over and over, no heroics, and no edge means no play. Keep it fun, keep it 21+ where legal, and treat the variance like the cost of admission it is.
