Final Evening in Baseball: Ohio is Coming For New York’s Wild Playing cards

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:

Mets blow it again

The Reds didn’t play on Thursday, but they didn’t have to in order to make progress in their quest for a wild card spot. That’s because the Mets played, and far more often than not of late, “the Mets played” is another way of saying “the Mets lost”. They were up on the Braves 3-2 heading into the eighth inning, on the verge of winning the series and their third game of August, but then Ozzie Albies happened.

Well, more accurately, Ozzie Albies happened again. In the fourth inning, Albies hit a homer — his 10th of the year — off Mets’ starter Kodai Senga, and then drove in another run on a single in the sixth, with the run credited to Senga but the hit off Tyler Rogers. 

Senga actually managed to hold Atlanta’s lineup in check for most of the game, as he tossed 5.2 innings of 2-run ball while striking out 7 batters against a single walk. The Mets’ bullpen faltered, though: Ryan Helsley, acquired from the Cardinals at the trade deadline, allowed a pair of runs in the eighth inning, the first on a Michael Harris II double, and the second to Albies.

That proved to be the game-winner, as Atlanta’s bullpen entered for the final two frames and held the Mets scoreless. Despite the Braves sitting 16 games back in the NL East with a 53-68 record, they are now 7-3 against the Mets in 2025. If New York had won even three more of these games against Atlanta to this point, they’d be more like two games back of the NL East-leading Phillies, and have much more wild card cushion, too. Instead, they’re five back of Philly and half-a-game up on the Reds, about to begin a weekend series against a Mariners team whose August is basically the opposite of their own.

The Reds don’t have it easy, either, since they have to take on the Brewers — in the midst of a 12-game winning streak, which, if extended to 13, will be tied for the longest in MLB this season as well as the longest in franchise history — but the fact that Cincinnati is all of half-a-game back during a weekend in which they and the Mets are both facing tough opponents is a potential disaster entirely of New York’s making. The Reds are good, yes, but the Mets are making this a lot closer than it should have been. And in the end, that might be enough for it to be Cincinnati playing in October instead.

Guardians now half-a-game back

The Guardians had the opposite occur on Thursday, as they were the ones playing while the Yankees had the night off, but the result was the same: Ohio’s American League representative gained half-a-game in the standings on the New York team they are chasing for a wild card, and now sits just half-a-game behind. 

Coincidentally, the Guardians get to face the Braves over the weekend, but before that kicks off they wrapped up their business against the Marlins. And José Ramírez was apparently determined that Cleveland would win the series finale and series. In a game the Guardians would win 9-3, Ramírez went 3-for-4 with 3 singles, 2 stolen bases, 3 runs and an RBI. 

He put Cleveland on the board first with a single in the bottom of the first to cut the lead to 3-1, then stole second before also taking third on a wild pitch. He’d end up scoring on a ground out thanks to all of that baserunning, tying the game, 3-3. In the fifth, Ramírez would repeat the trick: a single, a stolen base and then scoring on a sac fly. Then in the seventh, Ramírez singled before advancing to second on a throwing error by right fielder Heriberto Hernandez, moved to third on a ground out by Kyle Manzardo and scored on his third run of the day on a fielder’s choice later in the inning. 

Ramírez is now leading the majors in steals with 35, and oh yeah, he has 25 homers, too. He’s hitting .298/.371/.528 for the season with 50 extra-base hits, and is once again providing value defensively at third, to boot. If Cleveland does make the postseason, the Yankees spending most of their summer flailing will be a huge reason why. The other reason, though, will be José Ramírez. 

Guerrero, Scherzer topple Cubs

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had 12 homers prior to the All-Star break, but since play resumed he’s been showing off his power. He provided all the offense that the Blue Jays would need on Thursday against the Cubs with a 2-run home run in the seventh inning off of starter Matthew Boyd. The lefty had been completely cruising, too, as the dinger came on just his 65th pitch of the outing.

Boyd and the bullpen would shut the Jays down the rest of the way, allowing just three hits, one walk and that pair of runs in total, but that was too much with the way Max Scherzer was pitching. The 41-year-old right-hander has been channeling the old days of late: over his last four starts, he’s thrown 26 innings with 24 strikeouts against 4 walks while posting a 2.42 ERA. His ERA for the season is now down to 3.83 after holding the Cubs to a single run over seven innings, and he probably could have kept going, too, as he was just at 78 pitches. 

Toronto threw multiple relievers at the last two innings of the game instead, and the Jays would win, 2-1. Toronto is now five games up in the AL East over the second-place Red Sox, while the Cubs slipped half-a-game further back of the Brewers in the NL Central to eight games behind. They’re still five whole games up on the Reds in the wild card standings, so it’s not panic time in Chicago by any means.

The Tigers’ defense, phew

The Twins scored three runs in the third inning against the Tigers, and then that was that. The reason? Detroit’s defense. The Tigers clawed back with a couple of runs of their own in the fourth, then another in the sixth, and from that point forward things stayed scoreless, pushing the proceedings into extra innings.

Javier Báez crashed into the wall making this catch in the bottom of the sixth, ending the start of a potential threat.

In the bottom of the eighth, Byron Buxton tried to give the Twins back the lead with one swing, and he very nearly did. Riley Greene did not allow that to happen.

Then, in the bottom of the 10th, a grounder was hit to first baseman Spencer Torkelson with a runner going on contact at third, but he and Tigers’ catcher Dillon Dingler had that thing handled.

Between Báez’s catch in center and the 10th, he’d moved to shortstop. And good thing, too, because he was able to make a combination look what I found/diving grab to end the 10th and the Twins’ threat.

The very next inning, Gleyber Torres hit a sac fly to drive in Colt Keith, and the Tigers would win, 4-3 after innings and innings of scoreless tension.

Slip ‘n Slide

Rainstorms battered the east coast on Thursday, including in Baltimore, where the Orioles hosted the Mariners. Grounds crew members are true professionals, so whenever they start slipping and sliding around as the rain is coming down, you know things are treacherous. 

You’re laughing! A bunch of people are desperately trying to stay on their feet in a rainstorm and keep unintentionally falling down for your amusement, and you’re laughing!

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