The last time the Boston Red Sox won 100 games in a season was 1946, the year Ted Williams played in his only World Series. And since Major League Baseball expanded to playing a 162-game schedule in 1961, no Red Sox team had ever reached that plateau. Until now.
Riding another exceptional performance by the rejuvenated David Price, the Red Sox got win number 100 in 1-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park last night.
Price pitched seven brilliant innings, striking out seven, and since the all-star break he's 5-0 with a barely visible 1.56 ERA.
The only run he needed last night came when Aaron Sanchez uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Rafael Devers to score from third, and the Red Sox magic number for clinching the A.L. east for the third year in a row is down to seven. Any combination of Red Sox wins and NY Yankee losses equaling seven will let the Red Sox sit back and watch from afar as the Yankees play a one game winner take all wild card game, most likely against the Oakland A's, who own the second wild card berth, but are very close to passing the Yankees for the first.
The A's clobbered the Baltimore Orioles 10-0 last night while the Yankees came very close to getting no-hit by Jake Odorizzi of the Minnesota Twins in an eventual 3-1 loss.
Odorizzi took his no-hit bid into the eighth inning at Target Field before Greg Bird broke it up with a run-scoring double, but that was the only run the Yankees would get and suddenly they have a razor thin one game lead over Oakland for the first wild card spot. That matters because if the A's finish ahead of New York in the one-two wild card standings, that one-game playoff will take place in Oakland instead of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
Yankee ace Luis Severino took the loss, allowing just one run on four hits, but he's only 3-6 in his last 11 starts, and if that record doesn't improve down the stretch, manager Aaron Boone may have to make a tough decision about who to start in that one game playoff, assuming the Red Sox finish atop the division, which I'm compelled to say isn't a done deal yet.
The NY Mets got in one game of a double header against the Miami Marlins before game two was rained out in Queens, and they're glad they played that first one as the Mets pounded the Marlins 13-0, putting the game away with a 7-run sixth. Zach Wheeler cruised to the win, pitching eight shut out innings with seven strike outs.
The Seattle Storm are champions of the WNBA, finishing off a 3-game sweep of the Washington Mystics 98-82 last night. Breanna Stewart was named the series MVP after pouring in 30 points, and Natasha Howard added a career-high 29 points and 14 rebounds for the Storm, who took their third title in franchise history.
In men's college soccer Burlington's Bienfait Badibanga scored two goals and assisted on another and the Norwich Cadets remain unbeaten on the season after topping Albert Magnus 3-1.
The Castleton Spartans beat Southern Vermont 5-1, led by two goals from their star forward Seraphin Iradukunda.
Dean College beat Lyndon 3-1, and in women's college soccer the Middlebury Panthers remain unbeaten on the season while handing Plattsburgh their first loss of the year in a 3-0 shut out win. Eliza Van Voorhis, Leah Salzman, and Cate Shellenback tallied for the Panthers, and the Castleton Spartans shut out MCLA 5-0 behind two goals by Rylee Nichols.
