big leagues

Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees ensured this Saturday that they were the first seeds in the Major League Baseball playoffs, while the Dominican José Ramírez, of the Cleveland Guardians, was one home run away from entering the select 40-40 club.

The Dodgers secured the National League crown thanks to their resounding 13-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies and the defeat of the Philadelphia Phillies, second in the conference, against the Washington Nationals by 6-3.

The popular Los Angeles franchise, led by Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, has a 97-64 record that allows it to be home in all playoff rounds including the World Series.

For their part, the Yankees, despite losing 9-4 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, took advantage of other results to certify their victory in the American League. They have a balance of 93 wins and 68 losses that is now unattainable for their main pursuer, Cleveland, who fell behind definitively with a 4-3 defeat against the Houston Astros.

The Yankees will thus have the advantage of bye in the first round of the playoffs and will enjoy home field advantage in the rest of the playoffs on the way to the World Series.

Despite this achievement, the day was not completely happy at the Yankees stadium due to the injury of one of the team’s leaders, Anthony Rizzo.

The veteran first baseman broke two fingers on his right hand when he was hit by pitcher Ryan Borucki in the seventh inning and his return during the postseason is in doubt.

Rizzo, 35, has been hit by pitches 222 times in his career, the eighth most in major league history.

Saturday’s hero for the Pirates was rookie pitcher Paul Skenes, who in just two innings on the mound struck out three opponents, including New York stars Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.

Another of the most exciting definitions of this last week of the regular phase is José Ramírez’s race to become the seventh player to accumulate at least 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same year.

The Dominican reached 39 home runs this Saturday during his Guardians’ loss to the Astros with a two-run hit in the first inning.

Ramírez also has 41 stolen bases on his account, so this Sunday he needs to hit at least one home run in the last game of the regular season against the Astros to join the 40-40 club.

Only six players in history have achieved that mark in a season: the Cuban José Canseco (1988), the Americans Barry Bonds (1996) and Alex Rodríguez (1998), the Dominican Alfonso Soriano (2006), the Venezuelan Ronald Acuña Jr. (2023) and the Japanese Shohei Ohtani (2024).

If this Sunday he hit the home run and also a double, Ramírez would be the second baseball player to reach the 40-40-40 mark, after his compatriot Alfonso Soriano in 2006.

The Dominican, six-time All-Star, rounded up his hit record this Saturday to 1,500 in his 12-year career in ‘Las Mayores’, all of them in the Guardians.

More results in MLB: Baltimore 9-2 Minnesota, Milwaukee 6-0 New York Mets, Atlanta 2-1 Kansas City, San Diego 5-0 Arizona, Seattle 7-6 Oakland, among others.