Hi Everyone —
Happy Sunday. We are getting the most wonderful scorecards from Brilliant Readers as part of our scorekeeping celebration — so many of them, we might need to keep this thing going throughout the playoffs.
Today’s scorecard is from Brilliant Reader Lou — it is a homemade scorecard from August 1, 1935, when Cleveland beat the White Sox 8-3.
OK, I have to tell you a bit about this game — I’m not even sure Lou knows this (I hope I can give him this gift in return for this great scorecard): The manager of the Cleveland Indians that day was none other than Walter Johnson, the Big Train himself. And this was the last big league victory of his life. He resigned under pressure three days later after Cleveland was swept in Detroit. He never managed in the big leagues again.
Cleveland’s owner Alva Bradley — the richest owner in all of baseball — had come into 1935 expecting a pennant. Instead, the team was mediocre and the players loathed Johnson (“Johnson Fails to Win Team’s Respect,” raged the Cleveland Plain Dealer.)
Bradley generally liked Johnson. But his baseball advisers and Cleveland fans decidedly did not. Tale as old as time. Legendary players rarely make it as managers.
And yet, when it was clear that Johnson was out, people screamed that his replacement should be … Babe Ruth! Rogers Hornsby! Ty Cobb, even!
Instead, they gave the job to the team’s beloved catcher Steve O’Neill, who was behind the plate when the Indians won the World Series in 1920. He lasted three years, and then the team gave the job to Ossie Vitt, who was so despised that his players literally had a mutiny — leading to the team being called the “Cleveland Crybabies” for a time.
The very next year, Walter Johnson was voted into the Hall of Fame in the first class.
Oh, every scorecard tells a story.
The Big Story: A Double Play for the Ages
The Mariners and Astros came into this series tied for the lead in the American League West. The Mariners took Game 1 in a relatively straightforward fashion, 4-0. Julio homered, Bryan Woo pitched well, that was that.
Game 2 was a lot wilder. The Mariners raced out to a 6-0 lead, thanks in part to Cal Raleigh’s 57th homer of the season. My gosh: Cal Raleigh has 57 home runs. It’s bonkers. I don’t think it’s right for me to talk about the American League MVP race since I have a vote, but Cal Raleigh has 57 home runs and Aaron Judge is hitting .329/.452/.677 even though teams won’t pitch to him. I see sleepless nights ahead.
Anyway, the Mariners seemed on their way to another professional victory … only then the Astros showed life, scored four in the seventh on Jeremy Peña’s grand slam, put runners on second and third in the eighth, and then had runners on first and second with one out in the ninth when Carlos Correa looped a line drive to right center that looked for all the world like a run-scoring single.
It certainly looked that way to Houston’s Jake Meyers, who was the guy on second base. He sprinted for home. You couldn’t really blame the guy — it was clear that Julio in center was not going to get there.
Unfortunately for Meyers and the Astros, right fielder Victor Robles did get there — he made a ridiculous, wonderful, hard-to-believe sliding catch that is now one of the spotlight moments of the 2025 season. The double play was easy after that. And the Mariners now have a two-game lead.
What a world! What a world!
“A Gut Punch to the Face”
When we started the DPR a short while ago, I mused that even though Cleveland was 6.5 games behind the Tigers, they still had a shot because they were hot and the Tigers were meandering and there were six head-to-head games left between them.
Did I really BELIEVE they had a shot? No, probably not. Baseball, as I’ve written many times, is a sport of anticlimax. Rallies usually fall short. Comebacks tend to fizzle out. That’s just the nature of the game.
But since I first wrote it, the Tigers have lost every game, Cleveland has won every game, and as you get going on this Sunday in August, the Guardians trail the Tigers by one game.
And while I wrote yesterday that they weren’t panicking in Detroit … well, they’re panicking now.
“Difficult to accept, difficult to explain,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said after the Tigers blew a ninth-inning lead and lost to Atlanta 6-5. “It’s hard trying to put into words what’s going on … Some big emotional swings, and an absolute gut punch right to the face.”
You know it’s hard to put into words when the typically cerebral Hinch starts talking about gut punches to the face. It’s like a kick in the teeth to the ear. Or knocking the wind out of someone’s jaw. But I‘m sure the Tigers are feeling all of that right now.
They still do have that one game lead — and are given an 84% chance of making the postseason — but now they’re simply going to have to outplay Boston, Cleveland and Houston in the final week to get one of the last two playoff spots. Their margin is gone.
Outplaying Cleveland might be particularly hard because the Guardians have won 10 in a row — allowing just 13 runs over those 10 games — and seem entirely convinced all of a sudden that they’re a really good baseball team. You never want to face a team with that kind of confidence.
Brilliant Reader Sal commented after the Dodgers clinched their 13th consecutive playoff appearance that it would be impossible for a small-market team to do that. He’s probably right at that extreme level.
But you know, the Guardians — the ultimate small-market team with the ultimate small-market mindset — have made the postseason seven times since 2013 and have put themselves in position to do it again this year. Every year, they are well managed, they have Jose Ramírez doing Jose Ramírez things, and they just find pitching.
They always find pitching. On Saturday, the Guardians swept the Twins without giving up a run. Yes, the Twins are in full “let’s get this season over with” mode, but still — Slate Cecconi, Logan Allen, Kolby Allard, and Zak Kent gave up a grand total of seven hits in 18 innings.
The Guardians and Tigers start their three-game series on Tuesday. This finish should be wild.
The Blue Jays are still not in the playoffs
Toronto was on the verge of clinching a playoff spot Friday night and then lost to Kansas City 20-1. OK. These things happen. There’s always tomorrow, right? Well, tomorrow was Saturday and the Blue Jays managed just four hits against four Royals pitchers and lost 2-1.
The Yankees, meanwhile, pounded the Orioles — Judge and Giancarlo Stanton both went deep — and now the Blue Jays’ lead in the division is down to two games.
The Blue Jays still have a virtually 100% chance of making the postseason. You can see it on their Baseball Reference Page —
Playoff Odds: >99.9% to make postseason
But, you know, let’s go ahead and put that one to bed, OK Blue Jays?
Reds pull to within one game of the Mets!
I always forget that Terry Francona manages the Reds. Like every time I see him in the Reds dugout, my brain goes: “Oh yeah! Terry Francona manages the Reds.” Then five minutes will go by, they will show him in the dugout again, and my brain goes, “Oh yeah! Terry Francona manages the Reds.”
Anyway, he managed the Reds to another victory over the Cubs — Hollywood rodeo star Spencer Steer hit his third home run in the series — and the Mets took an absolutely brutal 11-inning loss to the Nationals (who clinched a non-100-loss season!) and now only one game separates the two teams.
Arizona beat the Phillies, so they’re only two games behind the Mets.
