LEADING OFF: Marlins, Pads advance, all Division Series set
The Miami Marlins’ two-game sweep at Wrigley Field means no playoff games this weekend
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Your support makes all the difference.A look at what’s happening around the majors on Saturday:
DAY BREAK
The Miami Marlins’ two-game sweep at Wrigley Field means no playoff games this weekend.
The Padres finished off the first round Friday night with a 4-0 win over St. Louis in the deciding Game 3 of their NL wild-card series. First-year San Diego manager Jayce Tingler used nine pitchers, the most employed in a nine-inning shutout in any big league game since 1901.
Next up is the Division Series, and all four matchups are intradivision -- AL West vs. NL West and AL East vs. NL East. Seven teams from the Central divisions made the expanded playoffs this year, and each was eliminated in the first round.
The upcoming lineup in the next round of best-of-five series: Yankees-Rays at San Diego and Astros-Athletics at Dodger Stadium on Monday, then Marlins-Braves at Houston and Padres-Dodgers at Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday.
TAKE A LOOK
Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres are among the Yankees who have never played a game at Petco Park heading into the AL Division Series against Tampa Bay. New York hasn’t visited the San Diego ballpark since 2016.
But Yankees teammates Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu are plenty familiar with Petco from their days in the National League. Stanton has hit .323 with eight home runs in 19 games at the park and LeMahieu has batted .286 in 57 games.
DETROIT’S DUGOUT
After losing their jobs as big league managers in the wake of the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, AJ Hinch or Alex Cora might get their next chance with the Tigers.
Detroit general manager Al Avila says the team isn’t ruling out the possibility of hiring Hinch or Cora for its managerial vacancy. Ron Gardenhire retired on Sept. 19 and bench coach Lloyd McClendon finished out the season.
Hinch and Cora were suspended through the 2020 postseason for their roles in the Houston scam. The Astros fired Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow on Jan. 13 and Cora lost his job managing the Boston Red Sox the following day. Cora spent the 2017 season as bench coach on Hinch’s staff with Houston.
“The cheating scandal is not a good thing, obviously,” Avila said. “They’re serving their suspensions, and once their suspensions are over, then they’ll be free to pursue their careers. So we have not eliminated anybody from our list at this point.”
“We could finish this sometime in October. It might go into November,” he said.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports