AL and NL Playoff Races, Royals Sold, Verlander No-No, Skaggs Autopsy

American League Playoff Race…

With just four weeks left in the season, the division races seem like they are pretty much decided, but the Wild Card teams are still up in the air. Oakland, Tampa Bay and Cleveland are fighting for the two spots while Boston can only watch and hope two of the teams finish the season as poorly as the Red Sox started the season.

National League Playoff Race…

In the last week the playoff contenders have all come into focus. Los Angeles and Atlanta look like obvious division winners and St. Louis has a small lead over Chicago for the Central. Washington is entrenched in one of the wild card slots with the Cubs currently holding the other. Maybe Philadelphia or Milwaukee can make a run, but it might be time to start regretting decisions.

A King’s Ransom…

David Glass and his family announced the sale of the Kansas City Royals to an ownership group headed by local businessman John Sherman in a deal expected to be about $1 billion. That’s a lot of money, of course, but the Marlins were worth $1.2 billion. Maybe the it was one of those Labor Day Sales and they got paid in mattresses.

Just Say No-No…

Justin Verlander pitched his third career no-hitter by striking out 14 to help the Houston Astros beat the Toronto Blue Jays. He is the sixth pitcher to throw at least three no-hitters in the majors—along with Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax and Cy Young. At this point, he’s kind of just showing off.

A Sad Story Gets Sadder…

A toxicology report determined that former Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs had a mixture of opioids and alcohol in his system—leading to his death in a Texas hotel room two months ago. These test results serve as a grim reminder of the country’s out-of-control opioid epidemic.

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