The first game of the Red Sox double header against the Baltimore Orioles yesterday was all about capping off personal achievements for players who, as a team, have made history by producing the most regular season wins in franchise history.
The 19-3 laugher was highlighted by Mookie Betts becoming just the second Red Sox player ever to hit at least 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season, the other being Jacoby Ellsbury in 2011.
Xander Bogaerts homered to give him 100 runs batted in on the season, a career high for him.
Rafael Devers went 4 for 5 at the plate with two home runs. J.D. Martinez hit a three run bomb, his 42nd of the season, while increasing his league leading RBI total to 127. David Price cruised to the win on the hill, and perhaps fittingly if sadly for the Orioles, the lopsided loss marked the most defeats in the team's history, number 112 in the bad column.
They did win the nightcap 10-3, though, a game that was about one thing only: A tune-up for ace Chris Sale, who went four and two thirds, the most he's thrown since coming off the DL with shoulder inflammation. He did give up three runs on four hits, but also struck out eight, and the most important thing will be how his shoulder feels leading up to his expected start when the Red Sox face either the A's or the Yankees in the best of five divisional series.
The A's are still hopeful to host the wild card game against the Yankees, and they did pull within a game and a half of that goal by defeating the Seattle Mariners last night while the Yankees lost 8-7 to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Masahiro Tanaka was not sharp for New York, giving up four runs on six hits. Tommy Pham hit a go-ahead homer for Tampa and the Rays took an 8-3 lead into the 9th before the Yankees almost mounted an epic comeback, scoring four times off Rays closer Sergio Romo before falling just short.
There's one more game in that series this afternoon with CC Sabathia getting the start for New York before the Yankees finish the regular season with three games at Fenway Park. Oakland will be rooting hard for Boston but those games mean nothing to the Red Sox and manager Alex Cora will likely rest a lot of his best players while the Yankees know the importance of home field and will be going all out to win.
The NY Mets shut out the Atlanta Braves 3-0 behind another brilliant outing from Jacob deGrom, who lowered his league-best ERA to 1.70 and probably salted away the Cy Young award.
Out west the Colorado Rockies have taken over first place in the N.L. west from the L.A. Dodgers, winning their seventh straight while the Dodgers lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who now lead the wild card instead of the division.
The Middlebury Panthers field hockey team is still undefeated on the season, a perfect 8-0 after a 5-1 win over Skidmore, who scored first before the Panthers answered with five un-answered goals by five different players, all in the second half.
In women's college soccer, the Norwich Cadets had St. Joseph's of Maine right where they wanted them, taking a 1-0 lead on a goal by Karyssa Lachance deep into the second half, but St. Joseph's stunned the Cadets by scoring two goals just 21 seconds apart with only seven minutes to go in a 2-1 win.
The Castleton Spartans got two goals from Makenzi Bellando, and keeper Loren Henderson made 12 saves to give Castelton a 4-2 win over Rhode Island College.
The St. Michael's Purple Knights fell to Assumption 2-0.
In men's college soccer, Castleton was blanked on the road 5-0 by UMass Boston.
