The MLB Regular-Season Will Come To A Close This Week, But Not Without Excitement

There’s one week left in the season and still playoff spots are up for grabs.

What we do know is that the AL playoff field is mostly set as the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros and New York Yankees have all clinched playoff births. The Oakland Athletics are a win away from securing a playoff birth.

On the NL side, much is unclear.

While the Atlanta Braves have clinched the NL East, the NL West and NL Central have yet to be clinched and the two NL Wildcard spots are still up for grabs.

We may be in store for one wild finish in the MLB with the final week of the 162-game marathon coming to a close as October baseball is around the corner.

With that said, here’s the final recap of the 2018 MLB season.

Dodgers Take Over First Place With Sweep Of Rockies

Photo by Associated Press

Coming off one of the best regular-seasons in franchise history a season ago that culminated in their first World Series birth since 1988, Dave Roberts’ Los Angeles Dodgers had reason to be optimistic about their chances coming into 2018.

Few could’ve imagined their season could be such a roller coaster as has been the case, but now they’ve put themselves in position with one week left to accomplish one of the goals they accomplished fairly easily in 2017.

Back only by a half game in the NL West to begin the series, the Los Angeles Dodgers would go on to sweep the Colorado Rockies out of Dodger Stadium and took a 2.5 game lead into their next series.

The Dodgers began the series by thrashing the Colorado Rockies 8-2. Left fielder Joc Pederson led the way for the Dodgers with two home runs on the night as Los Angeles got a strong performance from right-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu (7 IP, 0 ER, 5 Ks, 0 BB).

The next night they would win on a walk-off home run by shortstop Chris Taylor, who ended the game in the 10th inning off of reliever Adam Ottavino with a shot to left field to give the Dodgers a 3-2 win.

The Dodgers would finish off the sweep by stunning Bud Black’s Rockies late again, this time on a pinch-hit home run by right fielder Yasiel Puig in the seventh inning in a tied game as they went on to win 5-2.

Los Angeles, although taking a 2.5 game lead in the NL West with them into a series with the last place Padres, would be unable to fully capitalize as they dropped the first game in the weekend series.

Colorado would go on to sweep the fading Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field to bring them within 1.5 games of Los Angeles.

The Dodgers (87-79) still have plenty of work to do in this final week as they’ll finish their final six games on the road.

Los Angeles will begin a three-game set vs the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night before ending the season with three games in San Francisco.

Blake Snell Wins 20th Game Of The Season

Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images

He’s floated under the radar for most of the season, but no longer can he be ignored.

It’s been an amazing year for Blake Snell, who put an exclamation point on his season last Tuesday in Arlington.

Blake Snell won his 20th game of the season vs the Texas Rangers last Tuesday, becoming the first pitcher to get to 20 wins this season.

Snell pitched five shutout innings for the Tampa Bay Rays vs the Texas Rangers, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out five in the Rays 4-0 victory.

The Tampa Bay Rays ace has been a model of consistent for Kevin Cash and the Rays this season as he’s had 19 quality starts while going at least 5 innings with 2 ER or fewer 25 times this season.

Snell — who wasn’t voted in as a starter for this season’s All-Star Game — leads AL starting pitchers in ERA (1.90), BA against (.179) and WAR (7.0). He is also second in WHIP (0.96) and tied for fourth in K/9 (10.81).

Snell has heavy competition in Houston Astros’ ace Justin Verlander for the AL Cy Young award, with both benefiting from Boston Red Sox’ left-hander Chris Sale missing a majority of the second half with left shoulder inflammation.

If it’s a pick for me to make, I have to go with Blake Snell given that he’s been dominant all season long with lesser hiccups as evidenced by his ERA and BA against.

Snell will make one more final start on Saturday vs the Toronto Blue Jays at Tropicana Field.

Red Sox Celebrate AL East Crown On Yankees Home-Field

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The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees came into 2018 making it a goal to win the AL East as a statement being made to the other.

Only one team can accomplish that goal and that team this season is the Boston Red Sox, who celebrated a AL East division title on the Yankees home-field at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx last Thursday.

After dropping the first two games of a three-game set in New York, the Red Sox made sure to leave a series they lost with a joyful feeling. Left-hander Edwin Rodriguez got the start for the Sox and struggled (3.2 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 7 BBs, 4 Ks).

That wouldn’t matter, however, as the Red Sox pounded out runs vs Masahiro Tanaka and the Yankees pitching staff. AL MVP candidate Mookie Betts led the way for Boston with a big game as he went 4-for-5 with a HR and 5 RBIs in the Red Sox’ 11-6 victory.

Steven Wright (3-0) recorded the win for the Red Sox and Craig Kimbrel came into the ninth inning struck out two to end the game as Red Sox Cleared the dugout to celebrate in a noiseless Yankee Stadium.

The Boston Red Sox (105-51) all but has home-Field advantage throughout the playoffs locked up with one week left in the season.

The New York Yankees (95-60), meanwhile, have clinched an AL Wildcard playoff spot, but have work to do in the final week with the Oakland Athletics (1.5 GB) closing the gap on them for the first AL Wildcard spot.

Christian Yelich Makes History With Second Cycle

Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Garnering a strong crowd for the NL MVP award that includes Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, left fielder Christian Yelich increased his chances of winning the award with another big game vs a division rival.

Last Monday Christian Yelich hit for his second cycle of the season, again vs the Cincinnati Reds, as the Brewers continued their path to a playoff spot with a 8-0 victory at Miller Park.

Yelich — who went 4-for-4 with 4 RBIs — became the first player in MLB history to hit for the cycle twice in the same season vs one team.

The star outfielder would single in the first inning off starter Anthony DeSclafani before doubling off him in the third inning. With a man on with no outs, Yelich would hit the second Brewers home run of the inning as he took DeScalfani deep to right field for a two-run homer to make it a 4-0 Brewers lead.

In the next inning Yelich would triple off of reliever Jesus Reyes to complete the cycle as fans in attendance gave Yelich a loud applause while raining down ‘MVP’ chants for the first-year Milwaukee Brewer.

Christian Yelich is powering the Brewers in the second half, leading most categories like BA, OBP and SLG.

On the season he’s batting .322 with 32 HRs, 96 RBIs and 21 SBs.

The Milwaukee Brewers look to inch closer to a playoff spot as they visit the St. Louis Cardinals for three games at Busch Stadium beginning on Monday night.

What are your thoughts on the final week of the MLB season? Leave your comments below!