Brandon Nimmo was placed on the injured list with a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder on Saturday, ending the season for the New York Mets' leadoff hitter and center fielder.
Nimmo was injured Thursday night, when he tried making a diving catch or Jorge Soler's sinking liner to center. An MRI Friday showed no structural damage and the AC joint should heal with a couple weeks of rest.
The San Diego Padres will spend the offseason wondering what went wrong.
The high-spending Padres were eliminated from postseason contention on Friday night despite a 3-2 win over the Chicago White Sox, a finality that prompted Manny Machado to give teammates a postgame pep talk.
"We did what we were supposed to do, but a little too late," Machado said. "We're going to grow from this. ... We're capable of playing better baseball than we did this year."
The Texas Rangers' potential playoff pitching staff took a hit Friday after right-hander Jon Gray was placed on the 15-day injured list with a forearm strain.
Charlie Blackmon and the Colorado Rockies agreed Friday to a $13 million, one-year contract for 2024 that prevents the outfielder from becoming a free agent.
The 37-year-old is in the final season of a six-year contract guaranteeing $108 million, a deal Blackmon agreed to after winning the NL batting title with a .331 average.
Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera already has another job lined up as his decorated playing career winds down.
The Tigers announced Friday that the 12-time All-Star will begin his new role with the team as a special assistant to the president of baseball operations. That job begins Sunday, following the conclusion of Detroit's season finale against the visiting Cleveland Guardians.
The San Francisco Giants fired manager Gabe Kapler on Friday, the first managerial change of 2023 with three days left in the season and the club eliminated from the playoffs.
San Francisco is 78-81 going into a season-ending series against the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The 48-year-old Kapler had a 295-248 record over four seasons guiding the Giants, but his only year with a winning record was 2021, when San Francisco won a franchise-record 107 games and the NL West title.
After another season marred by injury, Chris Sale finished his 2023 campaign with a trio of strong starts for the Boston Red Sox.
Over his final three starts, Sale posted a 1.13 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP to go with a .154 opponents batting average.
When the 2024 season starts six months to the day of Sale’s final outing of this season, Alex Cora expects the left-hander to be his Opening Day starter for the first time since 2019.
"That's the goal -- for Chris to have that start," Cora said. "I don't know what the future holds. We know where he's at contract-wise, but I think he is in the right frame of mind as far as the offseason, and what he wants to do."
Sale, 34, made 20 starts for Boston this season after taking the mound just 11 times between 2020-22.
"It means a lot," Sale said of Cora's confidence. "I appreciate that. It gives me something to look forward to other than just being healthy. Not only am I trying to be healthy, I'm trying to build on things. I'm not trying to get to zero by Spring Training.
"I'm trying to build something up. It definitely gives me something to chase this offseason, which is good."
The Atlanta Braves clinched home field advantage throughout the postseason with a 5-3 win over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night.
The Braves have 103 wins and own the tiebreaker over the Baltimore Orioles, the only other Major League club that can match them in victories.
"It's huge," Travis d'Arnaud said. "Our fanbase here is electric. It's a huge advantage for us. I've been on the other side where the fans get all over you. It makes for a tough night of sleep and an uncomfortable game."
Matt Olson hit his Major League-leading 54th home run and brought his season RBI total to 136, besting the franchise mark set by Eddie Mathews, who had 135 in 1953.
"I think it's cool," Olson said. "I think when you're in the middle of the season you don't think about it too much. Maybe in the offseason, I'll enjoy a beer over it."
Atlanta has 304 home runs this season entering Friday's action, three shy of the MLB record set by the Minnesota Twins in 2019.
The Baltimore Orioles clinched the American League East division title with a 2-0 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night.
The victory was Baltimore's 100th of the season.
"It was the AL Beast again this year, and we knew it," Austin Hays said. "We had to battle ... but here we are. We did it."
It's the first time since 1980 that the Orioles have reached 100 wins. Two years after losing 110 games, they will enter the postseason as the top seed in the American League.
"There were so many rough nights in '19 and '21," manager Brandon Hyde said. "There's a lot of guys that were in that clubhouse that are celebrating right now."
More than 70 million fans will attend Major League Baseball games for the first time in six years, a post-pandemic rebound for a sport that instituted its biggest on-field changes in decades.
A pitch clock to speed play -- game times are down 24 minutes to 2:40 for nine innings this season -- limits on defensive shifts to increase offense, new social spaces at ballparks and technology innovations to speed entry have factored into a 9.2% rise in average attendance to 29,176. Expanding the playoffs to 12 teams, which began last year, led to more than half the teams remaining in mathematical contention.
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