We didn't have a full slate of games on Monday, but that doesn't mean there weren't playoff implications hanging in the balance. In fact, one team may well have played their way right out of the MLB Postseason.
It was full steam ahead for the Texas Rangers, as Bruce Bochy's ball club took down the Ohtani-less and Trout-less Los Angeles Angels on Monday night. Texas holds a 2.5 game edge over the Houston Astros in the AL West.
Speaking of the Astros, Dusty Baker's squad was able to avoid disaster on Monday night with a 5-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners. Houston has opened up a 1.5 game lead over the M's with two games left in their seasons series.
MLB Postseason news: Justin Verlander turns back time
What more can you say about Justin Verlander? The Houston Astros needed a vintage performance from their ace on Monday in Seattle and they got it. JV tossed eight innings, struck out eight batters, walked just one, and only allowed one run to cross the dish in the Astros 5-1 win over the Seattle Mariners.
These two ball clubs are neck-and-neck, and judging by the six-game winning streak the Texas Rangers are now riding, the Astros and Mariners are battling for second place in the American League West with a trip to the MLB Postseason on the line.
Both the Astros and Mariners and 3-7 in their last 10 contests, but Monday's loss by Seattle is their fourth in a row. Not only did Verlander handle his business on the road in Seattle, the former Cy Young Award-winner was going head-to-head with Luis Castillo.
The Mariners ace couldn't hold serve as Castillo allowed five run on eight hits over six innings in the loss. The right-hander punched out eight Astros batters, but Castillo allowed two balls to leave the yard, and the Mariners' bats were now match for Justin Verlander.
MLB Postseason news: D'Backs missed chance with 8th innning collapse
Torey Lovullo is going to look back at Monday's loss to the New York Yankees and wonder might have been. The Arizona Diamondbacks skipper left reliever Kevin Ginkel in the game for too long, and it cost him big time.
The D'Backs were nursing a one-run lead heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, and Lovullo turned to the right-hander Ginkel. The reliever had absolutely no command of the strike zone and was wildly erratic and visibly frustrated on the mound.
After Arizona retook the lead in the top of inning on an RBI-single courtesy of Corbin Carroll, Ginkel proceeded to allow back-to-back singles and then a walk to load the bases. A strikeout helped, but Ginkel the walked the fifth batter he faced to tie the game.
Lovullo foolishly left the reliever in to face the next batter, who promptly hit a sacrifice fly giving the Yankees a 5-4 advantage. New York tacked on another run after Ginkel was lifted and the Yankees defeated the D'Backs by a score of 6-4.
This was a game that Arizona really needed to win. The Diamondbacks are now tied with the Chicago Cubs in the NL Wild Card chase and have the Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds on their tails. This was a winnable game, and instead, it goes in the loss column.
MLB Postseason news: Josh Hader dooms Padres
After going 8-2 in their last 10 games, the San Diego Padres are one game away from being eliminated from the MLB Postseason. There are many failures this season when you look at the teams who won't make the playoffs, but the Friars might be the biggest one of the bunch.
The Padres happen to have one of, if not the best reliever in the baseball residing in their dugout. Josh Hader, who's slated to become a free agent during the offseason, apparently wasn't available on Monday night for Padres' manager Bob Melvin.
The Padres held a 1-0 advantage with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning. And yet, Hader never made an appearance. It gets better, the batter was Michael Conforto - a left-handed hitter. If this wasn't the moment tailor-made for Hader, I don't know what is.
But, the Padres relied instead on Ranger Suarez, who promptly gave up a two-run single to Conforto. The Giants went up 2-1, closed things out in the ninth inning, and all but sealed the Padres' fate.
When asked after the game by AJ Cassavell of MLB.com why he wasn't available for a four-out save, Hader said, "Are we in the playoff race?" Hader later said, "You guys want me to do everything." This should serve as a memo to anyone interested in signing Josh Hader during the offseason - don't.
