The Philadelphia Phillies have qualified for Major League Baseball playoffs for the first time since 1993, winning their final game of the regular season over the visiting Washington Nationals, 6-1.
The New York Mets could have tied Philadelphia for the National League East Division and forced a one-game playoff, but they lost at home to the Florida Marlins, 8-1. The Mets had a seven-game lead in the division as recently as September 12. They finished with seven games at home and won only one of them.
The wild-card playoff berth that goes to the best second-place team in the National League is yet to be determined. That is because the San Diego Padres were beaten by the host Milwaukee Brewers, 11-6, while Colorado edged Arizona, 4-3. So Colorado will host San Diego in a one-game playoff Monday to decide which goes to the post-season.
Arizona had already clinched first place in the West Division, and the Chicago Cubs placed first in the Central Division.
In the American League, the Boston Red Sox earned home field advantage throughout the playoffs with a 6-4 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins. The Cleveland Indians also finished with 96 wins and 66 losses after 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals, but the Red Sox beat Cleveland in five of seven head-to-head games to win the tiebreaker.
Boston, the East Division champion, takes on the West Division champion Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. Central Division winners Cleveland will host the wild-card New York Yankees on Thursday.
Some information for this report provided by AP.
