Good Morning! Here’s what happened in the world of sports on Tuesday, September 24.

MLB

I said yesterday that this was sort of a bonus week of playoff baseball. Well, the first day of Bonus Week did not disappoint:

• Michael Harris hit a home run and made a fantastic diving catch, as the Braves made up ground in the wild card race with a 5-1 win over the Mets. The NL wild card team that sits between Atlanta and New York is the Arizona Diamondbacks– Arizona got blown out by the Giants 11-0.

• Aaron Judge hit his 56th home run of the year but the Baltimore Orioles beat the Yankees 5-3 in New York. The O’s officially clinched a playoff spot, and stayed alive in the AL East division race. Also of note- Baltimore outfielder Anthony Santander hit his 44th home run of the season, the fourth-most all-time by a switch-hitter.

• Houston clinched the AL West title for the fourth straight season with a 4-3 win over Seattle. The Astros will be the lowest seeded division-winner in the AL, as the Cleveland Guardians beat the Reds 6-1 and secured a first round bye in the (overly complicated) playoffs.

• The White Sox won! Down 2-0 in the eighth inning, Chicago rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Angels. The victory staved off infamy for at least more day– we’ll see if they can start a rare win streak.

• If you didn’t stay up for the Dodgers-Padres game, you missed a good one. With great defense and timely hitting, San Diego grew a 4-1 lead, but the Dodgers rallied. The first three batters singled to lead of the ninth inning– although San Diego still led 4-2, LA had runners on first and second with no one out. Shohei Ohtani was on deck. And then… well this is simply one of the coolest things you’ll ever see on a baseball field:

DETROIT TIGERS

This team deserves their own section, because you need to know about the 2024 Detroit Tigers. Wrap your head around these stats:

• Detroit is attempting to become just the fifth team in MLB history to make the playoffs after being 10 games back through 115 or more games. The others were the 1930 St. Louis Cardinals, 1951 New York Giants, 1964 Cardinals, and 2011 Cardinals. The most recent two each won the World Series.

• And yesterday, Detroit’s insane run continued. Tarik Skubal threw another gem and the Tigers beat the Rays 2-1. Skubal is undefeated in his last nine games and the Tigers have won 12 of their last 15. How’s that for dominant?

• Guess who the Tigers play in the final three games of the regular season? That’s right, it’s the record-setting Chicago White Sox. For the first time all season, the odds are in Detroit’s favor.

WNBA

The number one seed New York Liberty cruised to a 91-82 victory over the Atlanta Dream last night and advanced to the WNBA semifinals. Sabrina Ionescu led the way for New York with 36 points. Next up for the Liberty? A rematch of last year’s finals against the Las Vegas Aces. Vegas was dominant over the Storm in their first round series, and are building positive momentum at just the right time in the season. The winner of this one will be the heavy favorite to win the championship.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Marin Cilic made men’s tennis history yesterday as the lowest-ranked champion of an ATP tour event. The 2014 US Open champ has dealt with injuries and barely played the lat few years. Winning a tour-level event as the 777th ranked player in the world is super impressive.

Look away, Pirates fans… Pittsburgh released DH/bench bat Rowdy Tellez yesterday. It’s a move that wouldn’t be notable, except Tellez is just four plate appearances away from a huge bonus. Not going to be a very popular decision among the players.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

WNBA: Two more game twos tonight, including the potential last game in the illustrious career of Diana Taurasi:

• Indiana Fever @ Connecticut Sun, 7:30 PM on ESPN (CON leads 1-0)

• Phoenix Mercury @ Minnesota Lynx, 9:30 PM on ESPN (MIN leads 1-0)

MLB: All the playoff races got a little bit closer yesterday… teams that have clinched a playoff spot are in italics:

WHITE SOX: vs LA Angels, 7:40 PM

• Can they win two games in a row? Or is today the day to make history?

“It’s the most dramatic season yet!”-every season of The Bachelor… but also this rare baseball season where no team will win 100 games-enjoy every moment!