Baseball

The Minnesota Twins are crashing the wild-card party and have been one of the biggest surprises of the 2015 season. After finishing last year with the second-worst record in the American League, the Cinderella Twins are now very much in the postseason picture and are just one game back for the second AL wild-card spot following a dramatic win Thursday night.

For a terrifying moment Wednesday, the New York Mets fanbase held its collective breath. Yoenis Cespedes—the trade-deadline acquisition who jolted New York's moribund offense and propelled the Amazins to a division title—was doubled over in agony, clutching his left hand.

Alex Rodriguez said they were underdogs, and for once we didn't laugh at the thought.

The New York Yankees as underdogs?

The Texas Rangers were eight games back of the Houston Astros for the AL West lead on Aug. 1, but a late-season run of epic proportions vaulted them back into the pennant chase and the postseason party for the first time since 2012. 

On Thursday night, Chicago White Sox slugger Jose Abreu became the second player in Major League Baseball history to record 30 home runs and 100 RBI in the first two seasons of his career.

According to Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago, Abreu joins Albert Pujols, who performed the feat in 2001 and 2002.

The White Sox followed with a congratulatory message for Abreu:

Following a two-year postseason absence, the New York Yankees guaranteed they'll be playing playoff baseball in October again thanks to a 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday. The victory was also the 10,000th in franchise history.

At a cursory glance, the final Blue Crew and Bay Bombers showdown of the 2015 season seems somewhat uninspiring. The Los Angeles Dodgers, crowned NL West division champs on Tuesday, shut down their California rivals' flirtation with postseason possibilities in the process.

With one team celebrating and the other standing in the rain, there certainly couldn't be any reason to tune in—or could there be?

After spending nine years in the Atlanta Braves front office, John Coppolella has been named the team's general manager. 

The Braves announced the move on Thursday.

When Monday rolls around, 20 disappointed MLB teams will head home to watch their adversaries fight for a championship.  

While the National League contestants are all set, three American League spots remain up for grabs. The final weekend's drama will largely reside in the American League West, where a comfortable Houston Astros advantage has decayed into a three-team race.

Just four days remain in the 2015 MLB regular season, and there is still an awful lot to be sorted out between now and the start of the playoffs.

In the National League, all five playoff teams have been decided, but only the St. Louis Cardinals are locked in as the No. 1 overall seed.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets are still battling it out for home-field advantage in their division series matchup, while the Pittsburgh Pirates are trying to hold off the Chicago Cubs for the right to host the Wild Card Game.