the mad sports man

at one point, the royals were trailing 7-3 in the 7th. they came back to tie it and force extras. it took to the 12th inning, and the royals came back from 8-7 to win 9-8 over the oakland a's. they will now go to los angeles to face the angels. that series starts on thursday, as does detroit vs baltimore.

with a 4-0 win over texas, the oakland a's have wrapped up the last wild card spot, now making the seattle game against the angels meaningless. the playoff matchups have: in the american league, the kansas city royals host the oakland a's in the one game playoff and the winner faces the los angeles angels in the a.l.d.s. the other a.l.d.s has the baltimore orioles facing the detroit tigers. in the national league the pittsburgh pirates faces the san francisco giants in the one game wild card playoff. the winner goes and faces the washington nationals in the n.l.d.s., while the los angeles dodgers faces the st.louis cardinals in the other n.l.d.s. matchup. dates to be determined later today.

first in the a.l., the detroit tigers won the central with a 3-1 win over the minnesota twins. that gives the kansas city royals the wild card. the royals are trailing the white sox 4-2 in the 5th. for the other wild card oakland leads texas early. meanwhile in the n.l., the st. louis cardinals won the central after the pittaburgh pirates lost to cincinnati 4-1. that now has decided everything in the national league. it is now a matter of who plays who. it will be pittsburgh vs san francisco in the wild card game. stay tuned for more

jordan zimmerman threw the washington national's first no hitter as the nationals beat the miami marlins 1-0 to close out the regualr season. he walked one and struck out 10 in the win. congrats.

by beating the chicago white sox, the kansas city royals are making their first post season appearance since their 1985 world series win. and they are one game behind the detroit tigers for the central division. one more playoff spot left in the american league. two days to decide the a.l. and n.l central and one wild card. getting fun now.

last night the l.a. dodgers capured the national league west with a convincing 9-1 win over the san francisco giants. the giants still got in after the brewers lost to the reds 5-3 this afternoon. all playoff spots in the national league are tied up. only the central is to be decided between st. louis and pittsburgh.

the detroit tigers are in the playoffs with a 6-1 win over the white sox and have a two game lead over kansas city for the central. the royals, i think, are not that far behind for a playoff spot. the royals and oakland a's are tied for the wild card spots. so this will be fun.

by beating atlanta, the pittsburgh pirates are in the playoffs for the second year in a row. it will be either a wild card or the n.l. central. st.louis has a game and a half lead. with 5 days to go in the season. that is four of the five spots in the national league. meanwhile still three left in the american league. the central division is close as detroit is up one game on kansas city. gonna get tense quick. stay tuned.

at 8:29 pm here is the beginning of autumn - the vernal equinox. on that last day of summer/beginning of fall felt like a summer day. 29c here while in a few places in alberta got over 30c. yikes. supposed to cool off the rest of the week, which is okay for me. dont need it too hot.

two nights ago the angels clinched their division. tonight, the l.a. dodgers clinched a playoff berth with a beating over the chicago cubs. the dodgers and gians will be fighting for the n.l. west between now and the end of the season.

tonight, both the american league and national league eastern division flags were claimed as the baltimore orioles beat the toronto blue jays to win the a.l. east for the first time since 1997, while the washington nationals beat the atlanta braves to win the national league. meanwhile last night the l.a. angels claimed teh first playoff spot. i forget who they beat to get there. stretch drive is on. four more divisions and four wild card spots are left (and the jays could still get that)

on a rainy - and for awhile storm delayed - game in ottawa. the b.c. lions beat the redblacks 7-5 in what was a rather ugly weather day. lightning delayed the game for about 20 minutes in the 4th quarter. lowest scoring game since august 23, 1979 when calgary beat saskatchewan 6-5. just wow. rain a factor in this game.

cole hamels, jake diekman, ken giles and jonathon papelbon combine for the seasons fourth no hitter as the philadelphia phillies beat the atlanta braves 7-0 in atlanta. it is the 11th combo no hitter in mlb history. congrats to all.