Not satisfied with ending the longest playoff drought in American sports, Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais is now targeting World Series success.
The Mariners are set to return to the MLB postseason on Friday after moving just one win away with a typically chaotic 10-9 walk-off victory over the Texas Rangers in the 11th inning on Thursday.
Defeat for the Baltimore Orioles at the New York Yankees or a Mariners win against the Oakland Athletics would now clinch a Wild Card berth ahead of the final weekend of the regular season.
The city of Seattle has not seen playoff baseball since the 2001 season, with the subsequent 21 years representing the longest active drought in MLB or indeed any of the four major sports in the United States.
While ending that wait has consumed Servais and his players, they have already changed their focus.
The Mariners are the only team in the major leagues never to reach the World Series – the Washington Nationals in 2019 were the last franchise to make their World Series debut – but Servais believes this group of players are capable.
"We've got a really good team – that's why it's exciting," he said after the Rangers win.
"We can pitch, we have clutch hitting, we can defend, we can run the bases. We check a lot of the boxes that you need to have that team to get deep in the playoffs, into the World Series and win it.
"I know everybody is exhausted; we've got to end the drought, end the drought – I've heard it for seven years. Every day, when I get up in the morning and I drive to work, that's what's on my mind.
"But the goal is to win the World Series; it's not just to end the drought. We will end the drought tomorrow. We're going to."
Royals, Tigers draw even in AL playoffs
Salvador Perez's solo home run ignited a four-run fourth inning that sparked the Kansas City Royals to a crucial 4-2 win over the New York Yankees in Monday's Game 2 of the teams' American League DIvision Series.
Tommy Pham, Garrett Hampson and Maikel Garcia each delivered run-scoring singles during the big inning, while four Kansas City relievers kept the Yankees' potent bats largely quiet the rest of the way as the Royals evened this best-of-five series at 1-1.
Garcia finished 4 for 5 to tie a franchise record for hits in a post-season game.
The fifth-seeded Royals, making their first post-season appearance since 2015, will now host the next two meetings with Game 3 scheduled for Wednesday in Kansas City.
New York, the AL's top seed, got a ninth-inning home run from Jazz Chisholm but a shaky performance from starting pitcher Carlos Rodon, who held the Royals scoreless for the first three innings before getting hit hard in the fourth.
Perez, the last remaining member of Kansas City's 2015 World Series champion team, started the uprising with a long home run to left field that tied the game at 1-1.
Yuli Gurriel followed Perez's blast with a single and took second on Rodon's wild pitch before scoring the go-ahead run on Pham's one-out single.
Pham stole second and later crossed the plate on Hampson's two-out single that chased Rodon. Garcia then greeted reliever Ian Hamilton with a single to bring in Hampson, who advanced to second on the throw home to try to prevent Pham's run, for a 4-1 advantage.
Angel Zerpa (1-0) and John Schreiber threw a scoreless inning each to protect the lead before Kris Bubic worked the seventh and eighth to maintain the three-run cushion.
Lucas Erceg came on in the ninth and allowed Chisholm's lead-off homer, but retired the three of the next four Yankee hitters for his third save of these playoffs.
Rodon struck out seven in 3 2/3 innings, but was charged with all four runs while surrendering seven hits.
Cole Ragans threw the first four innings for Kansas City and issued four walks, but allowed just one run on three hits while striking out five.
New York's lone run against Ragans came in the third. Gleyber Torres drew a lead-off walk, moved to second on an Austin Wells single and came home on Giancarlo Stanton's single.
Carpenter's homer in ninth gets Tigers even with Guardians
In the AL's other Division Series, Kerry Carpenter's three-run homer off All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase in the ninth inning broke a scoreless tie and lifted the Detroit Tigers to a much-needed 3-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians.
With two on and two out in the top of the ninth, Carpenter drove a slider from Clase over the right field wall to finally put Detroit ahead in a game dominated by pitching and defence to that point.
Beau Brieske then struck out two in a perfect bottom of the ninth to allow the sixth-seeded Tigers to send this best-of-five series to Detroit tied at 1-1. Game 3 will be held Wednesday at Comerica Park.
Clase, the AL leader with 47 saves during the regular season, retired the first two Detroit hitters in the top of the ninth before Jake Rogers extended the Tigers' half of the inning with a single. Trey Sweeney followed with a single before Carpenter delivered just the third home run Cleveland's usually dominant reliever has allowed in 2024.
The blast also ended Detroit's 17-inning scoreless streak to begin this series, which the second-seeded Guardians opened with Saturday's 7-0 victory.
Clase had not permitted more than one run in any of his 75 previous appearances this season and yielded just five earned runs in a combined 75 1/3 innings going in.
Carpenter's homer made a winner out of Will Vest after the right-hander threw one scoreless inning in relief of Detroit ace Tarik Skubal, who held the Guardians to just three hits and struck out eight in seven innings.
Cleveland used five pitchers to keep the game 0-0 through eight innings, with former Tiger Matthew Boyd striking out five over the first 4 2/3 innings.
Both teams had scoring chances earlier in the contest, with the Tigers nearly taking the lead in the eighth after putting two on with two out. Wenceel Perez then greeted Clase with a sinking line drive that was caught by a diving Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan to end the threat.
Cleveland threatened in both the fifth and sixth, but came away empty both times as Skubal induced inning-ending double-play grounders with two runners on base on both occasions.
Phillies beat Mets on Castellanos' walk-off single to even NLDS at 1
Nick Castellanos once again delivered a clutch hit for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Castellanos, who led all of MLB with four walk-off hits this season, sent the Phillies to a 7-6 win over the New York Mets with a game-ending single with two outs in the ninth inning off Tylor Megill to even the NL Division Series at one game apiece.
Philadelphia needed Castellanos' heroics after Mark Vientos hit a two-run homer with one out in the top of the ninth to tie the score at 6-6. It was the second two-run homer of the day for Vientos, and Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo added solo shots for New York.
The Phillies trailed 4-3 in the eighth until Bryson Stott lined a two-run triple down the right-field line off Mets closer Edwin Díaz to put Philadelphia ahead. Stott later came around to score on J.T. Realmuto's grounder.
Philadelphia was held off the scoreboard until the sixth inning when Bryce Harper hit a two-run homer and Castellanos followed with a solo blast two pitches later off Mets starter Luis Severino.
Game 3 between these NL East rivals is Tuesday in New York.
Padres crush six homers to rout Dodgers in Game 2
The San Diego Padres tied an MLB play-off record with six home runs in a 10-2 pounding of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 for their first win in this NLDS series.
The game took an ugly turn in the seventh inning, when fans at Dodger Stadium threw baseballs at San Diego left fielder Jurickson Profar, as well as trash on the warning track near the Padres bullpen. The game was delayed for 12 minutes.
Profar was in the middle of a couple of heated moments. In the sixth inning, he exchanged words with Dodgers catcher Will Smith after starting pitcher Jack Flaherty hit Fernando Tatis Jr. with a pitch, and in the first inning, Profar reached over the wall to rob a potential home run by Mookie Betts and promptly stared down some fans.
Tatis hit a pair of home runs, while David Peralta and Jackson Merrill each hit two-run homers, and Xander Bogaerts and Kyle Higashioka added solo shots.
Yu Darvish held Los Angeles to one run and three hits over seven innings, while the top of the Dodgers' batting order struggled.
Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 4, Betts was hitless in a sixth consecutive play-off game and Freddie Freeman struck out and flied out in two at-bats before exiting after five innings with discomfort in his sprained right ankle.
Brighton 3-2 Tottenham: Rutter inspires remarkable Seagulls comeback
Brighton managed a remarkable second-half comeback as Georginio Rutter scored one and played a key role for another in a thrilling 3-2 home victory over Tottenham.
Ange Postecoglou's visitors had won their last five games, including their EFL Cup and Europa League exploits, and started well on Sunday as in-form Brennan Johnson scored for a sixth straight outing.
James Maddison doubled the away side's lead before the interval, aided by Bart Verbruggen's handling blunder, but Yankuba Minteh halved that deficit after the restart with a thumping finish.
Destiny Udogie was somewhat at fault for Minteh's finish, and the Spurs defence again struggled as Rutter restored parity before the hour mark after dancing around a couple of defenders.
Former Leeds United star Rutter then edged past numerous Tottenham charges once more, with his cross deflecting up for Danny Welbeck to head in the 66th-minute winner and seal a memorable turnaround.
Verbruggen was still required to deny Udogie late on, however, as Fabian Hurzeler's side held on for a victory that lifted them to sixth and ended Spurs' impressive winning run.
Data Debrief: Johnson's heroics in vain
Johnson has now scored in each of his last six appearances in all competitions, becoming the first Spurs player to do so since departed talisman Harry Kane between December 2018 and January 2019.
The winger's six goals across 10 appearances this season are also more than he managed in 34 outings for Spurs last campaign, though Johnson's efforts proved ultimately in vain.
Sunday marked the 10th time that Tottenham have lost a Premier League game in which they led by two or more goals – they are the first club to hit double figures for this, and have done so three more times than any other club in the competition's history.
Indeed, this memorable turnaround saw Brighton win a league game after trailing by two or more goals at half-time for the first time since a 3-2 victory against Charlton in the Championship in December 2015.
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