Though there is plenty of baseball still to be played before October, the Tampa Bay Rays made a statement over the weekend with their three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox.
The Rays held on for a 3-2 victory Sunday to increase their lead in the American League (AL) East division to a game and a half after entering the series trailing Boston by the same margin.
Brandon Lowe started the Rays off in the third inning with a two-run homer but former Ray Hunter Renfroe answered for Boston with a solo shot in the fourth.
Manuel Margot singled in what proved to be the winning run in the fifth and Boston could get no closer than the seventh-inning wild pitch by Drew Rasmussen that allowed Alex Verdugo to score.
The Rays had some nervous moments late as the Red Sox put two batters on with two out in the ninth but Randy Wisler got J.D. Martinez to fly out to end the game.
Bryant, Giants down Astros
Kris Bryant hit a home run in his first game since joining San Francisco and Darin Ruf drove in three runs as the Giants defeated Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 to win the series between teams with the two best records in MLB. Bryant joined his former Chicago Cubs team-mates Anthony Rizzo (Yankees) and Javy Baez (Mets) in hitting a homer in their first games with their new teams after being traded this week. According to Stats Perform, they are the first trio in the modern era to homer in their debuts after playing for the same team earlier in the season.
Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts returned from the injured list to start at second base for only the second time since 2014 before capping the scoring with a ninth-inning home run in a 13-0 rout of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Chicago White Sox bounced back from an agonising loss to the Cleveland Indians with a 2-1 victory on Brian Goodwin's ninth-inning home run punctuated by an epic bat flip.
Kyle Gibson got plenty of run support in his Philadelphia Phillies debut after coming over from the Texas Rangers in a trade, picking up the win with 6.2 solid innings in a 15-4 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Milwaukee Brewers managed only three hits off Charlie Morton and the Atlanta Braves' bullpen but held on for a 2-1 road victory.
Cubs waste Ortega's big day
A day after Chicago White Sox catcher Seby Zavala hit the first three home runs of his career only to see his team lose, Chicago Cubs outfielder Rafael Ortega hit three in a 6-5 loss to the Washington Nationals. The 30-year-old journeyman, who made his MLB debut in 2012, had six homers in 192 career games entering Sunday. He drove in all of Chicago's runs with a solo homer in the first inning and two-run shots in the sixth and eighth, but it was not enough as Yadiel Hernandez led off the ninth with a homer to give Washington the walk-off win.
Heim the homer hero again
Jonah Heim hit a walk-off home run to beat the Seattle Mariners on Saturday, and he enjoyed it so much he did it again Sunday in a 4-3 Texas Rangers win. Heim became the first Rangers player ever to hit walk-off homers in consecutive games and the first player for any MLB team to do so since Albert Pujols of the St Louis Cardinals did it in June 2011.
Sunday's results
Philadelphia Phillies 15-4 Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals 6-5 Chicago Cubs
Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 Kansas City Royals
Cincinnati Reds 7-1 New York Mets
New York Yankees 3-1 Miami Marlins
Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 Boston Red Sox
Detroit Tigers 6-2 Baltimore Orioles
Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 Atlanta Braves
Texas Rangers 4-3 Seattle Mariners
Chicago White Sox 2-1 Cleveland Indians
St Louis Cardinals 7-3 Minnesota Twins
Oakland Athletics 8-3 Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers 13-0 Arizona Diamondbacks
San Francisco Giants 5-3 Houston Astros
San Diego Padres 8-1 Colorado Rockies
Indians at Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays (54-48) are riding a four-game winning streak as the Cleveland Indians (51-51) cross the border to visit Rogers Centre.
Panthers sign veteran WR Thielen to three-year deal
The Carolina Panthers have signed Adam Thielen to a three-year deal as they look to prepare a strong offense for their expected number one pick quarterback.
Thielen spent 10 years with his hometown team, the Minnesota Vikings, before being released in early March.
The 32-year-old was voted to two Pro Bowls in his time with Minnesota and was an All-Pro Second Team selection in 2017.
Starting all 17 games last season, Thielen finished with 70 catches for 716 yards and six touchdowns, though he was not used as often towards the end of the campaign, making just seven catches in the Vikings' final four games.
He had previously expressed a desire to play his entire career with the Vikings, but their offense has shifted towards younger players like T.J. Hockenson and K.J. Osborn to support All-Pro Justin Jefferson.
Overall, Thielen recorded 534 catches for 6,682 yards and 55 touchdowns in 135 appearances for Minnesota.
The Panthers will get the number one pick in the NFL Draft after trading wide receiver D.J. Moore to the Chicago Bears, with Thielen providing plenty of experience in his place, which should aid whichever young starting quarterback they presumably acquire in late April.
It continues a busy time for Carolina, who have also recently added running back Miles Sanders, tight end Hayden Hurst and backup quarterback Andy Dalton.
Jokic and Giannis record triple-doubles as Nuggets find form and Bucks claim 51st win
Nikola Jokic recorded his 28th triple-double of the season as the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets rediscovered some form with a 108-102 road victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.
The Nuggets had lost five of their past six games, but improved to 48-24 with the triumph, maintaining a sizeable buffer at the top of the West from the second-placed Sacramento Kings (43-27).
Serbian center Jokic starred with 22 points on nine-of-12 shooting with 17 rebounds and 10 assists, while Michael Porter scored a team-high 28 points with five-of-nine three-point attempts.
Jamal Murray added 25 points, nailing all four of his attempts from beyond the arc, and he posted 20 of his haul in the opening quarter as Denver got a fast start to lead 33-21 at the first break.
The Nuggets were coasting to victory with a 91-71 lead at three-quarter time before the Nets rallied in the fourth, with Porter settling the game with one of his five triples.
The defeat dents Brooklyn's aspirations to claim a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference, falling to 39-32, marginally ahead of the seventh-placed Miami Heat (39-34).
Mikal Bridges top scored for the home side with 23 points on eight-of-18 shooting from the field, while Nic Claxton chipped in 19 points and eight rebounds.
Giannis records triple-double in Bucks win
The Milwaukee Bucks stormed past the Toronto Raptors 118-111 on a 29-16 fourth-quarter charge as Giannis Antetokounmpo brought up his 33d career triple-double.
Antetokounmpo finished with 22 points on 100 per cent shooting from the field with 13 rebounds and 10 assists, while Brook Lopez added a team-high 26 points with Khris Middleton scoring 20.
Lopez scored 17 of his 26 points in the final period, including the first eight of the quarter, with the Bucks going on a game-changing 15-2 run. The NBA-best Bucks are now 51-20.
SGA leads OKC past Suns
Shai Gilgeous-Alezander scored 40 points, came up clutch down the stretch and garnered M-V-P chants as the Oklahoma City Thunder boosted their play-in hopes with a 124-120 win over the Phoenix Suns.
Gilgeous-Thunder hit two free throws with 10 seconds left to hold off the Suns, who had Devin Booker score 46 points, including 30 in the second half, having led 69-57 at half-time. Chris Paul scored 14 points with 13 assists.
OKC (35-36) have four wins from their past five games to stay in the play-in hunt, thanks in large part to Gilgeous-Alexander's perfect 11-of-11 free throws in the second half, while Luguentz Dort added 20 points.
Rybakina targeting consistency before setting sights on world number one
Elena Rybakina is targeting consistency and staying fit over becoming world number one, for now.
Rybakina defeated world number two Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (13-11) 6-4 on Sunday to clinch the Indian Wells Open title.
It brought up a fourth singles title of her career, her maiden WTA 1000 trophy and her first success since winning Wimbledon last year.
Rybakina overcame Iga Swiatek in the last four, making her the first player since Garbine Muguruza at the 2017 Western & Southern Open to beat the world number one and two in the semi-finals and final of a single tournament.
The Kazakh will rise to world number seven after her success in the Californian desert, but when asked if the top of the rankings was her next target, Rybakina told Amazon Prime: "I'll try but first of all I just want to have the consistency, the most important thing is to stay healthy because it's still the beginning of the year.
"If I continue like this I have all the chance to be higher in the top 10, we'll see how it's going to go."
She added: "It feels amazing. I didn't expect two sets, I thought it would be a three-set battle. It wasn't easy, it was a bit windy, I lost the two games, I was getting nervous, but I managed to sort it out."
The two games Rybakina referred to came in the second set, when she went from 5-2 up to 5-4 before regaining her composure.
Rybakina had also come out on top in an almighty tussle in the first-set tie-break, with Sabalenka unable to then rediscover her best form during the second set.
Sunday's success marked Rybakina's first victory over Sabalenka – who she lost to in the final of this season's Australian Open – in five attempts.
Though Sabalenka is not planning on losing another one, as the Belarusian comically interjected during Rybakina's post-match on-court interview.
"I'll make sure it was the last one," Sabalenka quipped after Rybakina had explained "it was the first time it went my way" in a meeting with the 24-year-old.
"It's been always a pleasure to play against you and always the toughest battle," Rybakina continued.
"Hopefully I'll be back next year to defend this result."
Sabalenka was courteous in defeat, saying: "First of all Elena I want to congratulate you and your team on another amazing week. Hopefully we'll play in many more finals, hopefully next time it'll go to me!"
However, she was already focusing on putting the defeat behind her, with the Miami Open next up.
"For me it's quite easy. I think it's gonna stay in my head until tomorrow, and tomorrow we are flying to Miami and I will forget this one," she told reporters.
"The thing is helping me to stay focused and to keep winning is just to focus on myself and focus on the game and focus on things what I have to do on court to keep winning.
"This one was tough, especially in the finals, it's always tough to lose. You're one step to the trophy and you lose it. This one is really tough. But she's a great player."
The last five WTA titles at Indian Wells have now been won by players yet to turn 24, while Rybakina became the 25th female player to win the title.
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