Outside The Confines: Racing to the playoffs

Looks like no one wants to pitch to Aaron Judge.

• The Cardinals clinched the NL Central title last night. John Denton has an FAQ about the Cards and the playoffs.
• And the Yankees clinched the AL East and Bryan Hoch has a FAQ about that.
• Aaron Judge walked four times in last night’s clincher, so he’s still sitting on 60 home runs. Richard Deitsch spoke to the broadcasters who may end up calling the historic home runs about how they’re approaching the call. (The Athletic sub. req.) Michael Kay admits that he’s “nervous” about the whole thing.
• Kiley McDaniel spoke to over a dozen MLB executives about what kind of free agent contract (and with whom) can Judge now expect after one of the greatest offensive seasons ever. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Robert O’Connell looks at the “uncivil war” rivalry between the Yankees and Dodgers in the 1970s.
• Dan Szymborski notes that three playoffs teams, the Dodgers, Rays and Braves, have gotten bad injury news recently.
• Howard Megdal looks at the Braves two Rookie-of-the-Year candidates and how they are succeeding without much minor league experience for either of them.
• Jay Jaffe looks at Braves hurler Kyle Wright’s breakout 20-win season. If Wright throws five innings or less for the rest of the season, he’s set a modern record for the fewest innings thrown by a 20-game winner.
• The Blue Jays may have lost their big home-field advantage as Canada will drop their vaccine mandate for visitors starting October 1.
• Esteban Rivera breaks down the swing of Blue Jays infielder Bo Bichette and how his new “scissors kick” is paying dividends.
• Blue Jays right-hander Alex Manoah has been given a sportsmanship award for the way he defended his catcher, Alejandro Kirk, from online abuse.
• Tom Verducci explains why the Phillies won’t have another late-season collapse again this year. They aren’t living up to that prediction so far.
• Dayn Perry looks at why the White Sox 2022 season went off the rails.
• J.J. Cooper warns those who are expecting a robot umpire revolution that they will likely be disappointed because it likely won’t make a big difference.
• Harry Palattella has five potential breakout stars for this year’s playoffs.
• David Adler has 11 rookies who could make a big difference in the playoffs.
• Andrew Simon lists the players that Statcast has determined to be the best in the game in each skill category.
• Michael Baumann examines the fierce competition to finish third in this year’s AL MVP voting. Behind Judge and Shohei Ohtani, of course.
• Ben Verlander, Justin’s very online little brother, has a new documentary about how the Japanese view Ohtani. As it turns out, he’s even bigger over there than Verlander imagined.
• The Mariners signed right-hander Luis Castillo to a five-year, $108 extension. Jay Jaffe looks at the deal and what the M’s can expect out of Castillo going forward.
• Chad Jennings looks at the Red Sox’s decision about Rafael Devers’ future with the team and how the situation compares to when Mookie Betts was a year away from free agency a few years ago. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Will Leitch has one player on each team who has a good shot at a comeback in 2023 after a poor 2022.
• Rangers pitcher Dane Dunning had hip surgery and his availability for the start of next year is in doubt. In the spirit of Craig Calcaterra, who is convinced that Dunning is actually a down-on-his-luck B-movie actor from the 1940s, the injury was the result of a brawl at the Clover Club in Los Angeles when Mickey Cohen’s men got tired of Dunning not paying his bar tab. Dunning also made a move on Lana Turner, whom Cohen’s enforcer Johnny Stompanato had his eye on. (That ended in scandal years later, but Dunning wasn’t involved with Turner at that point.)
• Jayson Jenks and Alec Lewis have an oral history on Zack Greinke’s time with the Royals. (The Athletic sub. req.) Greinke is certainly one-of-a-kind.
• The Twins are going to have new uniforms and a new scoreboard for 2023.
• Marlins pitcher Richard Bleier got called for three balks in one at-bat against the Mets last night.
• And finally, I can’t sit through it, but if you can, here are all 700 Albert Pujols home runs in one minute.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.