The race for the Wild Card chase in both the American League and the National League is getting extremely heated. So much so that the benches cleared in the game between the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros.
But that's not the only action that saw the benches clear on Wednesday night. The Atlanta Braves bench ran onto the field following a walk-off win over the Chicago Cubs.
The Miami Marlins experienced the highs and lows on Wednesday as well while facing down a doubleheader on the road at Citi Field against the New York Mets. The chase for the MLB Postseason is in full swing with just four days left in the 2023 regular season.
MLB Postseason news: Astros-Mariners benches clear
After striking out Seattle Mariners' superstar Julio Rodriguez, Houston Astros reliever Hector Neris celebrated and then began talking smack as he walked in the direction of J-Rod. Is there a history between these two? Because if there's not, it was incredibly odd behavior on the part of Neris.
This, of course, led to both benches clearing and Neris cowardly made his way back to the Astros dugout. After a short delay, order was restored and no punches were thrown. The bigger picture, however, is that the Astros won the game 8-3 and are sitting pretty in the race for the AL Wild Card.
The Texas Rangers took care of business on Wednesday night dispatching of the Los Angeles Angels, so the Astros were unable to gain a game in the AL West standings. However, Houston now has a 1.5 game lead over the Mariners with four days remaining in the 2023 season.
Seattle hosts Texas for four games beginning today with the Astros headed to the desert to play the Arizona Diamondbacks. With the D-backs having everything to play for, and looking to secure a Wild Card spot of their own, there's no telling how the next few games will play out.
MLB Postseason news: Marlins make waves in NL Wild Card chase
If the season ended today, the Miami Marlins would be going to the MLB Postseason and playing the Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild Card Series. But, there are still four games left and a lot can happen in the NL Wild Card race.
The Fish needed to win at least one of two yesterday from the New York Mets. After being rained out earlier in the week, the Marlins and Mets took the field for a doubleheader on Wednesday. New York took Game 1, but Miami won the nightcap.
This puts the Marlins at 82-76 on the season. While the Chicago Cubs have an identical record, the Marlins won the season series against the Cubbies during the regular season, meaning that Miami would be headed to the MLB Postseason if both teams finish with the same win-loss record.
The Marlins have one more game against the New York Mets at Citi Field before heading to PNC Park to face the Pittsburgh Pirates. Both the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds will be rooting for their division rival while they try to handle their own business down the stretch.
The Arizona Diamondbacks, who've won eight of their last 10 games, are closing in on securing the No. 5 seed in the National League. A win in the series finale against the Chicago White Sox and another loss by the Cubs would clinch a playoff spot for Arizona.
MLB Postseason news: Cubs fall in extras again
It's deja vu all over again for the Chicago Cubs. After blowing a 6-0 lead on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves, David Ross' club found a way to bungle away another victory despite having a 3-1 advantage in the seventh inning.
But as the Braves did on Tuesday night, Atlanta's bats just kept chipping away. The Braves knotted the game at three runs apiece in the bottom of the eighth inning, but gave the lead right back to begin the ninth inning.
The Cubs then grabbed the lead once more with a Yan Gomes RBI single in the ninth only to have the one-run edge disappear with one swing of the bat courtesy of Marcel Ozuna in the bottom of the inning.
After Chicago put one run on the board in extra innings, Ronald Acuña Jr.'s RBI single scored the tying run. The likely NL MVP then swiped his 70th bag of the year before scoring the winning run on an Ozzie Albies RBI single. The Cubs lost another heartbreaker by the final of 6-5.
The Chicago Cubs would probably love nothing better than to get out of dodge, but they've still got one more at Truist Park tonight. The Cubs are tied with the Marlins and just 1.5 games up on the idle Cincinnati Reds.
If both the Cubs and Marlins lose on Thursday, there will be just one game separating them from the Reds with only three games to play. The Reds own the tiebreaker over the Cubs, but if all three teams are tied at the end of the season, the Marlins would go to the MLB Postseason.
