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For the first time since 1992, the Pittsburgh Pirates are in MLB's postseason. The Bucs clinched at least a spot in the wild-card game after a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs that ended with a bizarre play at the plate, and a 4-3 loss by the Washington Nationals to the St. Louis Cardinals. The loss eliminated the Nats from contention. The Cincinnati Reds are playoff-bound as well, after beating the New York Mets, 3-2 in 10 innings. The focus over the regular season's final six days now shifts to the NL Central race, which the Cards still lead by...

Raise the Jolly Roger! Pirates return to playoffs After Marte homers and Martin holds on, Bucs clinch with Nats' loss By Tom Singer / MLB.com | 9/24/2013 1:04 AM ET CHICAGO -- Twenty-one years ago, Mike LaValliere didn't get his man. Monday night, Russell Martin got his -- and as a direct result, the Pirates riffed on Andrew McCutchen's vow, "I'm playing for October." The Bucs will be playing in October. They confirmed their reservation with a 2-1 win over the Cubs on Starling Marte's ninth-inning homer, coupled with Washington's loss in St. Louis. When, where and against whom yet...

THE WILD SIDE: It's a scramble for the two AL wild-card spots, with a half-dozen teams trying to claim them. Texas, Cleveland and Tampa Bay are at the top, but wobbling. Pinch-hitter Justin Morneau's single sent Pittsburgh over the Cubs 3-2 Sunday, leaving the Pirates even with St. Louis for the NL Central lead. WHAT'S THE FORECAST?: Wicked weather always seems to wreak havoc at the end of the season. Cleveland waited out a rain delay of nearly 4 1/2 hours in Chicago before beating the White Sox 7-1 Sunday night. Just watch - somewhere, a storm will sweep into...

A praying mantis interacts with Florida players during today's Marlins/Nationals game. Some enjoy the mantis's company, other are less than amused. One freaks out when the mantis jumps on him which sends the announcers into a laughing fit.

The Houston Astros, the worst team in Major League Baseball, is set to become the most profitable team in the sport's history. According to a Forbes report, "The Astros are on pace to rake in an estimated $99 million in operating income this season. That is nearly as much as the estimated operating income of the previous six World Series championship teams — combined." The highest-paid player on the team makes $1.15 million and 64 baseball players make more than the whole team combined. The Astros, currently at 43-86, have the worst record in the league since 2005. But Jim...

Former Cardinals icon Albert Pujols said late Friday that he plans to sue former Cardinal Jack Clark, as well as those connected with the St. Louis radio station on which he appears, for Clark’s on-air steroids allegations about Pujols. Then shortly after midnight Saturday morning, the company that has put Clark and co-host Kevin Slaten on the air abruptly announced they will not be returning — after just seven shows. At least twice in the first week of a program that made its debut Aug. 1, Clark said that former Pujols trainer Chris Mihlfeld told him in 2000 that he...

“What do you mean, there’s gambling going on here; I didn’t know there was gambling going on; round up the usual suspects,” said the “Casablanca” police chief to Humphrey Bogart. This paraphrase of bewilderment on steroids comes to mind in the A-Rod debacle. The 1919 Chicago Black Sox scandal is no longer MLB’s most famous outrage, and the news boys will have to ask that iconic “Say It Ain’t So, Joe,” question all over again. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson’s written confession still is gone missing, and the Windy City is no longer numero uno in baseball’s wall of shame. The A-Rod,...

After weeks of waiting, MLB has finally announced its Biogenesis suspensions. Twelve players have been hit with 50-game suspensions, and Alex Rodriguez has been issued a suspension through the 2014 season for a total 211 games. Because A-Rod’s suspension will come under the Joint Drug Agreement, he can still play while he appeals the punishment and will be in the New York Yankees’ lineup tonight for the first time this season. Many have questioned how the suspension will impact Rodriguez’s “legacy” (see here, here and here), and it’s a subject that will undoubtedly be debated for years to come. What’s...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Alex Rodriguez has been banned for 211 regular-season games by Major League Baseball for his part in the sport’s latest performance-enhancing drugs scandal.

Major League Baseball came down heavy Monday on the players it found to have been involved with the South Florida clinic Biogenesis, suspending Alex Rodriguez through the end of the 2014 season and banning 12 others for 50 games, including three All-Stars: Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers, Everth Cabrera of the San Diego Padres and Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers. MLB commissioner Bud Selig, in two statements addressing Rodriguez's discipline and a more general one on the state of baseball's ant-drug program, said he was "proud of the comprehensive nature of our efforts – not only with regard...

Major League Baseball is threatening to kick Alex Rodriguez out of the game for life unless the New York Yankees star agrees not to fight a lengthy suspension for his role in the sport's latest drug scandal, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The person spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because no statements were authorized. Whether Commissioner Bud Selig would actually issue a lifetime suspension was unclear and a permanent ban could be shortened by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz to about 200 games, the person said. The number of players likely to be...

While we are still waiting on all the details to come in, the Red Sox are close to acquiring right-hander Jake Peavy from the Chicago White Sox. According to reports, Jose Iglesias (pitcured) will be sent to Detroit, and outfielder Avisail Garcia is going from Detroit to Chicago. Alex Speier of WEEI.com is reporting that 19-year-old Lowell infielder Cleuluis Rondon is one of three lower-level prospects who will be sent from Boston to Chicago to finalize the deal. We will have more information when this deal becomes final. UPDATE (12:02 AM): The Red Sox have announced the trade, including the...

Tim Lincecum of the World Champion San Francisco Giants has thrown a no hitter against the San Diego Padres, throwing 13 strikeouts over 148 pitches.

The best part of this job is the people you meet and the relationships developed over the course of the years. To that end, it was an honor to sit down recently and talk with Vin Scully. It's mindboggling to realize that Scully has been broadcasting Dodgers games on radio-television in Brooklyn and Los Angeles since 1950, a year before I was born ... During the course of a 20-minute conversation, I asked him about his stellar career and the Dodgers of yesterday and today. You may be surprised at some of his answers ...

Voting for All-Star starters ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern). Here are my All-Star teams. 34 players on a team, at least 13 pitchers, every team must have a representative. NATIONAL C: MOLINA, Posey 1B: VOTTO, Goldschmidt, Craig 2B: CARPENTER, Scutaro, Phillips SS: SEGURA, Cabrera, Desmond 3B: WRIGHT, Alvarez OF: GONZALEZ, Brown, Harper OF: GOMEZ, McCutcheon OF: BELTRAN, Cuddyer, Bruce P (13; 9 S, 4 R): HARVEY, Kershaw, Wainwright, Zimmermann, Lee, Corbin, Locke, Wood, Fernandez; Melancon, Mujica, Kimbrel, Grilli DL: Tulowitzski Honorable mention: 1B Freeman, OF Puig AMERICAN C: MAUER, Santana 1B: DAVIS, Fielder 2B: CANO, Pedroia, Kipnis SS: PERALTA,...

As the 50-year anniversary of his famous 16-inning duel against Warren Spahn approached, Giants Hall of Famer Juan Marichal was reluctant to directly criticize today's cautious approach to pitcher care. Marichal threw 227 pitches in beating the Braves 1-0 on July 2, 1963. Spahn threw 201, with Willie Mays blasting the last offering into the Candlestick Park seats. Such pitch counts are impossible to fathom today. In a story for Grantland.com, writer Rany Jazayerli noted that "there have been fewer 130-plus pitch outings over the past 12 years combined than there were every single season before the 1994-95 strike. This...

Perhaps you saw the mention in Sunday’s Sports section about the Christian iconography on the mound at Busch Stadium. Apparently, somebody on the grounds crew etches a cross into the dirt.... Still, I look at photos of that cross etched on the mound and I get the same sort of uneasy feeling I get when I hear the phrase “homeland security.” It used to be “national security.” Why did “national” morph into “homeland”? It happened about the same time politicians started wearing American flag lapel pins. Besides, I’m scared about terrorism. I’m convinced that fanatical, dedicated people with access to...

Baby's Parents Arrested After He Climbed Out A Window As They SleptThe daughter of legendary former Yankees manager Joe Torre was being hailed as a hero Wednesday, after she caught a 16-month-old baby that had fallen from an awning in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. As CBS 2’s Hazel Sanchez reported, everyone in the neighborhood was talking about how the baby was dangling from the awning of the Sweetie Frozen Yogurt shop at 9104 Third Ave. in Brooklyn, when Cristina Torre, 44, came to the rescue. She happened to be walking along Third Avenue near 91st Street around 10 a.m. Wednesday when...

...The '74 Indians were a smorgasbord of mediocre and forgettable talent playing in an open-air mausoleum. That year, in a city that fielded one of the founding professional teams (the Forest Citys, incorporated there in 1869), 85 percent of the seats at home games went unsold. All those empty seats meant a balance sheet written in red. The team's executive vice president, Ted Bonda, could put up with losing teams and an ugly stadium (he had inherited both in 1972), but he would not tolerate insolvency. Bonda called a meeting to discuss options for improving attendance, which must have felt...

Major League Baseball will seek to suspend about 20 players connected to the Miami-area clinic at the heart of an ongoing performance-enhancing drug scandal, including Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, possibly within the next few weeks, "Outside the Lines" has learned. If the suspensions are upheld, the performance-enhancing drug scandal would be the largest in American sports history. Tony Bosch, founder of the now-shuttered Biogenesis of America, reached an agreement this week to cooperate with MLB's investigation, two sources told "Outside the Lines," giving MLB the ammunition officials believe they need to suspend the players. One source familiar with the...