Oct 23

NLCS Game Six & ALCS Game Seven, 2023

Arizona at Philadelphia, 2:07 PM PDT, TV: TBS. The Phillies lead the series three games to two.

RHP Merrill Kelly (1-1, 3.00 ERA postseason) goes for the Diamondbacks and RHP Aaron Nola (3-0, 0.096 ERA postseason) pitches for the Phillies. Preview here.

Texas at Houston, 5:07 PM PDT, TV: Fox. The series is tied at three games apiece.

The Rangers give the ball to RHP Max Scherzer (0-1, 11.25 ERA postseason). The Astros hand their ball to RHP Cristian Javier (2-0, 1.69 ERA postseason). Preview here.

Today in baseball history:

  • 1945 Dodger President Branch Rickey announces that the team has signed two black players, shortstop Jackie Robinson and pitcher Johnny Wright, to play with Brooklyn’s Triple-A team in Montreal. The 26-year-old Negro League infielder will be the first black player in organized baseball since 1884.
  • 1952 The Pacific Coast League announces its teams will play a reduced 176-game schedule next season. However, the PCL clubs will continue to play 180 contests next season, similar to the past two years.
  • 1993
    “Touch ’em all Joe, you’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life” – Tom Cheek, radio voice of the Blue Jays.

    Thanks to Joe Carter’s dramatic ninth-inning three-run homer over the left-field wall, the Blue Jays beat the Phillies 8-6 to win their second consecutive World Championship. The Toronto outfielder becomes the second player to end the World Series with a home run, joining Bill Mazeroski, whose Forbes Field’s round-tripper beat the Yankees in 1960.

  • 2005 For the 14th time in World Series history, a walk-off home run ends the contest when Scott Podsednik’s ninth-inning blast in Game 2 at Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field beats the Astros, 7-6. Bill Mazeroski remains the only player to accomplish the feat in the seventh game of the Fall Classic.