G162: Red Sox 10, Yankees 2

Yankees - 000 200 000 -  2  4  3
Red Sox - 430 300 00x - 10 13  0

Yankees starter Luis Cessa was pulled from the game with a possible injury after only 14 pitches, but the way the Red Sox had jumped on him, he may not have lasted much longer anyway.

Cessa allowed five hits to six batters and gave up four runs (0.1-5-4-0-0, 14). Cessa also was charged with an error, one of two the Yankees managed to commit during his short stint. Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez hit home runs in the second and fourth innings, respectively, as Boston finished the regular season with a history-making 108-54 record.

After losing the first two games of the series, the Red Sox came out swinging in the first. Mookie Betts singled and scored when Brock Holt singled to right and Aaron Judge committed a fielding error. Martinez singled to right and scored (along with Holt) on Mitch Moreland's double. Eduardo Nunez reached on an infield single. Cessa rushed to cover the bag and ended up tumbling to the ground and then walking off the field.

The Yankees made their third error of the day before the first batter in the second inning had done anything. Brett Gardner dropped a foul fly by Jackie Bradley, who then singled to right. Holt doubled to left, scoring JBJ. With two outs, Bogaerts belted his 23rd home run to center, making it 7-0.

In the fourth, Justus Sheffield walked Tzu-Wei Lin and Holt with one out. Martinez drove an 0-1 pitch out of the park to center for his 43rd dong of the season.

Betts (1-for-2) was pulled from the game after taking the field in the third. Betts finished with a .346 average, the best in MLB. Martinez was #2, at .329. Only eight AL batters batted over .300. None of them wear pinstripes.

Betts is the first Red Sox player to lead the AL in average since Bill Mueller hit .326 in 2003 and the first to lead the majors since Wade boggs hit .366 in 1988. He is also the third player in Red Sox history to .340+ with 80+ extra-base hits, joining Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx. (TSW did it four times.)

Rick Porcello (2-0-0-1-2, 40) faced seven batters, setting down the first five before issuing a walk. After that it was a revolving door, as Joe Kelly, Bobby Poyner, Eduardo Rodriguez, Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier, Drew Pomeranz, and Craig Kimbrel each pitched one inning. Every Red Sox pitcher recorded at least one strikeout as the Yankees fanned 15 times.

(TBA (but no one gives a shit)) Luis Cessa / Rick Porcello

Betts, RF
Holt, LF
Martinez, DH
Bogaerts, SS
Moreland, 1B
Núñez, 3B
Kinsler, 2B
León, C
Bradley, CF

And then we came to the end ... of the regular season.

Mookie Betts's .346 batting average leads the American League by 17 points. At the end of play today, he will be the first player in history to lead his league in batting average while also having a 30 homer/30 steal season. (Betts will actually lead both leagues in average since he is 22 points ahead of Milwaukee's Christian Yelich.)

Mookie is also only .011 behind Mike Trout for the top OPS in MLB (1.079 to 1.090).

For the first time, there are three teams in one league with 100 or more wins: Red Sox (107), Astros (103), Yankees (100). (Of course, for nearly 60 years, there were only eight AL teams, making such an occurrence pretty much impossible.) The most wins an NL team can have this year is 95.

Seasons With Three 100+-Win Teams

1942: Cardinals (106 wins, NL), Dodgers (104 wins, NL), Yankees (103 wins, AL)
1977: Royals (102 wins, AL), Phillies (101 wins, NL), Yankees (100 wins, AL)
1998: Yankees (114 wins, AL), Atlanta (106 wins, NL), Astros (102 wins, NL)
2002: Yankees (103 wins, AL), A's (103 wins, AL), Atlanta (101 wins, NL)
2003: Atlanta (101 wins, NL), Giants (101 wins, NL), Yankees (101 wins, AL)
2017: Dodgers (104 wins, NL), Cleveland (102 wins, AL), Astros (101 wins, AL)