ESPN’s final year with Major League Baseball’s wild-card round was a historic one. The network announced Monday that the wild-card round of the playoffs last week averaged 4.6 million viewers. That’s up 64% from last year’s games and a record in the history of the three-game wild card format.

The Mets had the best record in baseball in June but have slogged for three months and find themselves in danger of missing the postseason in the first year of Juan Soto's $765 million contract. New York visits the Miami Marlins while the Reds are on the road against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Major League Baseball today announced the Major League Umpires who have been assigned to the 2025 Wild Card Series. The four Wild Card Series crew chiefs will be Vic Carapazza, Dan Iassogna, Alfonso Márquez and Todd Tichenor.

Consider Dave Portnoy unimpressed. As the Yankees celebrated their wild-card series win over the Red Sox with a boozy clubhouse party Thursday night, the Barstool Sports bigwig and noted Boston sports fan wasn’t holding back his feelings.

Weird move. Left fielder Matt Holliday was more than a few feet behind him; Kozma “swore I heard him” amid the screams of 52,631. The ball fell. The crowd erupted. The bases were fixing to be loaded, with one out.