Monday 29 September 2014 10:03, UK
The Detroit Tigers secured their fourth straight American League Central division title on Sunday with a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
The Tigers entered the final day of the regular season one game ahead of Kansas City atop the division, and with their victory left the Royals - back in baseball's post-season for the first time in 29 years - with a wild-card berth.
The Royals will host Oakland in the AL wild card game on Tuesday, after the Athletics at last locked up their spot with a 4-0 victory over the Texas Rangers.
Oakland boasted baseball's best record as of July 31 and appeared to be cruising toward the American League West division title. But an offensive downturn saw the Anaheim Angels surge past them for the division crown.
The victory made Seattle's 4-1 win over the Angels on Sunday moot. The Mariners had hoped for a win that would have forced a one-game playoff on Monday for the second wild-card spot.
Now the winner of the Oakland-Kansas City wild-card game on Tuesday will face the Angels in the best-of-five division series starting on Thursday.
The other division series pits American League East champions Baltimore against the Tigers, who got seven and one-third scoreless innings from starting pitcher David Price in Sunday's win.
There were no playoff implications in Boston, but there was again a sense of history being made as the Red Sox hosted the Yankees in the final game of New York captain Derek Jeter's career.
Honoured by Boston prior to the game between the bitter American League East rivals, Jeter played as designated hitter in the Yankees' 9-5 victory over the Red Sox.
In the third frame, with a runner on third, Jeter chopped a ball toward third and legged out the infield single that scored Japan's Ichiro Suzuki.
Jeter, who made an emotional farewell to home fans in his last game at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, then departed, jogging off the field for the last time to a thunderous ovation from Boston fans.
The St. Louis Cardinals clinched the National League Central division on Sunday when title rivals Pittsburgh fell 4-1 at Cincinnati.
The race came down to the final day of baseball's regular season, and thanks to the Pirates the Cardinals were assured of the division crown even before they blanked the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0.
Cincinnati's Kristopher Negron belted a two-run home run that capped a three-run eighth inning that fuelled the Reds' victory over the Pirates, who went into the contest one game behind the Cardinals.
Pittsburgh will now host the San Francisco Giants in the National League wild-card game on Wednesday while the Cardinals will play the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers in a best-of-five National League division series.
The winner of the wild-card game will face NL East champions the Washington Nationals, who closed the regular season with a flourish - a no-hitter from Jordan Zimmermann.
Zimmermann's no-hitter was preserved at the final out by Nationals outfielder Steven Souza, who made a spectacular diving catch of Christian Yelich's drive to left field to end a 1-0 victory over the Miami Marlins.
