The Opener: Brewers, Clinches, Spence

White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery set an AL record on Thursday with 223 strikeouts in a season. He’s now tied with Mark Reynolds for the all-time mark. 1. Brewers hit century mark Milwaukee cruised to a 5-1 win over Philadelphia on Thursday. Shane Drohan and four relievers limited the Phillies to a run on four hits. Andrew Painter was just as good on the other side, but an eighth-inning rally against the Philadelphia bullpen put the Brewers on top. The club reached 100 wins for the first time in franchise history. Milwaukee also locked up the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. 2. Postseason picture comes into focus The Brewers weren’t the only squad to clarify their playoff plans on Thursday. The White Sox, Cubs, and Guardians all clinched postseason berths. The Dodgers lost to the Padres but locked up a first-round bye since the Braves also lost. The White Sox and Guardians are still battling for the AL Central crown. Cleveland is currently one game up on Chicago. The playoff bid completes a remarkable turnaround for the White Sox. The team had lost 100+ games in each of the past three seasons. 3. Spence carries Astros The tightest postseason race is the fight for the AL West title. The Astros and Rangers are dead even with identical 79-80 records. Texas cruised to a win yesterday afternoon. In the evening, Houston got down early to the Athletics, but rookie Lucas Spence came through with a massive performance. The outfielder blasted his first career home run to get the Astros on the board. Spence then delivered a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning. He tacked on another solo shot in the ninth inning for good measure. Spence is the third player in MLB history to hit the first three home runs of his career in one game, joining Joshua Baez earlier this year and Seby Zavala in 2021 (h/t Sarah Langs of MLB.com). Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images View Comments (3)