Astros earn playoff berth thanks to Rangers  —  PHOENIX — Forget all of the hype about this Texas Rangers and Houston Astros rivalry.  —  The Astros just became the Rangers' best friend Sunday afternoon, and certainly their biggest fans.  —  The Rangers knocked off the Los Angles Angeles …

Mets rookie Steven Matz gets last chance to prove he's ready to pitch in NLDS  —  Steven Matz might be pitching for his playoff spot on Thursday.  The Mets' lefty, who is dealing with tightness behind his right shoulder blade, is tentatively scheduled to throw long-toss on Monday and a bullpen on Tuesday.

Nationals Fire Matt Williams, Coaching Staff  —  10:45am: The Nationals announced that not only has Williams been fired, but the entire coaching staff has been let go as well.  Bench coach Randy Knorr, pitching coach Steve McCatty, hitting coach Rick Schu, third base coach Bobby Henley …

Padres To Hire New Manager To Replace Pat Murphy  —  The Padres have formally announced that interim manager Pat Murphy will not return to the team as manager next season, and that they'll look for a new manager to take his place.  The decision was widely expected, with a report last night indicating …

Salazar, Indians Hold Off Red Sox 3-1 in Season Finale  —  CLEVELAND — Danny Salazar finished his first season as a full-time starter on a positive note, sending the Cleveland Indians to a 3-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday in their 2015 finale.  —  Salazar (14-10) gave …

Cueto, Royals Secure Home-Field With 6-1 Win Over Twins  —  MINNEAPOLIS — Salvador Perez added to his career-best home run total, Johnny Cueto tossed five solid innings and the Kansas City Royals secured home-field advantage throughout the postseason by beating the Minnesota Twins 6-1 on Sunday.

Miller Ends 24-Start Drought, Braves Beat Cardinals 6-0  —  ATLANTA — Shelby Miller's drought-breaking win made the fourth-place Braves feel like celebrating.  —  Miller ended his 24-start winless streak, holding his former Cardinals teammates to three hits through eight scoreless innings …

Price of winning: Cubs' Kris Bryant has top-selling MLB jersey  —  20m - MLB KRIS BRYANT MADISON BUMGARNER BUSTER POSEY CLAYTON KERSHAW BRYCE HARPER ANTHONY RIZZO MATT HARVEY DAVID WRIGHT JACOB DEGROM CHICAGO CUBS SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS LOS ANGELES DODGERS + more

2016 MLB Draft Order  —  Now that the regular season is over, here's a preliminary look at the 2016 MLB Draft order.  This order will change as teams make decisions about extending qualifying offers and signing players who reject such offers.  —  Teams are given draft picks based on the reverse order of their 2015 records.

Average Time of 9-Inning MLB Game Drops 6 Minutes to 2:56  —  NEW YORK — Major League Baseball has managed to cut six minutes from the average time of a nine-inning game this season, when it adopted some speedup rules.  —  STATS said Monday that the season average ended at 2 hours, 56 minutes.

Philbin decision is expected by tomorrow  —  And just as I hit “publish” on the last item regarding Dolphins coach Joe Philbin, some new information has surfaced regarding the situation.  —  Per a league source with knowledge of the situation, owner Stephen Ross is now expected to make a decision on Philbin's job status by Monday.