The Albany Gazette - Chicago teams, Guardians and Padres all book MLB playoff berths

Within minutes of one another, the Windy City rivals became the seventh and eighth teams to book October baseball. The Guardians and Padres each followed suit a few hours later, leaving just two spots up for grabs.

The White Sox crowned an extraordinary turnaround season, securing at least a wild card spot after losing more than 100 games in each of their previous three seasons.

They routed the Kansas City Royals 9-1. The White Sox scored three runs in each of their first two innings, before a Kyle Teel home run in the fourth left little doubt.

Chicago shortstop Colson Montgomery equaled the unwanted record for the most strikeouts in an MLB season, with his 223rd -- tying the Arizona Diamondbacks' Mark Reynolds in 2009.

Still, the White Sox will make their first post-season appearance since 2021.

"You know how the past couple seasons have been with us. We always envisioned this," said Montgomery.

"Deep down and everything like that, we all believed in ourselves, believed in each other. For this to come to fruition, it's awesome."

Their divisional rival Cleveland Guardians also booked playoff progress with a 1-0 win over the Boston Red Sox.

The Guardians led in the second inning thanks to an Angel Martinez homer to right field. It proved the game's only run.

With both through, the White Sox and Guardians will now duke it out for the divisional title and a first-round bye.

- 'Get in Chicago' -

In the National League, the Cubs edged the Miami Marlins 2-1 to claim their own wild card spot.

A stolen base in the first inning by Pete Crow-Armstrong made him the seventh player with 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in a season.

Miami opened the scoring in the third inning, but a Seiya Suzuki homer in the fifth got the Cubs back on track.

Ian Happ scored from a Nico Hoerner single the next inning and the Cubs held out.

"GET IN CHICAGO, WE'RE GOING TO THE POSTSEASON," posted the Cubs' X account.

The Padres clinched with a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ethan Salas scored from Dustin Harris's sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. The Padres added three more runs in the seventh to seal another wild card spot, despite two late Dodgers runs.

Six MLB teams had already clinched before Thursday -- the Dodgers, Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Atlanta Braves.

The Philadelphia Phillies still need to fend off the late-charging Arizona Diamondbacks for the National League's final spot.

The Phillies lost to the Brewers, who reached 100 wins in a regular season for the first time ever.

Thanks to the Dodgers' loss the Brewers also clinched the National League's top seed and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

The remaining American League berth will go to the winner of the under-performing Western division -- a race between the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers, who both currently have losing records.

(C.Young--TAG)