{
  "id": 9711029,
  "title": "Chicago teams, Guardians and Padres all book MLB playoff berths",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/chicago-teams-guardians-and-padres-all-book-mlb-playoff-berths",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-25T05:33:20.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/chicagos-white-sox-cubs-book-211107842.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Chicago Cubs, White Sox, Cubs, and San Diego Padres all secured their spots in the Major League Baseball playoffs on Thursday as the brackets took their final shape. Pete Crow-Armstrong made history as the seventh player to achieve 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in a single season. The White Sox, who had lost over 100 games in each of their previous three seasons, secured at least a wild card position with a 9-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Their star shortstop, Colson Montgomery, equaled the record for the most strikeouts in an MLB season with 223, tying Mark Reynolds' record from 2009. The Guardians also clinched their playoff berth with a 1-0 win over the Boston Red Sox, leading in the second inning due to an Angel Martinez homer. The Cubs, Chicago's National League rivals, secured their wild card spot with a 2-1 win over the Miami Marlins, with Pete Crow-Armstrong's stolen base in the first inning making him the seventh player to accomplish this feat. Miami had opened the scoring in the third inning, but a Seiya Suzuki homer in the fifth helped the Cubs regain their momentum. The Padres clinched their spot with a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, with Ethan Salas scoring from Dustin Harris' sacrifice fly. Six MLB teams had already secured their spots before Thursday, including the Dodgers, Red Sox, Brewers, Yankees, Rays, and Braves. The Philadelphia Phillies still need to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks to secure their final National League spot. The remaining American League berth will be decided between Houston Astros and Texas Rangers, who both currently have losing records.",
  "summary": "Chicago's White Sox and Cubs both grabbed post-season berths with wins Thursday, as did the Cleveland Guardians and San Diego Padres, as the Major League Baseball playoff brackets began to take their final shape.Their divisional rival Cleveland Guardians also booked playoff progress with a 1-0 win over the Boston Red Sox.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}