Outrageous payrolls created outlandish expectations, but two of baseball’s most disappointing teams are just hoping to end the first half on a high note.
Baseball was in a spending mood at the winter meetings, where the Mets added Justin Verlander, the Yankees kept Aaron Judge and San Diego splurged on Xander Bogaerts.
Harper’s two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning erased a one-run deficit and put Philadelphia back in the Fall Classic for the first time since 2009.
San Diego’s Austin Nola delivered a huge hit against Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola in Game 2 of the N.L.C.S. For their nervous (and well-traveled) parents, that was good and bad.