Friday gives us 15 night games, plenty of them with playoff implications. So let's jump in ... 

Final scores

Cardinals 4, Pirates 3 (box score)
Rays 8, Orioles 3 (box score)
Blue Jays 8, Yankees 1 (box score)
Mets 7, Nationals 6 (box score)
Red Sox 5, Reds 4 (box score)
Twins 7, Tigers 3 (box score)
Cubs 5, Brewers 4 (box score)
Braves 7, Phillies 2 (box score)
Astros 3, Angels 0 (box score)
White Sox 7, Royals 6 (box score)
Diamondbacks 13, Marlins 11 (box score)
Athletics 4, Rangers 1 (box score)
Rockies 4, Padres 1 (box score)
Mariners 3, Indians 1 (box score)
Dodgers 4, Giants 2 (box score)

Dodgers clinch NL West

It's been one of the weirdest rides in MLB history, but the Dodgers are NL West champs. Full story here.

In the process of winning the game Friday, Cody Bellinger made history, too. Full story on that one here.

BREAKING: The Indians lost

You'll recall that the Indians aren't that far removed from an AL-record 22 game win streak. Since they ended that streak with a 4-3 loss to the Royals on Sept. 15, they ripped off five straight wins heading into Friday. So on Friday night in Seattle, they tried to make it 28 wins in 29 games. That brings us to this ... 

Alas, it was not to be. The Indians managed just one run and went to the bottom of the ninth in Seattle tied, 1-1. Nelson Cruz hit a walk-off homer to take down the Tribe. 

They have now won just 27 of their last 29 games. Call it a cold streak, eh? 

Something worth watching here, however, is the Astros are now within 1 1/2 games of the Indians for the top seed in the AL playoffs. The winner gets the AL East champ instead of the wild-card winner. Speaking of which ...  

Red Sox move closer to clinching AL East

The Red Sox were down 4-1 through the first inning in Cincinnati (more on that in a second) but stormed back with a four-run fouth inning. A Rafael Devers three-run shot put them on top and that ended up being the decisive blow, as the Red Sox's bullpen held the Reds in check with five scoreless innings. Of note there, David Price threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings. He's yet to be touched up as a reliever. 

Up in Toronto, meantime, the Yankees were blown out. 

This moves the Red Sox's lead in the AL East to four games and their magic number to clinch is now six with nine games to play. Without any head-to-head games remaining, Friday's results seem like a death knell in the Yankees' chances to climb back to the top of the AL East. Just to write things out, if the Red Sox went 4-5 the rest of the way, the Yankees would need to go 9-0 in order to win the division. As I said, it's an uphill battle. 

Cubs moving closer in NL Central as well

With the Cubs' second consecutive extra-innings win over the Brewers, they have now moved their magic number to five and the Brewers are actually behind the Cardinals in the Central. The Cubs lead the Cards by five games and the Brewers have 5 1/2 with 10 games left. 

The Cubs aren't completely out of the woods here, as they still have two head-to-head games with the Brewers followed by four against the Cardinals in Busch Stadium. 

A five-game lead with 10 left is substantial, however, and the Cubs also have a better record for the Rockies if the wild card situation came into play. In all, it would be shocking if the Cubs missed the playoffs at this point. 

The Twins had a good night

The second AL wild-card spot has some clarity and it appears it's Minnesota Nice. The Twins took care of business while seeing the Angels, Rangers and Royals lose. That means that with just eight games to play, the Twins lead the Angels and Rangers by 3 1/2 games, the Royals by 4 1/2 and the Mariners and Rays by five. Their remaining schedule shows five against the hapless Tigers, too, so this thing should be pretty elementary now, thanks in part to Friday's very favorable results. 

Rockies move lead slightly

The Rockies came into Friday night with a one-game lead over the Brewers for the second NL wild card. By virtue of their win along with the Brewers loss, the lead increases, but only by a tiny amount. That's because the Cardinals, who were only 1 1/2 games back entering the night, also won. 

So now things go Rockies, Cardinals (1.5 back), Brewers (2 back). Amazingly, a race that seemed all but over at the All-Star break is the best one remaining. 

Verlander dominates again

Since joining the Astros, Justin Verlander has morphed back into a one-man wrecking crew on the mound. He worked seven scoreless innings Friday night, allowing just one hit (a single) and two walks while striking out six. He even looks like the JV of old. Just completely dominant. 

Since joining the Astros, Verlander has a 0.64 ERA, 0.57 WHIP and 32 strikeouts against five walks in 28 innings. 

Royals blow game, postseason chances very slim

The Royals jumped out to a 6-2 lead over the White Sox on Friday, who by any objective measure are one of the worst teams in baseball. It didn't matter, as the White Sox stormed back with a five-run forth inning. Both Matt Davidson and Yoan Moncada came through with two-run homers. 

This puts the Royals 4 1/2 games back of the Twins for the second AL wild card with nine games to play. Plus, there are two teams to leapfrog. The "tragic" number (elimination number) is five. This is a very tall order and it feels pretty inevitable that the Royals will miss the playoffs. 

Once that happens, an era ends, as the Royals head into the offseason with the likes of Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain and more hit free agency. 

Forever Royal, sure, but the door on this nucleus is slamming shut. Friday night was very bad for these Royals. 

Scooter Slams

Reds infielder Scooter Gennett hit another grand slam. 

That's four grand slams this season, a Reds franchise record. 

Further, the Reds report that Gennett is the only player in MLB history to hit more than three grand slams in the same season that he had a four-homer game. He joins Lou Gehrig as the only players to ever have a four home run game and a season in which the player hit at least four grand slams. Gehrig just did his in two different seasons. Amazing. 

Gennett entered the season with 35 home runs in 456 career games. This season he now has 27 homers in 133 games. Remember, the Brewers released him in spring training. What a remarkable story. 

Ramos is all the way back

Rays catcher Wilson Ramos started the season on the disabled list thanks to a late September torn ACL last season. Obviously for a catcher, that's an even bigger issue than it would be for a different position player. Not surprisingly, Ramos started slow. 

In June, Ramos hit .143/.188/.357. In July, he hit .213/.238/.361. In August, he was close to being back, slashing .274/.321/.411. In September, heading into Friday, Ramos was hitting .302/.302/.535. Friday night, Ramos clubbed two home runs, including a grand slam. He also added a double for good measure, giving him a 3 for 4 night with 10 total bases. The two-way threat we saw with the Nationals is clearly back to his old self. 

Olson homers again

This is getting silly. A's rookie Matt Olson hit another home run. This was his sixth in the last seven games and check this out: 

Twenty-four home runs in 68 career games. Unreal. 

Tigers won't bring back Ausmus

The Tigers on Friday announced that manager Brad Ausmus will not have his contract extended beyond the current season. That means he won't be back in the Detroit dugout for 2018. Ausmus and his staff will remain in their current roles for the remainder of the 2017 season. Read more here. 

Quick hits