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Blake Snell Overtakes Joey Gallo for 1st Place in MLB The Show Players League
April 28, 2020
It's not quite October baseball, but the pennant race in the MLB The Show Players League was in full swing Monday.
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Blake Snell and Texas Rangers slugger Joey Gallo were the only ones who had clinched playoff spots heading into the day of competition, and the former secured the No. 1 seed in the eight-team playoffs with wins over Jon Duplantier of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Jeff McNeil of the New York Mets and Hunter Pence of the San Francisco Giants.
The league's official website noted the playoffs start Friday and will culminate in a best-of-five championship series.
Elsewhere, Bo Bichette of the Toronto Blue Jays, Gavin Lux of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dwight Smith Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles all had magic numbers of three or less entering play in the league, which is raising money for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Canada.
The tight race for the No. 8 spot also took center stage with Lucas Giolito of the Chicago White Sox holding on to a narrow half-game lead over Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs and a one-game lead over Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres and Amir Garrett of the Cincinnati Reds at the start of the day.
Here is a look at Monday's full set of results.
Bo Bichette, TOR
vs. Dahl (COL), 3-2 win
at Buttrey (LAA), 10-0 win
at Carpenter (STL), 4-3 loss
Ty Buttrey, LAA
vs. May (MIN), 4-2 win
vs. Bichette (TOR), 10-0 loss
at Kahnle (NYY), 2-1 win
Matt Carpenter, STL
vs. Bichette (TOR), 4-3 win
at Edwards Jr. (SEA), 1-0 win
David Dahl, COL
at Bichette (TOR), 3-2 loss
at Hoskins (PHI), 2-0 loss
vs. McNeil (NYM), 4-2 loss
Jon Duplantier, ARI
at May (MIN), 3-0 loss
vs. Snell (TB), 7-3 loss
Carl Edwards Jr., SEA
vs. Jackson (ATL), 4-3 loss
vs. Hader (MIL), 8-0 loss
at Lux (LAD), 5-2 win
at Carpenter (STL), 1-0 loss
Joey Gallo, TEX
at Soto (WSH), 4-3 loss
vs. Happ (CHC), 6-5 loss
Lucas Giolito, CWS
at McCullers Jr. (HOU), 6-3 win
vs. Soto (WSH), 3-1 loss
Niko Goodrum, DET
vs. Phillips (KC), 3-2 loss
at McCullers Jr. (HOU), 7-3 loss
Josh Hader, MIL
at Edwards Jr. (SEA), 8-0 win
vs. McCullers Jr. (HOU), 3-2 loss
Ian Happ, CHC
at Gallo (TEX), 6-5 win
at Stanek (MIA), 5-3 win
vs. Jackson (ATL), 4-2 win
vs. May (MIN), 3-2 loss
Rhys Hoskins, PHI
vs. Dahl (COL), 2-0 win
at Tatis Jr. (SD), 7-1 win
Luke Jackson, ATL
at Edwards Jr. (SEA), 4-3 win
vs. McCullers Jr. (HOU), 9-0 loss
vs. Happ (CHC), 4-2 loss
at Pence (SF), 1-0 loss
Tommy Kahnle, NYY
at Lux (LAD), 3-0 win
vs. Tucker (PIT), 1-0 loss
vs. Buttrey (LAA), 2-1 loss
Gavin Lux, LAD
vs. Kahnle (NYY), 3-0 loss
at McNeil (NYM), 6-3 loss
vs. Edwards Jr. (SEA), 5-2 loss
Trevor May, MIN
at Buttrey (LAA), 4-2 loss
at Snell (TB), 3-2 win
vs. Duplantier (ARI), 3-0 win
at Happ (CHC), 3-2 win
Lance McCullers Jr., HOU
vs. Giolito (CWS), 6-3 loss
at Jackson (ATL), 9-0 win
vs. Goodrum (DET), 7-3 win
at Hader (MIL), 3-2 win
Jeff McNeil, NYM
vs. Lux (LAD), 6-3 win
at Tucker (PIT), 5-0 win
at Dahl (COL), 4-2 win
at Snell (TB), 4-1 loss
Hunter Pence, SF
at Stanek (MIA), 2-1 loss
vs. Jackson (ATL), 1-0 win
at Snell (TB), 7-6 loss
Brett Phillips, KC
at Goodrum (DET), 3-2 win
Blake Snell, TB
at Duplantier (ARI), 7-3 win
vs. May (MIN), 3-2 loss
vs. Pence (SF), 7-6 win
vs. McNeil (NYM), 4-1 win
Juan Soto, WSH
vs. Gallo (TEX), 4-3 win
at Giolito (CWS), 3-1 win
Ryne Stanek, MIA
vs. Happ (CHC), 5-3 loss
vs. Pence (SF), 2-1 win
Fernando Tatis Jr., SD
vs. Hoskins (PHI), 7-1 loss
Cole Tucker, PIT
at Kahnle (NYY), 1-0 win
vs. McNeil (NYM), 5-0 loss
While Snell took full advantage of his opportunity Monday, Gallo did the opposite.
He lost both of his games in heartbreaking fashion by a single run to Happ and Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals, and the latter came on the final pitch of the game. With Gallo nursing a two-run lead with one out in the final inning, Soto launched a walk-off three-run homer with Yan Gomes to propel the virtual Nationals to victory:
Happ's victory over Gallo was part of his dramatic late run to the playoffs.
He led the virtual Cubs on a 10-1 stretch to finish the regular season and went 3-1 in Monday's action with his only loss coming against Trevor May of the Minnesota Twins. That helped him make up ground against crosstown rival Giolito, but the White Sox pitcher is still in playoff position as well thanks to the tiebreaker rules and some help from Tatis' loss to Rhys Hoskins of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Giolito is tied with Tommy Kahnle of the New York Yankees after the latter went 1-2 in three games Monday.
The former split two games Monday but finished with six more total runs scored than Kahnle, which was the first tiebreaker in the league.