has what would have been the first no-hitter in San Diego Padre history broken up in the ninth inning of a 6–2 Padre victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Joe Randa hits a two-run home run with one out in the ninth, the only hit Young will allow. September 23 – Barry Bonds hits his 734th home run, breaking the NL record set by Hank Aaron. He still trails Aaron in total career home runs. September 24 The Detroit Tigers beat the Royals on the road by a score of 11–4 to clinch a spot in the postseason for the first time since 1987. Padres closer Trevor Hoffman records his 479th career save, breaking the record held by Lee Smith since 1993. September 25 – The Minnesota Twins beat the Royals by a score of 8–1 to clinch a spot in the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons. Incidentally, the Royals are witness to opposing teams' celebrations in consecutive games after watching the Tigers clinch against them the previous day. September 26 – A 12–3 victory by the Oakland Athletics in Seattle coupled with a loss by the Angels gives Oakland its first AL West title and playoff spot since . September 27 – Aníbal Sánchez recorded his tenth win of the year for the Marlins, joining Josh Johnson, Scott Olsen, and Ricky Nolasco to give the Marlins four rookie pitchers with ten or more wins, the first such occurrence in major-league history. With Dontrelle Willis' win total, this also marked Florida's first set of five ten-game winners. September 30 – Both the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres clinch playoff berths by winning their respective games. October–December October 1 A loss by the Astros on the season's final day allows the St. Louis Cardinals to clinch their third straight National League Central title, despite St. Louis losing nine of their last twelve games after leading the division by seven games. The Detroit Tigers' fifth consecutive loss allows the Minnesota Twins to overtake them for the American League Central title. No other team has ever won the division on the season's last day without ever leading at any other point during the season. The Tigers earn the Wild Card berth instead. Though both teams win their final games to finish with identical records, the San Diego Padres win the National League West by virtue of a tiebreaker, and