While much of the focus last offseason was on the trade that sent Giancarlo Stanton from the Marlins to the Yankees Kirk Gibson Jersey , there was another deal involving Miami that has turned out to have quite an impact on the postseason race.Christian Yelich was sent from the Marlins to Milwaukee in late January, and his second-half surge at the plate has the Brewers in good position to play on into October. If the season ended now, Milwaukee would be the National League’s top wild card, and the division title is still in play for the Brewers, who trail the Cubs by only 2½ games in the NL Central. Milwaukee can thank Yelich, who is hitting .343 with a .700 slugging percentage since the All-Star break.There’s been some discussion lately about whether a pitcher might win the NL MVP award, and that’s in part because the top position players haven’t really distinguished themselves. But Yelich’s work down the stretch for a team in contention has been impressive. The Brewers gave up a highly regarded prospect in Lewis Brinson to acquire Yelich. So far it’s working out nicely.Milwaukee ranks in the middle of the pack in the NL in both runs and ERA, and the bullpen that was so stellar early this season can only do so much. Despite their flaws, the Brewers have won 17 of their last 25 games, solidifying their postseason chances at a time when teams like the Phillies and Diamondbacks have stumbled.Elsewhere around the majors:WRAPPED UPThe Cleveland Indians clinched their third straight AL Central title Saturday, becoming the first team this season to win a division. It was almost a year to the day since last season’s Indians clinched. Cleveland secured the 2017 AL Central crown on Sept. 16, the day after the team’s historic 22-game winning streak was snapped.The Indians won 102 games last season but lost in the Division Series. This year’s team can’t finish any better than 96-66 and will likely have the worst record of any American League playoff team, but Cleveland is certainly good enough to beat anyone in a short series.The Indians will likely open the playoffs against either Houston or Oakland.HIGHLIGHTCredit Tyler Austin for the hustle. During an otherwise nondescript matchup Sunday between the Twins and Royals — who are a combined 58 games under .500 — the Minnesota first baseman made a running catch in foul ground and then went tumbling over a railing near the dugout. Austin also homered to help the Twins win 9-6.LINE OF THE WEEKLike the Indians, the Los Angeles Dodgers have slipped a bit after cruising through the 2017 regular season. Unlike Cleveland, the Dodgers are in a division that’s good enough to make them pay. So Los Angeles still has a fight on its hands just to make the postseason. If the Dodgers do get in, they can look back on Saturday night’s game at St. Louis as one of the key moments. That’s when Yasiel Puig hit three home runs to lift Los Angeles over the Cardinals 17-4.The Cardinals rebounded with a 5-0 victory Sunday night, knocking the Dodgers a half-game behind Colorado atop the NL West. Los Angeles is tied with St. Louis for the second wild card. TORONTO (AP) — Adam Jones stepped to the plate in the first inning http://www.dodgersfanproshop.com/authentic-maury-wills-jersey , saw a familiar face behind the plate and gave the Toronto catcher a warm, welcoming thump.Quite an unlikely reunion, indeed.“It was cool,” Blue Jays rookie Danny Jansen said Tuesday. “He hit me on the chest and said, ‘I’m proud of you, man. You made it.’ I’ll never forget it.”On Monday night, Jansen and the Baltimore Orioles star outfielder met up for the first time in quite a while.The two hadn’t seen one another since 2004, when Jones lived with the Jansen family in Appleton, Wisconsin, while playing for the local Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Host families are common in the low minors, a way of helping young players settle into the off-the-field routine of pro ball.Jones was 18 back then, a first-round draft pick in his second season in the Seattle Mariners’ organization. Jansen was 9, an aspiring athlete and, by his own admission, more than a little irritating at times.“I was young, so any ballplayer in there was a hero to me,” Jansen said of the different minor leaguers who inhabited his family home. “He was the most successful one that we had Fernando Valenzuela Jersey , baseball-wise. I was always the kid asking for a bat and a ball. He was just like, ‘Get away from me, man, get away from me.'”Jones did eventually hand a souvenir over to Jansen, but the treasured gift didn’t last too long.“He finally gave me a bat, and I was fortunate enough to have a batting cage in my backyard,” Jansen recalled. “My brother Matt, who is seven years older than me, he took the bat one day and he was taking BP and he broke it. I was upset about that one, I’ll tell you what. I probably had it for two weeks. I was nine, I couldn’t swing it anyway. I just thought it was cool he finally gave me a bat after a season of me asking for one. The next thing you know, it’s broken.”After moving up to Double-A the following summer, and later to the majors, Jones kept in touch with Jansen and his family, connecting through text messages and social media.With their own children now grown and out of the house, the Jansens resumed hosting minor league players this summer.“They always said it’s nice to have more boys in the house, to just have players and people around http://www.dodgersfanproshop.com/authentic-jackie-robinson-jersey ,” Jansen said.Before Tuesday’s game, Jones declined to speak about his relationship with Jansen, offering only a brief assessment of the rookie’s offensive abilities.“I’ll tell you this: he can hit,” Jones said of Jansen, who entered Tuesday riding a six-game hitting streak to begin his career.Otherwise, Jones preferred to tell his side of the story through social media. Prior to Monday’s game, the 33-year-old Jones tweeted a welcome to the 23-year-old Jansen.“Reunited with my old host family @D_Jansen31,” Jones wrote. “So proud of you pimp. From waking me up at 7am before you had to go to school and me getting in at 4am from a loooong bus trip, to playing against each other in the show!!!! This is a Movie.”In reply, Jansen tweeted “Let’s have some fun big bro.”On Tuesday afternoon, Jones tweeted a 2004 photograph of himself in a Timber Rattlers uniform, posing alongside a youthful Jansen, who is in his little league uniform“Hey @D_Jansen31, why you gotta grow up on me!!!!!,” Jones wrote.“14 years later and you still look the same,” Jansen joked in reply.Jones and Jansen exchanged more looks and gestures Monday after Jansen flied out to Jones to end the bottom of the first inning. Jones was there to make the catch again when Jansen flied out to right field to begin the sixth in Toronto’s 5-3 win.