As Derek Jeter embarks on his final week of baseball — and final four games at Yankee Stadium — manager Joe Girardi said Sunday that he expects to play the Yankees’ captain in every game until the season’s conclusion.

Nelson Cruz was recognized on Sunday as the Most Valuable Oriole, beating out Adam Jones and Zach Britton for the team award.

With the Yankees still mathematically alive for a playoff spot, Carlos Beltran, under the team’s direction, has opted to delay surgery until the end of the season. Beltran, who has recently experienced more pain due to the bone spur in his right elbow, said doctors recommended surgery, which requires a 12-week recovery period. That amount of time, however, won’t make much of a difference to Beltran’s offseason by preventing things another week.

Marcus Stroman has dropped his appeal and began serving a five-game suspension on Sunday. Major League Baseball originally suspended Stroman for six games for his role in an incident Monday night, when he threw a pitch over the head of Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph. His punishment was reduced without a hearing.

Gerrit Cole on Sunday morning wanted to clarify a misconception arising from the aftermath of Brewers pitcher Matt Garza twice hitting Andrew McCutchen with pitches in Saturday night’s game against the Pirates.

Every lineup, every day, as they are made public by the clubs.

Count Saturday as a day of missed opportunities across Major League Baseball, as a handful of teams couldn’t capitalize on the chance to enhance their postseason position.

Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and David Freese each homered as the Angels snapped a brief two-game losing streak with an 8-5 win over Texas on Saturday night at Angel Stadium. Jered Weaver earned the win in a quality start of seven-plus innings pitched to become the AL’s first 18-game winner.

The Indians kept their American League Wild Card hopes alive with their 7-3 victory over the Twins on Saturday night at Target Field.

Tempers on the Pirates’ bench boiled over Saturday night when Milwaukee pitcher Matt Garza was ejected in the fifth inning after hitting Andrew McCutchen with a pitch for the second time in the game. Garza first plunked McCutchen in the third. When Bucs starter Edinson Volquez brushed back Ryan Braun in the fourth, home-plate umpire Marty Foster issued warnings to both benches.

Starting pitcher Matt Garza and manager Ron Roenicke weren’t around to see the Brewers break their cycle of late-inning letdowns with a 1-0 win over the Pirates at PNC Park on Saturday night. They were back in the clubhouse after being ejected when Logan Schafer gave the Brewers a lead in the ninth with a pinch-hit sacrifice fly. With seven games to play, the Brewers pulled back to 3 1/2 games behind the Pirates in the chase for the National League’s second Wild Card spot.

Given all the time he’s missed, the likelihood that Ryan Zimmerman could come back from his Grade 3 hamstring strain in time to help out the Nationals as they try to secure home-field advantage in the postseason seemed pretty dim. But in a flurry of rehab activity over the last week, Zimmerman made a convincing case for Washington to activate him from the disabled list in time for Saturday’s game at Marlins Park.

With a show of power unseen at home this season and a good-enough return from Michael Wacha, the Cardinals put themselves on the cusp of ensuring at least game No. 163. An 8-4 victory over the Reds in front of a home sellout crowd on Saturday reduced the Cardinals’ magic number for a postseason berth to one.

For a team that hasn’t been hitting home runs lately, the Astros came out bashing Saturday night. Chris Carter and Alex Presley hit two-run home runs in the first inning off Seattle’s Chris Young, propelling the Astros to a 10-1 blowout at Minute Maid Park with the roof open, a rarity in Houston in September.

Of all the days to enjoy a comeback win, the Nationals chose a good one. With the Dodgers losing to the Cubs earlier in the day, Washington had a chance to be 2 1/2 games over Los Angeles for the best record in the National League if the Nats beat the Marlins. A 3-2 win on Saturday at Marlins Park gave them just that.

San Diego’s Andrew Cashner came three outs away Saturday night from pitching his second consecutive shutout, but the Giants’ ninth-inning rally wasn’t quite enough as they dropped a 3-2 decision that stalled their chances of capturing the National League West title.

Adam Jones tied the game with a two-run home run in the third, only his second since Aug. 20. Two innings later, he turned a narrow lead into a comfortable four-run cushion with another two-run shot. Four days after clinching the American League East, the Orioles cruised to a 7-2 win against the Red Sox in front of 43,015 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.