Andy Pettitte, who has won five World Series championships in his 15 seasons with the Yankees, announced Friday that he will retire at the end of the season.

It will now cost about a gallon of gas to see all remaining 141 live and out-of-market games over these last 10 days of this regular season. Major League Baseball Advanced Media announced Friday that it dropped the cost of MLB.TV Premium to just $3.99 to follow the frantic finish.

Justin Verlander tossed a quality start but labored through a high pitch count, and the Tigers were shut down by Hisashi Iwakuma in an 8-0 loss on Wednesday. Despite the loss, Detroit’s magic number dropped to five.

A bang-bang play at Chase Field on Wednesday night, when Michael Young was called out trying to score on an Adrian Gonzalez double, was a perfect example of why MLB is considering a blanket instant-replay system to be implemented as early as next season.

Billy Hamilton recorded three hits and four stolen bases in the first start of his big league career, also scoring the winning run in the 13th inning on Jay Bruce’s two-run double. Cincinnati beat Houston, 6-5, Wednesday to stay 2 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central while gaining a game on the Pirates.

After a wild Wednesday when the electric tension that defines September’s stretch run hit a season high, October seems a little bit closer. And while it truly is for some, the issue of playing in the postseason is anything but settled for others.

Starter Stephen Fife allowed four runs in 2 1/3 innings and Ronald Belisario was charged with five runs while recording one out in the eighth on Wednesday night as the Dodgers’ first win-and-in attempt to clinch the National League West title was thwarted by the D-backs.

Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams, who has been dealing with a right elbow injury for more than a year, said he aggravated the elbow during his at-bat in the sixth inning.

After surrendering two runs in the first, Adam Wainwright settled in, and the Cardinals hung on to grab a 4-3 win over the Rockies on Wednesday night and take a two-game lead in the NL Central.

The Nationals realize that they have to win as many games as possible in order to play in the postseason, but they took a step back Wednesday night as they fell to the Braves, 5-2, at Nationals Park.

Desmond Jennings’ walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th inning gave the Rays a 4-3 win over the Rangers on Wednesday. The win also put Tampa Bay a game ahead of Texas for the first AL Wild Card spot and prevented the Rangers from claiming the tiebreaker and home-field advantage in the AL Wild Card Game, should the two teams finish the regular season with the same record.

Desmond Jennings singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 12th as the Rangers fell to the Rays, 4-3, on Wednesday. The loss was the Rangers’ 14th in their past 18 games, and they’re one game behind the Rays for the top spot in the AL Wild Card race.

Alex Wood has been a composed and rather quiet character throughout his rookie season. But thanks to a costly and disputed call made by veteran umpire CB Bucknor, we now know that Wood also has a fiery temper.

The Red Sox lost center fielder Shane Victorino towards the end of Wednesday’s 12-inning 5-3 loss to the Orioles with a jammed right thumb.

The Red Sox will have to wait at least one more day to clinch a postseason berth. Chris Davis made sure of that when he punched a two-run single up the middle with two outs in the top of the 12th to lead the Orioles to a 5-3 victory on Wednesday night at Fenway.

After allowing Ross Ohlendorf to face the minimum through his first five innings Wednesday, the Braves saw Alex Wood unleash his venom on home-plate umpire CB Bucknor during a heated exchange after the Nats tallied the game’s first two runs. Wood’s fiery exchange seemed to spark a slumbering offense. Dan Uggla and Justin Upton homered during a three-run sixth inning that propelled the Braves to a much-needed 5-2 win over the Nationals.

The Tampa Bay franchise has recorded six consecutive winning seasons. This is good, not only for the Rays, but for baseball.