In a matchup with American League Wild Card implications, right-hander Cody Anderson tossed 6 2/3 strong innings and Carlos Santana hit a three-run homer to help the Indians defeat the Twins, 6-3, on Thursday night at Target Field. Cleveland moved within four games of Houston, while Minnesota fell 1 1/2 back of Houston.

Already an improbability, the notion of a Mets collapse has reached the point of near-impossibility. New York all but sewed up the National League East with a 6-4 win over the Reds on Thursday at Great American Ball Park; combined with the Nationals’ loss earlier in the day, it grew the Mets’ division lead to 7 1/2 games with nine to play while dropping their magic number to 3.

In the hour after the Royals’ 10-4 win over the Mariners that secured the American League Central title, players, coaches and front-office folks celebrated and partied with almost the same energy as last year’s postseason clincher in Chicago that locked up their first post-season trip in 29 years.

There was a notable first for the Padres on Thursday at Petco Park.

The postseason picture is shaping up, and every day has different storylines. Here are five to keep an eye on today.

The first order of business for general manager Dayton Moore’s 2015 Royals has been accomplished: With a 10-4 victory over the Mariners on Thursday, the Royals captured their first American League Central title.

Continuing a season that has surmounted even the most modest expectations, on Thursday night in the Yankees’ crucial 3-2 win over the White Sox, Alex Rodriguez became the eighth player in Major League history to score 2,000 runs. The latest milestone puts him in even more rarified air than that.

These players could provide difference-making stats for DraftKings participants today.

If you had any doubts about the Royals’ staying power, any belief that their October run of 2014 was a product of luck and timing — and plenty of people did — they spent all summer proving you wrong. And now, following Thursday’s 10-4 win over the Mariners, they’ve got their first American League Central title, their first division title of any sort in 30 years, to show for it.

It has been a special year for prospects graduating to the Major Leagues. The top five prospects in baseball entering the season all made the jump: Byron Buxton, Kris Bryant, Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor and Addison Russell. So did four of the top 10 picks in the 2014 Draft: Carlos Rodon, Kyle Schwarber, Aaron Nola and Michael Conforto.

Here are some facts and figures regarding the Royals’ first division championship since 1985.

Any lingering tension between the Orioles and Nationals didn’t materialize Thursday afternoon at Nationals Park. However, the Orioles showed that they are the Kings of the Beltways as they edged the Nationals, 5-4. Baltimore swept the three-game series and won the season series by winning four out of six games.

In a three-pitch span at Busch Stadium on Thursday night, the Cardinals used back-to-back blasts from Jhonny Peralta and Stephen Piscotty to flip a three-run deficit into a one-run lead and spark a 7-3 victory over the Brewers.

Carlos Beltran hit a three-run homer and Michael Pineda pitched six strong innings as the Yankees defeated the White Sox, 3-2, on Thursday at Yankee Stadium, moving within three games of the American League East lead with 10 games remaining.

Dave Dombrowski picked from within in making his selection for the next general manager of the Red Sox, promoting Abington, Mass. native Mike Hazen. After taking over as president of baseball operations for the Red Sox on Aug. 18, Dombrowski spent the last month getting to know every member of the baseball operations staff.

A day after clinching a postseason berth, the Pirates secured a four-game sweep of the Rockies on Thursday afternoon at Coors Field with a 5-4 win — their sixth straight — thanks to a lead-changing three-run homer to right field by Pedro Alvarez with two outs in the eighth inning. With the victory, the Pirates improved to 93-60 and remained four games behind the National League Central-leading Cardinals, who defeated the Brewers, 7-3, on Thursday. Pittsburgh trimmed its magic number to clinch the top NL Wild Card spot to seven. The Cubs, 3 1/2 games behind the Pirates, were idle on Thursday.

The Yankees honored Yogi Berra with a remembrance ceremony on Thursday prior to the team’s 3-2 win over the White Sox at Yankee Stadium, placing a floral arrangement in the shape of the catcher’s No. 8 behind home plate.