But plenty more certainty was gained as a slate of nearly synchronized games played out. Nobody was eliminated. But a handful of traveling secretaries could hit “book” on hotel rooms and tell their pilots exactly where they should punch it in the team plane.

Ketel Marte’s two-run homer capped a six-run fourth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks stayed alive in the National League wild card race with an 11-2 rout of the playoff-bound San Diego Padres in th