Good morning.
- Brent Maguire lists everything that is up for grabs in September, including playoff races, awards, stat titles and milestones.
- Bob Nightengale has nine questions (with predictions) for the final month of the season.
- Mike Axisa has the big storylines to follow in September.
- David Schoenfield ranks the pennant and Wild Card races.
- ESPN baseball writers offer their predictions for the rest of the season.
- Jordan Schusterman has ten roster additions that could make a difference in the playoff races.
- AJ Cassavell notes that the Padres are going in reverse as the pennant race heats up.
- Jason Foster takes a look at the state of the Cy Young Award races in both leagues. Not much of a contest in either league at the moment.
- Kiri Oler asks if one great game or hot streak can swing the Rookie of the Year vote.
- Brian Murphy outlines how MLB could shatter the records for power/speed totals in 2025. In particular, how many players could finish the year with 20 home runs and 20 steals.
- Ben Lindbergh writes that the two teams with the best records in each league, the Brewers and Blue Jays, actually have a lot in common.
- Benches cleared in Colorado last night after Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland took exception to how long it took Giants first baseman Rafael Devers to round the bases after a home run.
- This is what people were talking about last night:
- Framber Valdez apologized for the cross-up, but insisted that it wasn’t intentional.
- Chandler Rome has more on the situation and Valdez’s apology. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- The Braves claimed infielder Ha-Seong Kim off of waivers. You probably knew that already. But Alden Gonzalez has more details.
- The Phillies signed right-hander Walker Buehler after the Red Sox released him. Jay Jaffe examines what’s wrong with Buehler and can he be fixed.
- Ken Rosenthal looks at the Tigers’ starting rotation (beyond Tarik Skubal) and entire staff heading into the playoffs. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Reliever Aroldis Chapman has signed a one-year extension with the Red Sox. Dan Szymborski examines Chapman’s late-career resurgence.
- It’s time to pay the butcher’s bill. Padres All-Star reliever Jason Adam is out for six-to-nine months with a quadriceps tear.
- Diamondbacks left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has a torn ACL.
- Brewers right-hander Shelby Miller exited after hearing a “pop” in his right elbow. That’s never good.
- Sonja Chen has more on Ohtani’s 100th home run as a Dodger.
- Mike Petriello says the Rays’ young star Junior Caminero’s bat shouldn’t distract you from his rapidly-improving defense at third base.
- Tyler Kepner profiles the Athletics’ switch-throwing rookie Carlos Cortes. (The Athletic sub. req.) And a bunch of other assorted stories from Kepner.
- Matt Snyder writes that position players pitching has gone from a fun novelty to an embarrassing annoyance.
- And finally, Trevor Story managed to hit a home run that Statcast says would not be a home run in 30 out of 30 parks.
- Jen McCaffrey and Zack Meisel have more on the “Pesky Pole” home run. (The Athletic sub. req.)