Historic Chases · 2026-08-13

The Rays have won 9 straight, and are 9-1 in their last 10. Collapse watch in the NL West: the Dodgers' lead over the Padres was 14.0 games 18 days ago — it's 8.0 now. The Dodgers have gone 6-10 while the Padres went 12-4.

Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) is on a 30/30 pace — 27 HR and 30 SB, projecting to 36/40. Power and speed usually live in different bodies, which is why fewer than fifty players have ever managed both in one season. Both numbers have to land — that is what makes the club so small.

Also last night: Kyle Schwarber (PHI) hit 2 home runs — and led off the game with a home run ▶︎ watch; The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Miami Marlins 13-1.

Seasons on a historic footing: Jacob Misiorowski (MIL), an ERA of 1.76, tied for 9th among the 4,338 qualified seasons since 1969 with Tom Seaver's 1.76 in 1971 and 13.80 strikeouts per nine innings, 2nd among the 9,603 qualified seasons on file and behind only Gerrit Cole's 13.82 in 2019; Dylan Cease (TOR), 13.09 strikeouts per nine innings, 5th. The earned run average rank is given from 1969 on because the lowest earned run averages were thrown before the mound was lowered in 1969, and a rank across those eras is not a comparison the numbers support.

Went deep more than once: Rafael Flores Jr. hit 2 home runs, driving in 6 — his first career multi-homer game ▶︎ watch.

Lines of the night: Jake Bauers' tiebreaking single in the 9th put the Brewers ahead for good in a 5-4 win over the Dodgers ▶︎ watch; Braxton Ashcraft (PIT) went the distance — a complete game (3 hits, 1 run, 10 K) ▶︎ watch; Four starts of note: Payton Tolle allowed two hits over 8.0 scoreless innings (4 K) ▶︎ watch; Walbert Ureña allowed two hits over 6.0 scoreless innings (5 K) ▶︎ watch; Keider Montero (DET) went 6.1 scoreless ▶︎ watch; Logan Gilbert (SEA) went 6.0 scoreless ▶︎ watch.

What changed from last season: Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) — walk rate up from 4.7% to 12.3% (29 in 620 plate appearances in 2025, 65 in 527 this season); Jackson Merrill (SD) — stolen bases up from 1 in 115 games in 2025 to 23 in 119 this season; Junior Caminero (TB) — walk rate up from 6.4% to 12.5% (41 in 643 plate appearances in 2025, 65 in 521 this season). 3 of 322 rate comparisons across 62 men on this season's leaderboards, corrected for having looked that many times.