Historic Chases · 2026-08-19

Overnight: nothing — Kyle Schwarber (PHI) held flat, and flat bends the projection down. Schwarber has struck out 184 times, projecting to 233. Mark Reynolds' record is 223. That pace would be the most strikeouts in any season since 1901. League strikeout rates have roughly doubled since 1980, so the all-time list is not an even comparison. But he's doing damage too: he leads MLB in home runs (37) — one every 12.3 at-bats. The strikeouts are the price of the power.

The Phillies have won 6 straight, and are 8-2 in their last 10. Collapse watch in the NL East: the Braves' lead over the Phillies was 8.0 games 18 days ago — it's 4.5 now. The Braves have gone 8-8 while the Phillies went 12-5.

The so-what: Yordan Alvarez (HOU) is holding an AL Triple Crown — he leads the AL in average (.317), home runs (36) and RBI (88). He leads the AL in all five of batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, home runs and RBI — every one of them, among the 68 qualified AL hitters. It has been done four times in the AL since 1920, most recently by Frank Robinson in 1966. No one has won one since Miguel Cabrera in 2012, and only 17 have ever been won. Three categories, one player: that is what makes it one of the rarest things on the board.

Seasons on a historic footing: Jacob Misiorowski (MIL), an ERA of 1.75, 8th since 1969 and 13.60 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), 13.14 strikeouts per nine innings, 5th. Those ranks are 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.

What changed from last season: Jackson Merrill (SD) — stolen bases up from 1 in 115 games in 2025 to 24 in 125 this season; Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) — walk rate up from 4.7% to 12.3% (29 in 620 plate appearances in 2025, 68 in 555 this season); Nolan Arenado (AZ) — strikeout rate up from 12.2% to 23.4% (49 in 401 at-bats in 2025, 96 in 411 this season); Taylor Ward (SEA) — home-run rate down from 6.2% to 1.6% (36 in 579 at-bats in 2025, 7 in 446 this season). (1 more cleared the same bar.) 5 of 803 rate comparisons across 156 qualified hitters and pitchers, corrected for having looked that many times.

Lines of the night: John Rave's tiebreaking double in the 8th put the Royals ahead for good in a 9-7 win over the Athletics ▶︎ watch; Freddie Freeman (LAD)'s tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the 10th put the Dodgers ahead for good in a 6-4 win over the Rockies ▶︎ watch; Parker Messick (CLE) struck out 10 over 6.2 IP — a season high, past his previous 6 ▶︎ watch; José Urquidy went 6.0 scoreless with 8 strikeouts ▶︎ watch; Adrian Houser went 5.0 scoreless ▶︎ watch.

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

Start streaks: Cade Cavalli (WSH) has struck out 8 or more in each of his last three starts (8, 10, 11); Aaron Nola has struck out 8 or more in each of his last three starts (8, 9, 8).

Sweep watch: the Royals swept the Athletics (3 games) — their 2nd sweep in 31 days. 3 other clubs were swept the same night.

Also last night: Grant Taylor has not allowed a run in his last 16 innings; Will Dion has not allowed a run in his last 12 innings; The Dodgers are 26 games over .500, a season best.

For the second straight night: Luis Arraez (PHI) homered and leads the majors in 2 categories — batting average (.319) and hits (155)