Historic Chases · 2026-08-22

Kyle Schwarber (PHI) extended his lead in home runs to 2 — 38 on the season.

No club in baseball has been hotter: the Padres have won 21 of their last 30, 2 clear of the next club among the 30 with 30 games played. They were 3 games under .500 on March 31 (1-4); they are 70-60 now. The Phillies have won 8 straight, and are 8-2 in their last 10. Collapse watch in the NL East: the Braves' lead over the Phillies was 7.5 games 18 days ago — it's 3.0 now. The Braves have gone 7-10 while the Phillies went 11-5.

Seasons on a historic footing: Jacob Misiorowski (MIL), an ERA of 1.68, 5th among the 4,338 qualified seasons since 1969 and 13.41 strikeouts per nine innings, tied for 3rd among the 9,603 qualified seasons on file with Randy Johnson's 13.41 in 2001, behind Gerrit Cole's 13.82 in 2019 and Spencer Strider's 13.55 in 2023; Dylan Cease (TOR), 13.03 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.

Lines of the night: Two go-ahead plays: Randy Arozarena's walk-off home run in the 9th beat the Cubs 5-4 — and he hit 2 home runs and led off the game with a home run ▶︎ watch; Dylan Beavers' walk-off double in the 10th beat the Rays 3-2 ▶︎ watch. Tarik Skubal struck out 11 over 7.0 IP — a season high, past his previous 7 ▶︎ watch; Three starts of note: Ryan Johnson allowed one hit over 7.0 scoreless innings (3 K) ▶︎ watch; Shane McClanahan went 5.0 scoreless ▶︎ watch; Blade Tidwell went 5.2 scoreless ▶︎ watch.

What changed from last season: Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) — walk rate up from 4.7% to 12.2% (29 in 620 plate appearances in 2025, 69 in 564 this season); Jackson Merrill (SD) — stolen bases up from 1 in 115 games in 2025 to 24 in 127 this season; Nolan Arenado (AZ) — strikeout rate up from 12.2% to 23.4% (49 in 401 at-bats in 2025, 98 in 419 this season); Taylor Ward (SEA) — home-run rate down from 6.2% to 1.5% (36 in 579 at-bats in 2025, 7 in 454 this season). 4 of 785 rate comparisons across 153 qualified hitters and pitchers, corrected for having looked that many times.

Went deep more than once: Luis Robert Jr. hit 2 home runs ▶︎ watch.

History movers: Phillies — Win Streak: 8 now, modern record 22 (Cleveland Indians, 2017).

Also last night: Elly De La Cruz (CIN) homered for the first time since August 7, ending a 14-game drought — his 21st of the season; The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals 12-3 — all nine starters hit safely, 14 hits through the order.

Streak watch: Gabriel Moreno (AZ) extended his hitting streak to 15 games. The next benchmarks: 20 gets noticed, 30 gets a nightly countdown, 44 ties Pete Rose's NL record, 56 is DiMaggio.

The so-what: Kyle Schwarber (PHI) has 38 home runs through 130 team games, a 47-homer pace — 17 behind Bonds's 2001 total at the same point (55 of his eventual 73). That's the number that decides whether this season becomes a chase or a footnote.