Historic Chases · 2026-08-22

Kyle Schwarber (PHI) extended his lead in home runs to 2 — 38 on the season. Schwarber has struck out 185 times, projecting to 231. 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 (38) — one every 12.1 at-bats. The strikeouts are the price of the power.

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 2026-03-31 (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.

The so-what: Yordan Alvarez (HOU) is holding an AL Triple Crown — he leads the AL in average (.319), home runs (36) and RBI (90). He leads the AL in all five of batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, home runs and RBI — every one of them, among the 67 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 1.68, 5th since 1969 and 13.41 strikeouts per nine innings, 3rd among the 9,603 qualified seasons on file, behind Gerrit Cole's 13.82 in 2019; Dylan Cease, 13.03 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.

Lines of the night: 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; Ryan Johnson allowed one hit over 7.0 scoreless innings (3 K) ▶︎ watch; Shane McClanahan went 5.0 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; Randy Arozarena (SEA) hit 2 home runs ▶︎ watch.

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

Also last night: Blade Tidwell went 5.2 scoreless ▶︎ watch; 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.