Historic Chases · 2026-09-01

Overnight: Kyle Schwarber (PHI) added 2 strikeouts. Schwarber has struck out 198 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 (40) — one every 12.5 at-bats. The strikeouts are the price of the power.

No club in baseball has been hotter: the Phillies have won 22 of their last 30, 3 clear of the next club among the 30 with 30 games played. They were 10 games under .500 on April 24 (8-18); they are 79-60 now. The Phillies have won 6 straight, and are 10-0 in their last 10. Collapse watch in the NL East: the Braves' lead over the Phillies was 8.5 games 18 days ago — it's 3.0 now. The Braves have gone 9-8 while the Phillies went 14-2.

The so-what: Yordan Alvarez (HOU) is holding an AL Triple Crown — he leads the AL in average (.317), home runs (37) and RBI (94). Across both leagues he is 3rd in MLB in home runs and 4th in MLB in RBI. The three are not the whole of it: among the 71 qualified AL hitters he also has the highest on-base percentage (.433) and slugging percentage (.604), and the most total bases (299) and walks (96) — 4 of the 9 other categories this site checks. OPS is on-base plus slugging, so leading both puts his 1.037 on top as well rather than making it a category of its own. No one has won a Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera in 2012, and only 17 have ever been won. The chase is not one number now — it is three, every night, until October.

For the second straight night: The Minnesota Twins hung 15 runs on the Detroit Tigers (15-2)

HISTORY LAST NIGHT: Lazaro Montes made his MLB DEBUT and went 2-for-4 and homered — and hit his first career home run ▶︎ watch; Luis De León made his MLB DEBUT and threw 1.0 innings, struck out 1 and allowed 2 runs ▶︎ watch.

Seasons on a historic footing: Jacob Misiorowski (MIL), 13.18 strikeouts per nine innings, 5th among the 9,603 qualified seasons on file, behind four seasons, led by Gerrit Cole's 13.82 in 2019; Dylan Cease (TOR), 12.72 strikeouts per nine innings, 6th.

Also last night: Connor Prielipp went 5.0 scoreless ▶︎ watch; Bradgley Rodriguez has not allowed a run in his last 13 innings; Fernando Tatis Jr. (SD) hit 2 home runs ▶︎ watch.

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

What changed from last season: Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) — walk rate up from 4.7% to 11.9% (29 in 620 plate appearances in 2025, 73 in 612 this season); Jackson Merrill (SD) — stolen bases up from 1 in 115 games in 2025 to 24 in 137 this season; Nolan Arenado (AZ) — strikeout rate up from 12.2% to 22.8% (49 in 401 at-bats in 2025, 104 in 457 this season); Taylor Ward (SEA) — home-run rate down from 6.2% to 1.5% (36 in 579 at-bats in 2025, 7 in 481 this season). 4 of 820 rate comparisons across 158 qualified hitters and pitchers, corrected for having looked that many times.

Lines of the night: TJ Rumfield's tiebreaking home run in the 7th put the Rockies ahead for good in a 4-2 win over the Orioles ▶︎ watch; Jose Trevino's tiebreaking single in the 8th put the Reds ahead for good in a 4-3 win over the Padres ▶︎ watch; Freddie Freeman (LAD) homered for the first time since July 4, ending a 47-game drought — his 16th of the season; Tyler Phillips went 5.0 scoreless — and came out after 69 pitches, having allowed no runs over 5.0 innings ▶︎ watch; Gavin Williams (CLE) allowed two hits over 7.0 innings (13 K) ▶︎ watch.

Month in the books: the Phillies went 21-7 in August 2026, the highest win percentage any club posted in a full month this season. The franchise's best is still 22-5 in May 1976.