Historic Chases · 2026-09-01

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.

CJ Abrams (WSH) is on a 30/30 pace — 29 HR and 27 SB, projecting to 33/31. 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.

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; Cesar Perdomo made his MLB DEBUT and threw 4.0 innings, struck out 4 and allowed 1 run; 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: 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: Two go-ahead plays: 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; Three starts of note: 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; Connor Prielipp went 5.0 scoreless ▶︎ 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.