Historic Chases · 2026-09-05

Kyle Schwarber (PHI) extended his lead in home runs to 2 — 41 on the season.

No club in baseball has been hotter: the Phillies have won 21 of their last 30, 2 clear of the next club among the 30 with 30 games played. At its peak the run reached 22-8. They were 10 games under .500 on April 24 (8-18); they are 80-62 now.

CJ Abrams (WSH) is on a 30/30 pace — 29 HR and 28 SB, projecting to 33/32. Power and speed usually live in different bodies, which is why fewer than fifty players have ever managed both in one season. Power and speed in the same season is the whole story from here.

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.

What changed from last season: Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) — walk rate up from 4.7% to 12.0% (29 in 620 plate appearances in 2025, 75 in 626 this season); Jackson Merrill (SD) — stolen bases up from 1 in 115 games in 2025 to 24 in 139 this season; Nolan Arenado (AZ) — strikeout rate up from 12.2% to 22.8% (49 in 401 at-bats in 2025, 106 in 464 this season); Taylor Ward (SEA) — home-run rate down from 6.2% to 1.4% (36 in 579 at-bats in 2025, 7 in 486 this season). 4 of 808 rate comparisons across 156 qualified hitters and pitchers, corrected for having looked that many times.

Lines of the night: Two go-ahead plays: Jonathan Aranda's tiebreaking home run in the 10th put the Rays ahead for good in a 6-3 win over the Rangers ▶︎ watch; Tommy Edman's go-ahead home run in the 7th put the Dodgers ahead for good in a 6-5 win over the Nationals ▶︎ watch. Bryan Reynolds (PIT) homered for the first time since July 28, ending a 34-game drought — his 16th of the season; Two starts of note: Jeffrey Springs allowed two hits over 7.0 scoreless innings (6 K) ▶︎ watch; Yusei Kikuchi went 6.0 scoreless ▶︎ watch. Parker Messick (CLE) struck out 12 over 6.0 IP ▶︎ watch.

Went deep more than once: Christian Koss hit 2 home runs — his first career multi-homer game ▶︎ watch; Riley Greene hit 2 home runs, driving in 4 ▶︎ watch.

Found velocity: Chris Bassitt's sinker averaged 93.6 mph — his hardest start of the season, 1.8 mph over his 10-start baseline.

History movers: Yordan Alvarez (HOU) — Triple Crown (AL).

Also last night: Juan Morillo has not allowed a run in his last 12 innings; Rafael Devers (SF) hit 2 home runs ▶︎ watch.

Sweep watch: the Red Sox swept the Orioles (3 games) — their 2nd sweep in 16 days. 1 other club was swept the same night.