With September arriving, the pressure is about to spike across MLB. Division races are tightening, wild-card spots are getting crowded, and a handful of players are carrying outsized weight for teams trying to secure their place in October.
Aaron Judge is the big one for the Yankees. New York is hoping its captain can return to the lineup sometime this month after being sidelined since May 31 with a right rib fracture.
The timing matters because the Yankees offense has struggled badly without him, sitting in MLB’s bottom three in runs scored, OPS, wRC+ and batting average while Judge has been out. If the Yankees are still within reach of the American League East title when he comes back, the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays will have to keep pushing.
Shohei Ohtani brings a different kind of urgency for the Dodgers. His September importance runs in two directions: when he returns to the mound for the first time since July 3, and how quickly he gets going at the plate again.
On the pitching side, Los Angeles gets another front-line weapon; Ohtani’s 1.79 ERA across his first 14 starts showed exactly why that matters. But the Dodgers need the bat to catch fire too.
Entering Saturday’s action, Ohtani was hitting .225 over his last 14 games, going 49 at-bats in that stretch.
Pete Crow-Armstrong is right there in the MVP conversation, and he’s also been central to the Cubs’ push. Chicago entered Saturday just 4-6 over its previous 10 games and was trying to hold onto the top National League wild-card spot with the Philadelphia Phillies only one game behind.
Crow-Armstrong has been the catalyst for that lineup, and the Cubs need him to keep producing if they want to bring momentum into the postseason. A six-game set in September against the division rival Milwaukee Brewers could say plenty about where Chicago is headed, and where PCA stands in the MVP race.
Zack Wheeler’s September is about damage control. The Phillies right-hander is scheduled to start again on Sunday, his last outing of August, and both he and the club need it to go well after a rough second half.
Wheeler opened the season with a 2.13 ERA over his first 15 starts, but since the All-Star break he has posted a 7.18 ERA in seven starts and is 0-4 in that span. Philadelphia still had a 95.5 percent chance to make the postseason heading into Saturday’s action, but Wheeler’s form is going to stay under the microscope the rest of the way.
Miguel Vargas may be the surprise name on the list, but the White Sox have been one of the season’s surprises too. Vargas entered Saturday needing one home run to become just the third primary third baseman in White Sox history - after Robin Ventura in 1996 and Joe Crede in 2006 - to post 30 doubles and 30 homers in the same season.
He also led the American League with 92 runs scored before Saturday’s games, which tells you how much he has meant to Chicago’s offense. If the White Sox are going to finish off their worst-to-first run with an AL Central title, Vargas, who led the team with 4.6 bWAR, has to keep delivering.
In Other News...
Yankees Just Added A Former Mets Prospect Fans Never Expected
The Yankees added a familiar name to their system this week, signing outfielder Jarred Kelenic to a minor-league deal with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Once one of the more talked-about prospects in the Mets organization before being dealt away, Kelenic now lands on the other side of New York as a depth move for a club trying to keep its upper-level roster stocked for the stretch run.
Kelenic has continued to show he can hit in the minors, even if that success has not yet translated into consistent results in the majors. For the Yankees, the appeal is less about an immediate big-league role and more about adding an experienced outfielder who could help the RailRiders as they push toward the postseason, while leaving open the question of whether there is still another step left in his career path. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Suddenly Have An Internal Answer To A Messy Infield Decision
The Yankees are in the middle of a postseason race, but the front office is already looking ahead to a trickier question in the infield. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is headed for free agency after the World Series, Ryan McMahon is still under contract but has delivered only modest production while dealing with injury, and that combination has left New York with an opening to sort through before the roster gets any tighter.
Roderick Arias may have given them an internal option worth watching. The prospect has shown better offense and enough defensive flexibility to handle both second and third base, which gives the Yankees a possible path if they want to reshape that side of the diamond for 2027. It is still early, but for a club trying to balance present contention with future stability, Arias has quietly become part of the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Fans Can Already Laugh At Boston's Adley Rutschman Gamble
Bostons bid to land Adley Rutschman has already turned into a rough early return for a move that cost the Red Sox a haul of top prospects, including Harold Rivas as the player to be named later. Rutschman was supposed to help stabilize the middle of the lineup while bringing his well-regarded defense behind the plate, but the offensive side has not come close to matching the price Boston paid.
Since the trade, Rutschman has struggled badly at the plate, hitting .133 in 45 at-bats and posting a weak overall line that has only sharpened the scrutiny on the deal. The glove still gives Boston something to point to, but with the bat not following and the prospect package already out the door, this is the kind of gamble Yankees fans can enjoy watching from a distance. [Read more 🡒]