As August winds down, the MLB season is shifting into that final grind where contenders separate from everybody else. Some clubs are about to use September 1 to get a longer look at younger players with the expanded roster limits. Most others are still locked in a fight for October.
With roughly 70% of the league still chasing something, the last month should be a wild one. Here’s how all 30 teams stack up right now.
At the very bottom, the Los Angeles Angels have slipped back after briefly climbing out of last place, and this could be the first 100-loss season in franchise history. The Colorado Rockies remain the NL’s worst club and are simply getting through the calendar. The Athletics have at least shown some life, picking up a couple of straight wins after an ugly two-month stretch, which is enough to move them up a bit.
The San Francisco Giants are also just riding out the season, while the Kansas City Royals have suddenly found a groove, winning 9 of their last 10. The New York Mets have stirred a little lately but still sit at the bottom of the East.
The Washington Nationals have fallen apart at the wrong time and are now more than 10 games under .500. The Detroit Tigers have dropped 8 of 10 and are getting uncomfortably close to being out of wild card contention.
A little higher up, the Toronto Blue Jays continue to bounce between being nearly finished and still hanging around, and the Baltimore Orioles feel like the same story in a different uniform. The Cincinnati Reds remain buried in last place despite playing in the league’s toughest division. The Seattle Mariners sit just outside the bottom 10, though there’s still a belief they could end up winning the West, especially if Cal Raleigh keeps waking up.
The Pittsburgh Pirates look like a team that will get plenty of preseason buzz next year, but this season appears done. The Minnesota Twins took one bad week and slid from the No.
3 Wild Card spot to four games back with five teams ahead of them. The Cleveland Guardians, though, refuse to go away.
A 7-game winning streak has them breathing down the White Sox in the Central and sitting in the third and final Wild Card spot.
The Texas Rangers’ bats have gone quiet, but the division is still there for the taking. The St.
Louis Cardinals have a record that would be good enough to lead the AL West, but they don’t play there, and a 5-game losing streak has put them on life support in the NL Wild Card chase. The Miami Marlins are hanging around too, just 4 games behind the Padres for the last NL Wild Card spot.
In the middle of the pack, the Houston Astros are in the odd position of fighting for first while still needing to win a couple in a row just to get above .500. The Arizona Diamondbacks are still a game behind San Diego for that final Wild Card berth, though the whole thing has had a smoke-and-mirrors feel all season.
Tory Lovullo deserves serious consideration for Manager of the Year. The San Diego Padres continue to hold the third and final NL Wild Card spot, but Arizona and maybe Miami could push this race all the way to the final week.
The Philadelphia Phillies have won 8 of their last 10 and remain more than 4 games behind the Braves in the division, though the postseason looks safe. The Boston Red Sox have taken 7 of 10 and are in firm control of the No.
2 Wild Card spot in the AL. The Chicago White Sox have spent more time in first than anyone else in the Central, and even if they aren’t quite ready for a playoff run, their youth could make them dangerous in October.
Near the top, the New York Yankees got Cody Bellinger back and are still waiting on the Big Guy. Aaron Judge and the rotation need to stay healthy if they’re going to make real noise.
The Chicago Cubs got Danny Palencia back last week and look set up for a postseason push, with Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes looming as factors in October. The Atlanta Braves have been uneven, but a recent three-game win streak steadied things after they dropped 5 of 7.
They still feel like a team that should have done more at the deadline.
The Tampa Bay Rays have been alternating wins and losses for two weeks, yet they still own the top spot in the AL East and the best record in the Junior Circuit. The road to the World Series looks like it runs through Tampa, even if the fan turnout is another question.
At No. 2, the Los Angeles Dodgers moved up a spot from last week and are still being made to earn the top rung. Shohei Ohtani is set to return to a rotation that recently added Blake Snell, and this month figures to be about getting the postseason arms in shape. It’s basically a second Spring Training for Los Angeles.
And for the second straight week, the Milwaukee Brewers hold No. 1.
They’re still the hottest team in baseball and carry a league-best +167 run differential. If they get any kind of quality starting pitching from anyone not named Jacob Misiorowski, they could go a long way in October.
In Other News...
Yu Darvish Just Reopened A Big Padres Rotation Question
Yu Darvish has quietly reached another checkpoint in his recovery, moving into light bullpen sessions as he works back from internal brace surgery on his right elbow. The rehab has stayed on schedule, and while there is still no firm commitment to a comeback this season, the progress is enough to keep the door open for next year. For a Padres rotation that has spent plenty of time under the microscope, even that kind of update matters.
Darvish is still under contract with San Diego for two more years, and he has already pushed back on offseason retirement talk. His next decision will come down to how the rehab continues to unfold, which leaves the Padres with a familiar kind of uncertainty: hope that an established arm can rejoin the mix, but no real timetable to build around just yet. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Ownership Already Faces A Long Term Test Fans Will Feel
The Padres have spent the past decade pushing chips to the center of the table, trading away top prospects for established big leaguers in the name of immediate success. It has kept them relevant and given them chances to chase October, but it has also left the organization with a farm system that has now been ranked last in MLB for three straight cycles, with Ethan Salas standing as the lone prospect in the Top 100.
New ownership has said it wants to invest patiently in scouting and player development, and there is at least some optimism around the 2026 draft class. Still, San Diego remains in win-now mode, which makes the balancing act unusually tricky: the major league roster needs help now, but the system behind it still needs time to recover. For Padres fans, the test is whether the club can keep competing at the top while finally rebuilding the pipeline it has spent years draining. [Read more 🡒]
Yu Darvish Is Giving Padres Fans A Reason To Reconsider Everything
Yu Darvish is back on the mound in a limited way, and for Padres fans that alone is enough to stir up old hopes. He has now completed his second bullpen session since undergoing internal brace surgery on his right elbow, a sign that his rehab is moving forward after a long stretch of uncertainty around his future.
Darvish still has not ruled out retirement, so nobody inside or outside the organization should assume a comeback is coming. Even so, the idea of him rejoining a San Diego rotation that could use stability is hard to ignore, especially with so much unsettled on the pitching front. For now, the path back is only beginning to come into focus. [Read more 🡒]