Fall has arrived, and September is when clubs can rise or fall as the pressure intensifies in a postseason push.
1. Milwaukee Brewers (85-53) | Last week: 1
The Brewers have a 5.0-game cushion for the best record in baseball with less than a month to go in the regular season, but a series in Philadelphia starting today could cause things to tighten in a hurry. The matchup between Freddy Peralta (16-5, 2.58 ERA) and Ranger Saurez (10-6, 3.02 ERA) on Thursday should be awesome.
2. Detroit Tigers (80-58) | Last week: 2
Detroit was swept by the Athletics to begin last week, but they rebounded by taking two-of-three from the Royals and now return home as the Mets come to town. With six shutout innings yesterday, Tarik Skubal broke the franchise record for games in a season with 6.0+ shutout innings (11).
3. Toronto Blue Jays (79-58) | Last week: 3
The Jays avoided a sweep against the Brewers with a win yesterday, and the AL East should be very interesting with the Yankees (3.0 games back) and Red Sox (3.5 games back) closing in. This weekend in New York will be a massive series.
4. Philadelphia Phillies (79-58) | Last week: 4
Philadelphia’s struggles against the Mets at Citi Field continued with a sweep to begin last week—but the NL East lead still looks comfortable at 6.0 games with New York failing to capitalize on the momentum. The Phillies have the best home record in baseball (45-23).
5. Los Angeles Dodgers (78-59) | Last week: 6 (+1)
The Dodgers broke a tie with San Diego to now have a 2.0-game lead in the NL West—and I’m not sure they’ll look back with the soft schedule to begin September (@ PIT, @ BAL, v COL). Concerns about the rotation continues to be the question mark for October.
6. Chicago Cubs (78-59) | Last week: 5 (-1)
Chicago added a potential impact bat over the weekend with Carlos Santana joining the club, and he’s obviously been getting regular at-bats all year with Cleveland before his release—so should be ready to roll in a playoff race. The Cubs will face the Braves, Nationals, and Braves again over the next 10 days.
7. Boston Red Sox (76-62) | Last week: 9 (+2)
The Yankees are now ahead of the Red Sox in the standings, but Boston gets the edge in the power rankings based on previously taking three-of-four games against New York last weekend. That was followed up by a four-game sweep of the Orioles.
8. Houston Astros (75-62) | Last week: 8
Houston’s four-game series against the Angels carries over to today, and they’ll need a win to get the split. In general, the bats need to wake up with the red-hot Yankees visiting tomorrow.
9. San Diego Padres (76-61) | Last week: 7 (-2)
The Padres couldn’t take advantage of the series win over the Dodgers last weekend—losing series to the Mariners and Twins to lose ground in the NL West. San Diego does get a similarly easy schedule like LA (including seven games against the Rockies through September 14), but they’re back in trailing position.
10. New York Yankees (76-61) | Last week: 11 (+1)
New York showed resiliency by responding to three losses against the Red Sox by winning seven in a row before the streak was ended yesterday; but now the matchups get tougher again over the next two weeks (@ HOU, v TOR, v DET, @ BOS) for a stretch that could tilt the season one way or another.
11. Seattle Mariners (73-64) | Last week: 10 (-1)
12. New York Mets (73-64) | Last week: 12
13. Texas Rangers (71-67) | Last week: 15 (+2)
14. Kansas City Royals (70-67) | Last week: 14
15. Cincinnati Reds (69-68) | Last week: 13 (-2)
16. Cleveland Guardians (68-67) | Last week: 16
17. St. Louis Cardinals (68-70) | Last week: 17
18. San Francisco Giants (68-69) | Last week: 20 (+2)
19. Arizona Diamondbacks (68-70) | Last week: 18 (-1)
20. Tampa Bay Rays (67-69) | Last week: 19 (-1)
21. Miami Marlins (65-72) | Last week: 22 (+1)
22. Los Angeles Angels (64-72) | last week: 21 (-1)
23. Oakland Athletics (63-75) | Last week: 25 (+2)
24. Atlanta Braves (62-75) | Last week: 24
25. Minnesota Twins (62-74) | Last week: 26 (+1)
26. Baltimore Orioles (61-76) | Last week: 23 (-3)
27. Pittsburgh Pirates (61-77) | Last week: 27
28. Washington Nationals (53-83) | Last week: 28
29. Chicago White Sox (49-88) | Last week: 29
30. Colorado Rockies (39-98) | Last week: 30