PHOENIX (AP) — Rookie sensation Corbin Carroll was all smiles Wednesday, a couple of minutes after stealing his fiftieth base of the season, cracking his twenty fifth homer and main the streaking Arizona Diamondbacks to their fifth straight win.
If the 22-year-old is fazed by September playoff-chase baseball, he definitely hasn’t proven it. Ten days stay in MLB’s common season, and the playoff races are scorching, particulary in a crowded Nationwide League.
“That is the enjoyable half,” Carroll mentioned.
After all, that will depend on which approach you’re trending.
For each crew rising this time of the yr, there’s nearly at all times one other crew entering into the other way. Throughout their five-game profitable streak, the D-backs took three straight from the Chicago Cubs and two extra from the San Francisco Giants, two groups backsliding within the NL wild-card image.
The Giants fell to 76-76 after Wednesday’s video games and wish a minor miracle to get into the postseason.
“These have been must-win video games and, going again a number of video games, these have been additionally must-win video games,” Giants supervisor Gabe Kapler mentioned. “Now, the mathematics isn’t on our facet. Each sport is one we’ve got to win.”
The NL wild-card race has been tight for the higher a part of a month, with the Phillies, Diamondbacks, Cubs, Marlins, Reds and Giants scrambling to assert three playoff positions. It’s precisely the type of drama MLB hoped for when it expanded the playoff subject from 10 to 12 groups earlier than the 2022 season.
Listed here are a number of the different storylines because the lengthy 162-game common season reaches its finish.
AL WEST SCRAMBLE
The American League playoff race isn’t fairly as crowded, nevertheless it’s nonetheless one.
The Houston Astros, Texas Rangers and shocking Seattle Mariners are in a detailed battle for the AL West — the three groups have been separated by only a half-game within the standings after Wednesday. Concurrently, all three are contending with the Toronto Blue Jays for a possible AL wild-card spot.
When the mud lastly settles, three of the 4 groups might be within the playoffs. One won’t.
“It’s simply enjoyable to be enjoying significant video games,” Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman mentioned on Wednesday. “Each sport issues proper now and each win is one step nearer to our purpose.”
NL AWARDS
The NL MVP race continues to be an epic showdown between Ronald Acuña and Mookie Betts.
The 2 have remarkably related numbers in lots of respects: Acuña was batting .337 with 39 homers and 100 RBIs whereas Betts has a .310 batting common, 39 homers and 103 RBIs. Acuña’s prowess on the basepaths might push him excessive. The Braves speedster leads all of baseball with 67 stolen bases. Betts has completed all of his hitting whereas offering defensive assist in proper subject, second base and even shortstop.
The 2 have been so good that poor Matt Olson — who has slugged 52 homers in the midst of the Braves order — in all probability doesn’t have an opportunity, however he’s having a profession yr nonetheless.
The NL Cy Younger race can also be shut, although San Diego’s Blake Snell made an announcement with seven hitless innings in opposition to the Rockies earlier this week. Snell seems to be the favourite, however Arizona’s Zac Gallen, Atlanta’s Spencer Strider and Chicago’s Justin Steele are amongst those that might make a case of their remaining begin or two.
RODRIGUEZ PUSH?
Shohei Ohtani is probably going a lock for the AL MVP after arguably the very best five-month stretch in MLB historical past.
However Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez has a minimum of entered the periphary of the race after a mammoth second half.
The 22-year-old, two-time All-Star, hit .429 with a 1.197 OPS in August, nearly single-handedly keen the Mariners into the playoff race. He’s cooled off barely in September, however has nonetheless hit 10 homers over the previous 30 days.
The Mariners have been top-of-the-line tales within the sport over the previous few months. They have been sellers on the Aug. 1 commerce deadline — sending star nearer Paul Sewald to the Diamondbacks — however defied expectations with an incredible run of baseball over the subsequent 1 1/2 months.
THE DISAPPEARING WORKHORSE
San Francisco’s Logan Webb has thrown 207 innings this season after a six-inning outing in opposition to the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. He’s the one pitcher in baseball who has thrown a minimum of 200 innings by Wednesday.
There are a handful of different pitchers who will in all probability attain the mark — together with Arizona’s Zac Gallen (197 innings) and New York’s Gerrit Cole (192) — nevertheless it’s nonetheless exceptional how the beginning pitcher workhorse has rapidly disappeared from baseball’s panorama.
Simply ten years in the past, 34 pitchers reached the 200-inning mark.
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