There are only four days left in the regular season, so here are some of the top stories entering Thursday’s action…
1. Orioles on verge of clinching:
Four of the six division winners have already been crowned, but the Orioles could join the club with a win over the Red Sox today. Baltimore’s magic number has dropped to one, so just a single O’s win or Rays loss would make the Orioles AL East champions for the first time since 2014, and for just the third time in their last 40 seasons. In addition to a first-place finish in the AL East, the Orioles would also secure the top seed and home-field advantage throughout at least the American League’s side of the postseason bracket. (At 99-59, the Orioles probably aren’t catching the 102-56 Braves for the top seed throughout the playoffs.) It was just in 2021 that the Orioles were 52-110 and still seemingly caught in the throes of a rebuild, making their sudden rise back to prominence all the sweeter for Baltimore fans.
2. Rangers and Mariners begin a critical series:
The Rangers are also closing in on the AL West, though with a magic number of two and with the Astros not playing on Thursday, Texas won’t be able to clinch the division until Friday at the earliest. Still, heading into the start of this big four-game series between the two AL West rivals, the wild card race will also be a focus since the Mariners sit 1.5 games behind Houston for the third and final AL wild card berth. With a 9-16 record in September, the Mariners are no longer in control of their own playoff fate, as they’ll have to both pick up at least a couple of wins over Texas and hope for collapses from either the Astros or Blue Jays to sneak into the playoffs as a wild card. If the Mariners sweep Texas, a longshot scenario also exists that would see the M’s still capture the AL West. Jordan Montgomery is the Rangers’ scheduled starter tonight, while Logan Gilbert will take the hill for the Mariners.
3. Acuna founds the 40-70 club:
Okay, so it’s technically the 41-70 club, and Ronald Acuna Jr. had also been the only person in the 41-68 club, the 40-68 club, the 39-68 club, and so forth. But, since round-number achievements just have a bit more of a ring to them, Acuna’s incredible season at both the plate and on the basepaths hit yet another big milestone yesterday when he stole his 69th and 70th bases of the season. No player with at least 40 homers in a season had ever stolen as many as 46 bags in the same year before Acuna exponentially raised the bar in 2023.
While Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Braves teammate Matt Olson will have something to say in NL MVP voting, Acuna’s huge season is increasingly looking like the favorite to capture the award. Hitting the 70-steal plateau is also of particular note for a player who suffered a torn ACL just two years ago, making Acuna’s return to not just his old form but to new stolen-base heights all the more remarkable. MVP results aside, Acuna’s biggest goal is to help lead the Braves to a championship, as his ACL tear forced him to miss Atlanta’s run to the 2021 World Series.
Ronald will obviously win MVP. If he were a DH, then there would there be a conversation to consider Mookie
Mookie didn’t do himself any favors saying it doesn’t matter and it’s all about winning the WS a few days ago. He’s weird for that. But then again, I think he still misses Boston and is stuck in 2018 going through the motions. He’s still on a HOF trajectory obviously. I just don’t like the fact he said it didn’t matter to him.
Why should it matter to him? Baseball is a team sport. Kids dream of winning the WS, not winning an MVP. I don’t think Mookie misses that classless BoSox fanbase or Boston. Your comment sounds so bitter…
You should moonlight as a psychic since you’re tapped into Mookie’s superego and id. Bravo
Proclaiming a lack of interest in individual awards and highlighting the importance of the WS is something any professional team player would say. I don’t understand your take.
Guy speculating on how Mookie feels calls out other guy speculating how Mookie feels… only room for one psychic in this chat I guess.
I can understand Mookie not worrying about being MVP. It’s out of his hands. Unfortunately, the media votes for that. But he can do something to help his team win the WS, so that is in his hands.
Let’s ask Barry Bonds which one matters more. I think players care more about a World Series Ring then a trophy that says you did great.
Misses Boston? Yikes. He hated Boston and called it racist.
Yea…sure he did. Keep throwing that word around like hello
Mookie said he didn’t care about winning the MVP because he knows that Acuna is gonna win it!
Everybody knows.
ESPN and MLB Network just want to make it seem like it’s not decided yet because that gets better ratings
But Acuna wining is the better story, I bet he wins the majority of the 1st place votes
@just_breathe
I mean, right now Mookie has an 8.3 WAR to Acuna’s 8.1 and Mookie has a 169 WRC+ to Acuna’s 170. They seem pretty neck and neck to me. Matt Olsen could well be third and could ‘steal’ a vote or two from east leaning voters that might otherwise go to his teammate Acuna. It’s not hard to see a scenario where Betts ends up with the award. Not saying he does, but I wouldn’t say there’s a certainty either way.
Its not nearly neck and neck as it was a few weeks ago. Mookie has cooled off since that torrid august pace. Acuna has kept marching on.
I expect Acuna to win the MVP, but I do sense some growing momentum for Betts, who has delivered more valuable and should win the award.
@LordD99 — Growing momentum for Betts? Based on what? Acuna’s been dominating the national headlines on the record chase the last 2 weeks, while Betts continues to put up steady production. Betts beating Acuna by +0.3 fWAR is really all he has, as he’s behind in almost every cat except for RBI (+2). Sure, it’ll be closer than what some are saying, but don’t be dismissive over the record weight with voters Acuna has over Betts.
“Most RBI by a leadoff hitter” < "only 40/70 season"
The 70 SBs doesn’t seem as big of a deal as it seems. If the bases had been bigger earlier, a lot of guys would have broken that mark a long time ago. With his speed, Acuna doesn’t need any help. Still, I think he should get MVP. What stinks is that Matt Olson is hardly mentioned. He’s not a base-stealer but he’s done what he does better than anybody: home runs and RBIs.
Laughable take. If Acuna played in the 80s, when pitchers took forever to get to the plate, hed probably have over 100 SB. Different generations, appreciate greatness. He hasnt had that many close plays while stealing, so im not sure why you are discounting this.
So since it’s so easy, who else stole 70 bases this year? Must have been dozens, right?
People forget all the previous records were set pre-replay. You didn’t have guys called out for coming off the base for a milli-second. The stars got all the calls back in the day. So, yeah bigger bases…
First of all, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you haven’t seen all of Acuna’s SBs. With manfred’s new rule, pitchers can’t throw to 1b more than two times, giving runners a good chance to get a good lead off of 1b. I’m not going out on a limb when I say Willie Mays could have achievedat least 40/70 even in a different generation.
Smacky: Replay does make a big difference. Acuna didn’t steal 70 bases last season with regular-sized bases, but he did with the larger ones and with pitchers only allowed to throw to 1b twice. I’m taking nothing away from Acuna. He can do it all, offensively and defensively. He’s a great athlete. I’m just saying that manfred made changes geared the offense and Acuna took advantage of the SB part of it. Manfred gave it to players and a lot of them took it.
He was recovering from an ACL tear. He didn’t even start DH-ing until the end of May. He was never healthy last year and obviously the team told him to take it easy. Notice he doesn’t run full speed on obvious ground outs. So yeah bigger bases…
Smacky: What is Acuna’s SBs total in a single season pre-bigger bases?
What do you think about his bat flips, chains, and eye black?
You’re not adding any value to the discussion. So you win a “mute”
If we’re talking about wild tales of players in the past, I wonder how many HR even some of today’s mediocre HR hitters could have back in the mid-20’s when an average FB was in the 70’s. Joey Gallo was born 100 years too late.
Three square inches.
He didn’t even get 40-40.
Growing momentum in his pants for Betts
Yes it is hard to see anyone but acuna..its been acuna all season and nothing has changed i love mookie but its not close
Except 40/70. That’s why Acuna takes the MVP.
@Canuckleball using your logic, Freddie Freeman could just as well steal enough votes to swing it back to Acuna.
It’s not MVW. Mookie will not win this award. He is fantastic. Ronald’s 40-70 with that avg and ops is just too special
The Baseball Writers do the voting.
As I am confident that the Baseball writers never have had their votes for any award or induction influenced by a players attitude in any of the voting they have ever done, I’m sure that Mookie being one of the nicest, most well spoken, always polite players will certainly not see the voting influenced by his demeanor and attitude towards his fellow players and the media.
Wampum Walloper: Are you kidding me? The media always makes mistakes. If a player is unavailable for an interview, especially on deadline, to that reporter it’s a mark against them. If a player gets annoyed with a question because it’s personal or he’s already answered it a dozen times and tells the reporter to, in not so many words, mind his own business, strike two. If a writer doesn’t like a player’s attitude or playing style that’s personal only to that writer, strike three. Then there’s the one writer who didn’t vote for Aaron to get into the HOF unanimously because he wanted to be that guy who will forever be THAT guy, strike three. Writers are humans with all the human faults the rest of us have. I’m sure in the not too distant future analytics or one of manfred’s robots will decide awards.
Yeah, I was reminded the other day how Mariano is the only unanimous HoFer. Best closer of all-time, but of A-L-L the greats that are in Cooperstown, he’s the first and only in MLB history, tells you a lot of baseball writers use their pen and their vote as a sword.
I was being sarcastic @avenger65. Mookie will surely get a little push on the ballots for being who he is as a personable, great interview guy.
Incredible year from Acuna. 40/70 isn’t something I ever expected to see.
Acuna…stealing a page out of Henderson’s book last night. Stop the game, pull the base, celebrate, look at me look at me. Surprised he didn’t grab a mic and declare himself the greatest of all time.
Have you tried crying about it? That might work.
He did something that has literally never been done in the 150 year history of professional baseball.
What about Cal Ripken running around Camden shaking everyone’s hand in the stadium during a game? Or does he get a pass because he’s a white dude?
getrealgone: If you want to turn this into a color issue, that’s you’re problem. Ripken ran around the field receiving congratulations from the home town fans because he broke a record that many thought would never be broken. Gehrig’s record stood since the 1930s. As I recall Ripken waved to the fans when he broke the record
He was encouraged by teammates to do a lap around the park. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with Acuna’s celebration. When Henderson set the legitimate single season record for SBs, he also raised 2b over his head. But Henderson, who is black, didn’t make a show of it. I can’t say I like the bat flips that most players do after hitting a HR or standing at home plate admiring their HR, or doing a dance around the bases, but I can understand that everyone has their own style. It reminds me of what pitchers like Bob Gibson would do to that hitter know what he though about the player showing him up during his next time up:showing him up: a pitch in the ear
getrealgone: If you want to turn this into a color issue, that’s you’re problem. Ripken ran around the field receiving congratulations from the home town fans because he broke a record that many thought would never be broken. Gehrig’s record stood since the 1930s. As I recall Ripken waved to the fans when he broke the record
He was encouraged by teammates to do a lap around the park. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with Acuna’s celebration. When Henderson set the legitimate single season record for SBs, he also raised 2b over his head. But Henderson, who is black, didn’t make a show of it. I can’t say I like the bat flips that most players do after hitting a HR or standing at home plate admiring their HR, or doing a dance around the bases, but I can understand that everyone has their own style. It reminds me of what pitchers like Bob Gibson would do to that hitter know what he though about the player showing him up during his next time up: a pitch in the ear
getrealgone2, change your user name to justarealracist
I think you may have unwittingly turned it into a color issue. So Ripken broke a record that no one ever thought would be broken, so it was cool for him to take laps around the park. But Acuna doing something by setting a record (not breaking one, setting one) makes you think about him being hit with a pitch?
It was clearly scripted. They had the extra base ready. I’d imagine the team told him to do it. Stopping the game for this was a non-issue compared to how the umps gifted the Cubs their first run when they called an obvious foul tip a passed ball and then couldn’t review it because replay has stupid exclusions.
Sis Bream: You didn’t read my post correctly. I was saying that, in the 1960’s, the game was different. Pitchers like Bob Gibson (St. Louis Cardinals, HOFer in case you didn’t know) players who showed up pitchers by flipping their bats or dancing around the bases would most likely get a close up look at the ball next time up. Benches didn’t clear, umpires didn’t warn both benches. It was part of the game. I in no way suggested Acuna should get thrown at after pulling up 2b and celebrating. It’s a different day.
“It reminds me of what pitchers would do…..pitch in the ear” OK.
The National league was founded in 1876, and the American League began play in 1901, and in all that time no one had ever had a 40/70 season. Seems reasonable to take a little time to celebrate the accomplishment.
They had the extra base ready. There was a member of the braves staff with the new base and a member of the Braves staff with a camera on the ready. They had a video tribute ready for Acuna’s 7oth steal. This is an organizational choice. He did what they asked him to do. The other players reminded hi to lift up the base. He had forgotten in the excitement of the moment. ‘He didn’t; grab a mike and declare himself the greatest of all time?” Really skewed narrative IMHO. Do you begrudge Ricky from saying what is very close to the truth in that moment? Or do you begrudge Acuna something the team and their PR department created?
Monsox seems old and easily triggered.
I would have preferred for Seattle to have won 2 or even 3 games there so Texas could control their fate and not have to worry about Houston and could just win against Seattle the end of the year, but I guess they now only have to worry about Houston. If they lose all 4, they still have a tie breaker advantage vs Seattle, so they would need Houston to lose 2 of their games vs Arizona. Although the chances of being Texas swept by Seattle are “only” 1 in 16 with a 50% chance of winning, the odds would be 1 in 256(!) for both Texas being swept in a 4 game series vs a similar team and for Seattle sweeping a separate team with similar talent in 4 games. Thus, had Seattle won more games, the last series would have exponentially increased their odds. Sadly for them, they also trail Houston.
As an A’s fan, I was really hoping for a Seattle sweep of Houston. Bummed it played out how it did, but hopefully Seattle can sneak their way in. Wouldn’t mind seeing Semien get a ring though.
Agree on the Seattle vs Houston part – they were up 1-0 for a few innings even
As an Angels and not-Astros fan I was hoping for the same. I bet most of baseball was Mariners fans this week.
The Mariners went 9-3 against the Astros this year, but losing this last series reduced their chances of postseason play to almost nothing.
They wouldn’t likely be in this situation had they brought in better players to start the season. Those first three months of bad baseball have proven to be costly.
First 3 months of bad baseball? They’re 9-16 in September!
Exactly. M’s poor play at the beginning of the season has put them in this position to begin with. Just haven’t won enough games and now they’re up against it here at end of the season.
Point being the poor play at the END of the season is the real reason they’re missing the playoffs.
It’s both my dudes, not one or the other.
Yeah, the first three months were more damaging than this single month.
The point is that they could have been better prepared.
They wouldn’t be in this situation if they were a better team. They are average, at best. Playing well for a month doesn’t change that fact. This was inevitable.
Agree. And Servais is a mediocre manager at best as well.
Mariners were 47-48 through July 19th and are 6-9 from Sept 11th through yesterday.
Kelenic on the roster 53-57
From July 20th through Sept 10th 32-16.
Intense hyper people can have a negative influence on everyone around them.
Kelenic was like the only bat performing during the early season. He is far superior in the outfield to Teo and others as well. I get what you are saying but you (and me) know zero about the inside of that clubhouse or how Kelenics intensity affects it. He’s not a team leader IMO, guys like JP/Castillo/Suarez have way bigger psychological effects on the team than Kelenic. My guess would be his headspace affects himself much more than others.
Look at how much those first five and a half months of bad baseball cost the Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals, and Padres.
Give Freddie Freeman the award so everyone loses their minds that none of the other three won it
GO O’S!!!
That’s Michael Harris II in the pic…
Lol oops
Waiting for the “racist” comment in 321…
Go up about 15 posts and read realgone’ comments comparing Ripken to Acuna.
Yeah. I blocked him, so I used the MLBTR app to read those comments. The idea that people can freely inject race into anything without any consequences if they are not white disturbs me. What’s even scarier is that many of those guys are white people acting like white knights. If anything, this brings more attention to skin color than before. That post is totally unacceptable, and I am certain that all the people working for this site will ignore that comment to please the internet.
Question: I’m looking at the playoff picture and as of right now, the O’s would play the winner of TOR/TBR game, but why don’t they determine that based on the actual rank?
Let’s say that Houston beats Minnesota and as a #6 rank, technically, the O’s should get the lower ranked team, so Houston. Just seems odd to not re-rank the teams after each round.
They don’t re-seed for the playoffs like the NFL. Personally, I’d rather play the winner of Tampa/Toronto based off the O’s record against them…more so Toronto.
I believe, if Houston gets the last WC spot, Baltimore would play the winner of the Toronto/Houston series.
If Houston gets the last WC spot, they are playing the Twins (AL Centeal winner/#3), not Toronto.
As it stands, the division winners are Baltimore (I know, not officially), possibly Texas as things stand now, and Milwaukee. WC: 1) TB; 2) Toronto; 3) for the sake of argument, Houston. Baltimore and Texas, as no. 1 and 2 seeds, get a bye.No. 3 Milwaukee, would play no. 4, TB. No.5, Toronto, would play no.6, Houston. 3 vs. 4, 5 vs. 6.
I stand corrected, Roid ille. 3 plays 6, 4 plays 5. My apologies.
Did Milwaukee switch leagues again? Showing your age. Though no one would miss a Minnyhaha omission since they haven’t won a playoff game in like 20 years
@DDT Not the Brewers, the Milwaukee Twins! They play right next to the Milwaukee Vikings and the Milwaukee Timberwolves and we can’t forget the Milwaukee Wild on the NHL
They also journeyed to St Paul to visit Fonzie where they stumbled upon Ozzy Cooper at Arnolds whereupon they exclaimed “We’re worthy! We’re worthy!”
He couldn’t bring himself to type out 41/69 club.
Four players in the discussion and all 4 play for two of the same teams. Normally they would probably all cancel eachother out but i think in this case what Acuna has done is otherworldly and not likely to be done again so in that i would give him the edge in MVP voting
Rsix: With the bigger bases, I can think of someone who hits a lot of HRs like Mookie breaking that mark, unless Acuna does it again and improves upon it. On the other side, I hope catchers aren’t judged by how many base stealers they throw out. SFs Bailey is the only one that’s figured it out.
Was it Acuna the Braves got before they got busted for breaking the international signing rules? If so, it was totally worth it for them. And for signing him for dirt cheap. Imagine what this dude would get as a free agent this year. Too bad he’s all about himself over the team.
All those HR, SB, RBI, and runs scored sure have helped the team.
Did someone tell Acuna that bc he may not know it yet? He may stop hitting homeruns and focus on reaching 80 SBs.
The rangers actually passed on him. so blame them
Nope, it was Kevin Maitan.
I think the only other offer he had was from the Yankees. They offered him $10,000 while the Braves offered him $100k
No. Acuna was brought in by Wren who was the gm(also Albies). The Coppy gm era had the scandal. AA is the gm that signed Acuna to that contract extension (and Albies, Strider, Olson, Arcia, Riley, Murphy, TDA, MHII. and Morton). Acuna is so much about himself is why he played injured most of the year last year. Why the team keeps building around him. Why he took the team friendly deal. The draft penalties and the international draft penalties including the loss of 13 prospects were/are the biggest penalties ever given to a team. Ever. A huge blow no other team has ever received. Even though other teams missteps are changing the game on the field. So no, Coppy’s scheme was totally not worth it in any way.
Love this narrative that the guy is selfish thinking his personal accolades aren’t also reflective of his team, that are also breaking records. Quite a coincidence that Olson is breaking franchise records at the same time Acuna is — or do people conveniently not piece together that the guy with the highest OBP in MLB (Acuna) hitting atop the lineup and leading MLB in runs is also the RBI that Olson is setting a franchise record in. If Acuna wasn’t having the year he was, Olson wouldn’t have that record…or those robust numbers the team/him are enjoying. Personal awards are team awards unless baseball is golf or tennis all of a sudden.
It’s pretty obvious who follows the team and who watches the MLB channel/ SportsCenter. The MLB channel has really gone to hell. It used to be interesting now it’s just random games.
It wasn’t Acuna, it was Kevin Maitan and MLB voided his contract, he got to keep his money and he signed with the Angels, where careers go to die, so he is no longer in the league and never made it to the majors.
I saw him less than a month ago playing for the AA-Trash Pandas in Madison, AL and I’m baffled how much hype there was on him.
He was only 16 y/o when he was signed, He got 4M signing bonus from the Braves and then 2M from the Angels. Not sure how much he actually got to keep from both, but pretty sure he ate it all.
Is it going to be sweepless for Seattle?
And winless for Minnyhaha