MLB power rankings: Playoff picture begins to take shape

Within the next week, the Sox, who just clinched a playoff berth, will meet their inevitable date with 100 wins. But within that march to the century mark, last Wednesday’s victory stands out uniquely on its own. That is because despite being down six runs entering the ninth inning, the Sox managed to pull out a 9-8 victory over the Braves, capped by a three-run Brandon Phillips homer. The win completed a sweep of the NL East leaders and made the Sox the first team this year to conquer a six-run deficit after the eighth inning, with the rest of baseball combining to go 0-487 on the year to date.

The stakes have been high for the Stros of late, and they have met the demands. Their recent winning streak reached seven games over the weekend before ending on Sunday but after their final series of the regular season with the Red Sox was already in hand. Over along the way, both A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow received well-deserved extensions and Alex Bregman kept up his second-half tear, reaching 30 homers for the first time.

For the second time in under a year, the Yanks added a former MVP to their ranks, landing Andrew McCutchen from San Francisco just before the Aug. 31 trade deadline. Joining Cutch in the Yankee lineup was also the returning Gary Sanchez, another addition that helps to aid the uncertainty over the immediate future for Aaron Judge. Gleyber Torres has done his part to shoulder the load of late, hitting .340 with 13 RBI over the past two weeks.

The A’s emerged from a gauntlet of the AL’s best over the past few weeks with a sizable comfort zone for the final AL Wild Card spot. Winners of six of their last seven, they have opened an 8.5-game cushion over the Mariners and sit only two games back of the Yankees — whom Oakland took two of three from last week. In the process, Khris Davis became the first player since Ryan Howard in 2009 to have three consecutive 40-homer seasons.

Things are looking comfortable headed into October — and toward a third consecutive NL Central crown. Thirteen of the Cubs' final 20 games are at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, where their 44-24 mark is the second-best home record in the National League. Only the final trip of the season to St. Louis takes them away from Chicago at all, as six of those remaining contests are a "visit" to the White Sox.

On Sunday, Jose Ramirez swiped his 30th base of the year to go along with his 37 home runs, making him the first member of the 30/30 club since 2012. Next on the milestone watch for the Tribe is Corey Kluber, who could reach 20 wins by the end of the week. His 10-strikeout victory over the Royals last week was his 18 ^th  of the year, marking the fourth time in the last five years he tallied as many wins. And oh, did we forget to mention that Josh Donaldson is coming to town?

The Brewers have not been shy about calling out the Cubs and saying they want smoke with the only club north of them in the NL Central standings. They are in Chicago for their final series of the season against the Cubs, and they are just two games behind them in the standings. It is a chance to make a statement, as the next possible matchup between the two would be if one or the other survives the NL Wild Card play-in game in just three weeks.

Ronald Acuna has continued to live up to his prodigious expectations and then some. With his 25^th home run on Sunday, he became one of the seven players ever to hit as many long balls before their 21^st birthdays. He joins a group of luminaries that includes Frank Robinson, Mel Ott and Al Kaline. Not bad company nor trajectory for the potential NL Rookie of the Year.

Before dropping an improbable pair of series to the Reds and Tigers the past two weekends, the Cardinals had won 10 straight series for the third time in franchise history. Undeniable catalysts in the resurgence of the Cards have been a pair of their youngest members: Harrison Bader and Jack Flaherty, both of whom have moved into the NL Rookie of the Year conversation. Bader is third in the NL in defensive WAR, while Flaherty’s 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings is fourth highest in MLB history for a rookie with 120 innings pitched.

The Rockies have been fighting tooth and nail to stay atop the NL West, a division where first and third place are separated by only 2.5 games. While Nolan Arenado has struggled of late to push the club ahead (.162 over last two weeks), All-Star shortstop Trevor Story has stepped up to do the heavy lifting, including his three-homer barrage last Wednesday that traveled a total of 1,300 feet.

At 1.5 games back in the NL West, but just a game out of the wild card race, the Dodgers face what could be the definitive stretch of the season this week. They will travel to St. Louis for a four-game set against the Cardinals, before heading home for three with the Rockies. Seven consecutive games against your closest competition for an invite to the postseason is equal parts gift and curse.

The D’Backs are hanging on within the NL West race but are quickly running out of fingers on the edge of the cliff. Going back to Aug. 31, they have lost eight of their last 11, many of which have come due to failures from the back end of the bullpen. Brad Boxberger has allowed a run in each of his last four outings and picked up the loss on three of those occasions. A change at closer may be necessary for survival at this point.

While the Rays have been busy shaking up the outfield around Kevin Kiermaier, he has been busy reminding them of who he is. Kiermaier has been a major part of the underrated turnaround of the Rays over the last month, hitting .326 since Aug. 10 . Over the last week, Kiermaier has hit .545 with three home runs, and the Rays went 7-1 over that stretch.

Once squarely in the fight for an AL Wild Card position, the Mariners have fallen on the brink of mathematical elimination from the postseason, something that has pushed them toward squaring up with each other instead. Seattle’s starting middle infielders, Jean Segura and Dee Gordon, reportedly had it out with each other in the locker room before last Tuesday’s game. It is another sign that the annual collapse of the Mariners is nearly complete.

While it is not officially time to wave the white flag yet, the vultures are beginning to circle over the Phillies. Winners of just two of their last eight entering the week, the Phils have now fallen six games under .500 since the All-Star break and slipped to 6.5 games back of the Braves. It is tied for their largest deficit in the standings of the year.

Jacob deGrom aside, arguably no pitcher in the National League has been tougher to solve than Trevor Williams since the All-Star break. Coming into Monday, the 26-year-old had allowed eight earned runs over 54.2 second-half innings, good for a 1.32 ERA. (That number inched up somewhat after Monday's game against St. Louis, though, when he gave up four earned runs). Over the last month, opponents were managing just a .183 average against Williams. 

In just his first year in the role, Nationals manager Dave Martinez received the dreaded "vote of confidence" f rom general manager Mike Rizzo  in his performance last week. Rizzo, who holds a hook against his managers so quick that George Steinbrenner himself would have been impressed, may ultimately be the one who could end up needing the self-assurance of his place with the team, however, something that has not been offered up yet by owner Ted Lerner.

To call the week for Shohei Ohtani a roller coaster would be to greatly undersell it. He made his first appearance as a pitcher since July and became the first player since Babe Ruth to pitch 50 innings and hit 15 home runs in the same season. But later in the week, it was announced he reinjured his elbow to an extent that he would require Tommy John surgery. Yet in his own resilient and undeniable way, on the night of receiving that news, he hit a pair of home runs and continues to make an impact in a fashion only he is capable of.

In a week when Josh Donaldson's days in Canada came to an end, the saddest outcome did not come from the departure of the former MVP, but in that we would not be getting a glance at a potential future one this year. The club opted against bringing up the game’s top prospect, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., for a cup of coffee in the big leagues, instead closing out his year at Triple-A Syracuse. Guerrero Jr. hit .381 with 20 home runs in what will without a doubt be his final year south of the majors.

Jacob deGrom’s defiant candidacy for NL Cy Young honors got another feather in its cap last week when he recorded his 25^th  consecutive start of three earned runs or fewer. Of course, the Mets have netted him only eight victories so far, but the regularity of the dominance is getting ridiculous at this point. It's further reason why if Todd Frazier wants to steal an out here and there like he did last week, don’t hold it against him.

The frustrations continue for the Giants, who on Sunday lost their eighth straight game. It inches them closer to a second straight losing record, which would be the first time the organization has strung together losing campaigns in a decade. But whatever you do, don’t tell Madison Bumgarner there is nothing left to play for. Tempers flared on Sunday after he hit Milwaukee's Ryan Braun with a pitch after flirting with such an outcome in multiple pitches earlier in the at-bat.

One of the most pronounced home/road splits on the year is who the Twins are at Target Field as opposed to away from it. At home, they look to be more of the team they were expected to be, owning a 41-30 record. But their road record is a disastrous 23 games under .500, where their team OPS drops to .676 from .754 at home.

Joey Gallo is far from a finished product, but one area he has unquestionably mastered is the long ball. Gallo joined Mike Trout, Giancarlo Stanton, Albert Pujols and Manny Machado as the only active players to have two 35-plus homer seasons before their 25th birthdays. He is the first Ranger to do so since Juan Gonzalez in 1994.

It is incredibly hard to stay motivated to produce day in, day out when there is nothing to play for. So hats off to Eugenio Suarez, who topped both 30 home runs and 100 RBI in the last week. Between Joey Votto, Scooter Gennett and himself, the Reds have remained at least a tough out — even if their pitching staff often lets those efforts go to waste (5.32 August team ERA).

A fight between the club's set of TV announcers made the most waves around the team in months while also providing a "Major League" style subplot to an already disastrous year. Partners for 17 years, Mario Impemba and Rod Allen were suspended for the year after mixing it up in an altercation that got physical, further proving the rigors brought on by limping through a fruitless six-month marathon.

More than a few eyebrows raised when the Padres were able to get Francisco Mejia back in exchange for Brad Hand in July, surprised at the prize the Padres were able to acquire. Mejia quickly got to work in proving why this was the case, homering in his first two at-bats with his new club last week. It has not been a pretty second half for the club, but at least the sunset on the season has a few nice views.

Wei-yin Chen has been good of late (two or fewer earned runs in six of last seven starts) and Dan Straily has been solid as well, with a 1.07 WHIP in August. But neither can stir up the type of excitement that Sandy Alcantara has in his first two starts of the year. The rookie hurler, who came from St. Louis in exchange for Marcell Ozuna, has allowed a single run over his first two starts while striking out eight (but also walking seven in 12 innings).

As if it hadn’t poured down enough on the White Sox this year, the umbrella finally blew away last week. First, there were the rumblings of Eloy Jimenez potentially filing a grievance against the club for not bringing him up as the minor league season came to an end, citing time manipulation of his contract rather than performance. Then if that wasn’t enough, Michael Kopech tore his UCL and it was announced he would be out until 2020 following Tommy John surgery.

Jorge Lopez, a part of the Mike Moustakas trade with Milwaukee, came within moments of providing an exciting sidebar to an excruciating season in KC. The 25-year-old nearly pulled off a perfect game on Saturday night. But it was not meant to be, as the Twins broke up the perfecto and then the no-no in back-to-back at-bats. All the same, over his last two starts, Lopez has allowed just two earned runs while striking out 12 and walking one over 15 innings.

The Orioles announced they will wear uniforms with the club’s name spelled out in Braille on Sept. 18 to honor the National Federation of the Blind. While the considerate gesture is the first of its kind, many Orioles fans likely wish they could have begun claiming membership with the NFB months ago.