For most of the season, my attention stays pretty firmly on the Colorado Rockies.
That will not change down the stretch, but the losses are starting to stack up again. The Rockies are 4-11 over their last 15 games, and that can get frustrating.
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Sometimes it is nice to look up and see what else is happening around baseball, and as the calendar nears September, it is a good time to do exactly that.
Fortunately, baseball’s final month looks to hold plenty of intrigue, both in the standings and on individual leaderboards.
While not a particularly good division, the AL West might be the least settled division race of all. Houston sits at 69-68, just one game above .500. Texas is 67-70 and two games back, while Seattle sits at 64-73 and five games out. Houston does not exactly look interested in running away with the division, but Texas and Seattle have not shown much desire to take it from them, either. Personally, I would not mind a Houston-less October.
Then there are the White Sox. Two years removed from losing 121 games, Chicago is 72-64 and leads the 69-68 Guardians by 3.5 games in the AL Central. Can they finish off one of baseball’s more unexpected division titles — or can the Rockies perhaps play spoilers in the final days of the season?
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Both Wild Card races still leave room for a late surprise. Cleveland holds the final AL spot, but Baltimore is just one game back, Toronto is 1.5 out and Texas sits two back. In the NL, Arizona holds the final spot by just a half-game over San Diego, while Miami remains 3.5 games out.
Meanwhile, Yordan Alvarez enters the stretch run hitting .320 with 37 home runs and 93 RBI. He leads the American League in all three categories, putting a Triple Crown firmly within reach.
On the mound, Jacob Misiorowski owns a 1.73 ERA with 222 strikeouts in 151 innings. If he can stay below 2.00 and reach 250 strikeouts, he would be the first pitcher to accomplish both since Jacob deGrom in 2018.
And the National League home run race is of particular interest to us Rockies fans. Kyle Schwarber leads the league with 40, Matt Olson has 37, and Hunter Goodman is tied with Pete Crow-Armstrong at 36. Goodman has already produced two three-homer games this season, so we know he can hit them in bunches.
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Those are a few things I will be watching.
What about you? What race, milestone, player or team has your attention as we head into September?
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