With under 50 games left in the regular season, the sprint is on for teams around the league to the playoffs. In the American League, there are seven teams within 5.5 games of one another battling for just three Wild Card spots.
In the National League, it is a little tighter, but there are still three teams within two games of one another vying for two Wild Card spots.
While most of the focus is on the play on the field, there is plenty of news off the field as well. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest stories from around MLB this week.
Tatis Suspended, Done For Season
In the biggest news of the week, the San Diego Padres were hit with a bombshell as star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr was hit with an 80-game suspension after testing positive for Clostebol, which is a banned performance-enhancing substance.
It has been a rough year for Tatis, who has not played a game this season after fracturing his wrist in a motorcycle accident over the offseason. Tatis had been working his way back during a rehab assignment but will have to watch the big league club from the sidelines now.
The Padres, who made the biggest move of the trade deadline after acquiring Juan Soto, sit in the second Wild Card spot, a half-game ahead of the Phillies and two games ahead of the Brewers.
Still, San Diego was hoping to be able to pair Soto and Manny Machado with a healthy Fernando Tatis to end the season. That will no longer be the case, and after losing six of their last 10, the Padres have been reeling as we move through the last third of the season.
The Padres sit in second in the NL West but sit a whopping 16 games behind the Dodgers. They still have the seventh-best odds of winning the World Series at +1800.
Michael Brantley Out For Season
At 75-41, the Houston Astros have the best record in the American League, but they suffered a blow of their own this week. After being out since the beginning of June, it was officially announced that Michael Brantley’s season is over as he underwent season-ending shoulder surgery.
Prior to the injury, the 35-year-old Brantley was hitting .288/.370/.416 with five home runs, 26 runs batted in, and 28 runs scored in 243 at bats.
While general manager James Click indicated that they did not know the extent of his injury at the trade deadline, he did bring in a couple of offensive reinforcements in the form of Trey Mancini and Christian Vazquez.
Losing the veteran presence of Brantley is still a blow to an Astros’ offense that ranks 11th in scoring, averaging 4.51 runs per game.
Houston currently has a 13-game lead over the Seattle Mariners in the AL West. They are +165 to win the American League and are tied for the second-best odds to win the World Series at +400.
Wacha Returns, Shuts Down Yankees
Sitting 4.5 games out of the third Wild Card spot, the Boston Red Sox (57-59) still have time to make a run at the postseason. If they are to do so, they will need to get better production from both their pitching and slugging.
They were able to get a boost Sunday in their pitching as the team activated pitcher Michael Wacha from the injured list. Wacha had been out since the beginning of July with shoulder inflammation, but he had been fantastic prior to that.
On Sunday, he continued his dominance as the Red Sox shut down the Yankees 3-0. In the win, Wacha went seven scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out nine.
On the season, he is now 7-1 with a 2.44 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and has 59 strikeouts in 77.1 innings of work.
Boston is still a longshot to win the World Series at +35000, but having won three of their last four entering play Monday, they will look to make a run at a Wild Card spot.
For the Yankees, they have now gone just 8-15 since the All-Star break, second-worst in the American League.
While they still sit ten games up in the AL East, they also look much more vulnerable than they did earlier in the year.
