Pregame Pepper
The rich get richer: two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell has returned to the Dodgers, fortifying their rotation for the stretch drive after injuries (shoulder and more) held him to one start and three innings before Tuesday night this season . . .
Entering play Wednesday, the streaking San Diego Padres forged a three-way tie with the Phillies and Diamondbacks for the final two NL wild-card spots — a dead heat with 41 games left on the schedule . . .
Three World Series have involved non-championship teams — wild-card winners who advanced in both leagues at the same time . . .
Since Pope Leo grew up in Chicago and went to White Sox games, the team gave out “Pope hats” to fans as a promotion . . .
Speaking of the surprising Sox, the rival Cleveland Guardians have been sinking in the AL Central standings since the trade deadline . . .
Leading Off
The Great Home Run Race: Triple Crown Is In Play
By Dan Schlossberg
Triple Crowns are so rare that the last time one player led both leagues in batting, home runs, and runs batted in was 70 years ago.
But the record of Mickey Mantle, who did it for the Yankees in 1956, could have company this summer.
Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros found himself locked in a four-way tie for the major-league home run lead when he woke up Wednesday morning.
Kyle Schwarber, Matt Olson, and Junior Caminero also had 35 home runs at that point in time.
Alvarez, 29, is a 6’4” left-handed hitter now in his eighth season in the majors. And he’s just about clinched this year’s Most Valuable Player Award in the American League.
Two mornings ago, he was leading the league with a .322 batting average, .435 on-base percentage, .623 slugging mark, and 1.058 OPS (on-base plus slugging).
In addition, nobody had more than his 269 total bases, 139 hits, or 80 runs scored — all achieved in 119 games.
No one has won even a single-league Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera of the 2012 Detroit Tigers. And no one has won the elusive trophy in the National League since Joe Medwick did it with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1937 (that’s no typo).
It’s just so rare for a power-hitter to also produce a winning batting average.
Schwarber, to cite the best example, had a .250 average on Wednesday but even that was rare air for him. He owns a .233 career mark.
As for Olson, he went into Wednesday night action with a .266 mark for 2026 but only .258 lifetime.
Caminero was only slightly better: .277 for this year, .266 for his four-year career.
Alvarez, on the other hand, has a .300 lifetime average and has reached that mark in three previous seasons.
The race may depend upon the various team schedules. Schwarber, for example, got a boost by smacking two into-the-cornfield homers Thursday in the annual Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa.
He also plays 81 home games in a notorious bandbox, Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park.
Alvarez would have an even easier target in Daikin Park, formerly called Minute Maid Park, if he batted right-handed. As a left-handed slugger, he faces the same handicap as Ted Williams did in Fenway, where the short wall in left field is an easy target.
Caminero hit a career-peak 45 home runs last year, when the Rays played home games in a minor-league park in Tampa, but the domed Tropicana Field is hardly a haven for home run hitters.
All American League hitters love playing in West Sacramento, temporary home of the Athletics while their new Las Vegas stadium is under construction. The ball simply flies there.
With Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers likely sidelined for the season, the Athletics are virtually certain to suffer the consequences, with pitchers giving up far more home runs to visitors than the home team produces.
As for The Great Home Run Race, all four participants play for contending clubs.
Tampa Bay and Atlanta reside atop the two Eastern Divisions but Philadelphia is second to the Braves in the NL. The two teams have seven games left against each other but Atlanta’s current lead looks formidable.
Houston, meanwhile, is engaged in a tight divisional race with the upstate Texas Rangers for supremacy of the AL West, with Seattle also within a hot streak of the lead. What Alvarez does down the stretch could be as critical as what Cal Raleigh did for the Mariners last year.
The Olson-Schwarber contest has the added flair of both men chasing career records. Schwarber led the majors with a personal-best 56 home runs last season but Olson has a clear shot at topping his own 2023 record of 54, which was also a Braves club mark.
Olson, closing in on 900 consecutive games played, will be in the lineup every day as long as he avoids injury. Had Schwarber not missed some time earlier in the 2026 campaign, he would likely be leading the league right now.
The upcoming seven-game matchup of the two behemoths could decide more than one race.
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for Lucas Communications, Sports Collectors Digest, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Here’s the Pitch, and various other outlets. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Cleaning Up
Padres Push Playoff Dreams With Sizzling Stretch
By Dan Schlossberg
When you’re hot, you’re hot.
The San Diego Padres are even hotter than the Southern California summer.
After struggling to score more than the teenaged wallflower at the high school prom, they have come alive just in time to salvage their season — and save the job of rookie manager Craig Stammen. They stretched their winning streak to six last night.
Here’s a statistical look at the turnaround as it existed on Wednesday afternoon:
Padres in the 1st half:
.226 BA (worst in MLB)
.302 OBP (worst in MLB)
.370 SLG (2nd worst in MLB)
.672 OPS (worst in MLB)
379 runs scored (worst in MLB)
Padres in the 2nd half
.283 BA (best in MLB)
.356 OBP (best in MLB)
.457 SLG (2nd best in MLB)
.813 OPS (best in MLB)
139 runs scored (2nd best in MLB)
San Diego can’t be as bad as it was in the first half but probably can’t be as good as it’s been in the second half.
Still, the Friars are flush with stars. Fernando Tatis, Jr. Manny Machado. Xander Bogaerts. Jackson Merrill. Even the unheralded Ty France.
The Padres protect their starting pitchers with a closer feared around the league. And it’s a good thing they resisted numerous tempting offers to lure Mason Miller away.
On July 10, the Padres were 5 1/2 games out of any playoff spot — even the third and final wild-card. On August 12, they finished a sweep of the league-leading Brewers with an 11-inning victory. In less than a month, they’ve leapfrogged six would-be contenders in the wild-card race.
Although some 40 games remain, San Diego is set to sprint to the finish line.
In the month before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, the Padres played 17 games in 17 days before the All-Star break, then 26 games in 27 days. But they added two quality starters — impending free agents
Robbie Ray from San Francisco and Casey Mize from Detroit — for three of the team’s top nine prospects. None of the men on the 26-man roster were involved.
Thanks to an offense that slumbered through most of the first half, the Padres won eight of nine just before the deadline. That changed their mindset from seller to buyer.
Taking advantage of untimely slumps by the Phillies and Diamondbacks, the Padres went 15-4 and moved up in the standings. When they woke up Thursday morning, they stood one full game ahead of both Philadelphia and Arizona, who were deadlocked for the National League’s final playoff spot.
San Diego seeks to win the NL West, which it hasn’t done since 2006; the league pennant, an elusive target since 1998; and its first world championship. The 1969 expansion team has reached the World Series twice (1984 and 1998) but lost both times.
Getting past the stacked Los Angeles Dodgers, seeking their third straight world title, won’t be easy. But the often-overlooked upstarts are planning to give it the old college try.
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for Lucas Communications, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, Memories & Dreams, and numerous other outlets. The author of 43 baseball books is available for public appearances, which may be booked through ballauthor@gmail.com.
Extra Innings
Kudos to Alex Bregman, hot after a cold start in his first year with the Cubs: after the first three-homer game of his career a few days ago, he had a massive 1.123 OPS with five home runs and 14 RBI in August, proving there were no Dog Days for him . . .
Though heavily criticized for not acquiring a front-line starter before the trade deadline, the Atlanta Braves could have an over-abundance of quality arms in their rotation if any of Reynaldo Lopez, AJ Smith-Sharver, Spencer Schwellenbach, or Spencer Strider return from injury in time for the playoffs . . .
Don’t be surprised if one or more of them wind up in the bullpen . . .
With Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton all sidelined, the Yankees made slugging rookie Spencer Jones their No. 3 hitter . . .
They also received solid late-summer production from fellow rookie George Lombard, Jr., whose father is the bench coach under A.J. Hinch in Detroit . . .
Leather-lunged Yankee fans, emulating the behavior of Yankee Stadium bleacher bums, greeted the Parade of Legends in Cooperstown by shouting out the names of the women accompanying the stars in the open pick-ups . . .
Most of them responded with surprise, delight, air kisses, smiles, waves and open arms.
Know Your Editors
Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.