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We’re exactly a month from the end of the 2025 regular season. Let’s check in on those pennant (and wild-card) races.
Plus: Ken tells us about the work dangers of the sideline reporter. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!
The East(s): Toronto, Philly holding off New York teams
Division leaders: Phillies (76-57 — 4 games up), Blue Jays (78-56 — 4 games up)
Current wild-card teams: Red Sox (74-60), Yankees (73-60), Mets (72-61)
Other hopefuls: None
The Blue Jays’ biggest division lead was 6 1/2 games, back on July 26.
It has hovered around five games for the last couple of weeks, but thanks to a recent hot stretch by the Red Sox — paired with a bit of bullpen trouble in Toronto — the collars north of the border are getting a little sweaty.
The addition of Shane Bieber (he allowed one run on two hits, no walks and nine strikeouts in six innings in his season debut last week) makes them a very dangerous October team, and the pending returns of Anthony Santander and others could help even more. Can the bullpen hold it together, though?
(Speaking of bullpens: The Red Sox are getting setup man Justin Slaten back from the IL, likely today.)
The Yankees are certainly a disappointment, sitting in third place in the division, but their wild-card spot seems relatively safe — after a sweep of the Nationals this week, they’re 4 1/2 games up on the Royals, with the Mariners between them.
Meanwhile, in the NL, the Phillies had a seven-game lead as recently as … Monday morning. But their Citi Field woes continued this week with a sweep by the Mets, who seem determined to make this an interesting race in September. Their playoff odds have jumped this week with the sweep — paired with the Reds being swept for the first time this season, at the hands of the Dodgers.
We’ll get to the other divisions in a sec, but first …
Ken’s Notebook: Close calls are just part of the job
During last Thursday’s broadcast on Fox, Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. air-mailed a throw that soared over first base and bounced off the netting above the camera well.
A friend of mine texted, “Be careful down there!”
On the broadcast, it appeared Chisholm’s throw went almost directly to the spot where I was standing as Fox’s dugout reporter. But in truth, it didn’t come all that close, and I tracked it the entire way.
Am I always so attentive? Uh, can I plead the Fifth?
In 20 years with Fox, I’ve been hit twice and had one other very close call — not bad, actually, considering the proximity of the camera wells to the field. But one of those incidents was definitely my fault.
On the final weekend of the 2013 season, I was in Cincinnati, where the Reds were battling the Pirates for the higher seed in the wild-card game. Of course, that wasn’t the only thing going on in baseball. At some point in the early innings, I took my eyes off the field to tweet that the Mets were signing manager Terry Collins to a contract extension.
Standing close to a railing, I thought I was sufficiently covered. But the Reds’ Todd Frazier hooked a sharp grounder into the camera well on the far side of the third-base dugout. The ball nailed me in the left pinky. Blood started gushing.
The Reds gave me a towel. I finished the game. Afterward, a Pirates doctor diagnosed my wound, with Justin Morneau, a tough former hockey player from Canada, watching. Broken finger, 10 stitches. Much as I wanted to scream, I didn’t dare utter a peep.
Years before that in Atlanta, I was positioned on the near side of the first-base dugout when the Mets’ Carlos Delgado hit a foul ball that didn’t actually hit me, but crushed my Fox Sports microphone flag with me holding the mic.
“Scared the s— out of you, didn’t it?” Delgado said later, taking delight in the moment.
A few years ago, I had an even more frightening incident at Fenway Park. I thought I was standing in a good spot, behind a cameraman on the far side of the first-base dugout. But someone — I can’t remember who — slammed a foul ball that ricocheted off the wall at the back of the well and struck me above the left eye. Again, there was blood. Again, I finished the game. But no stitches were required, and I didn’t even end up with a concussion.
Yes, it can get a little hairy down there, and I occasionally get distracted. But Chisholm’s throw actually came closer to hitting someone a whole lot more important than a baseball reporter. If not for the netting, the men’s bracket in the U.S. Open tennis tournament might have looked a lot different. Novak Djokovic was sitting in the front row.
The Central(s): Brewers, Tigers cruising
Division leaders: Tigers (78-57 — 8 1/2 games up), Brewers (83-51 — 6 1/2 games up)
Current wild-card teams: Cubs (76-57)
Other hopefuls: Reds (68-66), Royals (69-65) and … Guardians? (66-66)
I remember thinking the Central divisions were going to be really interesting this year. The Tigers and Royals — both playoff teams last year — trying to hold off the Guardians and Twins, while the upstart Cardinals and Reds (and mayyyyyybe the Brewers) might press the Cubs a little bit.
So much for that. The Brewers and Tigers have the two biggest divisional leads in the sport. Detroit has struggled in the second half — they were just swept by the A’s in Sacramento — but their first-half lead has given them a bit of cushion.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee just put closer Trevor Megill on the IL, and the Cubs still think they have the juice to regain the division lead. But Jameson Taillon is on the IL now, and … well, it’s still not particularly close just yet. Consider this: I picked the cutoff for “contenders” at teams that trail by five or fewer games. Right now, the Guardians are closer to a playoff spot than the Cubs are to overtaking the Brewers.
Despite Cincy being swept this week in L.A., I still think the Reds and their strong rotation have one more run left in them. But they’re 4 1/2 games back in the wild-card race, and running out of time. The Royals continue to trend upward — they beat the White Sox 12-1 last night — but they still trail the Mariners by three games for the final wild-card spot.
As for the Guardians … They’re five games back. So I’m mentioning them.
The West(s): Here’s where the real intrigue lies
Division leaders: Dodgers (77-57 — 2 games up), Astros (73-60 — 1 1/2 games up)
Current wild-card teams: Mariners (72-62), Padres (75-59)
Other hopefuls: Rangers? (68-67)
The Dodgers and Padres have a chance to take this thing down to the wire in the NL. (If that happens, the Dodgers have the tiebreaker, by virtue of winning the season series.)
Los Angeles still has the sport’s most impressive roster on paper — and the rotation is maybe starting to take form — but injuries and some defensive miscues have left the door cracked, and the Padres have stuck right there with them.
In the AL, it’s the same story, but for different reasons. The Astros are 11-13 in August, but still lead the division by the slimmest margin in the sport, with the Mariners at 14-10 for the month, with one month to go.
As with the Guardians, I’m mentioning the Rangers here because they are 4 1/2 games back in the wild-card race. But they’re 11-14 in August, and would have to leapfrog both the Royals and Mariners over the next month. With Marcus Semien and (almost certainly) Nathan Eovaldi out for the rest of the season, that seems … optimistic. Though they did drop 20 runs on the Angels last night. So.
More West: Astros starter Luis Garcia had Tommy John surgery. He’s still not back in the big leagues. What gives? Chandler Rome investigates.
Handshakes and High Fives
Evan Drellich spoke with Jesse Cole, founder of the Savannah Bananas, and asks the question: Is Major League Baseball getting a legitimate competitor for the spending dollars of baseball fans?
Eno Sarris dug into the metrics on the swing of A’s rookie Nick Kurtz. The two closest comparisons? Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Whew.
On the pods: On “Rates & Barrels,” Eno, Jed and DVR focused on a study from Stephen Sutton-Brown of Baseball Prospectus that modeled how hitters make swing decisions.
Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Tyler Kepner’s visit with Bobby Shantz.
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(Photo: Jim Rassol / Imagn Images)