On Friday, prized Phillies trade deadline addition Jhoan Duran was carted off the field after taking a comebacker off his foot. Even scarier, the Phillies announced on Friday that ace Zack Wheeler was dealing with a blood clot in his upper right arm.
On a positive note, Duran was back in action two days later, securing yet another save. The Wheeler situation is more troubling. The Phillies said Monday he had surgery to remove the blood clot with no certainty of his return.
Of course, every injury this time of year carries more weight, but the Phillies have built a comfortable advantage. They’re one of four teams — along with the Brewers, Tigers and Blue Jays — enjoying a division lead of at least five games.
The Brewers finally lost a game after winning 14 straight on Sunday, while the Dodgers ceded first place to the Padres only to reclaim their spot atop the division in a home sweep against their top division rivals this weekend. In addition, the Yankees got back on track while a trio of teams dropped off our contender rankings entirely, having dropped more than five games out of a playoff spot. (The Rangers, Cardinals and Giants will have a chance to return to the list with a better week ahead.)
Here are our latest rankings, along with injury updates for each contender.
Will Cole Ragans be back for the stretch run? He’s back to throwing bullpens and could return to the club next month. With breakout starter Kris Bubic out for the year, Ragans’ availability is all the more important. The Royals are still a longshot for the postseason, but meetings against the Nationals and White Sox last week at least helped them stay in the hunt.
This team is mostly healthy, but that doesn’t mean it’s complete. Losing two players, including a star closer, amid the league’s gambling investigation makes life more difficult. So does getting swept by the Braves in the middle of a playoff race. Two names to keep an eye on: Lane Thomas, who is still dealing with the effects of plantar fasciitis, and John Means, who is on a rehab assignment as he finishes up his Tommy John recovery.
There’s no shame in splitting six games against the Phillies and Brewers. With games this week in Anaheim and Arizona, it’s an important time for the Reds to continue inching toward a wild-card spot, considering the gauntlet that awaits them over the coming weeks. Now, they at least have Hunter Greene back in the fold. Greene returned to action for the first time in two months with six scoreless innings. Losing standout rookie Chase Burns to a flexor strain is an unfortunate blow, but Nick Lodolo should be back from his blister issue soon. There are more than enough arms in this intriguing rotation.
Finally, something to celebrate. With the help of rookie Nolan McLean, the Mets won a series, and they did it against the upstart Mariners. They had lost 14 of 16 games before McLean’s arrival, but they’re still holding onto a wild-card spot. The health of Francisco Alvarez is worth monitoring after he hurt his thumb and departed the Little League Classic early. Tylor Megill is on a rehab assignment as he works his way back from an elbow sprain. The Mets can use all the rotation help they can get.
This, Yankees fans, is called a winning streak. Please enjoy it: It’s the Yankees’ first back-to-back series wins since May. Despite their miserable play of late, they remain in playoff position, and Aaron Judge is looking better at the plate. He homered against both the Twins and Cardinals last week, though he has yet to return to the outfield as he waits for his injured elbow to heal. That means Giancarlo Stanton has to play the outfield, and now Stanton is working through body soreness that forced him out of the starting lineup all weekend. A big four-game series looms later this week against the Red Sox.
Perhaps no team’s hopes over the next two months will be more closely tied to injuries. Yordan Alvarez is starting a rehab assignment, Cristian Javier and Spencer Arrighetti have returned to the rotation and more starting pitching reinforcements are on the way, but losing Josh Hader potentially for the rest of the regular season is yet another blow to a team that has won just 14 of its last 34 games.
Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh are hot and homering, but the new-look offense as a whole is still waiting to kick into gear. Most concerningly, Eugenio Suarez is slashing .143/.197/.268 as a Mariner. At least health is mostly on Seattle’s side. The rotation continues to get closer to whole, with Bryce Miller slated to return from an elbow issue this week.
Marcelo Mayer is undergoing season-ending wrist surgery, and Wilyer Abreu is now dealing with a calf issue. But outside of those injuries and the season-ending losses of Tristan Casas, Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford, the group is pretty healthy. For a team that did little to address their starting pitching deficiencies at the deadline, the Red Sox have to feel pretty good about the production of their starters this month. They have the fifth-best rotation ERA in August, and Dustin May’s six scoreless innings in Houston were encouraging.
The Padres won 14 of 17 games to capture the top spot in the NL West — the latest they’ve led the division since 2010 — only to then hand it right back in a critical division clash at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers have now claimed the season series against them, but San Diego will have a chance to exact revenge at home next weekend. Jackson Merrill’s twisted ankle is worth monitoring, as is Michael King’s knee issue. The Padres could really use his arm in the rotation for the stretch run.
The Mike Soroka injury is a tough blow to a Cubs team that did little to help their rotation at the deadline, but rookie Cade Horton looks almost unhittable over the last month, and Jameson Taillon is about to return. The bigger issue right now is a Cubs offense that shockingly ranks last in the National League in OPS this month. It’s a small sample, but I did not think that was a sentence I would type at any point this year. Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch and newcomer Willi Castro are all batting well under .200 in August, though PCA had an encouraging weekend against Pittsburgh. The Cubs probably won’t be able to catch the unbelievable Brewers, but five games this week against Milwaukee give them a chance to chip away…or fall further behind.
The Tigers’ season has gotten back on track, their lead in the division is back up to 8.5 games, and reinforcements will soon be on the way. Pitchers Alex Lange, Alex Cobb and Jose Urquidy are all on rehab assignments, and outfielder Parker Meadows could begin one soon. Paul Sewald and Matt Vierling also have a chance to return before season’s end. After taking advantage of the schedule the last couple of weeks, a tougher test awaits as the team returns home to host the Astros and Royals.
Alec Bohm looked good in his return to action, but it was otherwise an ominous week for the Phillies, who lost a series at the Reds, split at the Nationals and very nearly lost both their top starter and reliever. At least closer Jhoan Duran, who was carted off the field after taking a comebacker off the foot, avoided disaster and returned to action. The news is more troubling for Zack Wheeler, who’s out with a blood clot in his shoulder. Could top pitching prospect Andrew Painter get a look? His latest few outings — he has a 9.45 ERA in his last three Triple-A starts — might give pause.
In the same week, the Dodgers were swept by the Angels and then swept the Padres to capture the season series against their division rivals. Maybe this weekend’s success will kick the Dodgers into gear after nearly two months of mediocre play. The rotation is finally healthy, and both the bullpen and lineup depth should soon get a boost. Kirby Yates, Tanner Scott, Michael Kopech, Hyeseong Kim and Kiké Hernández are all either on or about to start rehab assignments. Unfortunately for their lineup, it’ll be a longer wait for Max Muncy.
After avoiding a sweep at Dodger Stadium, the Blue Jays responded with big series wins against the Cubs and Rangers to keep a comfortable five-game lead in the division. That advantage could soon increase, too, as Toronto’s next three series are against Pittsburgh, Miami and Minnesota. George Springer has returned to the lineup, and soon we could see the much-anticipated Toronto debut of Shane Bieber, who threw seven shutout innings in his last Triple-A rehab start.
What is there left to say? In a season with a lot of parity and few teams separating, the Brewers are on a different level from the other 29 teams. After winning a franchise-record 14 games in a row, I started to wonder if they’d ever lose again before the Reds ended the streak in a 10th-inning victory Sunday. It was Milwaukee’s first loss in August. The Brew Crew have won 17 of their last 19 games, and let’s remember they’re doing this with Jackson Chourio and Rhys Hoskins, who should be back next month. Just absurd.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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