September is almost here, and the race for the postseason is heating up.
The regular season marathon is now a sprint to the finish line.
Here are some key MLB trends you should know as we approach the final stretch.
Iglesias’ Hidden Gem
Emmanuel Clase has been phenomenal this season, arguably the best closer out there. Mason Miller and his 104 mph fastball have also been impressive. Kirby Yates, Jeff Hoffman, AJ Puk, and Ryan Walker have all had their moments too. But for my money, Braves closer Raisel Iglesias has been just behind Clase in terms of performance this year. With a 1.39 ERA and 0.60 WHIP heading into Tuesday’s game, Iglesias has struck out 50 batters while walking only seven unintentionally.
Last Friday, Iglesias pitched scoreless ninth and tenth innings in a walk-off win over the Nationals. He did hit Jacob Young with a pitch in the tenth inning , ending his streak of retiring 38 consecutive batters—a hidden perfect game! That’s 27 straight plus 11 more across 12 appearances from July to August.
Fans might think it’s amazing how he managed to retire so many batters consecutively.
While an actual perfect game is cooler, retiring 38 straight batters is still incredibly tough. According to MLB.com, Iglesias’ streak is the longest by any Braves pitcher since 1961 and the longest by any pitcher since Yusmeiro Petit set an all-time record in 2024.
Here are some of baseball’s longest streaks:
- Yusmeiro Petit (2014 Giants): 46
- Mark Buehrle (2009 White Sox): 45
- Bobby Jenks (2007 White Sox): 41
- Jim Barr (1972 Giants): 41
- Tom Browning (1988 Reds): 40
Iglesias plunked Young but then retired the next batter on a pop-up before getting a double play to escape the inning unscathed.
The Braves have faced many injuries this year affecting their offense, making pitching even more crucial. The bullpen has held strong with Joe Jiménez, Pierce Johnson, Dylan Lee among others performing well alongside Iglesias who’s been nearly flawless recently.
Francis Shines for Blue Jays
Bowden Francis started strong in spring training but struggled early in the season due to Alek Manoah’s shoulder injury and his own forearm injury sidelining him until June when he returned as a reliever initially.
With Toronto’s season going south and trading Yusei Kikuchi opened up another rotation spot for Francis who took advantage of it brilliantly—striking out career-highs like taking no-hitters into late innings against teams like Angels!
Francis allowed only four runs over four starts since rejoining rotation; striking out hitters left-and-right while keeping them grounded with his improved splitter pitch mix instead of hittable curveballs which hitters slugged against earlier on!
"I am very proud," said Vladimir Guerrero Jr., after Francis’ near no-hit bid Saturday via MLB.com "We all know things weren’t going well at start but last few outings have been incredible."
Acquired from Brewers during Rowdy Tellez trade years ago without high prospects ranking yet consistently performing throughout minors earning big-league call-ups now showing staying power within Blue Jays’ rotation thanks largely due new effective pitch mix adjustments made recently!
Red Sox Sloppiness
Monday at Fenway Park was historic—Danny Jansen played for both teams in one game due suspended June match resumed later after being traded mid-season! Once excitement settled down though Red Sox got swept by Blue Jays making six errors across two games leading five unearned runs scored against them compared scoring themselves during doubleheader matches combined!
Boston leads league allowing most unearned runs this year despite overall decline trend seen historically within MLB lately meaning they’re giving away far too many extra outs hurting chances significantly especially considering poor defensive metrics across entire field positions not just specific ones like shortstop where Trevor Story might help upon return eventually though not enough alone fix everything needed improve overall team performance defensively moving forward into future seasons ahead hopefully learning lessons learned hard way current ongoing struggles experienced firsthand right now unfortunately…
What do you think about these trends?
