September is HERE! Why Baseball Fans Should Be Excited For the Final Month of the Regular Season
When the calendar hits September, everyone seems to be ready for one specific season, which is Fall. Pretty colors, cool temperatures, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, even football. What’s there not to be excited about? However, I think something is happening every Fall that most people seem to forget about, which is the Major League Baseball Postseason, or the end of the regular season in general. While we aren’t quite there yet, the month leading up to the big event is always exciting. Here’s why you should be excited in 2023.
#1. Entertaining Division Races
It’s always fun to see how division races unfold, and this year, there’s a division to keep your eye on. That division is the American League West. As we enter the regular season’s final month, three teams are separated by two games. The surging Seattle Mariners, who are winners in seven of their last ten, sit atop the division at 77–58. Behind them are the Houston Astros, the reigning league champs, at 77–60. In third place are the Texas Rangers at 75–60. The Rangers have been the exact opposite of the Mariners as of late. They’ve lost seven of their last ten games and have plummeted from first place down to third. With under thirty regular season games to go, all eyes will be on this division to see who takes home the AL West crown.
#2. The Push for the Wild Card
There’s still a ticket to the Postseason if you come up just short of a division title, and that is the wild card. Like division winners, three wild card spots need to be filled in each league, and this year there are plenty of contenders. In the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays sit in the top spot at 82–54, followed by the aforementioned Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. AL teams still in the hunt include the 74–62 Toronto Blue Jays and the 70–66 Boston Red Sox. On the National League side, the Philadelphia Phillies sit atop the wild card standings at 74–61. They’re trailed by the 72–64 Chicago Cubs. The San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks sit right behind at 70–66. Other teams still in the hunt include the 71–67 Cincinnati Reds and the 69–67 Miami Marlins.
#3. September Call-Ups
Even if your team won’t be contending for a postseason spot, there’s still something to be excited about! Once the calendar hits September, major league rosters expand from twenty-six to twenty-eight players. For teams out of the picture, it’s their chance to give some highly touted prospects their first taste of the show. The New York Yankees did so on Wednesday evening, calling up their second and third-ranked prospects. The first is outfielder Jasson Domínguez. Nicknamed “The Martian,” Domínguez is a five-foot-nine switch-hitting outfielder. Along with Domínguez, Everson Pereira also got the call to the big leagues, who is a five-foot-eleven right-handed hitting outfielder. Domínguez had a magical debut on Friday night in Houston, hitting a home run in his first major league at-bat, which came against reigning AL Cy Young Justin Verlander. Pereira also collected his first major league hit on Friday night, hitting a double.
Regardless of whether you’re an avid baseball fan like me or not, I hope that I gave you something else to be excited about this fall. While we aren’t sure about how the month of September will unfold, I can guarantee you that things will be exciting.
Here are links to other stories that inspired me to write this blog:
