What NHL players think of the league’s crackdown on cross-checking
Everyone has their favorite harbingers that a new NHL season is upon us. Fresh ice. Awkward player photos. Unsigned restricted free agents threatening to sit out of meaningless games. Optimism in Toronto.
Mine? The preseason penalty crackdown.
Every year, the NHL’s hockey operations department, egged on by disgruntled and aggrieved general managers, zeroes in on a rule it wants to overenforce in exhibition games and during the first month of the regular season, in order to change player behavior.
Previously, we had the crackdown on interference. The crackdown on slashing. The crackdown on faceoff violations, which Brad Marchand memorably called “an absolute joke” in the 2017-18 preseason.
For the 2021-22 season? It’s a crackdown on cross-checking.
“On cross-checking?” asked Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, rhetorically.
Yes, on cross-checking.
“I mean, I don’t think guys really think about it,” he explained to me at the NHL Player Media Tour in Chicago. “OK, maybe around the net, where you’re being a little bit aggressive. But you’re never taught to skate around the ice with two hands on the stick, cross-checking guys.”
The NHL doesn’t care about how the behavior was learned. It just wants to change the behavior — by any means necessary.
In a video shown to the Board of Governors this week that will be distributed to the teams in training camp, the NHL states that there will be “stricter enforcement” of Rule 59 on cross-checking. Specifically, the “stricter enforcement” will occur in three areas where cross-checks are delivered:
Around the boards: The example provided by the NHL included a series of cross-checks being delivered to a player as he battled for the puck in the corner, as well as a cross-check from behind that knocked down a player along the boards. Basically, a tap by a defender will be tolerated, but if he starts acting like an amateur chiropractor, it’s a penalty.
Open ice: Players are allowed to use their sticks to “push or guide” a player defensively. But it’s when that push involves excessive force that’s the problem. Among the examples given here: Connor McDavid being knocked down by a stick while driving into the opposing defensive zone. (Someone please tell Connor that’s he’s been heard and seen.)
Net front: The specific infraction here isn’t necessarily the battles in front of the goal, where offensive and defensive players can sometimes trade cross-checks as they jockey for position. Rather, the league wants to crack down on cross-checks from defensive players from the faceoff dots down to the crease, sending opponents to the ice while there’s a shot coming from the point.
Cross-checking is commonplace in the NHL. It’s actually refreshing to hear players openly discuss using the tactic, as opposed to when they talk about embellishment and say that every other player in the league dives except for them.
“I’d be lying if I said I never cross-checked guys,” said Mark Stone, the defensive ace for the Vegas Golden Knights and a four-time Selke Trophy finalist.
He told me a cross-checking crackdown could have a huge effect on the NHL.
“Cross-checking has become almost natural in the game. I cross-check. I get cross-checked. That’s just how it’s been. But if they’re trying to get rid of injuries, I can understand why they’re doing it. It’s a sensitive area. In the playoffs especially, it can get a little out of control,” he said.
Roman Josi won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman two years ago.
“Obviously, it does affect me. It’ll be an adjustment. It’s part of your game in the corners, trying to get forwards off pucks. They’re big and strong. You have to do something to get them off pucks. You give them a little cross-check in the back,” he said.
“But there has to be a line. It can be dangerous. You never want to cross-check a guy when there’s a risk for injury. So as a defenseman, we’ll have to adjust a little bit.”
Especially now that cross-checks are suddenly suspension-worthy events.
Last season, there were seven fines but only one suspension for cross-checking. In 2019-20, there were four fines and just two suspensions. That’s about to change.
The Department of Player Safety is going to scrutinize two kinds of cross-checks for potential supplemental discipline: Cross-checks away from the puck to a vulnerable area of an opponent, and cross-checks delivered the back while a player is skating towards the boards at a significant speed, causing a collision. In the case of the first, there’s an element of intent to injure. In the case of the second, the results of the plays can be accidental, but Player Safety will still ring them up for being reckless.
The players I spoke with weren’t as uniformly in agreement about suspending for cross-checks as they were about increasing the frequency of penalties for them.
Stone actually winced when I mentioned possible suspensions.
“I don’t know if it’s that dangerous. There are definitely other things I’ve like to see them crack down on as far as supplemental discipline, compared to cross-checking,” he said.
New York Islanders forward Anders Lee takes his share of cross-checks in front of an opponents’ goalie, but didn’t believe that suspensions for them were a necessity.
“I don’t think you see it enough to really need it. But Player Safety are the ones that have been focused on this. We just go out and play,” he said.
Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon was a little more open-minded about it. “I guess it all depends on the severity of it. The refs have a tough job in judging the severity of it,” he said.
The refs’ jobs can’t be ignored here. Whenever the NHL gets a bee in its bonnet about a rule that needs to be emphasized, it falls to the referees to not only enforce it, but act as an ambassador between hockey operations and the baffled players wondering how something that wasn’t getting called in previous seasons has now left his team shorthanded.
“A rule change is tough on the refs, too. They’ve been looking at the game and we’ve been playing that game for a long time. To change it in a quick flash … that can’t be easy,” said Lee.
It won’t be easy for a couple of months. Referees will send a conga line of cross-checkers to the penalty box. Coaches will rant, either because something that should be called wasn’t, or because something that used to not get called was. General managers will yell over the phone at Player Safety head George Parros for having their player made an example during an early-season suspension.
Then the penalties will wane. Player Safety will have set its standard. And we move on.
“I think it takes a little bit. In the preseason, it gets called to the max. And then it lessens as the season goes on,” said Lee.
I know some of my media colleagues believe that cross-checking is a scourge on the league. I think using your stick to ward off an attacker, or to create separation from a defender, is part of the game. I have zero tolerance for a zero-tolerance policy here. Everyone does it.
“Standing in front, I might appreciate it if they’re cracking down,” said Lee. “But you’re jockeying for position, I’m sure there are times when I’ll have to do it too.”
Whether it crosses into illegality is, unfortunately, a judgment call. It’s about the placement of the stick. The force behind the cross-check. And, the trickiest part: whether or not the player on the receiving end of the lumber embellished for effect.
I don’t envy the officials tasked with redrawing that line this preseason. It’s like the NHL has told them what a strike looks like, but it’s still their strike zone. But they’ll call the penalties, the players will adjust, and we’ll just ride it out until the playoffs … where we won’t have to worry about anything being called, cross-checking or otherwise.
Jersey Fouls
From the flaming tables of Buffalo:
Jersey foul? pic.twitter.com/923FTwz3d5
— TS Sabres (@tshockeypodcast) September 11, 2021
This is a Frankenjersey that combines two Nos. 26: Rasmus Dahlin of the Sabres and Devin Singletary of the Bills.
Typically, Frankenjerseys follow a Harvey Dent-like construction, with a split down the middle. This one … well this one is chaos. Obviously a Jersey Foul, but you have to respect the craft and the apparent passion for Rasmus Dahlin.
Three things from the NHL Player Media Tour
1. Jared Spurgeon is considered one of the most underrated defensemen in the NHL. He’s worn the crown of “analytics darling” for several seasons. So I asked him if he was aware of that status.
“I don’t really pay attention to that,” he said.
Uh-oh.
“I don’t really follow analytics or anything. Keith Ballard once told me that stats are for losers … unless you have good ones,” he said.
You’re going to break the stat geeks’ hearts, Jared.
“You can say otherwise if you want,” he said, with a laugh.
2. I watched my colleague Kevin Weekes have a long and interesting chat with Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, and really liked what I heard. Doughty’s 31 years old now. He has a Norris Trophy, two Stanley Cups and two Olympic gold medals. The problem is that all of that was accomplished by 2016, and it’s now 2021. He no longer wants to rest on his laurels.
“Everything I’ve done has been in the past now. I’m not happy with where I’m at in my present. So I need to get back to that,” he said.
I asked Doughty about the Kings’ rebuild. About whether there’s a peek of light at the end the tunnel, as players like himself and Anze Kopitar aren’t getting any younger.
“Yeah, we’re starting to see it. We haven’t put it on ice. We’ve only put it on paper right now. But I’m looking forward to seeing it on the ice. We’re going to be way better this year. There’s no doubt in my mind,” he said, emphatically.
3. Every year at the Players Tour, the NHL’s best and brightest play the media’s reindeer games. We ask them silly questions. We have them do silly things. None sillier than Sportsnet’s bit where they have players attempt to draw their team’s logo, which gifted us this Roman Josi classic:
We challenged Roman Josi to draw the @PredsNHL logo in 60 seconds.
This is art. 🎨 pic.twitter.com/V9zECKRJAG
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 16, 2021
I don’t know if that’s a Predator. Or a manatee. Or if a manatee is in fact a predator. I just know art when I see it. And I see it, Roman.
Winners and losers of the week
Winner: Columbus Blue Jackets
Winger Zac Rinaldo and assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre aren’t exactly irreplicable. Sending the player to the AHL and firing the coach because they refused to get vaccinated isn’t the team taking a monumental stand, especially given how the NHL’s protocols would impact their respective jobs.
But that doesn’t diminish the impact of president John Davidson taking this moment to say that “everything we do, we do together as a team” in a week where some significant players opted not to get vaccinated, despite the ramifications on their seasons and that of their team. True of hockey. Wish it were true outside of hockey.
Loser: Tracking the 1%
I made several calls this week chasing down names that I heard from NHL sources were among the unvaccinated. Some were inaccurate rumors. Some players had voiced concerns about the vaccine earlier this year, before getting the jab in order to play in 2021-22 without restrictions. I can’t articulate how wretched it is to have this be part of our preseason coverage, when it shouldn’t need to be after all these months. But here we are.
Winner: Kirill Kaprizov
Congrats to the most electrifying player in Minnesota Wild history, which is no small feat considering the sample size. Five years and $45 million is about right for a player of his talents. The average annual value might seem high now, given he’s only 55 games into his NHL career. But if he keeps on having “The Ovechkin Effect” on that market, it’s a deal that’s going to age well.
Loser: Future cap of the Wild
The 2023-24 Wild have seven players under contract and just $28 million in open space under the current salary cap, with Kaprizov’s salary added to the $14,743,588 in dead cap space created by the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Talk about “win now…”
Winner: Seattle Kraken
As I mentioned in my story this week, the Kraken are setting records for jersey sales. But dig this: On Fanatics retail platforms, the Kraken sold more merch on their launch day than the Vegas Golden Knights sold for the first two months combined after their merch launch in 2017. Beware the Kraken, indeed.
Loser: The Coyote Head
Outside of Phil Kessel and relocation speculation, the Kachina logo is the most notable thing about the current incarnation of the Arizona Coyotes. Your time is done, Coyote Head. Long live the Kachina.
Winner: Sibling agents
Gotta love Matthew Tkachuk and Jack Hughes helping out their brothers in contract talks. Hughes defended Quinn from critics, telling Tim and Friends that he deserves the money he should get and that “when you play on one of the worst teams in the division and in the league that’s bound to happen.” (Speaking from experience?)
Tkachuk, meanwhile, got candid about brother Brady‘s talks with the Ottawa Senators while on Sportsnet’s “31 Thoughts” podcast. “Brady might be … he’s doing great. He might be pulling a classic Tkachuk right now. Dad held out, Matthew held out, and Brady looks like he’s on his way right now. So hopefully it can get figured out here. But it’s just a lot of fake stuff out there regarding this. They’re not too close,” he said.
Loser: The inevitable
There’s zero chance that the Hughes brothers and the Tkachuk brothers don’t all eventually play on the same team respectively. I mean, the St. Louis Blues already have nameplates ready for Matt and Brady within the next five years, right?
Puck headlines
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Enjoyed this from Arpon Basu of The Athletic on Jonathan Drouin and “an important brand of courage” after going public with his battle with anxiety. “Simply by talking about his experience publicly, by acknowledging what he went through and showing people it is possible to take a step back, to ask for help, has already made Drouin a mentor for so many, not just hockey players.”
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All’s well that ends well, but the Islanders should have listened to Butch Goring on Zdeno Chara.
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Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas on not trading away his core players: “We would have been different, and maybe that would provide some cover and appease the masses, a little bit, but we wouldn’t be better.”
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Interesting story on Bear Hughes, a Washington Capitals prospect from Idaho. “His real name: Cassius Hughes, but he’s always been Bear. In fact, he didn’t know that his name was Cassius until elementary school, when after hearing his mom call the school and tell them Cassius will be absent, asked who that was. It was him.”
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The top 15 players from the NHL prospects tournaments. “What a steal Guenther is going to end up being for Arizona.”
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A deep dive into goalie Linus Ullmark, who appears to be the man between the pipes for the Boston Bruins. “When Boston came knocking, it felt right, it just felt very right.”
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In praise of Nick Suzuki: “The fact that some pundits have penciled him in as a possible alternate for the wildly stacked Team Canada at the 2022 Olympics speaks volumes. Not only is he a legitimate first-line centre, he’s seen as having all-world potential.”
From your friends at ESPN
Victoria Matiash offers advice on how to win your fantasy league this season. “With only a handful of performers responsible for carrying the weight of several categories, your fantasy squad needs consistent play from between the pipes.”
HOUSTON — Astros starter Framber Valdez said he apologized to catcher Cesar Salazar after hitting him in the chest with a pitch Tuesday night, but the left-hander insisted it wasn’t intentional.
Valdez appeared to shake off Salazar on a 1-0 pitch with the bases loaded and Trent Grisham of the New York Yankees at the plate in the fifth inning. Salazar then urged Valdez to step off the mound, but he proceeded with the pitch, which Grisham launched to deep left field to give New York a 6-0 lead in an eventual 7-1 win.
On the second pitch to the next batter, Valdez hit Salazar in the chest with a 93 mph pitch, raising questions about whether he was upset about what happened in the Grisham at-bat and if it was intended.
Valdez said it was not.
“What happened with us, we just got crossed up,” Valdez said in Spanish through an interpreter. “I called for that pitch, I threw it and we got crossed up. We went down to the dugout and I excused myself with him and I said sorry to him and I take full responsibility for that.”
Valdez was then asked directly if he did it on purpose.
“No,” he said. “It was not intentional.”
Valdez and Salazar were talking when reporters entered the clubhouse after the game, and Valdez said they had sorted things out.
“We were able to talk through it,” he said. “We spoke after the game … at his locker and everything’s good between us. It’s just stuff that happens in baseball. But yeah, we talked through it and we’re good.”
Salazar also was asked about what happened on the pitch where he was hit.
“The stadium was loud,” he said. “I thought I pressed the button, but I pressed the wrong button. I was expecting another pitch, but it wasn’t it.”
Salazar said Valdez didn’t hit him on purpose.
“No, me and Framber we actually have a really good relationship,” he said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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David Schoenfield
With each postseason expansion throughout MLB’s history, the value of division races has diluted. In the wild-card era, you can finish in second place — or even third or fourth — and still win the World Series.
Does that make September less exciting? There’s no doubt it brings more teams and more fans into the mix. And a big game is still a big game, even if there is slightly less tension in a Red Sox-Yankees or Mets-Phillies series than there otherwise might be if both teams already know they’re going to make the playoffs.
Thus, we’re mostly left with wild-card races and battles for seeding to occupy our time and scoreboard watching. That still offers plenty of fun, still makes September the best month on the baseball calendar, and there’s still a lot of sweating going on when your closer walks two batters in the ninth trying to protect a one-run lead. The 12 postseason slots aren’t completely locked up, so if you’re a fan of the Mets or Mariners, you can’t breathe easily just yet — not until a playoff spot is clinched and the champagne uncorked.
September is here, believe it or not. We have races to decide. Let’s rank their potential excitement level over the final month.
1. National League West race
Standings: Los Angeles Dodgers up 2 games on San Diego Padres
What’s at stake: This is the best rivalry going on in the majors right now. The teams don’t like each other, the fans don’t like each other, and there’s still that element of David trying to knock out Goliath as the Padres seek their first division title since 2006 and their first World Series title ever. The teams have met three times in the NL Division Series since 2020 — with the Dodgers winning in 2020 and 2024 and the Padres victorious in 2022 — and with another rematch possible, home-field advantage could be key.
Do the Dodgers need to win the division? No, they will still be more focused on getting the pitching staff healthy and ready for October than on getting consumed in the race to win the division. It would probably mean more to the Padres, who want to finally beat their I-5 rivals in something besides that one playoff series. On the other hand, San Diego is probably a little better equipped for a short wild-card series, as it can ride its bullpen for the two or three games.
Series to watch: Somehow, the schedule-makers thought it would be a good idea to not have the Dodgers playing the Padres in September. The Dodgers finish with a road trip to Arizona and Seattle while the Padres end at home against Milwaukee and Arizona. The Dodgers won the season series, so they own the tiebreaker.
Dodgers player to watch: Blake Snell has been a notable second-half pitcher in his career and has a 2.54 ERA since returning from the injured list in August, but he hasn’t been quite as dominant as when he gets on one of his patented hot streaks (such as the second half last year, when he had a 1.45 ERA and .130 average allowed). The Dodgers won last season despite a beat-up rotation that wasn’t even all that effective in the playoffs. But the bullpen has been nowhere near as strong this season as in 2024, so they’ll need that dominant version of Snell down the stretch and in October.
Padres player to watch: Ramon Laureano has been the team’s best hitter since he was acquired at the trade deadline, slashing .305/.354/.581 with seven home runs and 23 RBIs in 28 games. He helped keep the offense afloat in August as Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. each hit just one home run on the month and Jackson Merrill has been injured. Laureano’s production has been great, but the Padres need more power from their big two.
2. American League East
Standings: Toronto Blue Jays up 3 games on New York Yankees, 3.5 games on Boston Red Sox
What’s at stake: This has been the wildest division race all season. The Blue Jays were eight games back in late May when they fell under .500 but have now held first place since July 3. The Yankees fell as many as 6.5 games back in August before cleaning up against the Washington Nationals and Chicago White Sox this past week to draw closer. The Red Sox were 41-44 on June 30, but only the Brewers have a better record since that date. The Yankees have a plus-134 run differential, whereas it’s plus-56 for the Blue Jays and plus-102 for the Red Sox, so you wonder why they’re even in this position. However, New York is 5-8 in extra-inning games (the Blue Jays are 8-4) and hasn’t played well against Toronto and Boston (5-15).
Series to watch: Blue Jays at Yankees (Friday-Sunday); Red Sox at Blue Jays (Sept. 23-25); Yankees at Red Sox (Sept. 12-14). All three season series have already been clinched: The Blue Jays over the Red Sox and Yankees and the Red Sox over the Yankees. That will leave the Yankees on the short end of any tiebreaker.
Blue Jays player to watch: Toronto acquired Shane Bieber at the deadline even though he was still completing his minor league rehab from Tommy John surgery. He has allowed three runs in two starts for the Blue Jays, striking out 15 with no walks in 11⅓ innings. It’s just two starts, but he looks like he did when he was the Cleveland ace, plus he has allowed the Jays to go to a six-man rotation. Don’t be surprised if he ends up as the Game 1 starter in the postseason.
Yankees player to watch: Aaron Judge is still probably the MVP favorite, but after missing 10 days with a flexor strain in his right elbow, he hasn’t been quite the same, hitting .241/.417/.506 with six home runs and 12 RBIs in 24 games in August. Though those are still good numbers, it seems fair to call it a slight slump by Judge’s recent historic standards — and it’s not the same level of production as before his injury. He also still hasn’t played the field, which limits the red-hot Giancarlo Stanton to pinch-hitting duties when the Yankees are on the road (manager Aaron Boone has been willing to play Stanton in right field at Yankee Stadium, where there’s less ground to cover).
Red Sox player to watch: Sixty-nine games into his career, 21-year-old rookie Roman Anthony has made it clear: He’s going to be a big star. Sure, he can cut his strikeout rate a bit, but he already has A-plus plate discipline and has the second-highest hard-hit percentage in the majors behind only Kyle Schwarber. And Anthony is also quickly learning to lift the ball, slugging six home runs in August after hitting one each in June and July.
3. National League race for No. 2 seed
Standings: Milwaukee Brewers hold No. 1 seed with 5.5-game cushion; Philadelphia Phillies up 1 game on Dodgers, 3 games on Padres
What’s at stake: The Phillies hold a comfortable lead over the Mets in the NL East, so they have about a 90% chance of winning the division, but Philadelphia is neck and neck with the pair of NL West rivals for the second-best record in the NL. Home-field advantage isn’t a must to win a World Series — we’ve seen wild-card teams take it all, such as the Rangers in 2023 when they were the fifth seed in the AL — but the Phillies have an extreme home/road split this season, going 45-23 in Philadelphia and 34-35 elsewhere. They’re hitting .275 with an .808 OPS at home, .239 with a .693 OPS on the road.
Series to watch: Phillies at Dodgers (Sept. 15-17). The Phillies finish with a six-game homestand against the Miami Marlins and Minnesota Twins, which looks like a favorable way to end the season.
Phillies player to watch: Kyle Schwarber, of course, and Cristopher Sanchez as he takes over the role of staff ace from the injured Zack Wheeler. But the bullpen has been the issue the past two postseasons for the Phillies, which puts Jhoan Duran on the spot as well. Acquired from the Twins at the trade deadline to take over as closer, Duran has mostly done the job, but he blew one save against the Nationals, picking up the loss, and then lost another game against the Mets when he allowed four straight hits without getting an out.
4. American League race for top two seeds
Standings: Detroit Tigers hold No. 1 seed and are up 0.5 games on Blue Jays, 3.5 games on Yankees, 4 games on Red Sox and 4.5 games on Astros
What’s at stake: Bragging rights? Momentum heading into the postseason? Home-field advantage? Sure, all those things are nice, and the Tigers have a notable home/road split (44-25 versus 36-33), so securing that top seed, which they’ve held much of the way in the AL, would be the final touch on an excellent regular season. Still, if you’re manager A.J. Hinch, you’re not going to burn out your rotation in September just to get that top seed. If the Astros climb closer to the Tigers and Blue Jays, however, it will get more interesting as teams want to avoid that wild-card series if possible.
Series to watch: Tigers at Yankees (Sept. 9-11); Tigers at Red Sox (Sept. 26-28); Yankees at Astros (Tuesday-Thursday); Astros at Blue Jays (Sept. 9-11)
Tigers player to watch: The Tigers have been searching for a No. 2 starter behind Tarik Skubal all year. Jack Flaherty has been inconsistent all season and had three starts in August where he allowed five or more runs. Casey Mize has a 7.20 ERA over his past eight starts. Chris Paddack? No. Maybe it’s 41-year-old vet Charlie Morton, who has a 4.61 ERA in his five starts with Detroit, as he has mixed in three excellent outings with two bad ones (although he fanned 10 in one of the bad ones). No matter what, there are going to be a lot of bullpen games for the Tigers in the playoffs when Skubal isn’t pitching, especially since the pen was much better in August after struggling in June and July (and adding some depth at the deadline).
5. American League West
Standings: Houston Astros up 2 games on Seattle Mariners
What’s at stake: The Mariners haven’t won a division title since … hold on here, scrolling through the years on Baseball-Reference.com … that’s right, the 116-win season in 2001. The Mariners made some weird pact with the baseball gods that season, which for some reason didn’t include them making the World Series after their historic regular season but did include them not making the postseason again until 2022. That’s right: They remain the only franchise never to appear in the Fall Classic. Winning the division would increase their odds just a bit and allow them to set their rotation for the ALDS.
Series to watch: Mariners at Astros (Sept. 19-21). The season series is tied 5-5, so the winner of this series gets that crucial tiebreaker edge. Of note: The Mariners have lost five consecutive road series and are 1-6-1 (they split a four-game series) in their past eight. The Astros have managed to keep their grip on first place despite going 12-13 in July and 13-15 in August. They’ve won every full-season AL West title going back to 2017.
Astros player to watch: Yordan Alvarez returned last week after being out since early May with a hand injury. He homered in his second game back and didn’t strike out in his first five games. The Astros have even started him twice in left field, allowing them to give Jose Altuve a DH day. Bottom line: If Alvarez is producing, a below-average offense suddenly looks at least like an average — or better-than-average — offense. With Alvarez, Altuve and Carlos Correa, it’s 2019 or 2021 all over again, two seasons that ended with the Astros playing in the World Series.
Mariners player to watch: How much does Cal Raleigh have left in the tank? He’s sitting on 50 home runs but also hit .194 in July and .173 in August. He’s still doing damage with the long ball and has had 17 home runs and 36 RBIs over the two months, but he’s not carrying the offense as he did in the first half.
6. American League Wild Card
Standings: Mariners hold third wild-card spot and are up 2.5 games on Kansas City Royals, 3 games on Texas Rangers and 4 games on Cleveland Guardians
What’s at stake: By no means are the Mariners out of the AL West race against Houston, but they also haven’t played well enough to pull away in the wild-card fight, even after everyone declared them a sure-thing playoff team following the acquisitions of Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor at the deadline. But given Seattle’s recent history of just missing the playoffs — two wins short in 2021, one short in 2023 and 2024 — Mariners fans are understandably nervous about blowing it, especially with the Royals and the Rangers refusing to go away.
Series to watch: Mariners at Royals (Sept. 16-18); Royals at Guardians (Sept. 8-10); Rangers at Guardians (Sept. 26-28). The Royals finished one game ahead of the Mariners for a wild-card spot last season, so this looks like the key series. The Mariners have one three-game series in Houston starting Sept. 19. If they can survive this current road trip — they just went 1-2 against Cleveland and now head to Tampa and Atlanta — that series looms large as well.
Royals player to watch: Is it too late to toss Bobby Witt Jr. into the Judge/Raleigh MVP debate? He’s making a late run with his outstanding all-around game and just had his best month of the season. With Vinnie Pasquantino mashing home runs and some trade acquisitions chipping in, Kansas City is peaking at the right time. The Royals have played well for two months now and have a pretty soft schedule for the final month.
Rangers player to watch: The Rangers looked out of it, and they’re going to be without Nathan Eovaldi for the rest of the season — and likely Marcus Semien as well — and Corey Seager for some period of time following an appendectomy. But they just won three series in a row. Without Eovaldi, Jack Leiter has to continue to pitch well: He has a 2.88 ERA over his past 11 starts and just tossed back-to-back excellent games.
Guardians player to watch: Cleveland is barely hanging in there, taking two of three against the Mariners as Kyle Manzardo hit big home runs in wins Friday and Saturday. He’s hitting .273/.362/.545 since July 12, giving Cleveland a much-needed power source other than Jose Ramirez.
7. National League East and NL Wild Card
Standings: Phillies up 6 games on Mets in division; Mets up 4 games on Cincinnati Reds in wild card
What’s at stake: The Mets temporarily made the division race interesting again after sweeping Philadelphia early last week but then lost three of four at home to the Marlins. That’s unacceptable if you want to win the division. The Reds continue to falter, so the Mets’ wild-card spot looks reasonably safe, though they are just .500 since May 1.
Series to watch: Mets at Phillies (Sept. 8-11); Mets at Reds (Friday-Sunday). With next week’s four-game series, the NL East remains in play even though it would take an epic New York comeback combined with a Phillies collapse for the Mets to win the division. They’ve already clinched the season series over the Phillies with a 7-2 advantage. Meanwhile, the Reds have a chance to put pressure on the Mets with a three-game series in Cincinnati before New York’s trip to Philadelphia.
Mets player to watch: Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong. The Mets’ rotation has scuffled for a while, so suddenly the season rests heavily on their two prized rookie starters. McLean won his first three starts, allowing just two runs in 20⅓ innings. Tong, who led minor league starters in ERA and strikeouts, beat the Marlins in his debut Friday, striking out six in five innings with no walks while showcasing the changeup that allowed him to dominate the minors.
Reds player to watch: What’s happening with Elly De La Cruz‘s power? He hasn’t homered since July 31 and has just one in his past 58 games.
8. National League Central
Standings: Brewers up 6.5 games on Chicago Cubs
What’s at stake: This is another David vs. Goliath matchup. Milwaukee, of course, is Goliath. The Cubs won the NL Central in the COVID-shortened season of 2020 but haven’t taken a full-season division title since 2017. Given the Brewers’ lead with no signs of faltering, the odds are slim that Chicago can chase them down.
Series to watch: The two teams are done for their season series, and the Cubs took it 7-6, so at least they own the tiebreaker.
Brewers player to watch: Closer Trevor Megill landed on the IL a few days ago with a flexor strain in his elbow after blowing three saves since mid-August, so Abner Uribe takes over. If the Cubs have a chance to catch the Brewers, it might be because the Milwaukee pen, which has been worked hard, burns out in September, especially with the Brewers in the midst of playing 19 games in 18 days.
Cubs player to watch: Kyle Tucker slumped as he played through a hairline fracture in his right hand for two months. He finally broke out with three home runs in two games and has hit over .400 his past nine games. The Cubs’ offense was horrid in August — Pete Crow-Armstrong also struggled — and they’ll need Tucker and the rest of the lineup to rebound in September.
9. American League Central
Standings: Tigers up 9.5 games on Royals
What’s at stake: This one is all but over — though, it’s not impossible for the Royals. The Mets blew a seven-game lead in 2007 with 17 games to play. The 1995 Angels entered September with a 7.5-game lead and lost the division in a tiebreaker game. The 2009 Tigers were up seven games on Sept. 6 and blew it. The 2011 Braves had an 8.5-game lead in the wild-card race at the start of September and missed the playoffs. And during that same season, the Red Sox were leading the Yankees in the AL East and nine games up on the Rays — who would catch them on the final day of the season to win the wild card. So … you never know.
Series to watch: The Tigers and Royals are done playing each other, with Detroit winning the season series 9-4.
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