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Lets try to make sense of that AL West maelstrom, shall we? Plus: We ponder some leadoff home run records, Andy McCulloughs mailbag answers a Brewers deadline question and we have a slam dunk winner for toughest player of the year.
Im Levi Weaver welcome to The Windup! Advertisement AL West: The division conundrum Last night, the Rangers beat the White Sox 10-0, the Mariners lost 4-2 to the Reds and the Astros beat the Marlins 5-3.
That means, after a one-day flip-flop, Texas is back in first place in the AL, with the Mariners a half-game back and Houston down three games.
Oh and by the way, the Rangers are just one game over .500, at 51-50.
The As (eight games back) and Angels (10.5) are, barring a miracle, finished.
But the top three the Rangers, Mariners and Astros make up this deadlines most perplexing riddle.
One has to win the division.
Is it worth trading prospects to marginally improve a .500 team with long October odds? The answer may lie less in the teams records come Aug.
3, and more on what they can even afford.
Combining the organizational rankings of our own Keith Law, FanGraphs, MLB, Bleacher Report, Baseball Prospectus ($), Baseball America ($) and ESPN, heres where their farm systems rank, on average, out of 30 teams: Astros: 28.57 Rangers: 23.85 Mariners: 7.42 Both the Rangers and Astros appear headed toward a wholesale rebuild soon.
Is it time to get started bulking up those farm systems? Or do you make one final push before diving into the depths? The MLB playoffs are, notoriously, a place where upsets thrive, after all.
The Mariners calculus is different.
With good prospects available, is this years squad one in which they want to invest? If not, they do have a different option available: They could deal from their surplus of starting pitching in a pitching-for-hitting swap.
Its possible that this situation becomes a lot less confusing in the next 10 days or so.
The Mariners travel to Texas for a four-game series against the Rangers starting Friday.
Until then ..
sheesh.
More deadline/division races: - Our Trade Tiers 2.0 has all three teams in various buyer categories ..
for now.
- With a win over the the fading Twins, Cleveland is tied with Chicago in the AL Central and Guardians OF Steven Kwan is looking more like himself.
Middle Relief: What will Brewers do at the deadline? Todays MLB mailbag has Andy McCullough parsing through a number of topics, including this question about the Brewers and 22-year-old prospect Andrew Fischer, who is Keith Laws No.
8 Milwaukee prospect.
Who will be Milwaukees slugging addition? Andrew Fischer? Or a trade acquisition? Gary D.
Advertisement This is one of the central storylines of the deadline.
As of this writing, the Brewers had the best record in the sport.
(As of the time this newsletter is sent, the Brewers are a half-game behind the Dodgers.) They are the biggest threat to snatch home-field advantage away from the Dodgers.
Then again, Milwaukee posted a better regular-season record than the Dodgers last summer, and that didnt matter much in October.
They tend to be more conservative at the trade deadline, but thats part of the reason the team has assembled such a high-quality farm system while ruling the division these past few years.
The clear weak spots in their lineup are third base and designated hitter.
Christian Yelich is the DH, and I dont see him moving off that spot, despite his lackluster production this season.
Fischer plays third base.
He has been tearing up the minors in his age-22 season.
The 2025 first-round pick got some experience playing for Italy in the World Baseball Classic, but the gap between Double A and the majors remains vast.
I dont know if the Brewers will gamble on displacing the defensive stability brought by Joey Ortiz for a rookie.
If the Brewers make a significant upgrade at the deadline, I suspect it will come in the form of a pitcher rather than a slugger.
There arent many top-shelf hitters on the market, and Milwaukee has a ton of interchangeable pieces that can provide some versatility.
The more acute need, especially with Brandon Woodruff done for the season and Kyle Harrison nursing a forearm issue, is within the rotation.
The team has the pieces on the farm to acquire Tarik Skubal or Joe Ryan.
I expect to maintain their usual discipline at the deadline, but maybe last years trouncing by the Dodgers changed the calculus.
We shall see! For the rest of Andys mailbag, click here.
Big Swings: Could Wood set the leadoff HR record? It was just two seasons ago when Kyle Schwarber hit 15 leadoff home runs for the Phillies, breaking the old record by Alfonso Soriano, who hit 13 in 2003 with the Yankees.
Advertisement James Wood did not hit a leadoff home run for the Nationals last night, but while I was looking up something else, I noticed that Wood has more of them (10) than anyone else even Shohei Ohtani or Schwarber.
The Nats have played 102 games this year, which is 62.96 percent of their schedule.
That means Wood is on pace for 16 (or rather 15.88, if were being precise).
So the mark is within reach.
He might have some competition, though.
Ohtani (who also did not hit one last night) currently has nine leadoff home runs this year (on pace for 14.29).
By the way, if youre curious about where the active leaders sit in their pursuit of Rickey Hendersons all-time mark of 81, they have a ways to go.
George Springer is at 65, but is 36 years old.
Mookie Betts (52) doesnt hit leadoff much since Ohtanis arrival in L.A.
and Schwarber (46) has hit second more often than first this year.
Ouch: The toughest player of 2026 is ..
As third baseman Joshua Kuroda-Grauer has an 80-grade name, and a million-grade toughness.
A foul ball to the groin area isnt unheard of, but usually the ball has the courtesy to bounce first, which takes at least a little heat off.
On Monday night, Kuroda-Grauer hit one that ..
didnt do that.
Before I tell you what happened next, heres what happened later: Kuroda-Grauer was taken to the hospital for emergency surgery to repair a ruptured testicle.
OK, now for the kicker (pun noted but unintentional): After taking the foul ball to the groin, not only did Kuroda-Grauer finish the at-bat, he singled, then played defense for an inning at third base before departing the game.
Ball-knowers (again: puns unintentional, unfortunate, yet unavoidable) will immediately recall 2009, when Adrian Beltre suffered a similar rupture.
He stayed in the game for all 14 cruel innings; even scoring the winning run.
Advertisement Theres never a good time for an injury like this, but this comes at a particularly inconvenient time for Kuroda-Grauer, who is hitting .417 (1.019) in his debut season.
Earlier in the game, he had hit his first career big-league home run.
Wishing Kuroda-Grauer a speedy recovery.
(And if you dont believe me on how difficult it is not to make puns on this topic, watch the call by Chip Caray Harrys grandson as play resumed.) Handshakes and High Fives From arbitration, through the World Baseball Classic and the trade speculation: Tarik Skubal has been MLBs main character in 2026.
Cody Stavenhagen sat down with the reigning back-to-back AL Cy Young winner to talk about how he has dealt with the spotlight.
Speaking of Skubal, he headlines Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammons leaguewide trade deadline intel column today.
An All-Star catcher who hits better on the road than at home when that home is Coors Field? No wonder 26-year-old Hunter Goodman is one of the most coveted players at this years deadline ..
if the Rockies will even trade him.
The MLBPA has rejected the leagues proposals on altering the draft structure, and has offered proposals of their own.
Not the most important aspect, but one you know were on board with: Moving the draft back to June.
Update on White Sox catcher Kyle Teel: Hes expected to miss six to 12 weeks with a high ankle sprain, putting the rest of his regular season in jeopardy.
Johnny Flores has more on Chicagos catching situation.
The Cubs pitching injuries and roster churn saga continues.
Instead of one more rehab start, Max Fried will be activated today.
Its the first time since signing him (in December 2024) that the Yankees will have both Fried and Gerrit Cole active and in the rotation.
Reds reliever Caleb Ferguson has apologized for his profane outburst at umpire Bill Miller after a batted ball hit Miller in Mondays game.
Advertisement You like those signed one-of-one gold logoman cards from Topps? Well, the new Shohei Ohtani one has two of them.
All the documentation has been submitted.
Now the league just has to vote on the Padres sale.
Elly De La Cruz and Eugenio Suarez both homered and had defensive gems last night.
Heres Suarezs defensive play.
And look at this De La Cruzs, which was 110 mph off the bat (!!): Not the worst Phillies game-ender Ive seen in the last 12 months, but this was still bad.
Streak watch: The Red Soxs game against the Orioles yesterday was postponed due to weather, so their winning streak stands at 14.
Boston can break the franchise record by sweeping todays doubleheader.
Most-clicked in our last Windup: Apologies again, Raul Ibanez.
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