Around the MLB: Sep. 15

Baseball in September is fun. Teams are competing in an extreme version of leap-frog to jump teams and solidify themselves into October play. Seasons are on the line, so what headlines are making news this week as the games wind down?

Braves make history en route to another division title

The Atlanta Braves are putting together one of the most dominant seasons the league has ever seen. The talent all throughout the lineup has carried the team to historic heights.

Matt Olson is continuing his dominant 2023 campaign, smacking three home runs in his last four games, increasing his league lead to 51. That ties the franchise’s single-season record set by Andruw Jones in 2005. As a team, they’ve crushed 282 home runs, the most the NL has ever seen.

With the Braves’ hot bats, they were able to clinch the National League East for the sixth straight year and 23rd all-time, making it the most division titles a team has ever won.

Harper reaches 1,500 hits

A week after hitting his 300th career home run, Bryce Harper added another milestone to his career on Tuesday.

He is now one of six active players who have recorded 300 home runs and 1,500 hits in 12 seasons. Of course, the milestone came off of a deep drive into the Citizens Bank Park seats.

The Phillies are clinging onto the top wild-card spot in the NL and with Bryce Harper performing at his normal high level, Phillies fans can hope that another run may be in their sights.

Scherzer done for the regular season

The Texas Rangers have to deal with yet another injury to their pitching rotation as Max Scherzer was diagnosed with a muscle strain in his arm. No surgery is needed to recover from the injury, but he’s going to miss the rest of the regular season and he’s unlikely to pitch if the Rangers find themselves in a playoff series.

The merry-go-round of pitching injuries has hurt the Rangers all year, losing newly signed Jacob DeGrom for the year, and early Cy Young candidate Nathan Eovaldi has been hurt for parts of the season too.

Boston fires Bloom

Chaim Bloom, the chief baseball officer for the Boston Red Sox has been relieved of his duties after almost four years. Bloom notably traded superstar Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers for financial reasons, and the move has been in his shadow ever since.

Bloom might’ve improved a weak farm system he was tasked to fix, but the moves he has made dug a grave for the eventual pink slip.

The Red Sox are on the outside looking in and another low-place finish in the American League East may have sped up the decision.

Anthony Desher is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email acd5698@psu.edu.