Historic Chases · 2026-09-20

The Athletics have lost 6 straight, and are 3-7 in their last 10.

Jacob Misiorowski (MIL) struck out four over three innings without an earned run. His four-seam averaged 100.8 mph, up 0.2 on the 100.6 he had averaged over his first 25 starts — the hardest four-seam among the 141 starters tracked this season. Four of the 7,102 full-schedule qualified starter seasons the AL and NL have played since 1920 have finished a full schedule above it: Gerrit Cole's 13.82 in 2019, Spencer Strider's 13.55 in 2023, Randy Johnson's 13.41 in 2001 and Pedro Martinez's 13.20 in 1999. Above them on a short schedule: Shane Bieber's 14.20, over the 77.1 innings of 2020 and Jacob deGrom's 13.76, over the 68.0 innings of 2020. It is a board position and not a record: the rate carries about 0.84 of sampling error over 169.1 innings, and no partial-season history exists to say how often a rate this high in August survives to October. He has 247 strikeouts.

Seasons on a historic footing: Jacob Misiorowski (MIL), 13.13 strikeouts per nine innings, 5th among the 9,603 qualified seasons on file, behind four seasons, led by Gerrit Cole's 13.82 in 2019; Dylan Cease (TOR), 12.73 strikeouts per nine innings, 6th.

Lines of the night: Nolan Arenado hit a grand slam — and drove in 4 runs ▶︎ watch; Two go-ahead plays: Rafael Flores Jr.'s go-ahead home run in the 8th put the Pirates ahead for good in a 4-3 win over the Royals ▶︎ watch; Leo Bernal's tiebreaking home run in the 8th put the Cardinals ahead for good in a 5-3 win over the Nationals ▶︎ watch. A PITCHERS' DUEL in one game: Emmet Sheehan went 5.1 scoreless with 9 strikeouts; Matt Wilkinson went 5.0 scoreless ▶︎ watch. Griffin Jax went 5.0 scoreless ▶︎ watch; Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) reached 350 total bases for the season.

Also last night: Two scoreless runs: Spencer Miles has not allowed a run in his last 17 innings; Seranthony Domínguez has not allowed a run in his last 12 innings.

Went deep more than once: Iván Herrera hit 2 home runs — his first career multi-homer game ▶︎ watch; Jake Cronenworth (SD) hit 2 home runs, driving in 5 ▶︎ watch.

What changed from last season: Jackson Merrill (SD) — stolen bases up from 1 in 115 games in 2025 to 26 in 153 this season; Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) — walk rate up from 4.7% to 11.4% (29 in 620 plate appearances in 2025, 78 in 685 this season); Nolan Arenado (AZ) — strikeout rate up from 12.2% to 22.5% (49 in 401 at-bats in 2025, 115 in 510 this season); Taylor Ward (SEA) — home-run rate down from 6.2% to 1.4% (36 in 579 at-bats in 2025, 7 in 495 this season). (5 more cleared the same bar.) 9 of 780 rate comparisons across 150 qualified hitters and pitchers, corrected for having looked that many times.

Sweep watch: the Dodgers swept the Giants (3 games) — their 4th sweep in 31 days. Only 11.2% of team-seasons since 1897 have swept 4 clubs inside 30 days — 340 of 3043. 5 other clubs were swept the same night.

For the second straight night: Chandler Simpson (TB) took over the stolen bases lead at 46, passing Nasim Nuñez (WSH)

The so-what: Kyle Schwarber (PHI) has 45 home runs through 156 team games, a 47-homer pace — 24 behind Bonds's 2001 total at the same point (69 of his eventual 73). That gap is the whole story: it closes, or the chase does.