Kuzul

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Bryan Harper had entered a tie game to start the ninth inning for the Double-A Harrisburg Senators, and he was now in a bind—bases loaded, two outs. 

The next Portland Sea Dogs batter slammed a hard grounder up the middle for a short-to-second, inning-ending force out. A walk in the bottom half plated the run that made Harper a 2–1 winner.

“I just let the defense work. That was a good way to get out of it: Pound the zone,” Harper said of his final offering that May 25 night.

Making quality pitches in tight situations could earn Harper, who’s now with the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, a call-up to the Washington Nationals. His standing 6’5″ and throwing left-handed would be key factors, too.

One thing is for sure: Harper, 26, will have reached the majors on his own merit. Being the older brother of the Nationals’ star outfielder is proving quite irrelevant.

According to Nationals vice president and senior advisor to the general manager Bob Boone, “He was signed with [the perception of] ‘This is Bryce’s brother, coming in on his coattails.’ He’s getting on the radar right now. I’m excited for him.

“He’s pushing his way through the door. All of a sudden, people are taking notice.” 

Boone, a longtime catcher in the bigs, would know something about brothers striving for the majors. His sons Aaron and Bret enjoyed fine MLB careers and Bob’s own brother Rod reached Triple-A. His father Ray was also major league infielder.

So far in 2016, Bryan has pitched to a 2.18 ERA, saved six games (all with Harrisburg), held opponents to a .174 batting average and struck out nearly a batter an inning.

Bryce, of course, has a bit more to show for himself, as the No. 1 overall draft selection in 2010, a four-time All-Star and the reigning National League MVP and Silver Slugger Award winner.

Since beginning his professional career in 2011, Bryan has pitched for six different clubs within the Nationals system—all in relief.

Throughout, Bryce has been his biggest supporter.

“[He made] sure I kept my nose to the grindstone,” Bryan said.

“He doesn’t need to tell me that. He says, ‘Keep working. You know you’ll make it.’ It’s a motivational thing for the both of us. I tell him the same thing.”

Should the Harpers share the Nationals locker room, it’d be their fourth experience as teammates since high school back in Nevada. The most recent time occurred with Harrisburg in 2014, when Bryce rehabbed for three games and played center field for two-thirds of an inning that Bryan pitched.

“It’s always been a dream of both of ours, once we got into pro ball, where we wanted to play with each other,” Bryan, a polite sort, said in the Harrisburg dugout hours before that ninth-inning victory. “Being able to play professionally, at the pinnacle of our sport, would probably be the coolest thing, by far, not just for me and him but for the whole family—being able to have the family there and watch me do my thing on the mound and Bryce doing what he does on a regular basis.

“He’s just always told me to keep grinding. He knows that I always have been a grinder. I’m always working hard to make my own name for myself and, hopefully, one day, be able to play with each other.”

The grinder has toiled at his craft. His 2016 pitching coaches, Harrisburg’s Chris Michalak and Syracuse’s Bob Milacki, said in separate interviews that they detected improvements early in spring training that indicated he had done some serious offseason work. They noticed that entering last season, too. And in 2014.

For Michalak this year, that meant Harper’s more consistent delivery, an improved curveball and increased confidence. Milacki cited the same, along with greater life to his fastball. Harper’s height, paired with the tweaks, have made him “able to create good angles” and significantly improve his breaking pitches, Milacki explained.

“With Bryan, from last year to spring training to now, he’s such a different pitcher,” said Milacki, who also had him for a short stint at Syracuse in 2015.

The best indicator of Harper’s makeup, Milacki said, occurred in Rochester this June 30.

Extra innings, tie score, first game of a doubleheader, bases loaded. Pressure, anyone? Adam Walker shot the pitch to deep center. It barely carried over the wall. Game over.

The next afternoon, Milacki took a pregame stroll to the outfield to take Harper’s emotional temperature. Harper calmly explained that he’d left a fastball over the plate. Perfectly sensible, and no use making an excuse.

“The good thing is, he’s accountable,” Milacki said he came away thinking.

Those who know the brothers well say that along with pride and a strong work ethic, Bryan has his head screwed on straight—with the extended Harper family having much to do with that.

Bryan’s best friend for more than a decade, Colin Shumate, recalled a decision the two made in high school to refrain from the drinking and partying scenes of their Las Vegas friends. Besides, they preferred Nintendo and Wii and Sunday family nights at the Harper’s house, where mom Sheri prepared burritos and enchiladas, sister Brittany baked dessert, and the males—Shumate included—handled the cleanup.

Other times, they all, Shumate included, hung out at the pool of Sheri’s parents, the Brookses, down the street.

The simple gestures of Sheri and her husband Ron are what impressed Shumate, such as always asking him sincerely how things were. When Shumate’s father Bill suffered a stroke in 2012, the Harpers were there.

Bryan and Bryce wore “Press On Warrior” wristbands the Shumates produced. All five Harpers checked in regularly with Shumate.

When Bill died in 2014, Ron called immediately. Shumate said Ron told him “how much he loved me and cared for me and was proud of me.”

“They were an active part of my maturing. That family was definitely a big part of who I am and who I became,” said Shumate, who works as a personal trainer in Southern California.

“You definitely know they love, care for and protect those they’re close to, who’re family to them. That reflects in the way Bryce and Bryan act and handle themselves.”

When the Harpers were teammates for one season at Las Vegas High School, spectators seemed to empathize with Bryan because of the stardom many predicted for Bryce.

But Bryan “never took it like that” and remained his own person, confident in his ability and not begrudging Bryce’s success, their coach Sam Thomas said.

Sibling rivalry is a tricky—and loaded—thing, especially among high achievers in any endeavor.

A psychologist in Baltimore who specializes in relationships between siblings, Avidan Milevsky, explained that rivalry and even aggression are inevitable, unless “de-identification” occurs. That happens when one of them selects a different professional path to minimize comparisons with a more heralded, usually older, sibling and to carve out a unique identity.

When they embrace the same profession, parental influence is often the factor in determining whether siblings can maintain a healthy, rather than a conflict-laden, relationship, he said.

Milevsky offered another pair of sports brothers as an ideal. In fact, he often begins lectures on sibling dynamics by screening a slide showing Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh embracing his brother and then-San Francisco 49ers coach Jim after the former’s victory over the latter in Super Bowl XLVII. Milevsky follows that up with a slide of the Harbaughs posed with their sister and parents.

“The saving grace was the parents raised them well,” Milevsky said of the Harbaughs. “They worked very, very hard to create a sense of harmony in the family. If you don’t see that tension between [siblings], that means their parents were very, very special people and did something unique.”

That’s apparently what’s at play, too, with the Harpers. The brothers maintain regular contact, sometimes after every game, more to encourage one another than to offer tips on approaching a particular pitcher or hitter. Shumate often texts with Bryce and speaks by telephone with Bryan.

Harrisburg manager Matt LeCroy, who coached with the Nationals in 2014 and 2015, has seen the brothers up close, too.

“You can tell they have that bond. I hope my kids have that with each other,” said LeCroy, the father of five. “Once the competition’s over, what else do you have?”

The unfortunate thing is that it’ll likely take being teammates for Bryan and Bryce to appreciate each other’s play in person. Except for that sole Harrisburg game when they wore the same uniform, the Harper brothers have rarely been able to attend the other’s games.

When Bryan pitched in 2013 and 2014 for the Nationals’ Washington-area Single-A teams, Hagerstown and Potomac, he popped over to Nationals Park a few times to watch Bryce in action. The two even lived together in 2014, the year Bryce once drove over to Potomac’s stadium in Virginia to watch the other Nationals play.

“It was awesome,” Bryan said. “I threw well that night, and it was cool to have him there to see.”

It’ll be far cooler whenever—if ever—Bryan is promoted to The Show. Boone considers that a real possibility.

“He’s in the mix,” Boone, in Harrisburg for two of the Portland games, said of the Nationals’ plans. “This year is the best he’s pitched. He’s getting big-league ready… Everyone’s always looking for left-handed pitching, including us.”

Unfortunately for Bryan, he will now have to wait until 2017 to get his chance. All the hard work that got him so close to his dream has been negated by an arm injury. He has been on the disabled list since August 10 and will be unable to return in 2016.

When that time finally comes, however, his support group will be ready.

In the Harpers’ circles, some of the most important people will drop everything to fly…wherever.

“It’ll be the fulfillment of everything he’s worked for his whole life,” Shumate said. “I’ll be really excited when he fulfills it.”

No less pumped up at the thought is Thomas.

“I would love to see Bryan have that opportunity, and it would be that much more special with his brother on the same club,” he said.

“I’d have to dig up $500, $600 to be there, because that’s something I’d never miss. The penalty with my wife would be terrible. I’d probably have to do dishes for a year.”

Hillel Kuttler covers baseball for Bleacher Report. His work has previously appeared at The New York Times and The Washington Post. Follow Hillel on Twitter @HilleltheScribe

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The divide between MLB contenders and pretenders is smaller than ever, increasing the impact of each contributor on the roster.

As many as 19 teams are in the postseason running with less than a month remaining. Most of them can thank the new wild-card format, as no division outside the American League East hosts an intense neck-and-neck race.

With so many teams ravaged by injuries, clubs are learning the importance of depth. No one star can carry a team to the World Series. Just ask the Los Angeles Angels.

These guys aren’t MVP or Cy Young Award candidates, but they have blossomed into indispensable players vital to September and October success. Let’s take a look at each team’s most unheralded performer over the first five months of 2016.

Begin Slideshow

Tim Tebow‘s dream of pursuing a baseball career will continue as the former NFL quarterback and the New York Mets agreed to a minor league contract Thursday.

The Mets announced the deal, noting that Tebow will participate in the instructional league. ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported the agreement. 

“This decision was strictly driven by baseball,” Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told reporters after the announcement. “This was not driven by marketing considerations.”

Alderson called Tebow “a classic player development opportunity for us,” comparing him to Seth Lugo and T.J. Rivera, adding that “the idea that any one player has no chance to make it to MLB, I reject.”

Tebow will start in the instructional league on Sept. 18, per Marc Carig of Newsday, with Alderson noting that Tebow “won’t be available every day” due to his commitments with ESPN.

“This is something I don’t take for granted and I am excited about,” Tebow said at the press conference. “I’m looking forward to getting to work.”

When asked about his expectations for success, Tebow said he “would consider success giving it everything I have.”

Tebow, 29, held an open tryout Aug. 30 in front of scouts from 28 of the 30 MLB teams. Playing in a simulated game, Tebow flashed raw power and left some scouts impressed—though, in Tebowian fashion, opinions were split.

“It was a complete waste of time,” an American League scout told USA Today‘s Josh Peter. “It was like watching an actor trying to portray a baseball player. He tried. He tried. That’s the best I can say. He is crazy strong and could run well in one direction, but that’s it. He only had one good throw of all his throws.”

“That was big power,” another scout, who had a more positive outlook, told Peter. “He was mishitting the ball out of the park.”

While few walked out of the tryout thinking they were stumbling on a potential superstar, one thing became clear: Tebow was getting signed.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that eight teams were trying to bring in Tebow. The Colorado Rockies, Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays emerged as the likeliest potential suitors. Atlanta was particularly aggressive, even courting Tebow publicly. Rosenthal also noted one team was eliminated from contention due to their unwillingness to agree to Tebow’s schedule requests. 

Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported that the “Tebow field was narrowed to five teams” before he signed with the Mets, adding that “interest was significant.”

“He has demonstrated more than rudimentary baseball skills.” Alderson said of Tebow. “We think he can be a baseball player.”

Tebow, by contrast, wasn’t able to stick on an NFL roster after his run with the New York Jets in 2012. He had seemingly settled into a broadcasting role, which included well-received turns on the SEC Network and even a stint on Good Morning America.

Tebow said the following of baseball, per Peter:

This is something I love to do, and I think when you have that mindset, it lets you be free to just go out there and compete. It lets you be free to do what a lot of people think you can’t do. When you don’t have that (fear), it lets you be able to be free to pursue life and what you’re passionate about, not what other people think you should do.

Tebow hasn’t played competitive baseball since high school, but we’ve learned we can never count him out.

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.

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Here come the New York Yankees.

Seriously, they’re in this thing.     

That seemed like an absurd notion when the Yankees went into full-blown sell mode just before the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline, jettisoning veteran pieces such as relievers Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller and outfielder Carlos Beltran. New York was building for the future, the narrative went, waving a white flag and restocking its farm system.

The farm system part was true. After their flurry of late-July deals, the Yankees own the richest stash of minor league talent in either league, per Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter.

But New York is also a legitimate postseason contender here and now. It’s not merely some fancy; it’s the truth.

After besting the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 Wednesday in the Bronx and completing a three-game sweep, the Yankees sit at 73-65, 2.5 games off the wild-card pace and only four games back of the Jays for the American League East lead.

The Yankees have now won four straight and six of their last eight. They’re rolling, in other words, any way you parse it.

“We’ll get there if we continue to play like we’re playing,” infielder Starlin Castro said, per MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm and Bryan Hoch. “Especially now in September, we’re facing the teams in front of us. If we continue winning series like we did today, we’ll be all right.”

Rookie catcher Gary Sanchez has been the shiniest story, bashing 11 home runs with a 1.136 OPS in 30 games.

But the Yanks have enjoyed contributions from all over. Take Wednesday’s starter, right-hander Bryan Mitchell, who underwent surgery on an injured toe this spring and returned to throw five innings of four-hit shutout ball against Toronto.

Much-maligned Luis Severino, who sports a plus-6.00 ERA, chipped in three scoreless frames of his own out of the pen.

That’s how it’s gone for New York. Third baseman Chase Headley is hitting .296 over the past 30 contests. Second baseman Starlin Castro has eight home runs and 20 RBI during the same stretch. Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury has gone 7-for-23 over his last seven games.

On the pitching side, trade-deadline acquisition Tyler Clippard has allowed just one earned run with 18 strikeouts in 16 innings in relief, softening the loss of Miller and Chapman. And Dellin Betances remains an elite reliever, as his 115 strikeouts in 66.1 innings attest.

The rotation is anchored by Masahiro Tanaka, who has won his last five decisions and struck out 38 hitters in August next to just one walk. 

Thanks to Tanaka, Ryan Hatch of NJ Advance Media opined, “there’s a glimmer of hope, a modicum of optimism because he’s pitching every five days.”

Honestly, modicum is an understatement. 

Yes, FanGraphs puts the Yankees’ chances of nabbing a wild-card slot at 7.6 percent and their chances of winning the division at 0.8 percent. 

But New York opens a four-game set at home against the last-place AL East Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, which should theoretically be an opportunity to make hay. 

In their division, they also have seven games remaining against the first-place Boston Red Sox, four against the Jays and three against the Baltimore Orioles, who own the second wild-card spot.

That stretch, surely, will decide things. The Yankees can either sprint to unexpected glory or head into the offseason with a stacked system and money coming off the books.

It’s win-win. But Yanks fans are used to winning, period, so this house-money playoff run would do a lot to satiate the pinstripe faithful. 

As Joel Sherman of the New York Post put it:

It is turning into that kind of stretch run for the Yankees — inexplicable. Which is totally fitting for a team playing for both tomorrow and today and that somehow has gotten better after trading arguably their three best players.

The Yankees’ chances to make the playoffs remain slim. But that the discussion is still going on speaks to their ability to find a little bit of magic down the stretch.

Magic is a strong word. Probably too strong. There’s something going on here, though, and it’s more than a novelty. 

Here come the Yankees.

Seriously.

All statistics current as of Wednesday and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.   

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Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa suffered a shoulder injury that will keep him out of the lineup for at least two days.

Continue for updates.

Correa Out with Strained Shoulder

Wednesday, Sept. 7

Per ESPN’s Jim Bowden, Correa has a strained shoulder that will keep him out of the Astros’ lineup for two to three days. 

Losing Correa, even for a couple of days, is a difficult blow for the Astros in their chase for an AL wild-card spot. They have won 13 of their last 17 games, with the 21-year-old having an excellent .274/.362/.460 slash line in his second MLB season.

Correa hinted at his potential last year, when he was the American League Rookie of the Year despite playing in only 99 contests. He slashed .279/.345/.512 with 22 home runs and 68 RBI and was responsible for 4.1 offensive wins above replacement, per ESPN.com.

He also demonstrated his solid speed by stealing 14 bases and patrolling the middle infield.

The Astros announced that they will put Alex Bregman at shortstop for Wednesday’s game against Cleveland. He was drafted as a shortstop out of LSU last season, so there is no reason to expect any kind of defensive slide.

Still, Correa is one of the primary reasons the Astros had World Series aspirations heading into the 2016 campaign after reaching the American League Division Series in 2015. They are 1.5 games behind Baltimore for the second wild-card spot, so every game at this point is crucial for the franchise in its quest to make another postseason appearance. 

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Fact: Minnesota Twins second baseman Brian Dozier hit a home run in his fifth straight game on Tuesday. He joins Harmon Killebrew and Marty Cordova as the only players in Twins history to accomplish that feat. 

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Just a Labor Day reminder that the return of football is far more of a downer than the annual exuberance baseball brings for this simple reason: The start of football means back to school (ugh). Baseball means summer is here (hum babe!). Though that still didn’t stop me from being glued to the flat-screen TV on what was a great opening weekend of college football…

1. Boston’s Road Dogs Chase the Blue Jays

Tuesday in San Diego was the same as Monday in San Diego for David Ortiz: not much to do. Playing in a National League park with no designated hitter, Ortiz had plenty of time on his hands.

Let’s see…He could count the well-traveled Boston Red Sox fans around San Diego, scoreboard-watch as the Red Sox slug it out with the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles in the AL East, even pay rapt attention to Donald Trump’s campaign.

“I’m not talking about that,” Ortiz good-naturedly told a Boston radio reporter here Tuesday. “I already said what I have to say on that.”

He sure did, telling USA Today‘s Jorge L. Ortiz in a wide-ranging interview that Trump’s declaration that Mexico is sending rapists and criminals to the United States “didn’t sit well with me. When you speak like that about us, it’s a slap in the face. … As Latin people we deserve respect, no matter where you’re from. And especially our Mexican brothers, who come here willing to do all the dirty work. Latin people here in the United States are the spark plug of the country’s economy.”

The only wall Ortiz wants to see is Fenway Park’s Green Monster. But considering 30 of their final 46 games were/are on the road, these are interesting times for the Red Sox as they thunder down the stretch.

Ortiz is sitting (other than pinch-hit appearances) until this weekend’s showdown in Toronto. They’ve summoned Cuban phenom Yoan Moncada from Double-A Portland because Travis Shaw and Aaron Hill weren’t producing at the plate (Boston’s third-base production ranks 28th in MLB with a .710 OPS). And Clay Buchholz has been resurrected from the boneyard just in time.

Since the All-Star break, Boston’s pitchers have the lowest road ERA in the majors at 2.66. Good timing for that, given the Red Sox’s spate of road games this month. Buchholz, following 6.2 one-run innings Tuesday night, has produced a 2.20 ERA over his past 12 outings (four starts) beginning on July 27.

Among other things, Buchholz has moved his arm slot up a little higher than it has been during the past two seasons, back to where it was when he went 17-7 in 2010. Injuries and wear and tear had caused it to drop. The better arm slot, according to manager John Farrell, “has helped him to stay in his lane [with pitches] in or away, and it’s added depth to his two-seam fastball and cutter.”

Plus, Buchholz has pitched exclusively from the stretch in each of his past three starts.

The comeback is a credit to Buchholz, who, at 32, was getting pummeled on both the mound and in the public arena earlier this summer and could have mentally checked out. He was 3-9 with a 5.91 ERA at the All-Star break.

“It says a lot about him,” Farrell said. “There was a lot of speculation [early in the year], a lot of wondering about his status. Externally, people were wondering whether his days in Boston were numbered.”

Instead, with knuckleballer Steven Wright’s shoulder injury, Buchholz might be just what the doctor ordered for Boston. Wright got a second opinion on his shoulder Tuesday, and though Farrell said it was consistent with the first exam in that no structural damage was found, he said the Sox still do not know whether Wright will pitch again this year.

So Buchholz is enormous, as is the potential emergence of Moncada, who Baseball America rated the game’s No. 1 prospect at midseason. But after going 4-for-10 with three runs scored and a double in his first three games in Oakland, Moncada was 0-for-7 with seven strikeouts in the first two games in San Diego. Still, the Sox see plenty they like.

“He’s got a pretty good swing, and I don’t think he’s scared,” Boston hitting coach Chili Davis says. “He got upset after one at-bat [Monday]. He didn’t walk back to the dugout timid; he walked back mad.

“And hitters like that are going to do something about it.”

The AL East has been a jumble all season, and it’s only lately that Toronto has threatened to clamp down. The Jays spent 22 days alone in first place this season, including nine of the past 10 days until Tuesday’s loss in Yankee Stadium. Now, Toronto and Boston are tied for first, and Baltimore trails by only a game.

The Jays team that awaits Boston at Rogers Centre this weekend has allowed the second-fewest runs per game in the American League (4.18), is watching second baseman Devon Travis become a breakout star in the season’s second half and is fueled by Josh Donaldson’s bid for a second consecutive MVP award.

The Blue Jays also pushed back knuckleballer R.A. Dickey’s next start to line up their top three starters for the Red Sox this weekend: Marco Estrada, J.A. Happ and Aaron Sanchez.

By then, Boston again will be able to utilize the DH and Ortiz, who leads the majors in OPS (1.030), slugging percentage (.625), extra-base hits (76) and doubles (44).

“That’s the schedule,” Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. shrugs. “We’ve known that’s the schedule since before the season started.”

And despite all of the road games, if it comes down to the season’s final weekend, there’s this: Boston hosts Toronto.

2. Backing into the NL Wild Card

Only one of the top five teams in National League wild-card contention—the New York Mets—had a winning record from July 30 until Tuesday night. Then the Cardinals took it to Pittsburgh again, and now, since July 30, this is what it looks like:

In this turtle’s-pace race, keep an eye on the Mets for this reason: Of their remaining 23 games, only three are against a team with a winning record (Washington Nationals). Otherwise, Terry Collins’ club gets a steady diet of losers: Cincinnati, Atlanta, Minnesota and Philadelphia.

3. Of Managers, Slumps and October

Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus and Chicago Cubs skipper Joe Maddon each went to the “Clear Their Heads” page of the playbook a couple of weeks ago in attempting to ignite struggling outfielders Justin Upton and Jason Heyward, respectively.

Results?

Since his three-day mental break last month, Upton, the erstwhile Tigers slugger, has hit .330 with eight homers and 21 RBI in 16 games.

Since his four-day mental break last month, Heyward, the slumping Cubs slugger, has responded some, but not quite to Upton’s specs: .271, one homer and 10 RBI in 15 games.

4. Tim Tebow, and Quarterbacking the Atlanta Braves

The clubhouse leader to sign Tim Tebow following his workout at the University of Southern California last week is the Atlanta Braves, multiple sources tell B/R.

Makes sense on several levels: As an undrafted free agent, Tebow’s contract will count against a club’s 2016 draft bonus pool, and the Braves have a little money left. And in that regard, Tebow is not expected to sign for much because he is such a project.

As it will not demand a big cash outlay, and given that Tebow will start at the Single-A or Double-A level, there isn’t much risk involved. And with Atlanta’s farm teams in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia—smack in the heart of SEC football country—you bet Tebow will sell some extra tickets.

The fascinating thing to consider, of course, would have been if Tebow started his baseball career far younger than his current age of 29. As we wrote a couple of weeks ago, the Angels tried to draft him in 2009 but, as Red Sox scout and then-Angels scouting director Eddie Bane told B/R, “They hid that phone number better than any phone number has ever been hidden. Probably, it was Urban Meyer [Florida’s coach at the time]. You couldn’t get any info on Tim Tebow. As hard as we tried…we couldn’t get the info.”

Bane said the Angels tried to get an MLB draft information card to Tebow so he could fill it out, but they couldn’t find him.

When I relayed that story to Tebow last week at USC, he grinned in amusement and confirmed that no MLB draft card ever reached him. He laughed when I told him that Bane figured Meyer was the one who hid Tebow.

“This is the first I’ve heard of any of that,” the former quarterback told B/R, laughing.

Whether the Braves or someone else signs Tebow, expect him to play for a club’s Instructional League team this fall. Then, as B/R reported last week, he is expected to play winter ball in Venezuela to prepare for his first spring training.

5. Of Clayton Kershaw, Awards and Chavez Ravine

Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is slated to rejoin the rotation Friday in Miami. Now the biggest question for the rampaging Dodgers becomes: Will Kershaw screw them up?

Anybody would be thrilled to get Kershaw back, but everyone from industry insiders to seamhead pundits expected the Dodgers to fold this year if Kershaw was out for an extended period of time. Instead, the opposite has happened. The Dodgers are 37-24 in Kershaw‘s absence.

So while not diminishing Kershaw‘s dominance on the mound, it does make you wonder about his overall value to the team. Kershaw is no mere Cy Young Award winner—he’s also the 2014 AL MVP. Granted, that was two years ago, but given the always-fierce debate regarding whether starting pitchers should be considered for an MVP Award when they already have the Cy Young Award, it does make you wonder.

As the anti-MVP argument goes, starting pitchers, even those as great as Kershaw, only play once every five days. Watching this year’s Dodgers, it does deflate the seemingly automatic tie-in between the Cy Young Award and MVP that Kershaw usually carries with him.

And now, as HBO’s John Oliver might say, this:

That would be Jesse Chavez and Josh Ravin, who pitched in relief on Sunday in Chavez Ravine. Beautiful.

6. Weekly Power Rankings

1. Chicago Cubs: Ripped through a 22-6 August, most victories in a month since they won 22 games in September 1945—one month after V-J Day. Next thing you know, the Cubs will be kissing nurses in Times Square.

2. Stranger Things: Netflix has greenlighted a second season of the show, which features the supernatural developments of Yasiel Puig bouncing between the Dodgers and Triple-A Oklahoma City. Wait, what? That’s not what the show is about?

3. Ubaldo Jimenez: Orioles starter throws his first complete game since 2011 and Baltimore’s first of the year in a 7-3 triumph over Tampa Bay on Monday. Look out: Jimenez has a 2.70 ERA over his past four starts and could be just the wild card the Orioles need to earn a wild-card slot.

4. Taco trucks: Mmmmm!

5. Zack Greinke: Surrenders a career-high five homers in his return to Dodger Stadium on Monday, including four in one inning. The only other pitcher in Diamondbacks franchise history to give up five homers in a game was Casey Daigle in 2004, and he, um, didn’t sign for $206.5 million.

7. Whoosh!

Biggest swing-and-miss relief pitchers? Maybe not who you think. File this away for your stretch-run scouting:

8. Chatter

• Former Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos has emerged as a candidate to replace Terry Ryan in charge of the Minnesota Twins’ baseball operations, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network. Industry speculation has the Twins going outside of the organization to make the hire, with former Boston GM Ben Cherington, Cubs senior vice president Jason McLeod and Texas assistant GM Thad Levine also in the mix. The headhunting company the Twins hired to aid in the search is the same company the Milwaukee Brewers used last year that led them to hire David Stearns.

• When the going gets tough, Texas usually wins: The Rangers lead MLB in both one-run wins (30) and winning percentage in those games (.769, 30-9). Thanks in no small part to how well they’re playing in those games, the Rangers continue to own the best record in the American League and, thus, the edge for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

• Two weeks ago, Cleveland was going 2-5 on a trip through Oakland and Texas. The Indians had scored a total of just four runs combined in six of those games, and Detroit had chopped their AL Central lead from 7.5 to 4.5 games. How the Indians answered that skid speaks to the resiliency of Terry Francona’s club: They opened their current 10-game homestand with six consecutive wins against Minnesota and Miami before losing Monday and Tuesday to Houston to maintain that 4.5-game lead despite the Tigers winning 11 of their past 15 games.

• Three Boston Red Sox—Dustin Pedroia, Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts—are on pace to collect 198 or more hits. Only three clubs in the past 75 years have had three players with 200 or more hits each: The 1991 Texas Rangers (Rafael Palmeiro, Julio Franco and Ruben Sierra), 1982 Milwaukee Brewers (Cecil Cooper, Paul Molitor and Robin Yount) and 1963 St. Louis Cardinals (Bill White, Dick Groat, Curt Flood).

• Seattle’s sinking ship: On Saturday, Taijuan Walker surrendered three home runs while obtaining only two outs before departing in the first inning. The last starting pitcher to yield that many homers while failing to make it through the first inning? Cincinnati’s Phil Dumatrait on Sept. 9, 2007, per ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark.

• Minnesota’s All-Star second baseman Brian Dozier has cracked 39 home runs, bringing him within sight of the MLB record for homers by a second baseman, set by Davey Johnson (43) in 1973. Dozier’s 39 homers are the most by any Minnesota player since Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew’s 41 in 1970.

• The ongoing adventures of Gary Sanchez: The Yankees catcher has reached base in 21 consecutive games, and he had hits in 18 of those games.

• Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna, 21, on Sunday became the youngest player ever to reach 30 saves in a season, dating back to when the save was invented in 1969.

• Pittsburgh has lost eight in a row and lost catcher Francisco Cervelli to a left thumb injury. Rough times for the Jolly Roger.

• The Aug. 31 deadline for Arizona to exercise contract options for general manager Dave Stewart and assistant GM De Jon Watson passed without a decision, other than club president Derrick Hall telling the Arizona Republic that the Diamondbacks have decided to wait until season’s end to make any decisions. That’s all well and good, but scouts and those working in player personnel generally work under contracts that expire Oct. 31, and if Arizona does opt to make leadership changes in October, it will be terrible timing for the scouts and player-development folks to start looking for jobs.

9. I Read It on the Coconut Telegraph

Uttered during the Giants-Cubs series over the weekend, this gem from San Francisco starter Johnny Cueto:

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

Stretch run, adrenaline gets you through…

“Everyone I know, everywhere I go

“People need some reason to believe

“I don’t know about anyone but me

“If it takes all night, that’ll be all right

“If I can get you to smile before I leave

“Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels

“I don’t know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels

“Look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through

“Looking into their eyes I see them running too”

—Jackson Browne, “Running on Empty”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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Roughly four weeks are left in the 2016 MLB regular season, and while the playoff picture is taking shape, there is still a lot to be decided before October.

In the American League, 10 legitimate contenders remain. The Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers have a strong hold on their respective division leads, but the AL East is a three-team race, and the two wild-card spots are wide open with the Detroit Tigers making a strong push of late.

The National League picture is not as congested, but eight clubs are still in position to reach the postseason. The Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals are locks to fill two of the five spots, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are close to joining that top-tier of NL clubs.

Meanwhile, the wild card now looks like a three-team race between the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, as the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins have both fallen off the pace.

At any rate, what follows is a look at each club’s chances of reaching the postseason, with the following factors taken into account:

• Current standings
• Recent performance
• Future schedule
• Injury concerns

So, with the regular season set to wrap up on Oct. 2, here is an updated division-by-division look at the playoff chances of all the remaining contenders from where they stood one week ago.

Begin Slideshow

When you share a lineup with Miguel Cabrera, it’s easy to get overlooked. Two-time MVPs tend to cast long shadows.

So J.D. Martinez is probably used to toiling in relative anonymity.

He’s having a monster month-plus, though, and has helped propel the Detroit Tigers into the thick of the American League playoff race. 

“He’s been outstanding. He’s been a lot of the offense since he’s returned,” manager Brad Ausmus said, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press.

Martinez went down in June with a fractured elbow and didn’t return until Aug. 3. Since then, he’s hit .387 with a 1.114 OPS. 

Entering play Wednesday, the 75-63 Tigers trail the Baltimore Orioles by one game for the second wild-card spot. And they’re only 4.5 games behind the Cleveland Indians for the AL Central lead.

Martinez doesn’t deserve all the credit. But he gets less than his share, as Fox Sports’ JP Morosi underscored in March when he named the Detroit right fielder the fourth-most underrated player in the game.

Martinez, who turned 29 Aug. 21, isn’t a flash in the pan. He made the All-Star team and bashed a personal-best 38 homers with 102 RBI last year for the Tigers.

It’s not as if he needed a dramatic reinvention, in other words. 

As FanGraphs‘ August Fagerstrom elucidated in April, Martinez teased a more patient approach early in 2016. That’s since leveled off.

Still, he’s swinging at fewer pitches outside the strike zone (32.8 percent this year compared to 35.5 percent in 2015) and making less soft contact (12.6 percent in 2015 to 9.7 percent this season), per FanGraphs.

In addition to Cabrera, left fielder Justin Upton has been stuffing the stat sheet for Detroit after failing to live up to his nine-figure contract for much of the year. 

The Tigers, who are tied for fourth in the AL in OPS (.764) but eighth in runs scored (637), need all the thump they can get.

Martinez may be the key. On Sunday, in a pivotal 6-5 win over the division-rival Kansas City Royals, he cracked a mighty home run “that could be heard all the way from the press box,” per Jason Beck and Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com.

Detroit has its flaws, including a pitching staff that sports a middle-of-the-pack 4.17 ERA.

For now, however, this is a team that’s capable of going places in the wide-open Junior Circuit. And Martinez’s shoulders could be strong enough to carry it there.

We know he’s capable of a hot streak. Last year, he hit 19 home runs and drove in 46 runs in June and July, and he posted a 1.003 OPS in July alone.

Mixed in with his latest baseball-bashing spree, Martinez clubbed his 100th career homer Aug. 14 in a 7-0 win over the AL West-leading Texas Rangers.

“It’s a great accomplishment for me, coming through what I had to go through but, obviously, it’s just a number,” he said, per Fenech.

He’s right. On the other hand, numbers can translate to wins, which can translate to playoff spots. For a Detroit team looking to avenge last season’s cellar-dwelling finish and charge back onto the October stage, that’s sweet music.

Cabrera is around, doing Cabrera things. On the pitching side, Justin Verlander is cranking back the clock.

Martinez, however, leads all Tigers in second-half doubles (12) and slugging percentage (.677). If there’s such a thing as a secret weapon that finished 15th in AL MVP voting last year, he’s it.

Martinez is standing in a long shadow. Clearly, it’s time for him to step into the light.

All statistics current as of Sept. 6 and courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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A week ago, a popular view among American League East scouts was that the Baltimore Orioles were a lot more likely to finish fourth than first.

They weren’t catching the Toronto Blue Jays or Boston Red Sox. Not with that starting rotation.

They would finish third and would try to sneak into the second wild-card spot. Or they would drop to fourth, with the New York Yankees surpassing them.

One week later, the Orioles are only one game out of first place.

How did that happen?

The same way it has happened all season. The same way it happened Tuesday night, when the Orioles’ starting pitcher departed after five innings—and they won.

Five innings is not a quality start. It’s not a good start. But when an Orioles starter has finished exactly five innings this season, the O’s are an astonishing 20-12.

When an Orioles starter goes five or more innings, the O’s are 69-39.

They don’t need great starting pitching. They don’t need quality starting pitching. They just need their starters to give them a chance, as Yovani Gallardo did when he gave up two runs (one earned) in his five innings Tuesday at Tampa Bay.

Five and fly is fine, because when the Orioles come to bat, the baseballs tend to fly out of the park. They hit another three home runs in Tuesday’s 11-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, giving them a major league-high 218 home runs this season.

No other team has hit more than 200.

It was Chris Davis (35th of the season), Manny Machado (34th) and Adam Jones (26th) Tuesday, and Machado’s home run was his third grand slam of the season. On another night, it will be Mark Trumbo, who leads the majors with 41 home runs.

No other team this season—and no previous Orioles team ever—has had three players with 30 or more. The Orioles have six players with 20 or more.

They play good defense. They have a good bullpen, with the best closer in the game in Zach Britton and a manager in Buck Showalter who knows how to use his relievers.

Give Showalter a 10-man bullpen, as he has with the ridiculous expanded rosters in September, and he can really work some magic.

It still might not be enough to finish ahead of the Blue Jays and Red Sox. It still might not be enough to hold off the Detroit Tigers, who the Orioles now lead by one game for the final wild-card spot.

But it’s as wrong to write off the O’s as it has been all season.

For one thing, their rotation has stabilized some. In a telephone interview Tuesday, general manager Dan Duquette credited 25-year-old Kevin Gausman (no runs allowed in 19 innings over his last three starts, and a 2.73 ERA since the All-Star break) and 23-year-old Dylan Bundy, who has been more inconsistent but pitched 5.2 scoreless innings last Friday night against the Yankees.

The rotation should get a boost this weekend, with 15-game winner Chris Tillman expected to come off the disabled list. Ubaldo Jimenez has pitched well in Tillman’s absence, with a 2.91 ERA in three starts and the Orioles’ first complete game since 2014, but they’ll be happy to have Tillman back.

Tillman is hardly a traditional ace. He hasn’t thrown a pitch in the eighth inning since June 8. His 3.76 ERA is tied for 34th among qualified major league starters, making him more Ian Kennedy than Jake Arrieta (a former Oriole, of course).

He’s not necessarily an ideal candidate for a Wild Card Game start against David Price or Justin Verlander. Then again, the Orioles have won two of the three times Price has started against them this season. And when Tillman and Verlander met in May, it was Tillman and the Orioles who came away with a 1-0 win (thanks to a Jones home run).

The Orioles will see Verlander again Sunday in Detroit, at the end of an important three-game series.

Just about every one of the Orioles’ remaining series look big. They go from Detroit to Boston to face the Red Sox, who they’ll also see a week later at home. The final week of the season, they go to Toronto and New York.

It won’t be easy, but what the Orioles have done so far wasn’t easy, either. It wasn’t easy, but it is fun, as Machado said (via Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com):

It’s fun for them now, and the AL East race is as much fun to watch as ever. And yes, the Orioles are very much still in it.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. 

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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