Playoff berths — and playoff positions — are still on the line as we enter the final two weeks of the MLB season. Individual awards are still up for grabs, for the most part. Mike Trout is safe as the NL MVP, despite his season ending a bit early, but there are cases to be made — or blown — over the remaining handful of games.
And there are a couple of milestones on the line, too. Let’s take a look at three of them — two good, one not so positive.
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MORE: MLB magic numbers, playoff picture on Sept. 16
Ronald Acuña: 40-40
The milestone: 40 homers, 40 stolen bases in a season
What he needs: 1 homer, 4 stolen bases
Thoughts: Acuña is 21 years old. Twenty-one! His power/speed combo season — 39 homers and 36 stolen bases so far — would be pretty amazing for any player at any age, but to make a legit run at a 40-40 season at 21 years old (he doesn’t turn 22 until December) is unprecedented. Here’s a comprehensive list of MLB players other than Acuna to have even 30 homers and 30 stolen bases before the end of their Age 21 season: Trout, Mike (30 homers, 49 stolen bases in 2012). That’s it. That’s the entire list, just Trout and Acuña.
And only four players (of any age) have compiled seasons of 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in MLB history. Jose Canseco was the first (42 homers, 40 stolen bases in 1988), followed by Barry Bonds in 1996 (42-40), Alex Rodriguez in 1998 (42-46) and Alfonso Soriano (46-41). A-Rod, by the way, was in his Age 22 season, and Canseco was in his Age 23 year.
And this is mostly unrelated, but the Braves have a shot at finishing with three players with at least 40 homers. That’s only happened three times: Atlanta in 1973, Colorado in 1996 and 1997. Acuña, as mentioned, has 39, Freddie Freeman has 38 and Josh Donaldson has 37.
Justin Verlander: 3,000
The milestone: 3,000 career strikeouts
What he needs: 19 strikeouts
Thoughts: Verlander isn’t just a veteran hanging around collecting counting stats. He finished second in the AL Cy Young voting last year and is the odds-on favorite to take home that award this season. In his past 11 starts, he’s recorded double-digit strikeouts nine times.
He’s set up to start at least two more games: Tuesday at home against the Rangers and Sept. 22 at home against the Angels. And if the games still matter in the race for home-field advantage in October, Verlander could make a third start on full rest in the season-ending series on the road against the Angels. If he makes that start (seems likely that he’d at least throw a few innings to keep on a regular rotation schedule), he’s a solid bet to get those 19 needed strikeouts. There are only 17 members of the 3,000-strikeout club, btw, a group that CC Sabathia joined early this season.
Phillies: 11,000
The milestone: 11,000 losses as a franchise
What they DON’T need: Nine more losses in their final 14 games
Thoughts: The Phillies have more losses than any other franchise, which says two things: They’ve been around a long, long time (137 years), and they’ve lost a lot of baseball games (78 seasons under .500). Even though they can’t avoid being the first franchise to hit the 11,000-loss mark (they have 10,991 and the Braves are next, with a relatively distant 10,652), it would be particularly cruel if they get to that mark this year, a season that started with sky-high expectations but has been, overall, pretty disappointing.
And I know what you’re thinking: “As long as they don’t fall apart down the stretch, they’ll avoid this milestone of futility.” And that’s true. But here’s the thing: They've already lost seven of their past 11 games (including two at home to Boston this weekend) and no team faces a more difficult stretch run than the Phillies.
They're about to play 11 consecutive games on the road against playoff-caliber teams: three in Atlanta, three in Cleveland and five in Washington. Yeah. The five contests in D.C. include a double-header Sept. 24. They finish with three at home against the Marlins, but if that road trip turns into a disaster — remember how they lost 11 of their last 15 games last season? — that series might not even matter.
