Heat Check: Top teams clinch while the MLB playoff hunt heats up


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Welcome back to “Heat Check.” As the playoffs creep closer and closer, many division titles have been seized and stress is mounting for squads on the postseason bubble. Let’s check in with those clubs, as well as some other major news.

There it is. Year in and year out, the Los Angeles Dodgers dominate not only the National League West, but the rest of the league, with the same ringing true in 2022. L.A. clinched their ninth division title in the past 10 seasons with a win over Arizona on Sept. 13. The Mets, meanwhile, rode starting pitcher Max Scherzer to a 7-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night, grabbing an October seat for the first time since 2016. While the NL East title remains in reach for Atlanta, New York has at least guaranteed a spot in the Wild Card.

Houston became the first American League ballclub to clinch their division, securing the AL West title for the fifth time in the past six years following a win over Tampa Bay on Monday night. Despite the Yankees relying heavily on the juggernaut Aaron Judge, for the majority of the second half, their magic number for a playoff spot stands at two games, with the AL East title likely going down to the wire. The AL Central stands as the murkiest division, with Cleveland holding a slight lead over Chicago. With the White Sox mounting a 12-6 record in September as of the 21st, they very well could cement themselves as the division winner heading into the postseason.

At 81-66 as of Sept. 21, Seattle tightly holds an AL Wild Card spot, owning a five-game lead over Baltimore with 15 games left to play. If they reach the postseason, it would end the longest playoff drought in the four major American leagues, since their last appearance in 2001. For reference, Mariners star rookie Julio Rodriguez was less than a year old the last time Seattle even sniffed the postseason. According to Fangraphs, they stand a 99.13% chance at making the playoffs. Knowing Seattle, I’m sure they’ll make it as stressful as possible.

On the other side of the coin, 11 teams have been eliminated from playoff contention, with Washington the first to fall way back on Aug. 25. Most of these clubs are not strangers to early October elimination, at least in recent times. Kansas City, Detroit and Pittsburgh have all failed to reach the postseason in the past five years. In their defense, the tank seems to be working so far, with all three primed to contend a couple years from now.

The Angels became the most recent squad to be cut from contention, setting their playoff ineptitude in stone with a loss to the Mariners on Monday night. Despite boasting quite possibly the two best players in the world, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, L.A. can’t quite get their game together. I get it, L.A. It must be hard putting together a .500 team when you only have billions to spend, hold two generational talents and live in a premier market. Maybe you could take a note from your brother across the freeway, who has — shocker — been a force in the league for the past decade. Maybe a sale of the team is just what this club needs to become at least mildly competent for the sake of Trout and Ohtani. A man can dream.

In other major news, the Joint Competition Committee and MLB have agreed to a new set of rules to be implemented starting in 2023. A pitch clock, limit on defensive shifts and larger bases will become the standard in 2023 and beyond. The rules were aimed at improving pace of play across the league, and considering their success in the Minor Leagues, it should be a solution to MLB’s rather lengthy average gametime.

I personally am in favor of these rules, as I am confident that it will make the game more action packed and fast-paced, which is something MLB has been missing for the last decade or so. However, the biggest miss for me in the agreement between the two parties is the failure to install a robotic strike zone. Umpires have and will always be subject to human error and mental tendencies such as anchoring bias. Despite MLB knowing this for years, they have once again failed to improve the sport it claims to uphold faithfully. I, for one, will cry tears of joy when I no longer have to hear Angel Hernandez’s name. I pray it will only be a matter of time.

Thanks for checking in on my coverage of MLB as we near the end of the regular season. In my next column, the postseason will have started, and the fun will have finally begun.