Mookie Betts, the Los Angeles Angels and MLB's Biggest Winners and Losers of August
August is done, which means we have reached the home stretch of the 2023 Major League Baseball season.
But before we dive headlong into the postseason push, let's reflect on the past month by highlighting its biggest winners and losers.
For the most part, we'll be looking at August in its totality, as opposed to picking and choosing key moments or week-long segments of the month.
For instance, Baltimore's Gunnar Henderson had one of the best individual performances imaginable, racking up two doubles, a triple and a home run in a blowout win over Oakland. But in the scope of the entire month, that one game pales in comparison to what Mookie Betts, Julio Rodríguez and others have been doing over the past few weeks.
But, yes, we will talk about August's two no-hitters, the one cycle and the zero fun it has been to keep getting push notifications about All-Star pitchers landing on the IL with elbow injuries.
Winners and losers are presented in no particular order, aside from oscillating back and forth between the two labels.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics and records are current through the start of play Wednesday.
Winner: Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals
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This is a rather unconventional starting point for a winners and losers article, but do you realize how infrequently we've been able to say anything nice about the 52-games-below .500 Kansas City Royals this season?
We've got to let them have the spotlight for once.
And Cole Ragans absolutely deserves it as indisputably the most dominant pitcher in the past month.
A former first-round pick, he and then-17-year-old outfield prospect Roni Cabrera were what the Royals got back from Texas in the Aroldis Chapman trade. At the time, Ragans was an ineffective middle reliever (5.92 ERA) with no realistic hope of getting starts in the Rangers' loaded rotation.
In Kansas City, though, not a whole lot is standing in his way, and the 25-year-old has quickly become the ace of the staff.
Ragans opened the month by going six scoreless innings in a win over the Mets, and he didn't much slow down from there.
Against both the Red Sox and A's, he racked up 11 strikeouts. And he wrapped up the month by going seven scoreless with nine strikeouts in Tuesday night's start against the Pirates.
All told, he made six starts with a 1.72 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 36.2 innings (13.0 K/9). The FIP of 1.47 suggests Ragans was a bit unlucky as far as earned runs allowed are concerned.
The next step here is getting the man some run support. Through seven starts in Kansas City, the Royals have yet to score five runs in a game for him.
Loser: Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
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Ten weeks ago, it wasn't a question of if Adam Wainwright would get to 200 wins for his career, but rather when he would reach that milestone.
While the 42-year-old wasn't exactly pitching great early in the year, he got wins in three of his first eight starts, putting him just two shy of joining what has become a rather exclusive club in recent years.
Unfortunately, Wainwright has been stuck on 198 since mid-June, saddled with a loss in nine of his last 10 starts and a no-decision in the other.
And things have gone particularly poorly as of late.
They weren't all bad outings. In fact, two of his past three appearances were quality starts, allowing three runs to the Mets and just one against the Padres Monday night.
Still, he lost all five of his starts in August, posting a 10.89 ERA in the process.
The good news is there's still time, and it's not like the Cardinals have anything else to play for right now. He is lined up to make five more starts—possibly six if he pitches on the final day of the regular season—before riding off into the sunset.
However, if he doesn't get one of those wins this Sunday against Pittsburgh, it's going to be mighty difficult to find two down the stretch. From Labor Day onward, St. Louis' only remaining games against a sub-.500 team come via a three-game set in San Diego. And based on the current rotation, Wainwright would miss that series, instead facing Milwaukee twice, Cincinnati twice and Philadelphia once.
And if Wainwright doesn't get to 200, it's going to be a while before the next guy does. Gerrit Cole (141 wins) should get there in the next five to six years if he stays healthy, but Wainwright is the only active pitcher north of 150.
Winner: Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers
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At the beginning of August, the NL MVP race seemed to be over.
Per Sports Betting Dime's odds tracker, Ronald Acuña Jr. had consensus odds of -556 on July 24 and had ballooned to -1502 by August 7.
And why shouldn't he? The Atlanta star ended July batting .333/.415/.574, on pace for 37 home runs and 79 stolen bases. He's already the only player in MLB history with at least 29 home runs and 55 stolen bases in a single season, and he's now out there resetting records on a near-daily basis.
Additionally, the race for the NL's No. 1 seed was beginning to feel like a foregone conclusion with Atlanta sitting eight games clear of the pack.
But while both Atlanta (19-8) and Acuña (.984 OPS, 5 HR, 10 SB) have continued to thrive, Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers have made things a whole lot more interesting for the home stretch.
Betts has been out of this world as of late, batting .452/.509/.808 with nine home runs and 19 extra-base hits in August. He has had more games with at least three hits (four) than hitless games (two), including a 5-for-5 performance in an August 23 victory over Cleveland. That one came in the middle of a 14-game stretch in which he went 31-for-56 (.554) at the dish.
It's not quite "Barry Bonds hitting 16 home runs with a 1.685 OPS in September/October 2001" absurd, but it has been a ridiculous run for the 30-year-old.
Because of it, Betts closed a seemingly insurmountable gap in a hurry, going from +3950 for NL MVP on August 7 to the slight betting favorite just three weeks later. (Acuña did move back ahead of Betts that night, though, with a four-hit, five-RBI, one-homer, two-steals game of his own.)
Meanwhile, the Dodgers entered Wednesday with a 23-4 record in August, climbing to within four games of the Braves in the race for NLCS home-field advantage, with a four-game series in Los Angeles beginning Thursday.
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Loser: That Other Team from Los Angeles
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The Los Angeles Angels ended July at 56-51, three games back for a wild-card spot and a mere 4.5 games behind Texas for the AL West lead.
And they went about as all-in at the trade deadline as you'll ever see an MLB team go, bringing in five impending free agents—Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, C.J. Cron, Randal Grichuk and Dominic Leone—while shipping out what little top talent they had in their farm system.
It was a very "2023 Playoffs or Bust" approach.
And they sure have busted.
While the Seattle Mariners (who were half a game behind Los Angeles on July 31) have skyrocketed into first place in the division, the Angels have cratered into the biggest mess in Major League Baseball, now 12.5 games behind the M's, Rangers and Astros.
The Halos lost 16 of their first 21 games of August, going from an "unlikely but feasible" playoff candidate to dead men walking in the span of three weeks.
Granted, it was a brutal slate against what may well be seven of the 12 playoff teams—Atlanta, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston, Texas, Tampa Bay and Cincinnati. But, like, they knew the schedule when they made all those trades, right? It's kind of why they decided they needed to be so aggressive, knowing they had to at least tread water through that stretch before ideally finishing strong when Mike Trout returned to the active roster.
But they didn't tread water. They drowned almost immediately, outscored 146-74 in the process of rushing Trout back for just one game before he landed back on the IL and pushing Shohei Ohtani too far (or allowing Ohtani to push himself too far) resulting in the UCL tear heard around the world. (One of many as of late. More on that in a bit.)
And one month after going all-in, they've now thrown in the towel, waiving Giolito, López, Grichuk, Hunter Renfroe and Matt Moore in an effort to get below the luxury-tax threshold.
The Angels are now effectively eliminated from the 2023 postseason, and it sure feels like they've already been eliminated from the next few, too, given the way they gutted their farm system.
Even if they manage to re-sign Ohtani, there's no telling if or when he'll pitch again, leaving what was already not a great pitching staff in shambles for the foreseeable future.
Winner: Atlanta Braves Bullpen
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Once viewed as the biggest Achilles' heel that could keep Atlanta from winning the World Series, the bullpen has been unflappable for the past month.
Granted, with a solid starting rotation and an offense averaging darn near seven runs per game, we're not talking about nightly high-leverage situations here. There have been a few games like Monday night's win in Colorado where the bullpen is staked to a five-run lead before taking the mound and putting up a few zeroes en route to a 10-run victory.
Still, in 88.1 innings of work, Raisel Iglesias, A.J. Minter, Pierce Johnson and Co. have delivered a 2.24 ERA.
Atlanta's only blown save in August came when Joe Jiménez took over for Bryce Elder in the sixth inning with runners on second and third and no outs in a 4-3 ballgame. Even against the Pirates, preserving that lead was next to impossible.
And the only loss credited to Atlanta's bullpen came in a game where Michael Tonkin, Kirby Yates and Collin McHugh combined to allow one hit in 3.1 innings of relief. But Yates couldn't find the strike zone in a tie game in the ninth inning, issuing two walks and hitting two batters while allowing the winning run to score.
Aside from those extenuating circumstances, they've been flawless. Heck, even infielder Nicky Lopez pitched the ninth inning of the 21-3 win over the Mets without allowing a single hit.
When you're hot, you're hot.
Loser: Arizona Diamondbacks Bullpen
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Since opening August with nine consecutive losses, Arizona has turned a serious corner to get back into the wild-card picture.
However, the bullpen has been all over the map.
Overall, the Diamondbacks bullpen has gone 7-8 with 10 saves, five blown saves and a 5.75 ERA.
And a lot of the bad has come from the arms they've been trying to count on the most.
Trade deadline acquisition Paul Sewald has seven of the 10 saves but also two of the blown saves. He rarely makes the saves comfortable, either, putting the tying run on base (if not in scoring position) in five of them. He has a 4.66 ERA and 1.86 WHIP since arriving in the desert.
Former occasional closer Miguel Castro has allowed 12 earned runs in just 9.2 innings of work, allowing at least three runs in three of his last seven outings.
Justin Martinez got a save in a game in which both Sewald and Castro had the night off, but he got sent back down to the minors a week later with a 14.63 ERA.
Of the six Snakes relievers to work more than one inning in August and tally either a save, hold or blown save, the only somewhat reliable one has been Kevin Ginkel. And even he has a modest 2.77 ERA, allowing at least one run in four of his last eight appearances.
For what it's worth, Arizona's bullpen also posted a 6.04 ERA in July, which is why they gave up three players to bring in Sewald.
If the relief pitching doesn't keep the Diamondbacks from getting into the playoffs, it does seem destined to be the main reason they bow out before the NLCS.
Winner: Julio Rodríguez and the Seattle Mariners
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Our focus here is supposed to just be on August, but let's venture back a week farther to more adequately highlight the best story in baseball.
From June 11 through July 24, the Seattle Mariners were mediocre, in large part because their superstar was mediocre, at best. They went 19-18 during that stretch with Julio Rodríguez batting .233/.311/.313 with two home runs.
As such, they entered play on July 25 at 50-50 overall, looking up at each of Texas, Houston and Los Angeles in the AL West standings, needing to channel some form of 2021 Atlanta Braves magic in order to dominate the final two months and live up to the preseason World Series hype.
That's when Rodríguez and the Mariners woke up in a big, big way.
Dating back to July 25, they have gone 25-7, storming back from an 8.5-game deficit to take over first place in the AL West. And while Rodríguez is far from the only Mariner who has stepped up his game—Cal Raleigh, Teoscar Hernández, Dylan Moore and pretty much the entire pitching staff have been major contributors—there's no question that J-Rod has led the charge.
Over his last 29 games, the 22-year-old is batting .414/.455/.737 with 10 home runs and 12 stolen bases, which extrapolates to 162-game paces of 56 home runs and 67 stolen bases.
During that run, Rodríguez has had 15 multi-hit performances compared to just three games without a hit. And several of those multi-hit games were far more noteworthy than others. From August 16-19, he had four consecutive games with at least four hits. He delivered another four-hit gem on August 28.
He's now up to 24 home runs and 35 stolen bases and has pulled ahead of both Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien for the AL lead in hits.
He's probably not going to make a legitimate run at stealing the AL MVP crown from Shohei Ohtani, but if Rodríguez and Seattle have a final four weeks even remotely as impressive as their last five, it's at least going to become a thing we need to talk about.
Loser: UCL Injuries
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At some point during the offseason, MLB needs to take a long, hard look at the possible direct correlation between the implementation of the pitch clock and an uptick in pitching elbow injuries.
But let's save that research for another day and simply note for now that the number and quality of pitchers hitting the IL with elbow/UCL injuries as of late has gotten out of control and really sucks.
Anyone who follows baseball in the slightest already knows about Shohei Ohtani's UCL injury. He's still hitting at a world-class level, but the two-way unicorn's pitching future is in jeopardy as he mulls his options in regard to what would be his second Tommy John surgery.
That was the biggest one, but it was merely one part of an awful August on the UCL front.
We also found out 2022 All-Star Tony Gonsolin needs Tommy John surgery, two-time All-Star Shane McClanahan had Tommy John surgery and three-time All-Star Liam Hendriks underwent the operation that will almost certainly keep him from pitching at all through 2024.
And though we aren't hearing Tommy John rumblings on these guys just yet, Baltimore's All-Star closer Félix Bautista landed on the IL with a UCL injury this past Saturday, and five-time All-Star Yu Darvish joined him on the shelf on Monday with what is thus far just being described as "right elbow inflammation."
Milwaukee's Adrian Houser is much less of a household name than the rest here, but he also hit the IL Monday with the dreaded "forearm tightness" that so often precedes Tommy John surgery.
For all the talk of the New York Mets having "bad luck" this season, they are currently the only team without at least one player on the IL with an elbow/forearm injury. The vast majority of teams have multiple names out for that reason.
A Few More August Winners
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Freddy Peralta and the Milwaukee Brewers
It's not quite as breathtaking as what Mookie Betts and the Dodgers or Julio Rodríguez and the Mariners have done over the past month, but how about the Brew Crew and the sudden emergence of a third ace to go along with Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff?
After striking out 13 Reds in six scoreless innings of work in his final start of July, Peralta won all five of his August starts with a 2.10 ERA, a 0.90 WHIP and a 13.8 K/9. The combination of his pitching and much more timely hitting by the Brewers offense has been the biggest catalyst behind a 17-8 month and a "becoming slightly comfortable" lead in the NL Central.
Bryce Harper and Trea Turner
Through August 4, both of Philadelphia's supposed-to-be team leaders looked nothing like their usual selves. Turner was batting a pedestrian .236 while Harper had just five home runs in his first 337 trips to the plate.
But remember, remember the fifth of August as the day Philadelphia finally emerged as a legitimate World Series threat, as Harper has clubbed nine home runs in his last 91 trips to the plate (batting .382 in the process) while Turner has hit .364 with eight dingers of his own.
No-Hitters
In May 2021, there were four single-pitcher no-hitters thrown in the span of 15 days. It was a ridiculous run, considering there were only three such performances from June 2021 through July 2023. But in early August, we were treated to not one but two single-pitcher no-nos by Houston's Framber Valdez and Philadelphia's trade deadline acquisition Michael Lorenzen.
Valdez also tossed seven no-hit innings a few weeks later—before the bullpen not only blew that no-hitter but also the game altogether. And San Francisco's Alex Cobb almost had a no-hitter Tuesday night, sadly losing it with two outs in the ninth inning.
Kerry Carpenter, Detroit Tigers
Happy almost-birthday to Carpenter, who turns 26 on Sept. 2 and spent his final month as a 25-year-old destroying opposing pitchers. In 20 games played from August 5-26, he hit .417/.475/.847 with nine home runs. He also just snapped a 24-game streak of reaching base via hit, walk or HBP.
Considering his recent success has been largely overlooked in light of the team not being relevant in the standings, it's reminiscent of the late-season leap Nathaniel Lowe made around this time in 2022.
Jose Altuve, Houston Astros
When I was putting together the list of candidates for this piece on Monday afternoon, Jose Altuve was one of several "maybe if he does something special tonight or tomorrow" options to be crowned a winner. And then he went out and hit for the first cycle of his career as the Astros won their third consecutive blowout.
After that performance, his August numbers climbed to .379/.458/.563. And if you introduce July 31 to the data set, he's up to eight stolen bases in his last 26 games. That's a 50-swipe 162-game pace for a guy who had stolen 48 bags in the previous five seasons combined.
A Few More August Losers
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New York Yankees
At the All-Star Break, the Yankees were seven games above .500, nestled one game behind Toronto and Houston in a tie for the final two wild-card spots. And with Carlos Rodón finally healthy and Aaron Judge progressing in rehab, the expectation was they would do enough down the stretch to get the job done. (They were -155 to make the playoffs on July 14.)
Instead, they have been every bit as bad as both the A's and the White Sox in the second half, entering this week's four-game set against Detroit having won just one of their last 16 series—a virtual freebie at home against Kansas City in mid-July. At this point, it's just a question of whether they wait until the end of the season to show Aaron Boone the door.
Cincinnati's Starting Rotation
With the apparent exception of Cincinnati's executive decision-makers, it was clear to everyone that the Reds needed to do something at the trade deadline to bolster their starting rotation if they wanted to put the finishing touches on an unexpected playoff push. But they didn't, and now they're paying the price for it.
Granted, they had no way of knowing on August 1 that Nick Lodolo would suffer a setback in his injury rehab on August 20, nor that Hunter Greene would struggle as much as he has since his mid-August return from the IL. Nevertheless, this rotation has gone 4-10 with a 5.86 ERA in August.
Will Smith, Texas Rangers
As a whole, it's been a rough few weeks for the Texas Rangers, sputtering while the Seattle Mariners blew right by them. But it's been especially tough for Smith, who has an 11.74 ERA over his last 10 appearances and has, at least temporarily, lost his grip on the closer gig.
The 34-year-old was Aroldis Chapman's set-up man on both Sunday and Tuesday, and with Chapman unavailable, José LeClerc got the save on Monday. Smith was on the World Series-winning team in each of the past two seasons, but we shall see if he can even help prevent the Rangers from falling out of the postseason picture.
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