8 Biggest Takeaways from Week 25's MLB Pennant-Race Action

There's only a week left in the 2014 Major League Baseball season, and yet there's still so much to be settled.

Four playoff participants have been decided—two in each league—with the Los Angeles Angels, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers punching their postseason tickets.

But that still leaves six spots up for grabs, and the final days of September will determine, once and for all, who's in, who's out and who plays who come October.

The past week helped clear things up at least a little bit, so here's a rundown of some of the biggest takeaways.

Despite Losses, the Los Angeles Angels Just Keep Winning...

The Los Angeles Angels clinched their postseason berth on Monday and the AL West title on Wednesday, yet they're without two top arms in Garrett Richards and Tyler Skaggs—possibly three if rookie sensation Matt Shoemaker's oblique injury keeps him out—and Josh Hamilton has been battling through various ailments that have caused him to miss most of the past two weeks.

No wonder the club is considering the possibility of a three-man rotation in the ALDS, according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com:

"

[The Angels] currently only have three healthy starters in Weaver, C.J. Wilson and Hector Santiago. And even if Matt Shoemaker's oblique strain heals before the end of the regular season—as he expects it to—[manager Mike] Scioscia can keep Santiago in the bullpen to piggyback off a starter if needed.

...In the meantime, [Scioscia] will continue to monitor the progress of Josh Hamilton, who's nursing what the five-time All-Star described as 'a sharp, stabbing pain' near his chest and right rib cage, underneath his armpit.

Hamilton underwent further evaluation on Friday, but Scioscia said, 'We're expecting him to be ready for the playoffs.'

"

Despite all the health-related problems, the Halos have maintained the best record in baseball and remain 2.5 up on the Baltimore Orioles for the top seed in the AL.

Because of the fragile state of some of the team's best players, that's an important spot for the Angels to sew up to ensure home-field advantage throughout the entire playoffs.

...And so Do the Baltimore Orioles

Even with Friday's loss to the Boston Red Sox, the Baltimore Orioles have had quite the second half.

On their way to locking up their first AL East title since 1997 on Tuesday, the O's have gone 40-19 since the break, which is easily the best mark in the majors.

Similar to the Angels, the O's success has come despite playing sans some stars, namely catcher Matt Wieters, third baseman Manny Machado and first baseman Chris Davis. The former two were lost to season-ending surgeries in May and August, respectively, while the latter was suspended just last week for 25 games for testing positive for amphetamine use.

It hasn't always been easy, but the Orioles have persevered, as reliever Tommy Hunter told Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com after the division-clinching win:

"

Every player on this team has been through some [stuff] at some point this season, and to come together like all these guys have, all these guys stepped up when they had to step up. Guys coming over via trades, guys coming up from the Minor Leagues—everybody's contributed throughout the year.

"

The Oakland Athletics Might Not Have Hit Rock Bottom Just Yet

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

A's closer Sean Doolittle gave up five runs in the ninth inning on his way to blowing—and losing—Wednesday's game against the Rangers.

Already in the midst of one of the worst, most disappointing months this sport has seen in a long, long time, did any team have a worse week than the Oakland Athletics?

The A's, who have gone just 12-25 since Aug. 10—that's the worst record in the AL in that time—returned home from a 3-4 road trip and were promptly swept in a three-game set by the Texas Rangers. Yes, the worst team in all of baseball.

Wednesday's 6-1 defeat was particularly heart-breaking. Not only did normally impeccable closer Sean Doolittle blow a 1-0 lead in the ninth by letting in five runs, but the late-inning meltdown allowed the Angels to clinch the AL West after they had won earlier in the evening.

Although Oakland finally won on Friday, the team is just a half-game ahead of the Kansas City Royals for the top wild-card position and only a game up on the Seattle Mariners for the second.

In other words, depending on how things shake out this final week, there's a very real chance the club that sported the best record as late as Aug. 25—less than a month ago!—could miss the playoffs.

Felix Hernandez Is Pitching Like It's Already October...

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Felix Hernandez has allowed just three earned runs in 28 innings this September.

One of the great baseball tragedies of our time is that Felix Hernandez, arguably the best and most consistent pitcher in the entire sport over the past decade, has never even sniffed the postseason.

Think Hernandez wants to rectify that? The Seattle Mariners ace has made four starts this September and has allowed only 26 baserunners and three runs while striking out 31 in 28.0 innings.

The M's have won three of the King's four outings, including Thursday night against the Angels—in a potential ALDS preview—as he hurled seven scoreless innings and set a career high along the way with his 233rd strikeout of the season.

As Greg Johns of MLB.com writes: "Hernandez efficiently took care of his business. The no-decision leaves his record at 14-5, but he lowered his AL-leading ERA to 2.07. The 28-year-old struck out 11 batters, hiking his season total to a career-high 236 with two potential regular-season starts remaining."

The AL Cy Young front-runner, Hernandez continues to throw like he just wants the chance to show what he could do in October for the first time in his 10 seasons. He might get it.

...And Clayton Kershaw Is Ready for Another Shot at the Postseason

Meanwhile, the Cy Young favorite—and MVP front-runner?—over in the NL is gearing up for October, too.

Although Clayton Kershaw wasn't his usual self in surrendering seven hits and three walks in five innings on Friday, the Los Angeles Dodgers lefty allowed only three runs and struck out nine, which was enough to beat the Chicago Cubs and make him the majors' first 20-game winner.

"As well as Clayton has pitched all year and what he's meant to us, it's a good feeling to get a win for him," manager Don Mattingly told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. "And even with the jams he got in, you saw what he's made of. He fought not to give up runs. He showed what he's all about, even in that outing."

It's fitting that during such a historic campaign, Kershaw would be the pitcher of record in the very game that earned the Dodgers a playoff berth.

Kershaw now will have a chance to get the bad taste out of his mouth from his disastrous Game 6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2013 NLCS, which turned out to be his—and the Dodgers'—final game last year.

The Washington Nationals Lineup Is as Deep as Their Rotation

Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

Ian Desmond and Adam LaRoche are two of four Nationals with 80-plus RBI.

Everyone focuses on the Washington Nationals rotation, and rightly so, since they go five-deep with Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Doug Fister, Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark.

But the lineup has been just as steady and productive for much of the season. To wit, prior to the Detroit Tigers' Torii Hunter's RBI double on Friday, the Nats were the only team with four players with at least 80 RBI so far.

Those four? Shortstop Ian Desmond, first baseman Adam LaRoche, outfielder Jayson Werth and third baseman Anthony Rendon, the last two of which hit the eight-oh plateau last weekend.

Oh, and the club is getting back another big bat in Ryan Zimmerman, who has been out since July 22 with a hamstring injury but is expected to return this weekend, according to Maria Torres of MLB.com. He actually led the Nationals with 26 homers a year ago.

Washington might not have a horse in the MVP race, but the club is doing just fine thanks to a loaded one-through-nine, as Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post writes:

"

The list of top-shelf National League MVP candidates includes one hitter from every most every contender, one player who strikes fear in the other dugout. It does not include any Nationals.

But the Nationals’ dearth of an MVP candidate does not define their lineup. It explains it. The Nationals rely on their balance, their collective relentlessness, rather than one giant in the middle of the order. They haven’t been crippled by lacking one great, singular hitter.  They have built their built their success on possessing only very good ones, from top to bottom.

'I guess it means we don’t have that one superstar,' third baseman Anthony Rendon said. 'We’re all doing it as a team. Anyone of our guys at any time can beat you. That’s what’s awesome about this team.'

"

With all that talent and all that depth, it's not surprising that the Nationals became the first NL team to solidify their seat in October on Tuesday.

This Is Not How Derek Jeter Wanted to Say Goodbye

If the New York Yankees want to prolong The Captain's career with another shot at October, they might have to win out. They enter play Saturday having won three straight but still are 4.5 games (and five in the loss column) behind the Kansas City Royals for the second wild-card spot.

Just as disappointing, though, is that Derek Jeter has been arguably the least productive hitter in baseball over the last month: Not only did he go through a recent 0-for-28 skid—the second-worst of his 20-year career—but his .204 wOBA over the last 30 days is among the very worst.

"This is not an easy game to play," Jeter recently told reporters in the video above. "You're gonna have good stretches and bad stretches; you're gonna have good years and bad years. Obviously, this year hasn't turned out how I would have like it to, but you gotta keep fighting."

If Jeter and the Yankees don't keep fighting and winning—not to mention, if they don't get some help from the teams ahead of them in the standings—then the man who made it to 16 Octobers in his first 17 full seasons very likely will miss out in each of his final two.

It's been a historic, Hall of Fame career for Jeter, but the end is nigh, and from a performance standpoint, it's time.

Then again, he did homer Thursday night—his first at Yankee Stadium since July 27, 2013—so maybe No. 2 has a final highlight or two, if not a miracle, up his sleeve.

September Baseball Is Really Fun

The grind of the 162-game season has become a mad dash to get to the postseason, so everything in September is magnified, intensified and all other kinds of "-fied." It's also a heck of a lot of fun for fans to watch and players to experience.

Consider what happened just this past Tuesday night alone:

• The Washington Nationals clinched.
• The Baltimore Orioles clinched.
• The Chicago Cubs' Jake Arrieta nearly threw a no-hitter.
• Wade Davis of the Kansas City Royals gave up a game-deciding triple to the Chicago White Sox's Conor Gillaspie—only the third extra-base hit he had allowed the entire year to that point.
• Jose Altuve set the Houston Astros' single-season hit record with 211.
• The Detroit Tigers came back against the Minnesota Twins to go up a run in the ninth, only to wind up losing on a walk-off infield single by Aaron Hicks in the bottom half.
• The Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals on their own infield single by Hector Gomez in the 12th inning.

And those were just a few of the many, many highlights from Tuesday evening. Imagine what the final week of September—and the 2014 season—is going to bring.

October, here we come.

Statistics are accurate as of Sept. 20 and are courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11