Nine homers and a message: Cubs open September seven back with six left against Milwaukee
Chicago's franchise-record power display in a 17-3 rout of the NL Central-leading Brewers sharpens every September storyline — and the wild-card races on both sides are even tighter.
September baseball arrived a few hours early at Wrigley Field. The Cubs hammered the Brewers 17-3 on Monday night, hitting a franchise-record nine home runs — Alex Bregman accounted for three of them, his second three-homer game of August, per Bleacher Nation — while Clay Holmes threw six shutout innings. Chicago closed August with 62 home runs, a National League record for a calendar month.
The division picture
Milwaukee still holds baseball's best record at 85-53 and leads Chicago (78-60) by seven games in the NL Central, per the live Torch standings. But the schedule leaves the door ajar: the clubs meet six more times this season, starting with the rest of this series. Elsewhere, the Braves (82-56) lead the Phillies (78-60) by four in the East, and the Dodgers (82-55) have a comfortable hold on the West.
The wild-card scramble
The NL's top two wild-card spots currently belong to the Cubs and Phillies, both 78-60. The last chair is the fight to watch: the Padres (73-65) lead the D-backs (73-66) by half a game, with the .500 Marlins (69-69) still lurking.
The American League race is messier — and more open. The Rays (82-55), White Sox (72-65) and Astros (70-68) lead their divisions, with the Yankees (78-60) and Red Sox (75-63) positioned for the first two wild cards. The third spot is a genuine pile-up: the Guardians (69-68) hold it by the thinnest of margins over the Orioles (69-69), with the Rangers and Blue Jays (both 68-70) two games out — and the Astros' grip on the AL West is barely stronger than the wild-card line itself.
With four weeks left, almost every race on the board is live. Follow the day-by-day movement on the Torch scoreboard.