Luis Robert Jr. has never been in this position before. 

The 29-year-old admitted there were some weird emotions about having to switch teams midseason, but he understands why the Mets opted to place him on waivers this past weekend. 

“It’s part of the business,” he said Tuesday through an interpreter. “They sat me down and explained the reason behind it, so at the end of the day I understand that it’s a business.”

With Robert being claimed by the Orioles, this Mets are now completely off the hook for the roughly $3 million remaining on his contract for this season.

The slugger has a $20 million club option for next year as well, but Baltimore could also buy him out for $2 million over the offseason and send him to the open market instead. 

Before having to make that decision, though, the contending O's will look him to help them in the midst of a tight and crowded American League Wild Card race. 

They enter play on Wednesday one game under .500, and 1.5 games back of the Guardians for the final spot. 

“It feels good, that’s what you play for from the moment you arrive at spring training,” Robert said. “Unfortunately it didn’t happen with the Mets, but I’m excited to have this opportunity here and to try to do it with this team.”

Baltimore appears to be getting Robert at the right time too, as he just finished off easily his best month to this point in the season, with six of his 10 homers coming in August. 

The oft-injured outfielder has finally been able to find some consistency. 

“Health is the biggest thing,” he said. “Unfortunately that’s been the thing that’s kept me off the field at different points in my career, but I’m definitely feeling good right now, and I think that’s what has led to this success.”

The National League East has been a two-team race for most of the season, and with August now behind us, the same largely rings true. The last time the Braves were not first in odds to win the division, according to FanGraphs, was April 8th. There was minimal movement during the month of August, and with the season’s final month kicking off, the East is the Braves’ to lose, though the Phillies maintain as high a ceiling as anyone around the league.

First Place: Atlanta Braves (82-56)

Top Position Player: Michael Harris II (4.0 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Chris Sale (5.3 fWAR)

It was a solid month of August for Atlanta, who started with five consecutive wins, and closed the month by winning seven of eight. Matt Olson’s 37 homers, good for third-most in the NL, along with Michael Harris II’s continued rock-solid play on both sides has led the way to this point, with August changing nothing in that narrative. Drake Baldwin has been the other primary force for the season, outdoing his impressive rookie season in ‘25 despite a middling August.

While the lineup is strong, particularly at the top, the pitching staff is still led by 37-year-old Chris Sale, who is putting up some of the best numbers of his career in 144 innings so far. The dominant lefty capped off another good month with a true gem, a complete-game shutout with 11 strikeouts against the Dodgers. With FanGraphs giving Atlanta an 84.7 percent chance of winning the division, the Braves are not a team anyone would want to see come October.

Second Place: Philadelphia Phillies (78-60)

Top Position Player: Bryson Stott (3.5 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Cristopher Sánchez (5.7 fWAR)

In that aforementioned race, the Phillies have been the second horse for much of the season. In August, however, the Fightin’ Phils paced the league with a scorching 21-7 record, a run that keeps them only four games out of first place in the East. Kyle Schwarber’s seven homers on the month make him the only player in baseball with 40, while Bryce Harper’s 194 wRC+ in August has helped make 2027 a full return to form for the two-time MVP.

The rotation headed by Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, and Zack Wheeler continues to be among the best units in baseball. Sánchez and his 175.1 innings will be firmly in the middle of the Cy Young discussion, not to mention that Luzardo joins him as one of the top five pitchers in baseball by fWAR. While they still have a hill to climb in the final month if they want a division crown, they have as good a top end as any team in baseball.

Third Place: Miami Marlins (69-69)

Top Position Player: Otto Lopez (4.8 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Sandy Alcantara (3.5 fWAR)

The Marlins, in a division with two big-time clubs, continue to play solid ball in 2026. It was another month hovering around .500, but given their overall record, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. August did unfortunately feature a sweep at the hands of both the Braves and the Phillies, but the Fish still did enough to remain at .500, and most importantly, stay within reach in the Wild Card race.

Sandy Alcantara’s 189.2 innings after August leads baseball by a wide margin, as the righty has finished at least six innings in 11 consecutive outings, including a pair of scoreless starts that kicked off his month. On offense, a balanced squad with eight different players managing a wRC+ over 100 has helped to keep this club afloat for much of the season. They ended the month by losing three of four to Washington, but they’ll need everything they can get if they want to contend over this final month of the regular season.

Fourth Place: Washington Nationals (66-74)

Top Position Player: James Wood (4.1 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Cade Cavalli (3.3 fWAR)

The Nationals essentially lost any shred of contention they had in the month of August, fueled by a 3-12 stretch that saw them fall rapidly in a competitive race. James Wood is quite good, and hasn’t played in a game since August 3rd thanks to an oblique problem, which certainly doesn’t help.

The 23-year-old Daylen Lile has been a bright spot, though, as he’s reached the 20 homer mark and posted a 140 wRC+ in August. On the pitching side, Cade Cavalli has continued to lead the way, a status maintained by his 1.75 ERA in six August starts. Unfortunately for the Nats, a rough go on the whole has essentially put them out of play as the season heads toward its end.

Last Place: New York Mets (62-76)

Top Position Player: Carson Benge (3.0 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Nolan McLean (3.0 fWAR)

Ah, the Mets. One of the bigger disappointments of the 2026 season actually enjoyed a solid month of August. Sweeps of the Nationals and the Guardians were high points in the month, though the return of Juan Soto was the best news of all, after he spent more than a month on the shelf. Luis Torrens, Bo Bichette, and Carson Benge were all forces with the bat in August — excitement that was a welcome sight for the people of Queens.

Their playoff odds have been in the basement since the middle of June, as the Met’s dug themselves too deep a hole to make any sort of real run.

I was planning to write this article even before Tuesday night’s bullpen meltdown against the Brewers.

It seems even more important now, so here are some numbers that might astonish you. These are fWAR figures — and they don’t include Tuesday’s game, so the pitching number is likely even worse:

By fWAR the Cubs are the best offense in MLB — and it’s not close. Next up are the Dodgers, with only about two-thirds as much fWAR as Cubs hitters have. This is borne out in the raw data, too. Including Tuesday’s game, the Cubs lead MLB in runs, home runs, walks, OBP, SLG, OPS and OPS+.

The Cubs offense also leads the majors via bWAR, though the gap is not quite as large. Baseball-reference.com has Cubs hitters with 32.8 WAR, with the Red Sox second at 26.9.

Now look at that chart again. The Cubs pitchers are the worst in MLB by fWAR, slightly below the Nationals, and far worse than the four teams above them in total fWAR.

Baseball-reference.com doesn’t frown quite as much at Cubs pitching as Fangraphs. Through Tuesday’s game they have the Cubs with 5.6 bWAR, with four teams below them: Nationals, Giants, A’s and Royals.

The Cubs leading pitcher in bWAR is Ben Brown at 2.2… and he hasn’t pitched in two months. Clay Holmes has 1.3 bWAR in just five starts, and he’s likely to pass Brown in another start or two. Shōta Imanaga is also at 1.3 bWAR, but… that number is probably not going up.

Eighteen Cubs pitchers have a bWAR of 0.0 or lower, and that doesn’t include Carson Kelly, also at 0.0 after three pitching appearances covering three innings with an ERA of 6.00. (And 11 Cubs pitchers have an ERA this year worse than that.)

Is there help available? Not really, not much, anyway. Many of us have clamored for Javier Assad to have remained in the Cubs bullpen, where he’s been excellent, but he languishes at Triple-A Iowa and isn’t eligible for a recall until Saturday:

Tony Andracki’s post mentions Jaxon Wiggins, who the Cubs almost certainly don’t want to put on the 40-man roster this year due to the impending lockout, and Shelby Miller, who is just beginning a rehab assignment at Triple-A Iowa.

Also potentially available to return are Justin Steele, who also recently began a rehab assignment, and Edward Cabrera, whose 97 mile per hour fastball might work well out of the bullpen. Cabrera is also on rehab at Iowa.

What would I do right now? Well, I’m sure Imanaga has some sort of arm fatigue; put him on the injured list and then Assad could be recalled to make Imanaga’s next scheduled start, which would come up Friday in Miami.

Could the team actually do that? Sure. Will they? Who knows? They could also make Friday a bullpen game, but… the way the bullpen has been recently, that’s not really a good idea.

One thing is for sure. This Cubs team is exceptionally talented offensively. They could score 850 or more runs, which would be among the top figures for any Cubs team in the last 95 years. But unless they can find some relief pitchers who can be Craig Counsell’s “out-getters,” this team isn’t likely going past the wild card round of the postseason.

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The desert double dip fell through last night, but getaway Wednesday always offers some great pitcher and MLB player prop edges and angles. 

Griffin Jax is coming off the IL with an elbow issue and only threw 42 pitches in his one rehab start. His leash is very questionable. Davis Martin is also coming off the shelf, but his Over strikeouts is projecting well on a conservative pitch count. Finally, Bryce Miller is not in the trust tree, and getting deep vs. the Red Sox is unlikely. 

These are my favorite MLB strikeout and pitcher props for Wednesday, Sept. 2.

Best MLB strikeout props and starting pitcher picks today

Player	Pick	Odds
Griffin Jax	Under 4.5 strikeouts	+104
Davis Martin	Over 3.5 strikeouts	+105
Bryce Miller	Under 15.5 outs	-116

Strikeout prop: Griffin Jax Under 4.5 strikeouts (+104)

Let's keep it simple off the top. Griffin Jax is coming off the IL after throwing just 42 pitches in his only rehab start. He has been dealing with right elbow discomfort, a major red flag, and pushing him far beyond 60 pitches seems unlikely. There is also a chance he is innings-capped, as Tampa should be cautious with Jax with a long playoff run on the horizon.

He's better than a K-per-inning pitcher, but getting to 15 outs is doubtful. That was his leash on a full workload, and now it could be cut in half. The Rays have all of their middle relievers and long arms available today, giving them little reason to push Jax deep into this game.

The market is already moving, and THE BAT is projecting 60 pitches, with a fair price of -150 on this total at that pitch count. Todd Cordell still likes the Rays on the ML in his Mets vs. Rays predictions.

• Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Rays.TV, SNY

Strikeout prop: Davis Martin Over 3.5 strikeouts (+105)

Houston has not been a good offense since the beginning of August, ranking 23rd in wOBA. Davis Martin is returning from the IL, but unlike Jax, this total is a little short, and the projections agree.

THE BAT is calling for 3.8 Ks on 74 pitches. Martin went 15 outs in his lone rehab start, allowing just one hit while striking out five over 59 pitches. That makes the additional 15 pitches in the projection feel about right.

A blister issue slowed Martin down, but now that he's past it, he could get back to his 8.24 K/9 rate from the first half of the season instead of his 6.63 mark after the All-Star break.

There is some leash concern, but that rehab start looked sharp, and the play-money price makes this an easy decision. I'd play this to -105/-110, with a fair price of -120.

• Time: 8:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Space City Network, Chicago Sports Network

Pitcher out prop: Bryce Miller Under 15.5 outs (-116)

Bryce Miller was just demoted to the bullpen before an injury to the Seattle rotation sent him back to a starting role. The demotion was warranted, as he has been one of the worst second-half pitchers in baseball, with the fifth-worst ERA and 10th-worst FIP.

He threw 104 pitches in his last start, a season-high, and still recorded just 13 outs. He has failed to get beyond 15 outs in three of his last four outings.

The command is lacking, and the ball is leaving the park, as Miller has allowed a home run in eight straight starts. There isn't much trust in Miller right now, and the middle of the Seattle bullpen is fresh.

For a pitcher who has reached 91+ pitches in just 29% of his starts, expecting him to get back to that range after a demotion is a tough ask. The market is already as low as -140 at some books.

Miller is the reason I'm backing Mickey Gasper today to go deep in today's MLB home run props.

• Time: 4:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: NESN, Mariners.TV

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“With the position that our team’s in right now, it’s a time for us to take advantage of opportunities to evaluate for 2027.”

That’s what JJ Picollo, Royals general manager and overall head honcho of baseball operations, said in the dugout before Tuesday’s game when asked why Kansas City let John Schreiber go a few days earlier. Schreiber was in his third season for the Royals, a downright rarity for a middle reliever who didn’t come up through an organization’s own farm system. To be fair, there were some other reasons: Kansas City saves $600,000 on his contract by not employing him, and by letting Schreiber go he could sign on with a team that’s gunning for a playoff spot instead of just hoping not to lose 90 games. He did just that, and is now a Yankee.

Picollo is right that the Royals are in a period of evaluation. As I’ve even written recently, that can actually be a pretty nice place to be, where a team can take risks and generally not care if those risks pay off. The Royals know who Schreiber is, and Schreiber doesn’t help them at all next year.

But Picollo’s statement is a little curious, especially because of who they used for Schreiber’s open roster spot and the other two additions that the Royals got as part of expanded September rosters: 28-year-old Euston McGee, 29-year-old Nolan Hoffman, and 27-year-old Drew Waters.

Indeed, less than a minute after talking about how the team needs to take advantage of 2027 opportunities, he hedged those words.

“We have some other guys that are on the roster that are eligible to be recalled coming up here in the next couple days,” Picollo said. “There might be a guy or two that aren’t on the roster that we’ll consider as well. It’s 24 games, so how many looks can we actually get? That’s another part of it, but we’ll probably just play it by ear and make decisions day to day.”

Picollo’s reasoning seems squishy here, but there is also a unique twist to this situation. Competitive Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations have loomed over this season. The current CBA between the owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association ends in December, and pretty much everyone in the industry thinks that the owners are going to lock out the MLBPA. That wording is key, because the owners wouldn’t lock out every single baseball player; they’d just lock out members of the union. Not a member of the MLBPA? You can still come to work, you can still use team doctors, you can rehab at team facilities.

If you’re added to the 40-man roster, you become a member of the MLBPA. And so anyone added to the 40-man roster, regardless of whether they ever made it into an MLB game, means that they will be locked out of team facilities, unable to use team doctors and cut off from team communication – all for a maximum 24 games of big league experience.

I wondered if the Royals’ milquetoast call-ups were impacted by such a decision. And being in the dugout with the rest of the media, I took an opportunity to ask: Does the possibility of a lockout impact who you’re able to call up in September, or are you able to look at whoever?

Picollo’s response was definitive. “No, you can look at whoever,” he said. “All you’re doing is add them to the roster. I mean, if they’re added to the roster, obviously they’re part of the lockout, but we can call up whoever we like to call up. We want to still do what’s best for the team.”

But whatever is ‘best for the team’ is up for debate; are they looking at 2027, or are they looking at trying to put themselves in a position to win the rest of the games for the year? Well…the latter, I guess?

“We have some guys right now that are not on the roster that are outfielders that we have interest in the future,” Picollo continued. “But the reality is if you look at our outfield, we’re extremely left-handed. So when you come down to the now 14 guys that you’re going to have available on any given night, you want that balance. And if we brought up another left-handed hitter, you lose some of that balance. You don’t have as many weapons and somebody for the other team to be thinking about ‘who’s on the bench over there for them’.”

It is true that the Royals’ outfield is very left-handed heavy. John Rave, Kyle Isbel, and Jac Caglianone are left-handed bats. Isaac Collins is a switch-hitter, but he is a significantly better left-handed hitter than a right-handed hitter. Tyler Tolbert is the only right-handed-hitting outfielder, and he’s not even a full-time outfielder let alone full-time player, and besides he’s hit righties better in his big league career.

But it is also true that this approach just doesn’t resonate with me. If the Royals are looking at 2027, prioritizing whether or not they win or lose a game this September because they don’t have a righty to pinch hit for in the late innings seems like an odd choice.

This is especially true because of the guys that they didn’t call up: center fielder Carson Roccaforte and corner outfielder Gavin Cross, both left-handed hitters. The former ninth-overall pick in the 2022 draft, Cross has actually been on quite an extended heater: a .309/.357/.568 slash with 15 home runs in 281 plate appearances since mid-May. And Roccaforte, the back-to-back winner of the Royals’ organization’s minor league defensive player of the year award, is also swatting dingers left and right. He, of course, hit one just a few hours after Picollo’s press conference—his 33rd on the season.

While 24 games may just be 24 games, a successful September can help pave the way for a successful full year. Last season, Carter Jensen played in 20 games, hitting well and showing maturity and athleticism in spades. This year, his 2.2 Wins Above Replacement per Fangraphs rank third on the team among position players.

We know who Isbel, Rave, and Collins are at this point. They are good enough to secure a role on a big league team, but they’re not going to provide the upside the Royals need to get back into the playoffs. Roccaforte or Cross could be regulars for years to come. They might not be. But they could be, and a lost September provides a solid way to get either or both some experience and give the Royals a risk-free period of evaluation. To not elect to do so because of a lack of platoon ability doesn’t sit right.

Of course, there’s another possibility: that Picollo and the Royals are not being fully transparent here. With so much uncertainty regarding the CBA – other than the near certainty that a lockout would include Roccaforte or Cross if they did make September debuts – it makes sense that Kansas City would want to play it safe here. Is Picollo really going to come out and publicly say that the CBA negotiations are impacting baseball operations? Maybe, but you can obviously see why an MLB general manager would not want to touch labor negotiations PR with a 10-foot pole.

In any case, it’ll probably be next year before we see Cross or Roccaforte in a Royals uniform. Hopefully, it will be for a winning team that has figured out how to have effective right-handed and left-handed outfielders—and with a functioning CBA.

The Atlanta Braves are looking to stop a two game skid and secure a win against the Washington Nationals behind Grant Holmes who could surpass 130.0 innings on the season with his start today. Brad Lord will be pitching for the Nationals and all four of his starts have been in the opening capacity.

The goal for the Braves will hopefully be to get to Lord as fast as possible to get the the subpar Nationals bullpen that has the third worst ERA in MLB this season. The Braves need to win games they are supposed to win to stay in first in the NLE, and this is one of those games.

Follow along in the comments.

Lineup

Preview

After the new kids led the Nats to a 9-5 win last night, they have a chance for a mini sweep in this two game set against the Braves. It will not be easy, but the Nats are playing solid baseball lately and get a major weapon back. This has been a good home stand, and now it is time to make it a great one.

James Wood is back! After missing about a month with an oblique injury, the Nats star slugger is back. He is leading off and playing right field. That moves CJ Abrams to the cleanup spot. Abrams is playing second base for a second time today. YoYo Morales will play the field for the first time, getting a start at first base. That moves Andres Chaparro to third and Abi Ortiz to DH. Keibert Ruiz is back behind the plate for this one. Brad Lord will get the start, but all hands will be on deck heading into the off day.

The Braves are only making a couple changes. Mike Yastrzemski will get the start in left field today. Sean Murphy will catch, which causes a chain reaction. Drake Baldwin moves to DH, Ozzie Albies moves to second and Mauricio Dubon is out of the lineup. Grant Holmes will make the start for the Braves who look to salvage a split.

Game Info:

Stadium: Nationals Park

Time: 1:05 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

With Wood back in the lineup, this offense feels complete again. There is just so much more depth now. With Daylen Lile rolling too, this offense is fierce. The Nats are looking to make this a 7-3 home stand. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!