With the last month of baseball upon us it is time to look back at some of the notable stories currently going on in baseball. These next 2 weeks will be so important for many times as it will decide the fate of whether they are either playing in October or booking a trip to Cancun. Of course like any fan of the game we all become overly obsessed and it takes a toll on us mentally and emotionally, however it is important to recognize the talent of individual star who may get lost beneath their team success.

As for myself I am worried more than ever for my Mets to make it into October. The Mets have not once made it into the playoffs three times in a single decade and with them already making runs in 2022 and 2024 it looks like we’re at the backend of the history books. But beneath the success of the 30 teams aligns pretty amazing stories that define the roots and shear dominance this game provides. Lets dive into each.

Aroldis Chapman is Not Human

Aroldis Chapman has always been one of the most dominant and hardest-throwing closers in the game of modern baseball. No statistics will be enough to tell you how nasty he has been. However, in recent years Aroldis has struggled with his repertoire, as he’s always fallen victim to giving up a ton of walks. From his last season with the Yankees in 2022 to last season with the Pirates, Chapman had a BB/9 averaging around 6 walks. To put that in perspective, closers like Craig Kimbrel or Mariano Rivera average a 2.5 BB/9. Having an average of 6 walks per nine essentially means you need to be on your A-game for getting runners out and striking down the side, or else you will fall victim to fly balls and unnecessary runs. However, after the Red Sox took a flyer on Aroldis for a one-year $10.75 million deal, he turned it into his best season of his entire career.

At age 37, Aroldis has 3.3 WAR, a 4-3 record, a 1.14 ERA in 61 games, 38 games finished with 29 saves, giving him an ERA+ of 366 and 81 strikeouts in 55 innings — all while only giving up 2.3 BB/9. Immaculate stuff for a pitcher who completely turned things around. You may ask yourself how Chapman suddenly turned in his best season to date since his 24-year-old season in 2012. The answer is pitch location. Yes. Aroldis Chapman became this elite from locating his fastballs, and it is all because of Connor Wong, the catcher for the Red Sox, who although has hardly served a purpose offensively, has graciously made it up for how much he has worked with Chapman to revitalize his pitching.

Chapman would literally just hurl pitches as fast as he could without putting much thought into where it went; for a lot of the time it went in his favor, but now that he is locating, he is a beast. Chapman has only given up 7 earned runs this year, which already falls in line with the best of his career. From July 26 to Sept. 7, Chapman — an All-Star this season for the first time since 2021 — recorded 14 2/3 innings pitched, logging 21 strikeouts and issuing only four walks. Along the way, he didn’t give up an earned run. He went through 50 batters without giving up a run and brought his ERA to the lowest of his career at 0.98. It went up to 1.14, so he’s still electric and clearly the short-term answer for the Red Sox at the closer position. I am looking forward to a new revamped Chapman in the playoffs. It is time for him to shine again.

Juan Soto’s Down Year

Juan Soto having a down year is almost as laughable as Gordon Ramsay cooking a steak the wrong way. It just doesn’t happen — but haters will always find a reason to pick and poke! Juan Soto is having an all-time year for himself and has thrown himself right into the thick of the MVP conversation for the NL. Similar to last year, Soto stands no shot at his behemoth competition. From Aaron Judge to Shohei Ohtani, it is more challenging than ever for him to claim the award of best player in the league.

However, Shohei Ohtani’s season isn’t that eye-popping. He is still hitting 50 bombs, collecting over 110 RBIs, and leading the National League in runs, but man, it kind of gets boring and redundant seeing the same guys win MVP every year. All the more reason to celebrate Juan Soto, who has been quietly put to rest by MLB due to his poor first start and the agenda people want to push that he is overpaid. Overpaid — maybe? Worth the money? Uh, yeah, he is. I don’t care how much he makes; if he’s repping my colors, that is all I care about.

For the season, Soto is worth 6 wins above replacement. He has 137 hits, 39 home runs, 95 RBIs, 112 runs, 32 stolen bases, and 118 walks, while leading the National League in OBP at .400, with an OPS of .928 and slugging of .528 for an OPS+ of 163. I’d take this season any day of the week and don’t understand why so many people are up in arms over his performance. Mind you, he already is at 126 strikeouts and will most likely exceed his career high of 132 strikeouts set in 2019. His batting average is not as good as people would have hoped, but at the end of the day, he is the first player since Barry Bonds & Jeff Bagwell to have a 100-run, 100-walk, 100-RBI, 40-home run, and 30-stolen base season. As of today, Soto clobbered his 40th home run of the season and is one short of tying his single season home run record of 41 that he set last year with the Yankees.

End of the day, I personally see Soto as a clear-cut MVP winner. Recent years will tell you that not always is the best clear-cut player awarded with the MVP. Let’s see how the rest of the season plays out, but he is surely the best offensive player — all bias included!

Three Headed Power Catcher

like when catchers hit, but I like it more when catchers hit for power. This is not as relevant as it is to the other stories I made, but I find it super cool. The three catchers in discussion are Cal Raleigh of the Mariners, Hunter Goodman of the Rockies, and Shea Langeliers.

Let’s start with Shea Langeliers, who has reached a career high in home runs, previously held at 29 bombs. He now has 2.7 wins above replacement this season, 115 hits, 30 home runs, and 68 RBIs for an OPS+ of 129. Keep in mind he is playing in a Triple-A ballpark, so if you want to play the minor league route you can, however it is still impressive wherever someone hits 30. Even more crazy is how consistent he has been and that he still has more left in him.

Cal Raleigh has been talked about so much this season, but besides the home runs and RBIs he has been a regular, decent player. With not much to offer besides immense power, crazy defense, and the most aura a catcher has had in recent years since Mike Piazza, Cal has 53 home runs and 113 RBIs for an OPS+ of 161 and OPS of .923. Yes, his batting average is .239, but respectfully, that makes it even cooler how he is able to still attack pitchers and has been so incredibly successful at the three true outcomes of strikeout, home run, and walk. It has paid off dividends, as Raleigh has broken a few records this season with more to come. He has the most home runs as a catcher and is 2 away from the most from a switch hitter when Mickey Mantle hit 54 home runs in 1961. He also is just 3 home runs from tying Ken Griffey Jr. for most home runs in a single season. He might not win MVP, but he is definitely cemented as one of the greats for the Mariners and might have entered the top five for best offensive players for the Mariners: Suzuki, Martinez, Griffey, Rodriguez, Raleigh.

Hunter Goodman is playing for the worst team in Major League Baseball yet has still been productive. In 483 at-bats this season, he has made the most of the worst. He is worth 3.2 wins above replacement, has 135 hits, 30 home runs, and the best batting average out of the three catchers at .280. He also has 87 RBIs and 68 runs for an OPS+ of 124 and OPS of .860. This is so cool considering how little support he gets on the basepaths, so to see him with a 30-home run season is somewhat remarkable and really gives the Rockies faithful something to look forward to at the ballpark. What makes this even more peculiar is the fact that this is the first time since 1999 where 3 catchers hit 30 home runs. The last time three catchers each hit 30 or more home runs in a single MLB season was 1999 — the catchers were Mike Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez, and Mike Lieberthal.

2007=2025

I’m sweating bullets thinking of how another successful season for the Mets goes right down the drain again. We really gamble on our fortunes and say that this is the year. It is never the year, and honestly this team is so depressing to root for that I have no faith we will make the playoffs. The game against Jacob deGrom’s Rangers showed how badly we needed him and should have given him all the money in the world to make that a reality.

It is an utter shame that our general manager prioritizes not spending money on pitchers as if he is some cashless hero. When you’re dealing with a cursed franchise, you pile on as many contracts as possible to help keep the ship afloat. Gambling doesn’t always work out, and the majority of the time it doesn’t.

I am not saying the Mets are similar to the 2007 team since they weren’t in first the whole time, but the Mets have lost a season-leading seven in a row for the 2025 team and are just five losses short of tying their 2007 collapse. The 2007 New York Mets, who were favored to win the division, had a notorious collapse at the end of the season. In first place for 140 days, they lost 12 of their last 17 games. Jesus, I pray to God this does not happen to the Mets. We cannot fall short again, and I pray it doesn’t lead that way. We deserve more and need to lock in.

If we don’t get things going, all hell breaks loose. The New York Mets are 21-29 since the All-Star break (2025 season). We are one of the worst teams up to this point, in the same category as the Twins who sold off at the deadline, the Rockies who are the worst team in the league, along with the White Sox and the Nationals. All below .500 teams—and then the Mets, who should not be in this boat. But because of their immaculate start to the season, they have re-entered the conversation as one of the most disappointing seasons in baseball. They are certainly looking down from the bottom of the barrel, and at this point there is nothing to do but pray the pitchers wake up.

Ace of the Orioles

The Orioles aren’t having a great season but you know who is? None other than LHP Trevor Rogers. He has proven himself beyond words and has been one heck of a trade for the Orioles. Looking back at the original Rogers trade with the Marlins, it was a pretty good trade for both teams as they have benefited greatly with their new acquisitions. Kyle Stowers has been the best left fielder in the game while Rogers has turned his season around to become the glorified ace of the staff.

In 16 games and 100 innings pitched this season for the Orioles, Trevor Rogers has an 8-2 record, 1.43 ERA while striking out 93 batters for an ERA+ of 282. He’s been more than the Orioles could have asked for and much more. In 2025, for a depleted Orioles team that isn’t better than a 5th place team standing at 69-78, having Rogers on their team is doing more than ever for them. His second best season was in 2021 when he had a 3.5 WAR and a 7-8 record with a 2.64 ERA. It’s been a complete turn around for the stud pitcher and has revitalized and rewritten himself as one of the best currently.

Michael Conforto DFA!

Michael Conforto, it is important to realize how great you were for the Mets in your past and how much of an asset you were. However, in 2025 it has not been the season he wanted. Michael Conforto signed a one year deal with the Dodgers for $17 million yet unfortunately hasn’t been worth more than league minimum this year. Overall, he is worth -0.9 WAR while batting .193. He only has 74 hits, 11 home runs, 30 RBIs, for a slugging of .331, OPS of .628 for an OPS+ of 77. Not counting his sophomore slump in 2016 where Conforto had an OPS+ of 95, this is by far his worst season to date and for the 32 year old it may be time to change his batting stance. The ironic part is that he is playing for the Dodgers who have the best development in the league and are known for turning around players however for Conforto it hasn’t been the same case. With the ease of such a dominant lineup he can barely be a league minimum player.

The sad part is that Michael Conforto is blocking the success of one of the Dodgers most dominant players in their minor league system. Call it Ryan Ward. In 136 games for the triple AAA Oklahoma City Dodgers minor league affiliate he has 33 homeruns, 118 RBIS, with a stat line of .291, .382, .555, and an OPS of .937. This is actually his second year of reaching the 30/100 mark as in 2024 he had 34 home runs, 104 RBIS while batting .265. It’s insane to me for the Dodgers who are so aggressive at calling up their pitchers early to help their team they don’t show the same with their minor league batters. And yet they still decided to give Michael Conforto $17 million for a charity cause when they could have had a player more than league average for just the league minimum. Kind of disgrace but happy that the Dodgers have atleast one problem on their staff and that they always find a reason to buy buy buy the whole market and from the looks of how they spent last year they didn’t succeed.

This is one of my favorite blogs I wrote as I dove into each individual topic of current baseball stories that are super fascinating. Sometimes baseball doesn’t always go in the direction you want it to and that’s baseball! That’s the love of the game and the love of the game has so many ups and downs. But it is important to recognize the importance of notable seasons players are having. Baseball is a team sport but it shouldn’t dimish the success so many players are having and some of the individual seasons going on this year have been none other than historic and definitely entertaining.