Aug 20
1/8: Joey Gallo and Didi Gregorius are named Hitters of the Month for July. Mike Clevinger and Brandon Woodruff win Pitcher of the Month, while the rookie awards go to Brady Singer and (predictably) Gavin Lux. Marcus Stroman tears a rotator cuff and is out until the new year.
2/8: A broken elbow ends Ketel Marte's season - with the D-Backs half a game ahead of the Dodgers at the start of the day, it's a particularly unfortunate blow. Robbie Ray takes some Arizona fans' minds off it by shutting out the Dodgers to make that 15 games.
3/8: Joey Gallo (TEX) and Nick Castellanos (CIN) are named Players of the Week. Draft pick signing deadline - every notable pick signs though.
6/8: Texas' chances of the #1 overall pick are given a boost as Kyle Gibson is diagnosed with radial decompression in the elbow. I don't know what that is but I do know it's ended their best pitcher's season.
8/8: Miguel Rojas, having earlier in the season had three setbacks recovering from the same minor injury, now gets into the books for a good reason, going 5-for-6 against the Braves.
9/8: Mark Canha (OAK) and Chad Green (NYY) get into a scrap. Green throws a punch and is suspended for 8 games.
10/8: Rio Ruiz (BAL) and Justin Turner (LAD) are named players of the week. It's good timing for a great week for Ruiz, who was trending towards the Mendoza Line.
11/8: Colorado reliever Wade Davis undergoes TJ surgery. The Rockies also lose Yency Almonte for the season, albeit with a less serious bone spur.
12/8: Brett Anderson (SEA vs HOU) and Rick Porcello (NYM vs ATL) blank division rivals on two hits each. Porcello's performance is particularly impressive given his prior record of 3-12.
17/8: Willians Astudillo (MIN) and Kyle Schwarber (WSH) are named Players of the Week.
18/8: Billy Hamilton (SFG) has his hit streak end at 20.
19/8: I wouldn't normally put a 4-hit shutout here, but today's win over SFG was by far the best performance out of young MacKenzie Gore's 13 starts in MLB so far. Bright talent!
20/8: Toronto closer Rafael Dolis tears his labrum, leaving him racing to be fit for 2021. This means that Tucker Davidson is moved to closer. Odd move, if you ask me
21/8: Two more shutouts today - Gerrit Cole's third of the season, and also the third one-hit shutout, from Madison Bumgarner (ARI).
22/8: Tampa beat the Angels 17-7, including three homers from Mike Zunino.
23/8: Cristian Pache (ATL) has a wild game against the Phillies, going 5-for-6 including a grand slam.
24/8: Eloy Jimenez (CWS) and Corey Seager (LAD) are named Players of the Week.
25/8: Jackie Bradley Jr extends with the Red Sox for four more years and $61M.
26/8: Richard Lovelady is one player whose real experience and game experience is similar - a torn elbow ligament ends the KC reliever's 2020 season.
27/8: Arizona loses another SP as Mike Leake is diagnosed with bone chips.
28/8: Copy and paste the above. Change Mike Leake to 'Zac Gallen' and bone chips to 'ruptured disc in back'. Poor D-Backs - they've suffered a ton of pitching injuries just as LAD have heated up.
31/8: Corey Seager goes back-to-back as NL Player of the Week, while Niko Goodrum wins the award for the AL surprisingly.
Standings as of 31 August: the Dodgers lead the league fairly comfortably, with the Braves in second. St Louis, Oakland, Minnesota and Tampa continue to lead their divisions as they have done for much of the season, while all four wildcard spots look relatively secure at this stage - the NL looks almost certain to be Arizona and Milwaukee, while the AL would need Boston or the Yankees to go on a run to depose Houston and Cleveland.
