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Hello, and welcome to this week’s mailbag! Matt Martell is on a well-deservedvacation, so I’m piloting things in his stead. Matt picked a pretty good time to get some R&R; with about a month left in the season, the playoff field is basically set. As Michael Baumann noted in his piece yesterday, “there has not been a playoff race so settled this early in the season as this year’s National League. At least not in the past 12 seasons. There’s always been someone with some hope in each league, even in the two-Wild Card rounds, and especially in that hateful COVID-necessitated 16-team bracket from 2020. Not this year in the NL. Barely, this year, in the AL.” Entering play on Friday, the Reds trailed the Mets by four games for the final NL Wild Card spot; their playoff odds sat at a paltry 4.4%. The Junior Circuit didn’t offer much more intrigue; the Royals, sitting three games back of the Mariners for the third Wild Card in that league, had playoff odds of just 12.6% as the long weekend loomed.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no fun to be had. Kyle Schwarber hit four home runs in one game this week! Jonah Tong and Payton Tolle made their major league debuts! There’s Hi-Chew aplenty! And while we basically know who will be playing October baseball, both of the West divisions remain unsettled.
Your questions this week don’t specifically concern the playoff race, though two of them involve key players on teams that hope to make deep postseason runs. We’ll also zoom out to contemplate how many teams could finish .500, as well as the future of public pitching analysis. Before we do, though, I’ll remind you all that while anyone can submit a question, this mailbag is exclusive to FanGraphs Members. If you aren’t yet a Member and would like to keep reading, you can sign up for a Membership here. It’s the best way to both experience the site and support our staff, and it comes with a bunch of other great benefits. Also, if you’d like to ask a question for an upcoming mailbag, be sure to send us an email at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
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