Brewers Top MLB Rankings; Ohtani Done Pitching — SkimNews
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- Milwaukee Brewers (91-56) stay atop the rankings as Jacob Misiorowski reclaimed the NL Cy Young lead with a 1.95 ERA — the only sub-2.00 mark in the league — after striking out nine over 6⅓ innings Tuesday.
- Shohei Ohtani acknowledged Monday he's "most likely" done pitching for 2026 due to left knee and right biceps pain, though the Dodgers are on a seven-game win streak and Ohtani plans to return Sept. 23 as a hitter.
- Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a tying eighth-inning home run off a 100.5 mph fastball from Alex McFarlane on Sunday, then stepped out of the Braves' dugout for a curtain call after their 5-4 win over the Phillies: "I love the fans from Philly because they boo me."
- Aaron Judge returned Tuesday after missing 100 days with a right rib stress fracture, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in the Yankees' 5-3 win over Colorado, while Cam Schlittler continued his Cy Young push with 10 strikeouts.
- Toronto Blue Jays jumped three spots to No. 14 at 73-74, now just one game back of the final AL wild-card spot after looking like they'd miss October for most of the season.
- Nick Pivetta returned from a nearly four-month absence to fire five scoreless innings for the Padres, while rotation-mate Joe Musgrove suffered another Tommy John rehab setback, telling reporters: "I'm running out of answers."
- Corbin Burnes returned from Tommy John surgery for three scoreless innings, and the Diamondbacks also got Zac Gallen and Michael Soroka back — setting up a final-week showdown with the Padres for the NL's last wild-card berth.
Why it matters: The NL's final wild-card spot will be settled when the Padres and Diamondbacks meet in their last regular-season series, leaving zero margin for either club down the stretch. Meanwhile, Misiorowski's 1.95 ERA gives the Brewers a pitcher-acquisition edge (the only sub-2.00 NL arm), though Chris Sale remains a late Cy Young challenger. Ohtani's likely pitching shutdown doesn't derail the Dodgers — they're on a seven-game streak — but it reshapes every October rotation around who finishes healthy, not who finished best.
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