Rankings/List

October is almost upon us, meaning Major League Baseball's best action is just around the corner.

Playoff teams don't make the postseason without good play when it counts, and this list recognizes 12 players who have made a considerable difference in September, looking to do the same in the playoffs.

There are no rankings on this list; everyone on it is pretty much equal in terms of importance to their respective teams during the last month.

With that being said, here are two simple criteria to help you understand how the following dozen ballplayers made this list:

The upcoming postseason may be the main focus of the baseball world right now, but as the regular season winds down the debate over who should win each of the league's major awards generally starts to heat up.

Bryce Harper and Josh Donaldson look to be the front-runners to win their respective league MVP awards heading into the final week, but they are by no means the only candidates.

The following won't focus on each league as a whole, though, but instead on who deserves team MVP honors for all 30 MLB teams.

As the 2015 MLB playoff picture comes into focus, let's take a moment to identify several injured stars whose health will be determining factors in October.

Over the next few slides, we'll rank various postseason injury comebacks around the league in order of importance. What makes a player's return more important than another? Talent is an obvious factor, but aspects like position depth, leadership and production prior to injury will all be taken into account. 

The final week of the 2015 MLB season is upon us, and there is still a lot to be decided.

The National League playoff picture is fairly clear, with the Los Angeles Dodgers close to clinching the final spot and the Pittsburgh Pirates pulling ahead of the Chicago Cubs for the right to host the Wild Card Game. The Dodgers will meet the New York Mets, while the St. Louis Cardinals will await the wild-card winner.

Over in the American League, things aren't nearly as clear.

After checking in on the top shortstops in the league, the B/R MLB 300 now moves on to its final stop in the infield: third base.

Like the other three infield positions, this ranking consists of 25 out of the overall 300 players. As for how this list of 25 came to be, we subjected each player to a scoring system that adds up to a total of 100 possible points.

Max Scherzer's expression tells the story of the Washington Nationals' 2015 season.

Just when it seemed like things couldn't get any worse for the Nats—the biggest disappointment in baseball—they did. A lot worse.

Jonathan Papelbon made sure of that on Sunday, when the volatile closer incited a dugout brawl with Bryce Harper by trying to choke out the best player in the bigs.

While MLB contenders are enjoying the excitement of impending playoff baseball, several big-name players will be sweating over the final week in fear of missing out on the October fun.

Over the next few slides, we'll identify a handful of well-known players who are in serious danger of being left off the postseason roster. Whether it's due to the numbers game, injuries or ineffectiveness, there's an increasing probability that the following names won't be called upon next month.

There's no question about it—the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs are the two most dangerous squads in the 2015 MLB wild-card conversation.

As the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals demonstrated a season ago, wild-card winners can make a lot of noise in October.

The fodder does not stop just because the number of relevant teams in this regular season has shrunk to about a dozen.

There was plenty of news in Major League Baseball this past week, and some of it was made by non-contending organizations such as the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers, both of whom hired new general managers—Mike Hazen and David Stearns, respectively.

For several lucky MLB franchises, the cooler temperatures of September indicate that playoff baseball is right around the corner. On the other hand, the season's final month can mean something completely different for underachieving teams.

Over the next few slides, we'll identify a handful of those teams that will be thankful to see the 2015 season come to an end. Despite the disappointment of a lost season, the following squads should feel confident about their chances of breaking out in 2016.