Fan News

Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, 24, is having a fantastic season and leads Major League Baseball in batting average by a wide margin at .345 (Detroit's Victor Martinez is second at .336). He's also first in the majors in hits (221) and third in steals (54).

It's been another long season for the Chicago Cubs, but as it draws to a close, it's nice seeing some of the reserves making plays even when they're not in the game.

During the top of the fourth inning of Monday night's game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Cubs bullpen catcher Chad Noble snagged a foul ball heading straight toward him with one hand. The catch was good enough, but doing it while sitting and holding a cup of coffee made it even more impressive.

On Tuesday night, the Baltimore Orioles are going to be partying like it's 1997.

With an 8-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, Buck Showalter's squad captured its ninth victory in 10 games and moved 13.5 games in front of Toronto in the AL East, effectively locking up the division.

For the second time in three seasons, the Washington Nationals are champions of the National League East. 

Tanner Roark pitched seven innings of shutout ball, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen closed up shop, and Ian Desmond sent a home run deep into the Turner Field seats Tuesday night as Washington became the first team in baseball to clinch a division with a 3-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.

With the postseason out of reach, one of the main reasons to watch the New York Mets over the final few weeks will be the team's exciting young players. 

Unfortunately, that list may have been shortened by one on Tuesday, as center fielder Juan Lagares was forced from the game with a hyperextended elbow, per the team's official Twitter feed:

After the Cincinnati Reds fell out of contention in late August, many fans wanted to see what the team's September call-ups could do. However, the call-ups have had very few chances to show what they can do early in the final month.

Sympathy is a powerful thing.

Giancarlo Stanton, the Miami Marlins poster boy with the movie-star looks, glittery smile and enough thunder in his bat to make Mighty Casey look like a slap-hitting second baseman, has that on his side in this year’s National League MVP race.

Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig were caught on camera bickering at each other during Monday night's game, a clear sign that skipper Don Mattingly is losing the clubhouse and the NL West-leading <

Health becomes even more important as the MLB season enters the stretch run, and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Hanley Ramirez are finding that out the hard way.     

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times and Ken Gurnick of MLB.com filled fans in on the details regarding Ramirez’s latest ailment:

Not much has gone wrong for the Los Angeles Angels lately, but injuries have a nasty way of changing that. 

For the Halos, the concern is over rookie starting pitcher Matt Shoemaker, who helped the Angels clinch a playoff spot Monday night with a dominant effort against the Seattle Mariners but left after 96 pitches with a minor injury to his oblique.    

MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez provided an update following an MRI Tuesday: