Reynaldo López takes home spotlight honors with a dominant performance in a win over the Tigers. He pitched eight innings of one-run ball and gave up five hits while striking out nine. He led all pitchers in DFS scoring. This outing wraps up a wild season for Lopez, who I have broken down a few times with how strange of a year it was. This was his tenth start of the year in which he has given up one earned run or fewer and his third time pitching at least eight innings. You read that sentence and you would assume that we are talking about a guy whose ERA can't possibly be worse than 4.00, yet it is, and by a lot. That happens when you have 13 outings of at least five earned runs against. It's one of the strangest seasons that I have ever seen, as he wraps up the year 10-15 with a 5.38 ERA. 

Strong Outings

  • Hyun-Jin Ryu finished off his regular season on a high note, pitching seven shutout innings in a win over the Giants. He gave up five hits while striking out seven. He wraps up the year with a 14-5 record and an MLB best 2.32 ERA. This strong outing may have vaulted him into a second place finish for NL Cy Young. 
  • Trent Thornton was dominant in a win over the Rays, hurling five shutout innings. He gave up just one hit while striking out eight. This wraps up a decent rookie season for Thornton, who finishes with a 6-9 record and 4.84 ERA. He needs to improve a bit, but he showed plenty of flashes of being an MLB caliber starting pitcher. 
  • Steven Matz was lights-out against Atlanta in a win, tossing six shutout innings. He gave up just two hits while striking out seven. He has reached a new career high in innings pitched for the second straight season, as he starts to rid himself of that "always hurt" stigma. He finishes 11-10 with a 4.21 ERA. 

Hitter Highlights

Pete Alonso only had one hit last night, but it was a record-breaking solo home run. He is the first rookie in the history of baseball to reach 53 home runs. Probably should have been the lead, but this was a season performance more than a daily one (I digress). What a remarkable season it has been for the "Polar Bear" as he is hitting .260 with 120 RBI and 102 runs scored to go along with the dingers. 

 

Jorge Soler continued his destruction of baseballs as he went 2-3 with a pair of home runs, a walk, and three RBI. The two dingers bring his total up to 47 on the year to go along with a rock solid .265 batting average and a healthy RBI total of 116. 

Rougned Odor finished 2-4 with a home run, a double, a walk, a stolen base, and six RBI. Odor had a very rough year, but he is ending on a high note. He is hitting .259 with nine home runs and 25 RBI in the month of September, bringing his totals for the year up to a .204 average with 30 home runs and 93 RBI. 
 
Christian Walker went 2-3 with a pair of dingers, a walk, and five RBI. It has been a very strong breakout campaign for the 28-year old rookie, hitting .259 with 29 home runs, 73 RBI, 85 runs scored, and eight stolen bases. He held fantasy value throughout the entire season. 
 
Ian Happ also had a double-dong night, going 3-5 with two home runs and four RBI. Happ has only had 138 at-bats this year, but he has done pretty well with them, hitting .268 with 11 home runs and 30 RBI. He needs the opportunity to be an everyday starter. 
 

What to Watch for Today

Taijuan Walker (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will pitch for the first time since April of 2018. He is only expected to throw one inning, but it will be nice to see a guy who has battled injuries take the ball and throw some pitches. He will likely be apart of the Dbacks 2020 rotation. 
 
Mike Clevinger (13-3, 2.39 ERA) will look to close out his fantastic season on a high note when he takes on the Nationals later today. Clev has racked up 165 strikeouts across 120.1 innings to this point and will likely be a popular Cy Young pick next year. 
 
Gerrit Cole (19-5, 2.52 ERA) will look to pick up win number 20 in the regular season finale. Cole has been ridiculous this season and it will be a close vote for AL Cy Young between him and his teammate (Verlander).