Only one week and four days remain in the 2026 MLB regular season. Four teams (Brewers, Dodgers, Rays, Yankees) have clinched postseason berths, so eight spots remain up for grabs, and chances are at least a few of them will come down to the final weekend. There are also awards races to sort out.
Only so much baseball remains, but there's still a lot to be decided. Here now are three late-season trends to keep an eye on as the regular season winds down. There are some players who look like they were put on this Earth to play baseball and only to play baseball, and Reds star Elly De La Cruz is one of those players.
The natural gifts -- the power, the speed, the arm, the athleticism -- are so overt that it's almost frustrating to watch him play, because as good as he is, it feels like De La Cruz is still only scratching the surface of his talent. Make no mistake, though, De La Cruz is a star. He went into Tuesday ranked third among position players in WAR, behind only Pete Crow-Armstrong and Bobby Witt Jr., and he's reached another level over the last few weeks.
Since Aug. 22, De La Cruz is 36 for 86 (.419) with seven homers in 21 games, including a titanic two-run homer off two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal last week. As recently as last season, De La Cruz turning around a Skubal changeup like that may not have been possible. Despite being a switch-hitter and despite being so talented, De La Cruz was one of the worst hitters in baseball against left-handed pitchers over the first three years of his career.
He was so bad against lefties that there was speculation that he'd drop switch-hitting and exclusively hit lefty. De La Cruz flipped the script this season and has been one of the very best hitters in baseball against lefties. Here are his numbers against southpaws throughout his young career: Back in April, Reds hitting coach Chris Valaika told The Athletic that De La Cruz has made some mechanical adjustments as a right-handed hitter, specifically keeping his front leg up a little longer during his leg kick, but much of his improvement against lefties boils down to approach and confidence.
He's ready to hit from Pitch 1 and his confidence against lefties has ballooned. "I think he's a little shorter to the ball. He's so long-levered to begin with that it allows him to make better swing decisions," Reds manager Terry Francona told The Athletic in April.
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