Let's paint a playoff-race picture. In the American League, eight teams find themselves within five games of a playoff berth, with an additional three division leaders holding advvantages anywhere from 4 ½-game or more over the wild card-leading New York Yankees. In the National League, three teams are within five, another two are within six and the Chicago Cubs hold a 3 ½-game lead in the NL Central.
The races are tight this season, and it'll be fun to track which teams -- and especially which individual players -- will be the ones to step up and lead their squads to postseason glory. Listed below are 10 potential difference-makers for these teams that find themselves in the thick of the pennant race this final month:
Hanley Ramirez, DH, Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox have gotten a major league-worst .313 wOBA out of their Nos. 4-5 lineup spots this season, and a large part of the blame belongs on Ramirez's shoulders. He has batted just .221/.302/.429 in 40 games since the All-Star break, resulting in his being dropped to seventh in the order on Monday. With the Red Sox hardly assured the American League East title and slipping in the race for home-field advantage in the division series, Ramirez needs to turn his season around quickly. A two-hit Monday and home runs on back-to-back nights Tuesday and Wednesday might have been only the start.