We're officially down to less than four weeks left in the season, and in many cases, that means your season is already over. Hey, there's no shame in it – Scott White knocked me out in our Podcast Listeners League last week, if it makes you feel any better. But you shouldn't just tune out of the MLB season because your team is out of it.
That's what quitters do, and you are no quitter. After all, what is an early finish to this season but a chance to get an early edge on your competition for next season? We'll keep recapping every night of MLB action in both the FBT Newsletter and podcasts, but we're also going to spend the next four weeks taking an early look at next season.
We'll be looking at big performances and notable news from every day, but we'll be taking the opportunity to spin it ahead to these players' 2027 outlooks even more. And one of the most important players to do that with is probably Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman. He looked like an absolute lost cause in the first half of the season, so the story on him felt pretty easy to tell: He was a bad fit for Wrigley Field and was nothing more than a fringe Fantasy starter even at the shallowest position in Fantasy.
Well, that doesn't look like it's true anymore, does it? Bregman has authored arguably the biggest comeback story in the game in the second half of the season, and after Monday's three-homer game against the Brewers – his second three-homer game of the season – he's now up to 14 homers since the All-Star break. That's good for the second-most of any hitter in baseball, behind teammate Pete Crow-Armstrong.
And while Crow-Armstrong is putting the finishing touches on an MVP season and potentially cementing himself as the No. 1 pick in Fantasy drafts next season, Bregman's fate remains a little unclear. Because yes, this second-half breakout has been outrageous. But even with that, his OPS for the season is still below .800.
A .785 OPS isn't a bad mark, especially for a third baseman, but he's hardly been a superstar all season long. In fact, Bregman was having a pretty miserable season, putting up a .241/.336/.359 line before the All-Star break, with about a 15-homer, 70-run and 65-RBI pace. He has had to play like one of the best hitters in baseball for the past month and a half to even get back to a point where his numbers look respectable.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
