Outside The Confines: We got questions

Happy Labor Day.

• Now that we’re into September, Anthony Castrovince has nine “bold” predictions for the final month of the season. You’ll like prediction number 5.
• Mike Axisa has eight storylines for the final month.
• Bob Nightengale has 20 questions for September.
• Ken Rosenthal wants to know why Shohei Ohtani is still hitting while he waits to see if he needs Tommy John surgery? (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Hannah Keyser writes that nothing is guaranteed over this final month—except that the Braves are making the playoff and have a good chance of winning the World Series.
• David O’Brien writes that this Braves team looks really special after taking 3 of 4 from the Dodgers. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Hannah Keyser also looks at the Mariners’ red-hot month of August and notes that they now control their own destiny in the AL West.
• David Schoenfield ranks all the division and wild card races the rest of the way. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Brian Murphy looks at which deadline trades look the best, a month later.
• Ben Clemens asks the same question: which teams’ deadline deals smell the best after a month.
• Brent Maguire wonders if this is the last month ever for these veteran stars. The first two players on the list have already confirmed that they are retiring.
• A look at the all-time best September stretch performer for each team.
• MLB announced that they were keeping the pitch clock rules the same for the postseason. Some players had asked for relaxed rules for postseason games.
• Matt Snyder says keeping the rules the same was the right call.
• Dan Szymborski looks at how the two Ohio teams helped themselves with the waiver wire claims—mostly from the Angels.
• However, the players the Angels put on waivers failed to get them under the luxury tax threshold—mainly because no one claimed Randal Grichuk.
• However, the Angels did get under the luxury tax line anyway by putting catcher Max Stassi on the restricted list.
• Michael Baumann profiles first baseman Nolan Schanuel—the Angels other unicorn of a ballplayer.
• Over the past month, Phillies shortstop Trea Turner has played like, well, like Trea Turner. Todd Zolecki explains what Turner is doing differently.
• Ross Barkan believes that the Yankees may be looking at a “lost decade” of play ahead.
• R.J. Anderson have five top candidates for GM jobs, just in case the Yankees or any other team is thinking of making a change.
• Henry Palattella talks to relief pitchers about the challenges involved in making the switch from starting to the bullpen.
• Tom Verducci wonders why in an era when teams are asking young starting pitchers to throw fewer pitches, are there just as many arm injuries? Verducci talks a lot about Jordan Wicks and how the Cubs have never had him throw more than 90 pitches in a game.
• Will Leitch has the best active ballplayer from age 20 to 43.

• And finally, it was a big weekend in Los Angeles for the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. On Thursday, he married his fiancée in a ceremony put together in just 24 hours (so she would not have to return to Venezuela) and then he grand slam later that night to become the first MLB player ever to hit 30 home runs and steal 60 bases in the same season.

Congratulations to the happy couple!

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.