Playoff hopes hanging by a thread for Orioles, Nationals

September has arrived, and the Orioles' and Nationals' playoff hopes are hanging by a thread.

The Nationals are struggling to catch the Mets in the National League East. They play each other six times, including the final weekend of the season. The Mets have 22 games left against the Phillies, Marlins, Reds and Braves, which is bad news for Washington.

The Orioles are battling to stay out of the basement in the American League East and they play the Blue Jays seven times, the Yankees six times as well as three each against the Royals and Nationals.

Here are storylines for the final month:

* Texas, a team that that went 2-10 during a stretch in July to fall nine back in the AL West and seven out in the wild card race, is the AL's hottest team going into the final month. The Rangers' acquisition of starter Cole Hamels made headlines, but getting relievers Jake Diekman from the Phillies and Sam Dyson from the Marlins to go along with Sam Freeman in set-up roles for first-year closer Shawn Tolleson is an upgrade that's going unnoticed. Still, it's hard to argue with the Rangers' rotation of Hamels, Derek Holland, Colby Lewis, Yovani Gallarado and Martin Perez. The Rangers have a chance at overtaking first-place Houston in the division. The two teams play seven more games. Could there be an all-Texas American League Championship Series?

* Until August, it appeared the Angels would be the team that would challenge the Astros. The Angels led the division by two games on July 22 with the best run-producing team in the league for July. In August, the Angels ranked last in the AL for runs scored, mainly because Mike Trout had his worst month as an Angel, hitting .227 after hitting .367 and .320 the previous two months. The Angels said he had a bad wrist, but Trout isn't making excuses. Albert Pujols cooled off and David Freese was injured. And that's not all of the problems for the Angels: Garrett Richards, their best pitcher in the first half, has slumped since the break, and Hector Santiago, an overachieving All-Star with a 2.30 ERA, reverted back to form once August arrived.

* Speaking of Trout, the much-anticipated AL MVP race between him and Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson has fizzled, given Trout's slump, the Angels' fall and Donaldson's continued onslaught on AL pitchers. Donaldson leads the AL in RBI. It's hard to see how Trout will win his second consecutive AL MVP.

* Edwin Encarnacion, who has a 26-game hitting streak going into Tuesday, is the forgotten power hitter in the Blue Jays lineup, lost in the shadow of Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson and new shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Encarnacion has hit 42, 36 and 34 home runs in each of the last three seasons and he has 30 home runs this year. Encarnacion and Donaldson each finished August with 35 RBIs, the first time teammates have had at least 35 RBI in the same month since 1950 when Ted Williams, Walt Dropo and Bobby Doerr did it for the Red Sox.

* If slumping Ervin Santana's dominating pitching against Houston on Sunday is an indication of how he's going to pitch in September, Minnesota will be in good shape. The Twins are waiting for Phil Hughes (back) to return from the disabled list, so there's a question of whether they have enough pitching. The rotation also has Kyle Gibson, Mike Gibson and rookie Tyler Duffey. Offensively, rookie Miguel Sano, who led the Twins with 26 RBIs in August while making an impression with his ability to lay off bad pitches, is leading the Twins. The Twins, with Eddie Rosario, Aaron Hicks and Byron Buxton, along with Sano, are all about rebuilding, but if Sano gets support in the lineup from Torii Hunter, Trevor Plouffe and Joe Mauer, the Twins have a chance. ... Who would have thought that Sano and Houston shortstop Carlos Correa would be the favorites to win the AL Rookie of the Year? Neither was in the big leagues on opening day.

* Pittsburgh's offense is the best it has been in three years. Their outfield defense is airtight with Gregory Polanco, Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte. Their bullpen ranks among the best in either league, but how about that rotation? The fourth and fifth starters are questions. Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano are excellent at the top and J.A. Happ, who had a 4.64 ERA in Seattle when the Pirates traded for him, has had a huge turnaround since joining Pittsburgh, allowing two runs in his last 23 innings. But the two back spots are question marks with Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke trying to hold on. A.J. Burnett (elbow) is determined to return in mid-September.

* Cleveland, a pick by many to win the AL Central, had a slow first half for a variety of reasons, but the Indians are coming on lately. They are on the edge of wild card contention, but have they got enough time to make a serious run at the AL's second wild card spot? Consider they have seven games left with the Twins and that their offense is rolling. And they might be the second pitching staff in history, joining the 1990 Mets, to have four starters with at least 175 strikeouts in a season. The Indians' four are Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer and Danny Salazar. The Mets had Frank Viola, Sid Fernandez, David Cone and Dwight Gooden each with 175-plus strikeouts.

* The Cubs' Jake Arrieta, who threw a no-hitter against the Dodgers Sunday night and has a 0.43 ERA during August, is making a strong case for the NL Cy Young Award. The Dodgers' Zack Greinke, though, is the favorite. Since 1969, when baseball lowered the mound after Bob Gibson and the Year of the Pitcher in 1968, only two starters have had an ERA lower than Greinke's 1.61 going into Tuesday night. Gooden had a 1.53 ERA in 1985 and Greg Maddux was at 1.56 in 1994.