The month it was: September 2026

Translated by José M. Hernández Lagunes

In this series, we look at major MLB trends in run scoring, fielder positioning, injuries, stolen bases, playing time, and the ball’s automated ABS and strike calling system. Monthly analysis is used to identify temporary trends.

What exciting people! Only thirty-nine teams with a record above .500 for the month. Of the 12 suitable for the season, only half broke out even at the end of the month. Is this what you mean when you say you want to improve your competitive balance?

Run scoring

What a wonderful month. The month of September scoring is usually low. Between 1998 and 2025, teams scored 4.54 runs per game in September/October, the fewest of any month. (April and May reached 4.55). That didn’t happen in 2026. There were 4.56 runs per team per game in September. He scored more runs only in June (4.67). In 28 seasons with the expansion to 30 parties, September 2026 falls right in the middle, ranking 15th in the game.

But these nations are not all created equal. Those 4.56 runs per game equate to 4.62 runs per nine innings, broken down as follows:

Pitchers allowed 3,176 runs in 6,307 and ⅔ innings pitched in the first nine innings of September games. In extra innings they allowed 106 in 80 innings. The position players – pitching nine first innings total – pitched in seven games, pitching 9 innings and allowing 12 runs. (More on this in the next article). As usual, a game after the first nine innings has more than twice as many runs scored as a game in the first nine and in September, more than when the position players took the mound.

Consequently, the score per game in September…

… it looks noticeably less serious if the zombie’s back is running and the players are removed.

As I said, in terms of runs per game, September ranks 15th in 30-team seasons. Without zombies at second base and ponies on the mound, the order drops to seventeenth place.

Here is a breakdown of the implementation of the Universal Hittor design. Notice how thick those orange and gray bars have gotten over the last few months.

Position players were lying

In July, he took the mound for 32 points, a new record. They were also in August 32. However, the number of pitchers at the position was dangerously reduced to just seven in September. Expanded rosters need less time to blow up a position player; The team’s 14th pitcher, fresh out of Triple-A, can be left to cover innings. That said, the position player’s seven appearances in September may represent the fewest since September 2019.

Losing teams can only use a player’s position with a deficit of eight or more runs; deadline before 2013 Winning teams may use the ninth inning pitch only, and only when the lead is 10 runs or more; the method was not in their use until 2022. (There will be and are limits on the use of position players in extra innings). The last position player to enter the game in 2026 was Phillies catcher; Garrett Stubbswho allowed five runners on base and three runs while recording the team’s last four records in a 12-2 loss to the Braves on September 12.
Position players, as usual, performed dismally, allowing a .390/.447/.658 line (1.105 OPS) during the month.

injury

There are two questions about injuries in September. First, in 2018 and 2019, the rosters could expand to 40 players in September. Players who are injured during the month are rarely placed on the injured list, so teams can replace them without worrying about roster size. (The Fantasy League is trying to convince its league commissioner to replace the star hitter who broke his hand knowing this well).

Second, while the 2026 season ended in September, the last day of 2021 was October 3. It was October 5, 2022, October 1, 2023, September 30, 2024 and September 28 of the following year. Therefore, by adjusting the figures and covering up to the last day of each season, expressing the injuries per game, we obtain the following;

September this year has therefore turned out to be the average month according to the injury rate in the post-pandemic September.

running to the bases

We know that stolen bases increase when the shutdown rule is implemented before the 2023 season. But last year, stolen bases per game decreased, from 0.74 per team per game in 2024 to 0.71 in 2025.

That trend—fewer stolen bases, less success—continued in April and May. But June broke the pessimism and the trends remained positive in July. But then everything collapsed in August and things did not improve in September.

In September, the team recorded 0.68 steals per game, the lowest figure since the change in the suspension rule. The 78.5% success rate was also the worst since the rule change, although it is still higher than any 30-team season before the rule change. As mentioned, these numbers have fluctuated this year, but it appears that we have reached a plateau in both theft and success.

game time

As we have heard, one of the consequences of the ABS system challenge is the longevity of the match. And so it was done.

Games that went after 8.5 innings (ie, holding the home team in the top of the ninth) were, on average, more than five minutes slower, lasting 2:38, compared to 2:33 the previous year. The average nine-inning game in which the home team batted in the bottom of the ninth was more than two minutes longer than last year, 2:48 compared to 2:46. We’re still well short of the three-hour games that took place before the clock, but not as much as in the past. This is a problem that can be solved (just announcing the story without the graphics), but I imagine the phone company (and the 30 teams that are rolling in the money) objected.

Abs and automated singing

This year I collect the impact of the ABS system in two situations: 3-0 and 0-2 calculations. The strike zone has traditionally expanded to 3-0 and narrowed to 0-2. Are they walking more in 3-0 counts and running out more in 0-2 counts, now that umpires are less likely to accommodate strike zones (or when they’re yelling)?

Perhaps, after a period with ABS, everyone depends on it. The only situation where ABS caused a significant change in September results was the second pitch after a pitcher went up 0-2. Those at-bats ended in strikeouts 23% of the time, after hovering around 18% the previous four years. In all other cases (hits after a 0-2 count, walks after a 3-0 count), the results in September were almost indistinguishable from previous years. In fact, when a pitcher throws three balls to start an at-bat, the next pitch’s walk rate was 35.7%, the lowest in all five years. This is due to the size constraints of the September sample or the arrival of minor league players following the expansion of the roster on September 1. Or perhaps, in the end, the ABS did not change these specific samples as much as we might have hoped.

Thanks to Derek Rhoads for the wrong data.