David Price

12 days in August: How Jays, Cubs & Mets seized playoff leads

Published Aug. 13, 2015 11:09 a.m. ET

Chris Bahr

How much can happen in less than two weeks? Plenty.

When the final pitch was thrown on the Aug. 1 schedule, the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs and New York Mets were all on the outside looking in when it came to the playoff chase.

After Thursday's action, all three teams are leading either their division or the wild-card race. Credit a collective 29-3 record by this red-hot trio of contenders.

On the night of Aug. 1

Team	Record	Division rank	Wild-card rank
Blue Jays	53-52	3^rd in AL East (6 games back)	2 games back
Cubs	56-47	3^rd in NL Central (9 1/2 games back)	1 game back
Mets	54-40	2^nd in NL East (1 game back)	3 1/2 games back

SINCE AUG. 2

Team	Record	Division rank	Wild-card rank
Blue Jays	11-0	1^st in AL East (1/2-game lead)	---
Cubs	9-1	3^rd in NL Central (7 1/2 games back)	4 1/2-game lead
Mets	9-2	1^st in NL East (4 1/2-game lead)	---

The biggest catalyst for each team:

Blue Jays: Sure, newcomers Troy Tulowitzki and David Price have done their parts, but Josh Donaldson has been even more productive. In this 11-game span, Donaldson is hitting .293/.408/.707 with five homers and 10 RBI, cementing his status as an AL MVP candidate.

Cubs: Manager Joe Maddon's decision to insert rookie Kyle Schwarber's bat into the lineup stole the headlines (Schwarber has four homers, two doubles and 12 RBI in his past nine games). But right fielder Jorge Soler is hitting .314 with a .400 on-base percentage and nine RBI in his past 10 games and just had a 10-game hitting streak snapped Wednesday.

Mets: As first baseman Lucas Duda cooled, center fielder Curtis Granderson caught fire. In his past 11 games, Granderson has four homers, 13 RBI, nine runs scored and a .571 slugging percentage. Remember, incoming slugger Yoenis Cespedes didn't hit his first homer for New York until Wednesday.