The Buzz · September 16, 2026
The Buzz — Wednesday, September 16
Five names from a weekend that brought a curtain call on the road, a fourth straight division title, a tee session, a comeback, and a second-deck blast — and the number under each that settles the take.
Pete Alonso
The take Alonso's 300th HR vs Mets at Citi with curtain call
The number that matters isn't 300 — it's 264, the club record he set for the franchise now watching him circle the bases. Alonso hit his 300th career home run this weekend at Citi Field, a 414-foot solo shot off Kodai Senga in the ninth that tied the game 3-3. A road crowd of 28,097 gave him a curtain call, then chanted 'Fire Stearns' at the Mets' president of baseball operations. He signed a five-year, $155 million deal with Baltimore in December 2025 after the Mets let him walk, and the fans got reminded why that hurt.
The homer was his 36th of the season, and it was not ceremonial — it set up Coby Mayo's inside-the-parker in the 11th for a 7-5 Orioles win that kept Baltimore three games behind Cleveland for the wild card. The milestone got the headlines. The tying run kept the season alive.
Pete Alonso cards on eBay →(paid link)
Jacob Misiorowski
The take Ace dominates as Brewers clinch fourth straight title
The line is 15-5 with a 1.89 ERA and 243 strikeouts, leading the majors in the last two. He threw five scoreless against the Pirates — seven strikeouts, one walk — and the Brewers clinched their fourth straight NL Central title when the Cubs lost to the Braves the same night. Over 28 starts his WHIP is 0.81. The division was a formality; the question is whether October cooperates with the best pitching line in the sport.
Jacob Misiorowski cards on eBay →(paid link)
Shohei Ohtani
The take Ohtani first tee swings since IL, return progress
He hit off a tee and felt good — the first positive signal since he went on the 15-day injured list Sept. 8 with right biceps inflammation, and also the smallest step on the way back. Dave Roberts said Ohtani remains on track to return before the regular season ends, though he could not say how many games that means. The Dodgers have already clinched a playoff spot, and he will return only as a hitter.
What the crowd wants is a return date. What the tee session says is that the buildup has started, not that it is close to finished. He is working out alone in Los Angeles, not traveling with the team, and every step from here — soft toss, batting practice, live pitching — is a checkpoint he has not cleared. The optimism from Roberts is real. The timeline is not a promise.
Shohei Ohtani cards on eBay →(paid link)
Ronald Acuña Jr.
The take Acuña late HRs spark Braves win clinching for Brewers
The Braves were down 3-0 when Acuña took Kevin Gausman deep in the sixth for a two-run shot, his 18th of the season, and by game's end they had won 6-3 and eliminated the Cubs from the NL Central race — handing Milwaukee its fourth straight division title. Over his past 17 games he is batting .379 with a 1.069 OPS. Atlanta is 89-63, 5 1/2 up on Philadelphia. The August lull is over, and the version of Acuña showing up now is the one nobody in the NL wants to face in October.
Ronald Acuña Jr. cards on eBay →(paid link)
Spencer Jones
The take Jones three-run HR powers Yankees rout of Twins
The ball left at 108.0 mph, traveled 423 feet to center, and landed in the second deck — a three-run shot off Taylor Rogers, who had not given up a homer to a left-handed batter all season. That is the kind of contact that makes a 6-foot-7, 240-pound frame a problem the league has not solved, and Jones is doing it often enough that the prospect label is coming off.
Since his July 26 recall, he is batting .279 with seven homers and a .833 OPS, with 54 strikeouts in 147 at-bats — the cost of a swing this long and this violent. The blast was his 10th of the season, the decisive blow in a four-run sixth. Bellinger opened the scoring in the first; Jones put it away in the sixth. The Yankees won 8-1 and are 88-63 with a wild-card berth already secured.
The left-on-left homer is the detail that settles it. Rogers had spent the whole year without surrendering one to a same-handed hitter, and Jones — a 2022 first-round pick who debuted May 8 — put it in the second deck to center. The raw power was always the scouting report. The adjustment to left-handed big-league pitching is what is new, and if it holds, the Yankees have a bat they did not have in April.
Spencer Jones cards on eBay →(paid link)
The one with the most on the line
Four of these five plays either clinched something or came from a team that already has. The exception is Baltimore, and the swing that kept the Orioles three games behind Cleveland came from the man who hit 264 home runs in that building before the Mets let him walk. A curtain call for an opponent is a specific kind of hurt — it means the crowd knows what it lost and who to blame for losing it. The Orioles have the hardest road left and the least margin for error. Alonso just gave them another day to travel it.