MLB

There are but two seasons across most of these United States, many folks swear: summer and road construction.

Nowhere is this more true than at the corner of Clark and Addison in Chicago, where the sun always shines over Wrigley Field and construction to build a winner has been ongoing since before the days of Bill Veeck and Harry Caray.

While the Kansas City Royals have crushed the competition in the American League Central, there's still a lot left to be decided in the other five division battles and the two wild-card chases.

Aside from the Royals, no division leader has more than a 6.5-game edge, and the AL wild-card picture, in particular, remains especially murky. In the process of setting 2015 MLB playoff odds, four primary factors were taken into consideration:

There aren't many miles between San Francisco and Los Angeles, but right now the defending champion Giants must feel like they traveled a long way just to get punched in the gut.

The only good news, really, is that the Giants are only reeling from a staggering blow. Not a killing blow.

Take a bow, Clayton Kershaw.

The left-handed pitcher dominated the San Francisco Giants Wednesday during a 2-1 victory. He threw a complete game and allowed only one earned run, six hits and a walk on the way to 15 strikeouts behind 132 pitches.

Justin Turner can thank his helmet for this one.

The Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman's break for second during Andre Ethier's fourth-inning at-bat on Wednesday didn't look promising after Buster Posey's quick throw, but things got a little weird when he sent his helmet flying upon hitting the dirt.

Seattle Mariners right fielder Nelson Cruz strained his quad Wednesday against the Houston Astros.

Continue for updates.

New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada drove a shot down the right field line of Citi Field in the second inning of Wednesday's 9-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies for an inside-the-park home run after Domonic Brown botched the catch.

Washington Nationals All-Star Bryce Harper is back in the lineup Thursday after leaving Wednesday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth inning after experiencing glute tightness. 

It's that time of year again.

The stadiums are packed, beer is cold and pennant races are in full swing. There will be plenty of September call-ups who will have a huge impact and some who won't.

Today, we're only focusing on those call-ups who are potentially in line to make waves down the stretch.

Ryan Zimmerman helped carry the Washington Nationals to a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

The 30-year-old went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and slugged a pair of home runs. The second homer he launched was the 200^th of his career.

His RBI single in the eighth inning broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Nationals a much-needed win.

Max Scherzer wasn’t sharp and gave up 11 hits in just six innings, but limited the damage by striking out 10 batters.