Opinion

The numbers are now celebrated only in relevant context, and the comparisons to himself as a productive superstar are less frequent, replaced by comparisons to himself as an injured shell of one of the greatest hitters the sport has ever seen.

To many, July 31 is known simply as the trade deadline. Of course, that's not entirely accurate.

Plenty of deals go down in August; the process just gets more complicated.

To be traded post-July, players must clear revocable waivers. Meaning, in essence, other teams have an opportunity to snatch a guy off the trading block, and the team that offered him up has a chance to yank him back.

To be eligible to play in the postseason, however, a player must be traded by Aug. 31 (11:59 p.m.).

The New York Yankees are not accustomed to missing the playoffs, let alone missing them in consecutive seasons. The last time that happened was in 1993.

The Yankees are in danger of missing the postseason for the second straight year, and it is entirely likely heads will roll again.

All of the pitching luxuries the Detroit Tigers seemed to have four weeks ago have systematically evaporated and been replaced by the first stages of panic.

With only 29 games remaining in the regular season, the Pittsburgh Pirates trail the San Francisco Giants by just 2.0 games for the second wild-card spot.  

Currently, the organization cannot be thinking about the future, as it has a chance to win right now.  

The final month of Major League Baseball’s regular season is just around the corner. For many teams, that means help is on the way.

UPDATE: August 29 at 8:17 p.m. ET

According to ESPN, Montero will not play again this season after this incident.

---End of Update---

UPDATE: August 29 at 3:08 p.m. ET

Mariners cross-checker Butch Baccala (the scout involved in this strange incident) denies provoking or taunting Montero on Thursday night.

It’s not a stretch to say the Pittsburgh Pirates’ weak September schedule could propel them into the playoffs if the team takes care of business against a trio of last-place teams.

We have officially hit crunch time in the 2014 MLB season, as the month of August comes to a close and teams have roughly 30 games left to secure a spot in the postseason.

In the National League, seven teams still boast a winning record, and the Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds are hanging on the fringe of contention as well.

This is exactly how Bud Selig and Major League Baseball drew it up three years ago.

With the second wild-card spot, the number of viable postseason competitors increases and more teams remain in the hunt for longer. As the summer concludes and October quickly approaches, the drama spikes.

Each team now has 30 games or fewer to do one of a few things: catch their respective division leader and avoid the play-in game, hang on to their wild-card hold or chase down that second and final spot.