MLB's final weekend is a mess, and somebody is about to make history for all the wrong reasons
Four teams are still fighting for two playoff spots, the Phillies are suddenly on thin ice against a six-game winning streak Arizona squad, and the AL West is about to crown its first-ever sub-.500 division champion. Oh, and Yordan Alvarez still has a shot at the Triple Crown.
In brief
MLB's final weekend is a mess, and somebody is about to make history for all the wrong reasons
Two days left. Four teams still desperate. And at least one of them is going to do something that has never happened in 150 years of Major League Baseball.
According to MLB.com, the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers enter Saturday tied atop the American League West, with Houston holding the tiebreaker by virtue of winning the season series. The AL West will see a sub-.500 team take the division title for the first time ever, an ignominious record as both teams limp toward the finish line. That's not hyperbole. It's entirely possible the AL West will provide baseball with the first team ever to make the playoffs with a losing record. The Astros prevailed in the season series over the Rangers, so if the two teams wind up tied in the standings, Houston will win the flag. It's win-or-go-home for both teams this weekend.
Think about that for a second. The Houston Astros, a franchise that went to four World Series in six years, might clinch a division title at 79-83 or 80-82. The Rangers, same story. One of them is going to be a playoff team. One of them probably shouldn't be.
The National League side is just as jagged. The Phillies currently hold the third NL Wild Card spot, while the Diamondbacks trail by two games with three games remaining. Philadelphia closes the regular season against the Tampa Bay Rays, and Arizona finishes against the San Diego Padres. On paper, the Phillies control their own fate. In practice, they've looked shaky for two weeks. Momentum favors the Diamondbacks. Arizona enters the final weekend on a five-game winning streak, while Philadelphia has dropped its last two games.
Here is the gut punch for Phillies fans: if the Phillies and Diamondbacks finish tied for the final NL Wild Card berth, the Diamondbacks would advance to the postseason, and the Phillies would head home to the City of Brotherly Love. Arizona holds the divisional tiebreaker. So Philadelphia cannot afford even a single slip. Freddy Peralta kept the Phillies off the board on Friday, helping Tampa Bay win 2-0, which means the margin just got thinner still heading into the final weekend.
Meanwhile, the Cubs and Padres locked in their spots Thursday, and Friday brought its own chaos. The Red Sox swept a doubleheader in Boston on September 25, necessitated by a nor'easter that will hit the New England and Mid-Atlantic area this weekend. With Boston's win over the Cubs in Game 1 of their doubleheader, the Red Sox secured the No. 5 seed in the American League playoffs and will be the road team against the Yankees in the Wild Card. The third and final game of the Boston-Chicago series will be a neutral-site contest on September 27 at Tropicana Field. A major league game at a neutral site, in a stadium that Tampa Bay is leaving, to finish a series moved because of a nor'easter. September baseball, folks.
On the AL Central front, the Guardians and White Sox are still sorting out who will enter the postseason as the AL Central champion and who goes in as a wild card team. The stakes are significant because the eventual AL Central champion will get the second and final first-round bye on the AL side. The Chicago White Sox clinched a playoff spot on Thursday, making them perhaps the most shocking playoff team since the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays.
Alvarez and a Triple Crown that could slip away
Woven through all of this is the individual story that keeps refusing to go away. Yordan Alvarez, the Astros' 29-year-old left-handed slugger from Las Tunas, Cuba, is chasing one of baseball's rarest achievements. Alvarez is batting .314 with a major-league best 1.032 OPS, 41 home runs, 102 RBI, 99 runs scored and 32 doubles over 153 contests.
Alvarez is making a rare bid for the MLB Triple Crown, an elusive feat achieved by only ten players in history, most recently Miguel Cabrera in 2012. The problem is Pete Alonso. Alonso's 17 RBI in September have pushed him up to 108 with five games remaining, which is a gap Alvarez realistically cannot close. Alvarez will need a strong close to win the Triple Crown. He still leads the AL in average and is tied for the lead in home runs, but his RBI pace has fallen off this month.
In the background over the last few days of the season: Alvarez's push to become the first player to win a Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera in 2013 has captured attention well beyond the AL West standings fight. The Triple Crown would speak for itself, but the context of baseball in 2026 must be considered: nobody in the AL is close to Alvarez. Entering Sunday, he had created 138 runs, 35 more than Caminero and Alonso.
ESPN analyst Eduardo Perez, who played 13 seasons in the majors, put Alvarez's season in perspective ahead of Friday's action. Perez said: "What makes Yordan so dominant is that there really isn't a comfortable way to pitch him."
Although Alvarez has had top-three finishes in MVP voting before, 2026 is the best he has ever looked. Injuries cut his season short a number of times, but at 29, Alvarez is putting on a display that could lead to a feat that is about as rare as anything in baseball: a Triple Crown.
The Astros close the regular season at home. Whether they win the AL West outright, or arrive in October as a division champion with a losing record, or miss everything entirely, Alvarez's numbers will still be the first thing anyone looks at. On an individual front, potential AL MVP frontrunner Yordan Alvarez remains, barely, alive in his bid to win the Triple Crown.
What happens Sunday
The Astros and Rangers are fighting for the American League West, while the Phillies and D-backs are competing for the final National League Wild Card berth, with just two days remaining in the regular season. The postseason field goes to 12 teams. The postseason begins September 29. Two spots are empty heading into Saturday.
For Philadelphia, the math is simple and brutal: win all three against the Rays, or watch the Diamondbacks back in through the side door. For Arizona, it means sweeping a San Diego team that is still fighting for its own seeding against the Cubs. Arizona must win to have any chance of reaching the postseason, but facing the Padres won't be easy. San Diego is trying to hold onto the top NL Wild Card spot ahead of the Cubs.
And out in the AL West, somewhere between West Sacramento and Houston, two teams with losing records are about to settle who gets the privilege of hosting a Wild Card series. The Rangers would lose a head-to-head tiebreaker to the Astros if the two clubs finish tied atop the AL West. Texas needs to win outright. So does Houston. So do the Phillies. And somehow Arizona, on a six-game winning streak, actually has the tiebreaker in its pocket if it can just catch Philadelphia.
Alvarez, meanwhile, goes into Saturday at Minute Maid Park still holding a .314 average and 41 home runs, staring at a six-RBI deficit in the race for a feat nobody has pulled off in 14 years.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
