Watch for these milestones during the final stretch of 2022

As the 2022 season nears its end, focuses will shift depending on the standings. Some will be fighting for a playoff spot, while others will be using the final days to get some looks at young talent. But whether a team is a contender or not, all 30 clubs will still be playing for something.

Here's one milestone to watch for each team during the final stretch of the 2022 regular season.

All stats entering Thursday unless otherwise noted.

AL EAST

Blue Jays: Alek Manoah’s push for 200 innings
The Blue Jays haven’t gotten 200-plus innings from a starter since Marcus Stroman in 2017, but this is what Manoah is built for. He takes pride in it, too, with a knack for dancing out of jams and extending outings. Manoah currently has 142 2/3 innings over 23 starts, an average of just over six innings per start, which puts him 11th in MLB and fourth in the American League. If he continues at this exact rate for his approximately nine remaining starts, he’ll be right on the doorstep with a shot in the final week in Baltimore. Manoah’s recent starts haven’t been his strongest, but in the bigger picture, he’s hauling big innings with effectiveness, too, posting a 2.71 ERA. -- Keegan Matheson

Orioles: A winning record
It’s a wholly modest accomplishment, but one that has escaped the Orioles in recent years, not accomplished since the postseason-bound 2016 club. Since then? Three 100-loss seasons and their only finish not in last place coming in the shortened ’20 campaign. This year’s team is comfortably on pace to do it, especially given its run of late, and frankly, it has hopes higher than just 82 wins as one of the clubs in contention for a Wild Card spot. So call this milestone seemingly gravy for the 1 1/2 months ahead. -- Zachary Silver

Rays: Shane McClanahan’s Cy Young push
McClanahan clearly established himself as an American League Cy Young Award candidate in the first half, a remarkable run capped by him earning the nod to start for the AL in the All-Star Game. He stumbled a bit in the second half, allowing nine runs over consecutive starts to the Guardians and Tigers, but the ace left-hander is still just one sustained hot streak away from vaulting right back into the conversation. He’ll have tough competition, namely Justin Verlander and Dylan Cease, but he has the stuff to pitch his way back to the front of the race. McClanahan is vying to become the third Rays pitcher (and third lefty, coincidentally) to win the Cy Young, along with David Price (2012) and Blake Snell (2018). -- Adam Berry

Red Sox: Rafael Devers chasing Teddy Ballgame for rivalry mark
The Red Sox have six more rivalry clashes against the Yankees this season, giving Devers a legit chance to pass Ted Williams with an impressive feat. Williams, who made his MLB debut at 20 years and 233 days old, bashed 20 homers against the Yankees before his 26th birthday. Devers currently sits at 19 against the Bronx Bombers, capped by his 433-foot shot on Sunday. Devers made his MLB debut at 20 years and 274 days. With two more homers in those remaining six games against Boston’s top rival, Devers will top Williams, the best hitter in team history and one of the best in baseball history. The Sox and Yankees play two games in Boston Sept. 13-14 and four at Yankee Stadium Sept. 22-25. -- Ian Browne

Yankees: Aaron Judge chases Roger Maris’ mark
What do you consider to be the true Major League home run record? That question figures to be asked frequently down the stretch as Aaron Judge takes aim at Roger Maris’ mark of 61 home runs, which was set in 1961 and still stands as the American League (and Yankees) single-season records. Judge has spent most of the summer ahead of Maris’ ’61 pace, and if opposing teams continue to pitch to him, Maris’ total could be within reach. With the Yankees still owning a healthy division cushion, Judge’s pursuit promises to make every late-season at-bat a must-see event. -- Bryan Hoch

AL CENTRAL

Guardians: Most debuts in a single season
It seems like the only thing people talk about in reference to Cleveland is just how young its roster is -- and rightfully so. After Xzavion Curry’s debut in a spot start on Monday, the club has now had 14 prospects get their first calls up to the big leagues since the start of the season. What’s even harder to believe is that the Guardians will likely be picking the phone back up at least one more time before the end of the year. Excluding the first year of the franchise in 1901, the most debuts in a single season in club history is 17, which was set in 1912 and done again in 1914. The last time the club had 14 debuts was 2002. But outside that ‘02 season, the franchise had never had more than 11 rookies reach the big leagues in a single season since 1928. -- Mandy Bell

Royals: Bobby Witt Jr. chases 20-20-20 season
Witt has the unique combination of average, power and speed, and while he’s dealt with ups and downs over his rookie season, he’s putting together some numbers that not many rookies have before. With 19 doubles, 15 home runs and 23 stolen bases, Witt is eyeing a 20-20-20 season during his first year in Kansas City. If he achieves the feat, Witt -- and Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez, if he does it, too -- would become the fourth rookie in the past 15 years to put together a 20-20-20 campaign, joining Randy Arozarena (2021), Andrew Benintendi (2018) and Mike Trout (2012). -- Anne Rogers

Tigers: Miggy’s climb up all-time hits leaderboard
Miguel Cabrera, already a member of the 3,000-hit and 500-homer clubs, continues to climb the all-time rankings. He cracked the top 25 in career hits on Elias Sports Bureau’s official list when he passed Craig Biggio in July. His chronic right knee issues will likely deny him the regular playing time to make a huge climb further up the list by season’s end, but he has a chance to climb at least a couple more spots and pass Cap Anson (3,081 hits, according to Elias) and Ichiro Suzuki (3,089 MLB hits). -- Jason Beck

Twins: The playoff streak. You know the one.
It … just has to end sometime, right? So why not this year? As long as the Twins make it to the playoffs (which is no longer a guarantee after they fell out of first place in the AL Central), this edition of the team seems as equipped as any in recent Twins history to snap the inglorious 18-game postseason skid that measures as the longest in the history of the “Big Four” American professional sports. The Twins have a high-end No. 1 starter in Sonny Gray and playoff X-factor Carlos Correa, who might be what this team needs to will it to a playoff win nearly two decades in the making. -- Do-Hyoung Park

White Sox: Dylan Cease’s Cy Young ascent
Early Wynn (1959), LaMarr Hoyt (1983) and Jack McDowell (1993) are the only three White Sox pitchers in franchise history to be honored with the American League Cy Young Award, but Cease has a legitimate chance in 2022. Cease had gone a Major League-record 14 straight starts allowing one earned run or zero, with six earned runs given up and 103 strikeouts in 82 innings pitched, before yielding three over five innings against the Astros on Tuesday. Houston’s Justin Verlander, Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan and possibly the Angels' Shohei Ohtani appear to be Cease’s main competitors, with Verlander looking to have the current advantage. The two pitched against each other on Tuesday at Guaranteed Rate Field, as both finished with no-decisions in a White Sox victory. The White Sox are 18-6 in Cease’s 24 starts. -- Scott Merkin

AL WEST

Angels: Mike Trout two runs away from tying Anderson for the all-time franchise record
Angels superstar Trout is nearing a return from his back/ribcage injury and is just two runs shy of tying Garret Anderson for the franchise record for career runs scored. Trout, a three-time AL MVP and 10-time All-Star, has scored 1,022 runs in 12 seasons with the Angels, while Anderson scored 1,024 runs in his 15 years with the Halos. Trout already holds the club record for homers with 334 and is third on the club's all-time RBI list with 867. Anderson holds the club record with 1,292 RBIs, with Tim Salmon ranking second with 1,016. -- Rhett Bollinger

Astros: Kyle Tucker’s shot at a 30-30 season
Tucker has an outside chance to become only the second player in Astros history to reach 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a season. Through Wednesday's game, Tucker had 21 home runs and 18 steals, so he’s got some work to do in the final 44 games. The only player in Astros history to have a 30-30 season is Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell, who did it twice. He had 43 homers and 31 steals in 1997 and 42 homers and 30 steals in '99. “That’s not something I’m chasing, but if it happens, it would be really cool,” Tucker said. -- Brian McTaggart

Athletics: Most players used in a season
Going through the first year of a rebuild, the A’s have had a carousel of players come and go from Triple-A Las Vegas to Oakland as they evaluate who might fit into their future plans. Recent callups Shea Langeliers and David MacKinnon will become the 53rd and 54th players to appear in a game for the A’s this season, which ties the Oakland record set in 2007 and matched in '17. With nearly two months left, they’ll have a shot at the franchise record of 56 (1915) and have already set an Oakland record with 26 rookies used. -- Martín Gallegos

Mariners: The postseason
How could it be anything else? Not only do the Mariners hold the longest active playoff drought among the four major American professional sports, their stretch among MLB teams is a whopping 10 years longer than the next, which is the Phillies, who haven’t been back since 2011. Think of how much the game, the world and everything has changed since Seattle played deep into October. The Mariners entered Thursday with 90.3% odds to reach the postseason, the third-highest in the American League. And they have the easiest strength of schedule of all 30 teams the rest of the way. -- Daniel Kramer

Rangers: Marcus Semien’s push for a 30-30 season
The Rangers as a whole aren’t breaking any club records this season, especially after already dismissing manager Chris Woodward earlier this week after underachieving all season. But second baseman Marcus Semien is pushing for an individual milestone of his own. His first 20-20 season is almost certain, with him sitting at 18 home runs and a career-high 19 stolen bases. Semien has hit more than 30 home runs twice in his career (2019, ‘21), and a hot streak should have him pushing 30 once again down the stretch this year. His new aggressiveness on the basepaths puts him in prime position for Texas’ first 30-30 season since Ian Kinsler in ‘11. -- Kennedi Landry

NL EAST

Braves: 90 extra-base hits
Austin Riley is on pace to record 90 extra-base hits, a mark that has been reached just 20 times by any Major Leaguer going back to 2000. The only Braves player to ever reach this mark during the modern era was Hank Aaron, who tallied 92 extra-base knocks in 1959. -- Mark Bowman

Marlins: Sandy Alcantara’s Cy Young campaign
Can Alcantara make history by becoming the first Marlin to win the award? He is in prime position, with the lowest ERA (1.92) and the most innings (173), complete games (three) and quality starts (18) in the National League. The 26-year-old right-hander also ranks third in opponent average (.197), fourth in WHIP (0.94) and fifth in strikeouts (152). Who needs the All-Star Game start when you can receive the highest honor bestowed upon a pitcher? -- Christina De Nicola

Mets: Pete Alonso’s chase of the franchise RBI record
Through 117 games, Alonso has 99 RBIs, putting him on pace for a Mets-record 135. That would break the franchise record of 124 shared by Mike Piazza (1999) and David Wright (2008). Francisco Lindor has an outside chance to finish second on the Mets’ all-time list behind his teammate, assuming Alonso indeed breaks the record. He’s already the team’s single-season home run king, with 53 in 2019. -- Anthony DiComo

Nationals: Cade Cavalli's Major League debut
The right-hander's first big league appearance has been highly anticipated since his early stellar performances in the Minor Leagues. Cavalli, ranked as the Nats' No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline, is 5-4 with a 3.82 ERA and 96 strikeouts in his first 19 starts this season in Triple-A. He did not allow a run the entire month of July, and he fanned a season-high 11 batters across seven innings on Saturday. The Nationals have emphasized they will not rush Cavalli to the Majors for the sake of filling a spot in the rotation, and he will get the call up when they deem he is ready. -- Jessica Camerato

Phillies: Snapping the postseason drought after 11 years
Nobody could have imagined it at the time, but when Chris Carpenter outdueled Roy Halladay in Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS at Citizens Bank Park, it would be the Phillies’ last postseason appearance for more than a decade. It is the second-longest postseason drought in baseball, and the longest in the National League. But the Phillies have a real shot this year to finally get back to meaningful October baseball. They have their most well-rounded team since 2011. They have an above-average rotation and bullpen. They have improved dramatically the past couple months defensively. And they have an offense that is dangerous when it is healthy. -- Todd Zolecki

NL CENTRAL

Brewers: Corbin Burnes and the franchise strikeout record
Ben Sheets struck out 264 batters in 2004, a year when he could have contended for the NL Cy Young Award had the Brewers been any good. Now Burnes is making a push as he appears on the way to setting personal bests for starts and innings pitched in his follow-up to winning last year’s Cy Young. He entered his start against the Dodgers on Thursday with an NL-best 181 strikeouts in 23 starts, with a good shot to make at least 10 more regular-season starts if he’s healthy. Going into Thursday, he was averaging just under 7.9 strikeouts per start, a pace for about 259 strikeouts this season if he tops out at 33 outings. That gives him at least a shot to catch Sheets in the club record books, especially if the Brewers need to squeeze extra games out of their top starting pitchers as they bid for a fifth straight postseason berth. -- Adam McCalvy

Cardinals: Albert Pujols and his pursuit of 700 home runs
Back in June, when Pujols hit .158 and went homer-less for the month, it looked as if his return to St. Louis for a final season might end badly. However, things dramatically changed in July (.320 batting average, .944 OPS, three home runs) and August (.381 batting average, 1.315 OPS, three home runs), and now, after hitting two home runs on Sunday, a run at 700 home runs is a possibility again. Pujols, who is hitting .354 with six home runs and a 1.054 OPS against lefties, can certainly get there if he sees enough southpaws down the stretch. Even if Pujols can’t get to 700 home runs, passing Alex Rodriguez at 696 to get to fourth all-time would be a remarkable accomplishment. -- John Denton

Cubs: Most relief K’s in club history
For the second year in a row, the Cubs used the Trade Deadline to exchange veteran relievers for prospects. Even so, Chicago is on pace to break its single-season club record for strikeouts by the bullpen for a second straight year. As things stand, the Cubs’ relief corps is on target to eclipse the 715 strikeouts set by the 2021 group. Now, part of this is circumstantial. The ‘22 Cubs bullpen is also on a path to breaking the ‘21 mark for relief innings (631). This year’s Cubs ‘pen has paced the National League in innings for most of the season, as the rotation has been beset with injury issues. A combination of multi-inning relievers, some younger power arms and a revolving door of bat-missing veterans has created a strikeout-heavy dynamic for the Cubs. The goal would be to pair that late-inning whiff with more reliable starting pitching in the years to come, as the Cubs continue this rebuilding process. -- Jordan Bastian

Pirates: Three? That’s the magic number
Pittsburgh’s rookies have been making a bit of noise this season. Jack Suwinski has hit 14 home runs, while Diego Castillo has 10 home runs of his own. Oneil Cruz is currently sitting on nine home runs. If Cruz hits at least one more, Cruz, Castillo and Suwinski will become the first rookie trio in Pirates history to hit 10 or more homers in a single season. -- Justice delos Santos

Reds: Nick Senzel’s putting it together
Once a first-round Draft pick in 2016, Reds outfielder Senzel’s career has been riddled by injuries. Most recently, he missed the final 120 games of last season due to a left knee injury. This season, however, Senzel has been able to stay relatively healthy -- appearing in 84 games -- and is zeroing in on his record for most games played in a season at the big league level, when he played in 104 during his 2016 rookie campaign. -- Will Aldrich

NL WEST

D-backs: Avoiding 100 losses
The D-backs recently surpassed their win total from a disastrous 2021 season in which they finished 52-110, missing the team record for losses by just one. The next step would be to win the 10 more games (heading into Wednesday night) that they need to avoid the 100-loss mark. The D-backs' future looks bright, with the influx of young talent coming up from the Minor Leagues, and if they could start to build some momentum for 2023 with a strong finish over the last six weeks, that would be a huge plus for the organization. The D-backs have shed the 110-loss, now they need to avoid 100. -- Steve Gilbert

Dodgers: Regular-season wins record
The Dodgers are really good. But you probably knew that. What you maybe didn’t know is that the 2022 Dodgers have a realistic shot at setting a new franchise record in wins, which would help them establish themselves as one of the best teams in franchise history. Sitting at 81 wins with 46 games left in the season, the Dodgers need to go 26-20 the rest of the way to set a new team record with 107 wins. If you want to get a little crazier, the Dodgers have to go 36-10 in order to break the all-time regular-season record of 116 wins set by the 2001 Mariners. -- Juan Toribio

Giants: Wilmer Flores eyes career-high 19th homer
Wilmer Flores has quietly emerged as one of the Giants’ most consistent hitters this year, entering Thursday leading the club in RBIs (58) and runs scored (58) while ranking second in home runs (16). With three more blasts, Flores will set a new career high in homers and surpass the 18 he hit for the Mets in 2017 and the Giants last season. The personal milestone couldn’t come at a better time for the 31-year-old Flores, who will be eligible for free agency at the end of the season. -- Maria Guardado

Padres: Juan Soto one for the ages
Soto is all over the age-based career leaderboards. Dingers are the most fun, so let’s go there. With 120 home runs entering the week, Soto cracked the top 10 for homers before age 24 (tied with Andruw Jones). He possibly could jump as high as No. 3 if he hits 12 more down the stretch to equal Ken Griffey Jr. with 132. No. 1 Eddie Mathews (153) and No. 2 Mel Ott (152) are out of reach, even for Soto. -- Shaun O'Neill

Rockies: Charlie Blackmon's RBI count
Things have been rough for Blackmon coming out of the All-Star break, and his .205/.260/.296 slash line shows. But a three-RBI night against the Cardinals on Tuesday and another on Wednesday put him at 698 for his career -- two shy of a nice milestone. He is poised to become the seventh player in franchise history to reach 700. Blackmon is tops in Rockies history in triples (56) and is a top 10 player in several other offensive categories. -- Thomas Harding