8 surging players who have turned it on for contenders

The outcome of every baseball game has the same value -- it's either one win or one loss.

But for teams vying for a playoff spot, each victory in September tastes a little sweeter. Each victory hurts a little deeper. The weight of each result feels a little heavier. As such, everyone aims to be at their best.

The eight players below are playing some of their best ball right now. They all endured some rough patches earlier this season, but that doesn't matter. They have gotten hot at the right time and are helping to lift their club into the postseason.

All stats updated through Friday.

Austin Wells, C, Yankees
Wells needed some time to find his footing in his first full big league season, but he began rounding into form in July. It was good timing, too, since catcher Jose Trevino landed on the injured list with a strained quadriceps on July 13. Wells entered that day with a .219/.312/.369 slash line but then hit a three-run homer in a win over the Orioles and has since batted .283 with an .861 OPS, fifth-best among catchers with at least 100 plate appearances. The 25-year-old has spent most of those plate appearances in the cleanup spot, commonly batting between Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

Wells has strengthened his case for Rookie of the Year by going deep four times in his past 15 games, including a go-ahead tater against the Royals on Monday. And although his hitting has always been well-regarded, Wells has put in the work to improve behind the plate. That work has paid off as his 11 framing runs are the third-most in the bigs.

Cedric Mullins, OF, Orioles
The Orioles' vaunted offense has hit a bit of a lull. Baltimore has hit .203 and averaged 3.8 runs per game while losing 14 of its past 25 contests. It was nearly no-hit on Friday. However, Mullins has been a bright spot through this bleak stretch, posting a .390 on-base percentage and an .858 OPS. He has hammered four home runs in 11 games this month, including a two-dinger night against the Red Sox on Tuesday.

Before that game, Mullins said he had stopped "chasing" the player he was in 2021 when he won a Silver Slugger and finished among the top 10 in AL MVP voting. Since the beginning of 2022, he has been only slightly better than league-average at the plate (104 wRC+). The bulk of this season has been a struggle for the veteran center fielder, but he seems to be seeing the ball better. Mullins has struck out only 12 times in his past 107 plate appearances (11.2%).

"I think the reason I’m putting up numbers that are similar to [2021] is because I’m no longer chasing that guy," he said. "I’m just being who I am."

Eugenio Suárez, 3B, D-backs
This season has been a tale of two drastically different halves for Suárez:

Through June 30: .196/.279/.312 slash line with six home runs in 276 at-bats and a 67 wRC+, second-worst among qualified hitters.

Since July 1: .322/.373/.678 slash line with an MLB-high 22 home runs in 236 at-bats and a 182 wRC+, seventh-best among qualified hitters.

He has been a huge reason why the D-backs boast the most productive offense in baseball. And incredibly, Suárez has picked up the pace in September, batting .452 (19-for-42) with a 1.534 OPS and seven dingers in 11 games. Since Aug. 25, he has finished three games with at least four hits and a homer. No other player in the Majors has recorded more than three such games all season long.

Framber Valdez, LHP, Astros
The Astros, after a sluggish start to the season, are rolling toward their seventh AL West title in eight years. A lot of credit goes to Valdez, who is one of the reasons why Houston's rotation is looking elite again. The left-hander's results were OK through the first four months of the season (3.56 ERA), but he has been simply brilliant since the start of August.

That month opened with Valdez falling one out shy of his second career no-hitter. He has upped his strikeout rate from 22.5% to 29.7% over the past six weeks and has held batters to a skinny .391 OPS. That is second-best among pitchers who have thrown at least 30 innings since Aug. 1. Valdez's 1.33 ERA during that period is second to none.

Joe Musgrove, RHP, Padres
Let's toss out Musgrove's start against the Giants on Sept. 8 when he sailed through three perfect innings before serving up three home runs and seven consecutive hits in a six-run fourth. That unraveling is not indicative of how well Musgrove has performed since returning from the injured list on Aug. 12. To that point, the right-hander's season had been plagued by right elbow troubles which contributed to a 5.66 ERA, 10 homers allowed in 49 1/3 innings and two IL stints. The second one lasted 11 weeks.

All that time off served Musgrove well as he permitted only four earned runs and no long balls through his first five starts back (27 2/3 IP). Showing increased velocity on a few pitches, Musgrove's strikeout-minus-walk rate increased from 13.6% to 20.2% while his opponents' OPS plummeted from .895 to .439. It's enough to make you think that outing against San Francisco was just a blip.

Matt Olson, 1B, Braves
The injury bug has bitten so many of the Braves' best hitters this year, including Ronald Acu?a Jr., Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II. Conversely, Olson still hasn't missed a game since joining Atlanta ahead of the 2022 season. Although his presence in the lineup remains dependable, his production was less so for much of this season. After leading the Majors with 54 homers in 2023, Olson bopped 13 home runs through his first 102 games in 2024. His OPS dropped below .700. His slugging percentage was .389, which ranked 107th among qualified hitters.

Then a switch flipped. Olson has been getting the fat part of the bat on the ball consistently since July 27; his 17.1% barrel rate from that date ranks sixth in MLB (min. 150 PA) and is a big improvement on his 9.7% barrel rate through the season's first four months. He has turned in a .550 slugging percentage and nearly doubled his homer total, sending 12 balls out of the yard. Olson's ascent has continued over the past few weeks as he is slashing .315/.370/.603 with 13 extra-base hits over his previous 19 games.

Pablo López, RHP, Twins
Minnesota's Opening Day starter carried an unsightly 5.63 ERA -- the second-worst among qualified starters -- into his June 23 start vs. the A's. He dominated over eight scoreless innings that afternoon, striking out 14 batters and hinting at what was to come.

López was better in July and then almost untouchable for the majority of August. By the close of that month, he had spun three consecutive scoreless starts. His streak of 23 1/3 scoreless frames was the longest by a Twin in a single season since 2019. López's ERA (3.88) is down nearly two full runs from where it was less than three months ago and is a minuscule 0.79 ERA over his past six turns. The right-hander who became a postseason star for Minnesota last year appears primed for October baseball.

Parker Meadows, OF, Tigers
Meadows' late-season surge has coincided with Detroit's charge up the Wild Card standings. Entering play on Saturday, the club was an MLB-best 21-9 since Aug. 11 and just 2 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. Meadows has an .810 OPS with 13 extra-base hits in his 28 games since that date. The Tigers' No. 6 prospect at the outset of the year, Meadows was the team's Opening Day center fielder and batted leadoff early on. However, he went 7-for-73 with 32 strikeouts before being sent to the Minors on May 7. He came back to the big leagues about two months later but suffered a right hamstring strain just three games after being recalled and missed nearly another month.

Once he was activated on Aug. 3, the 24-year-old collected two hits in each of his first five games and deservedly regained his spot at the top of the Tigers' lineup. Over his previous eight contests, Meadows has five multihit efforts and 12 RBIs.