The final week of September offers two different ways to measure a contender. In the WNBA, teams are scoring at a historic rate, raising the question of whose offense will hold up in the postseason. In MLB, the standings are nearly settled, but the gap between a division winner and its closest rival does not tell the whole story.
The WNBA’s scoring jump is more than extra free throws
With four days left in the regular season, WNBA teams were averaging 87.1 points per game, up from 81.7 in 2025. That 5.4-point jump came alongside improvements in field-goal percentage, from 43.9% to 45.3%, and offensive rating, from 101 to 104.8 points per 100 possessions. Teams were also making 8.7 three-pointers per game, compared with 8.2 last season.[1]
More trips to the line are part of the picture: The league had 5.2 more free-throw attempts per game than in 2025. But better shooting from the field matters too. Two-point accuracy climbed from 49.6% to 51.9%, suggesting the scoring rise cannot be explained by foul calls alone.[1]
Indiana has turned the league-wide trend into a record pace
No team illustrates the surge more clearly than the Fever. Indiana was averaging 96.7 points, above the WNBA single-season record of 93.9 set by Phoenix in 2010. The Fever had reached 100 points in 46.5% of their games; no other team had done so in even 30%. Indiana also owned a league-record offensive rating, so its production was not simply a product of playing faster.[1]
The postseason test will be whether that efficiency survives when opponents can prepare for Indiana over a series. For now, the Fever have set the standard in a season when the entire league has become harder to stop.
Milwaukee owns the clearest MLB division margin
The Brewers stood at 100–59 in MLB’s September 25 standings snapshot, 12 games ahead of the 88–71 Cubs in the NL Central. Milwaukee’s plus-207 run differential was stronger than Chicago’s plus-146, backing up a lead that was already decisive in the win column.[8]
The Cubs’ record still deserves attention. At 17 games over .500, Chicago had built a substantial season of its own; it just happened to share a division with a 100-win club. That distinction matters when assessing October teams: finishing second behind Milwaukee is not the same thing as struggling to contend.
The AL East shows why wins and run differential both matter
Tampa Bay led the AL East at 96–63, four games ahead of the 92–67 Yankees. Boston followed at 85–74. The Rays’ division lead was secure with three games remaining, while the Yankees and Red Sox were listed in wild-card positions.[8]
Yet New York had outscored its opponents by 143 runs, compared with Tampa Bay’s plus-77. Run differential does not overturn the standings—the Rays earned their lead—but it does show why October evaluations should look beyond the win totals. The Yankees finished this snapshot with fewer victories and a substantially larger scoring margin.[8]
The number to watch changes in the postseason
Indiana’s 96.7 points per game and Milwaukee’s 100 wins are the headline figures entering the final stretch. Neither is a playoff result. The more revealing question is whether the strengths behind those numbers—efficient scoring for the Fever and sustained run prevention and production for the Brewers—carry into shorter series. September establishes the standard; October tests it.
References
- Scoring has exploded in the WNBA this season. The Indiana Fever are leading the charge — https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7623236/2026/09/24/wnba-scoring-stats-indiana-fever
- 2026 White Sox Standings and Record: Regular Season | Chicago White Sox — https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/standings
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