The dog days of August are ending, meaning baseball is entering the most exciting part of its regular season: the stretch run. A number of teams have set themselves up well for this final stretch with dominant August performances: the Boston Red Sox continued to build on a 21-4 July to solidify their hopes to play in October, the Philadelphia Phillies closed the gap in the division and the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres clawed their way back into the wild-card race.

We also saw some historic performances that have heated up awards races entering the final month. But the opposite is also true. Poor performances and individual slumps so late in the season changed teams' fortunes, or made the prospect of playing postseason baseball less realistic.

ESPN MLB experts Jorge Castillo, Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez, Buster Olney, Jeff Passan, Jesse Rogers and David Schoenfield broke down the best and worst of August. Passan highlighted Fernando Tatis Jr.'s power surge, slugging nine home runs in August, propelling the Padres back into contention. Rogers noted the Phillies' nine-game win streak helped close the NL East gap. Castillo pointed to the NL MVP race heating up after Pete Crow-Armstrong belted 14 home runs with a 1.098 OPS.

On the losing side, Olney cited the Los Angeles Dodgers' offense, tied for 23rd in runs scored, needing Shohei Ohtani at his best at the plate. As September begins, the focus shifts to playoff races and key matchups, including a potential Padres-Diamondbacks series for the final wild-card spot.