Father Time catches up to everyone… or does it?
A small group of veterans are defying the odds this season, pushing off their seemingly inevitable age-related decline. And their productivity is especially opportune, amid the heat of the pennant race, as their clubs vie for a postseason berth.
Here’s a look at six players turning back the clock with vintage performances down the stretch.
All stats through play on Tuesday unless noted otherwise.
Giancarlo Stanton, DH/OF, Yankees
Stanton looks like he’s in his prime again -- so much so that he’s even back to playing the outfield on a semi-regular basis. In his age-35 season, he’s been nothing short of elite. Only Aaron Judge, Nick Kurtz and Shohei Ohtani have a higher slugging percentage than Stanton (.600), among hitters with at least 200 plate appearances this year. In August, Stanton slugged .823 with a 1.253 OPS -- the third-highest single-month OPS of his illustrious 16-year career. Stanton’s resurgence has helped revive the Yankees from their mid-summer lull, supplying an impact bat to protect Judge in the batting order. He makes the Bombers all the more dangerous as October looms, with the AL East crown still up for grabs, too.
Aroldis Chapman, LHP, Red Sox
The flamethrowing Chapman, 37, is having the best season of his 16-year career. He’s never had a lower ERA (1.14 after giving up his first run since July 23 on Wednesday), and this isn’t exactly a fluke -- his expected ERA (1.84 going into Wednesday) is the lowest mark he’s ever had, too. He’s been utterly dominant, so much so that he carried an incredible 50-batter hitless streak into Wednesday's outing against the Athletics. Of 355 qualified pitchers this season, no one has been harder to hit than Chapman, who is holding the opposition to a .113 batting average against. Chapman’s 2.4 fWAR is his highest single-season fWAR since 2016, when he ignited the Cubs during their World Series run. Perhaps a similar tale is unfolding in Boston, with the left-hander a near-flawless anchor at the back end of the Red Sox bullpen.
George Springer, OF/DH, Blue Jays
Much has been written about Springer’s revival, and for good reason: He’s followed up the worst offensive season of his career (94 wRC+) with his best (160 wRC+). He’s hitting the ball significantly harder -- with a career-best barrel rate (15.9%) and hard-hit rate (46.9%) -- partially because he’s one of baseball’s biggest bat speed gainers (+1.7 mph). But perhaps what’s most impressive is that the 35-year-old has been remarkably consistent, carrying a .943 OPS into mid-September. His 1.156 OPS since the All-Star break is better than every hitter not named Nick Kurtz (min. 100 PA). With Springer batting leadoff, the Blue Jays have their sights set on their first AL East title since 2015, Springer’s second year in the Majors.
Lucas Giolito, RHP, Red Sox
For a while, it felt like Giolito’s Red Sox career would never get off the ground. He missed all of last season after undergoing an internal brace procedure to repair a torn UCL, and then injured his left hamstring this Spring Training. But the 31-year-old has become indispensable to Boston’s rotation. Since June 10, Giolito has pitched to a 2.33 ERA, the seventh lowest ERA among all qualified starters in that span, trailing a number of Cy Young candidates. Giolito’s 3.38 ERA would be his lowest single-season mark since 2017, when he made just seven starts in his first year with the White Sox. He’s plenty deserving of a potential playoff start as the Red Sox close in on a Wild Card berth.
Clayton Kershaw, LHP, Dodgers
The certain first-ballot Hall of Famer is still chugging along in his age 37-season -- which was hardly a given following knee and toe surgeries in the offseason. The Dodgers took Kershaw’s ramp-up slowly, and they’ve largely been rewarded. Kershaw pitched to a mere 1.88 ERA in five starts in August, and he notched eight strikeouts in his last start on Sunday against the Orioles -- his highest single-game strikeout total since June 8, 2023, a 36-start span. At the moment, the Dodgers are as healthy as they’ve been all season, with their aces pitching well atop the rotation. But Kershaw helped stabilize the pitching staff amid a deluge of injuries earlier in the year, choosing a great time to show flashes of his vintage self.
Starling Marte, DH/OF, Mets
In the offseason, the Mets explored the idea of trading Marte, with an outfield logjam making the veteran expendable -- at least on paper. A bench piece for the first time in his career, Marte has turned back the clock. Since June 1, the 36-year-old is hitting .292 -- the highest batting average among Mets hitters with at least 150 PA in that span. Briefly sidelined by a right knee injury, Marte returned to the lineup in late July and slashed .301/.369/.534 through Sept. 1. While he’s since fallen into a brief slump, Marte steadied a resurgent New York lineup that scored 177 runs in August, the most runs scored in a single month in franchise history.