We are approaching the final month of the season and the pennant race is beginning to take shape.  The extra Wild Card has caused more teams to feel like they were in the race, but as the calendar turns to September the number of teams who actually have a shot dwindle down.  Each of those teams who do have a legitimate shot at being the last team standing in October will need someone to step up and play an important role to get them there.  Some of these names may be expected, but most often it is someone you don’t expect.  In 2012 for the Giants it was Pablo Sandoval.  It wasn’t a huge surprise that he stepped up as he was a big part of that and the 2010 team that won the pennant, but at the time Buster Posey was the MVP of the National League and few people were expecting the Panda to outshine him.  In 2010 it was Cody Ross for the Giants who was a late season waiver wire acquisition from the then Florida Marlins.  This list will be ten players who could be one of those guys, and in some cases will have to be that guy, for their team to go all the way.

Chris Davis - Baltimore Orioles

At the beginning of the season this would seem like an obvious choice.  Now, though, it’s risky for the O’s to hold out hope for Davis.  He will play an important role, even if it is not how you would expect with his power bat, because with Manny Machado done for the year they are going to need him to play third base and play it well.  Even though he is struggling at the plate he still can get ahold of one, and I expect him to make an impact with his glove and a few timely dingers even if he still does look lost at the plate some times.

Josh Willingham - Kansas City Royals

The obvious choice for the Royals would be “Big Game” James Shields but the waiver wire acquisition is going to have to play an important role in the designated hitter position if the Royals are going to hold on to the top spot in the Central.  The reason I believe he will is because there is a chance that the Royals play the Oakland Athletics at some point in the playoffs and Willingham has owned his former team to the point where they might be better off giving him the Barry Bonds treatment of the early 2000’s.  He overall hasn’t been great this season, but he has been a hot hitter since joining the Royals and he is one of the few guys on that Royals team that could have a multiple home run day no matter where they’re playing.

Matt Shoemaker - Los Angeles Angels

The Angels were in pretty good position with a top three of Garrett Richards, Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson (now that Wilson is pitching better) heading into the playoffs.  With Richards done for the year, though, they looked like they’d be in serious trouble.  That’s where Shoemaker comes in.  He has stepped up and at times looked just as unhittable as Richards has.  He will need to keep that up down the stretch and into the playoffs for the Angels to reach their ultimate goal because once the playoffs hit the Angels offense will be facing off against top pitching every single night.  They will need top pitching of their own if they are going to keep up.

Doug Fister - Washington Nationals

It’s hard to believe that with a rotation of Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmermann that Fister might have the best season of all of them, but it has happened.  He has already made an impact since coming off of the disabled list going 12-4 with a 2.38 earned run average and he is going to have to continue to do so down the stretch and into the playoffs because right now having him as the fourth pitcher in their rotation is what makes them better than every other team in the National League hunt.

Carlos Gomez - Milwaukee Brewers

This may be the most obvious player I put on here, but if the Brewers are going to hold off the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates and make a run this team will only go as far as Gomez takes them on offense.  I could have went with Wily Peralta or Yovani Gallardo or even closer Francisco Rodriguez, but all season long Gomez has played like an MVP candidate and has possibly been the best all around player in the National League.  This team feeds off of his play and energy and it will continue to do so until they’ve played their final game.

Dee Gordon - Los Angeles Dodgers

The obvious choice would be Clayton Kershaw and at the beginning of the season it didn’t even look like Gordon would have steady playing time, but he is the engine that gets this team going on offense.  All of the talk before the season was how many bases Billy Hamilton was going to steal this season, and rightfully so, but it is Gordon that has been making noise with his legs and he could single handedly change a playoff game if he can get on and get in the head of the opposing pitcher.  Everyone remembers when Dave Roberts stole that base for the Boston Red Sox in game four of the ALCS in 2004 and that is exactly what Gordon can do for the Dodgers, only he can do it multiple times in a game.

Eric O'Flaherty - Oakland Athletics

The closer role was a roller coaster ride in the first month of the season but eventually it was nailed down by Sean Doolittle.  Now Doo is on the disabled list with an intercostal strain and they could be in the same situation they were in way back in April.  Back in April, though, they did not have O’Flaherty as he was rehabbing back from Tommy-John surgery.  Since returning from the DL he has been lights out for the Athletics pitching in 14.1 innings with an earned run average of 1.26.  He will step into Doolittle’s role as closer to keep consistency for the rest of the bullpen and it will be up to him to lock down that spot because if he can’t the Athletics could go from one of the best records in the league to missing the playoffs altogether.

Robinson Cano - Seattle Mariners

Maybe this one is more obvious than Gomez, but Cano is fighting through some minor injuries right now, and if they lose him they lose their identity on offense.  The M’s just don’t have enough pieces on offense to keep this team in the bottom Wild Card spot if Cano’s injury becomes anything that might send him to the disabled list or if the injuries slow him down at all.  Cano is a fighter and could probably hit a double with one leg if he had to so I expect him to fight through it and keep his team right in the hunt.

Trevor Rosenthal - St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals have been and will continue to be one of the best all around teams in all of baseball, but Rosenthal has made things interesting in the ninth inning more than Cardinals fans would like.  If the Cardinals are going to make one of the late season runs at the division, and eventually the World Series, like they have the last few years the young flamethrower is going to have to clean up his act.  If he cannot Mike Matheny is going to have to find someone who can, and while the bullpen has some guys with experience, none of them have closed recently.  Rosenthal is going to have to make an impact if no one can step up, and it could be bad or it could be great.

Yusmeiro Petit - San Francisco Giants

It was bound to happen and it finally did, Tim Lincecum has been demoted to the bullpen.  With Lincecum out Petit steps into the same role he was in late last season where he shined in the rotation.  Petit will make an impact and possibly step up to be the third best pitcher in the rotation behind Madison Bumgarner and Tim Hudson as both Ryan Vogelsong and Jake Peavy have been shaky all season long.  It’s not likely he is going to throw a near no hitter like he did late last season, but he has the ability to go deep into games and give the team a chance to win which is something Lincecum hasn’t done much this season, and if he could do that the Giants could again make a late run for the pennant.