As Major League Baseball enters the final week of its regular season, let’s identify the select and the depraved, those teams, players and managers who have separated themselves from the pack over six months, some heroically, others horribly.

Five up. Five down. Excuse the focus on Los Angeles, as our primary mission is to cover the city of Angels and Dodgers.

HIGH

1. Shohei Ohtani. 50-50 seems so far away. The Dodgers’ deluxe designated hitter has 53 home runs and 55 stolen bases, just four days after becoming the first player in history to reach 50 of both. Is 60-60 attainable?

“This guy does things that nobody can believe, and for all we know, his record could end up being 60-60,” former Dodgers hitter Shawn Green told the Times.

Ohtani seems to steal second or third base whenever it suits him, so it’s entirely plausible that he steals five more. But hitting seven home runs in the Dodgers’ final six games – they host the San Diego Padres in a three-game series that begins Tuesday and then travel to Denver for a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies – is unlikely even for the projected National League Most Valuable Player.

But Ohtani will hit at Coors Field, where home runs are plentiful, so anything is possible.

If the Dodgers win two of three games against San Diego and secure the NL West title, manager Dave Roberts might even insist that Ohtani stop base stealing to reduce the risk of injury before the postseason.

Entering Tuesday, Ohtani leads the NL in home runs, runs batted in (123), runs scored (128), slugging percentage (.640), on-base-plus-slugging percentage (186), total bases (391) and plate appearances (703). He is virtually certain to be the only player other than Hall of Famer Frank Robinson to be named MVP in both leagues – Ohtani was the American League MVP with the Angels in 2023 and 2021.

Read more: Plaschke: There is nothing 50-50. Shohei Ohtani should be unanimously voted NL MVP

2. Homer/STeals COmbo Plate. While Ohtani’s accomplishments dwarf all others, it’s worth noting that several young stars have quietly developed an impressive combination of power and speed. Most notable is 22-year-old Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds, who became the first shortstop in MLB history to hit 25 home runs and steal 65 bases in the same season.

José Ramírez, a six-time All-Star third baseman for the Cleveland Guardians, is just three home runs away from becoming the seventh player to ever hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases. In addition to Ohtani, Ronald Acuña (2023), Alfonso Soriano (2006), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Barry Bonds (1996) and Jose Canseco (1988) are part of the exclusive club.

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., 24, joined the far less exclusive 30-30 club in 2023 — it’s already been achieved 67 times — and repeated that this season. The 20-20 club would need a banquet hall to hold a meeting, but young Angels shortstop Zach Neto, 23, is on an upward trajectory with 23 home runs and 30 stolen bases in his first full major league season.

Long Beach State and Cypress High graduates Jarren Duran, Jazz Chisholm, Corbin Carroll and CJ Abrams have each hit at least 20 home runs and 30 stolen bases.

Read more: Shaikin: Beat LA? The Padres could. This is how AJ Preller and Co. made it possible

3. Division champion. The Dodgers’ three-game lead over the Padres is the closest race in any of MLB’s six divisions. The Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central and the Guardians in the AL Central have clinched the titles, and the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East, the New York Yankees in the AL East and the Houston Astros in the AL West all have at least a five-game lead with five or six games left to play.

As for home-field advantage in the championship series, the Dodgers and Phillies are tied in the NL ahead of Tuesday’s games, and the Yankees have a 2½-game lead over the Guardians.

4. Wildcard raceIn the AL, the Baltimore Orioles have all but secured the first wild card, but there is a scramble for second and third place between the Royals, Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins from the center and the Seattle Mariners from the west.

Detroit has had a lucky break, moving up five games in just over a week to catch Kansas City, which has lost seven in a row. Minnesota is one game back and Seattle is half a game behind the Twins.

In the NL, the Padres have a three-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets for the top wild-card spot. Lurking two games behind Arizona and New York are the Atlanta Braves, who begin a three-game series against the Mets on Tuesday.

5. Dodgers attendanceThe Dodgers’ three remaining home games are nearly sold out, which would mean a total of about 3,945,000 spectators for the season, their second-highest attendance (2019 was 3,974,309).

The Dodgers have never reached the 4 million viewer mark in a season, although they have exceeded the 3.7 million mark 10 times since 2013 and 14 times since 2006.

Read more: The Angels’ four-run comeback in the ninth inning is just enough to win against the Astros

DOWN

1. The Angels. Granted, they’re not as bad as the Chicago White Sox, but the Angels are on pace to have the worst record in franchise history. That’s very bad. They’re 63-93 with six games left, and the low point for these perpetual underachievers is 95 losses in 1980 and 1968.

The Angels need to win two games this week to avoid becoming the first team in the franchise’s 64-year history to have a winning percentage below .400.

2. Michael Trout. For a player who was inducted into the Hall of Fame before age 30, Trout suddenly seems awfully old. He’s played in 29 games this season and just 319 over the past five years because of injuries. His batting average has dropped to .299 and milestones like 500 home runs and 3,000 hits that once seemed child’s play are now unlikely or downright impossible.

With six years remaining on his 12-year, $426.5 million contract, which includes a no-transfer clause, he has gone from three-time MVP and three-time MVP runner-up to an albatross.

Read more: Shaikin: How might another losing season for Mike Trout affect his candidacy for the Hall of Fame?

Still, there is reason for hope. Trout, 33, is just a year older than Aaron Judge and a year younger than Freddie Freeman. A week ago, he told reporters he was ready to move from center field to corner, with some days as designated hitter to stay as healthy as possible.

“Ultimately, my goal is to be on the field every day in the batter’s box,” Trout said. “Whether that means moving to a corner or playing more as a DH, I’ll leave that up to the front office to work out a plan. Where I am now and what’s happened the last few years, I’m definitely going to try to explore any option that can keep me out there.”

3. The White Sox. The best thing the Angels have in their quest to avoid the worst record in franchise history is that they are playing the worst team in baseball history in a three-game series that begins Tuesday. The White Sox reached the benchmark for futility on Sunday when they lost their 120th game, the same number of losses the Mets suffered in 1962.

The Mets had a built-in excuse: They were a first-year expansion team. The White Sox began play in 1901. This may not be the biggest embarrassment in franchise history—it’s nearly impossible to get worse than the Black Sox scandal of 1919—but it’s a safe second place.

Read more: Column: While Ohtani was chasing 50-50, the White Sox game against the Angels was the most depressing ever

4. The hot seat. David Bell was fired Sunday as manager of the Reds, a team with a wealth of young talent and a sub-.500 record. Two managers were fired in August: Pedro Grifol of the White Sox and Scott Servais of the Mariners. Who could be next?

Well, Skip Schumaker basically gave a farewell speech after his Miami Marlins lost their final home game of the season.

“For me personally, this is a pretty strange moment in my career,” he told reporters. “I’m extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to manage the Miami Marlins, even if it was only for a few years.”

Bud Black, the most respected manager in the game, could be leaving after the Rockies finished last in the NL West for the third consecutive year. Black led Colorado to the playoffs in his first two seasons but has been below .500 for the last six years in a row.

The Cardinals could part ways with Oliver Marmol, who led them to the NL Central title in 2022 but followed that with a disastrous season in 2023 and a mediocre year in 2024.

Read more: Shaikin: Baseball teams are leaving cities across California. How some are fighting back

5. From Oakland to Las Vegas. The Athletics will play their final game in Oakland on Thursday against the Texas Rangers before closing the season with a series in Seattle. After 57 years and more than 9,000 games in Oakland, the A’s will head to Sacramento and Las Vegas, where they will play until their new stadium in Sin City is ready in 2028.

“Her leaving feels like a punch in the stomach,” A’s fan Alicia Valenzuela told a Bay Area television station.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.