Monday is typically a travel or rest day in baseball and that means we have a very light stale of seven big league games, including a very important one in Houston. Here are this week's Power Rankings and here status updates on the American League postseason races and National League postseason races. Now here's everything you need to know about Monday's MLB action.

Monday's baseball schedule and scores

Astros get statement win over Oakland

The Astros were down 4-0 early to the visiting Athletics, who tagged Gerrit Cole in the second and third innings, but the hosts proceeded to pound out 11 unanswered runs to win in a blowout. They're now up over those A's by 2 1/2 games in the AL West. Among the damage was Alex Bregman's 25th homer of the season ... 

That's going oppo against a 99-mph fastball. Bregman remains a dark-horse MVP candidate in the AL. Speaking of Bregman and his fellow lineup travelers ... 

Thanks to widespread injury, the Astros haven't had those four stars in the starting lineup at the same time in more than two months. That plus the breathing distance they've put between themselves and the A's makes this a signature win. As well, the Astros' sixth straight win nudges their winning percentage up to .618, which in turn puts them back on pace for 100 wins. Now the A's have just two more regular-season cracks at the defending champs.

Torres helps Yankees make franchise history

Here's what Yankees rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres did to a Carlos Rodon changeup in the fourth inning on Monday night:

That's a smash to center, and that's Torres' 20th home run of the season. It so happens that Yankees rookie third baseman Miguel Andujar at this writing has 21 home runs. As such, Torres and Andujar are the first Yankee rookies to hit 20 or more home runs in the same season. Franchise history hath been made. They're also the first rookie label-mates to hit 20 or more dingers since Joey Votto and Jay Bruce of the Reds back in 2008. 

As for Torres, who looks every bit like a future superstar, there's also this:

The future is exceptionally bright for Torres, but in the here and now he's a vital contributor to a team that has legitimate designs on the World Series. Speaking of which, the 21-year-old Torres is now batting .270/.338/.497 on the year.

Let none of this obscure the fact that the White Sox prevailed. Rodon -- victimized above -- bounced back to allow just two runs in seven innings. He now boasts a 2.70 ERA, and he's been on another level of late ... 

Know what confidence is? Challenging Giancarlo Stanton with a slider when you're a lefty ... 

 The White Sox have won four in a row and 10 of their last 13. 

Bullpen fails Rockies

The Diamondbacks got blanked by the Giants, and when DJ LeMahieu cracked an eighth-inning, go-ahead grand slam the Rockies were just six outs from a first-place tie. Then the bullpen happened. Despite investing heavily in the relief corps this offseason, Colorado entered this game ranking 14th in the NL in bullpen ERA. That grim trend continued as Adam Ottavino and Seung-hwan Oh teamed up to allow five runs in the bottom of the eighth -- two hits, five runs, and an error. Needless to say, this was a painful loss for the Rockies.  

Morales' homer streak ends

Here's where Kendrys Morales' home run streak stood heading into Monday night's game against Baltimore ... 

Yes, the Blue Jays' DH was one game away from tying the all-time record. Alas and alack, Morales and the Jays were blanked by the O's. Baltimore blanked an opposing team for just the sixth time this season, and along the way Morales was 0 for 3 with a walk.

The Phillies are in trouble

As you see above, the Nats topped the Phillies, and now the Phillies have the same record as the Rays. Philadelphia has sensibly behaved like a contender both during the offseason and leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. However, Gabe Kapler's club is now just 17-19 in the second half and 11-13 in August. To be sure, they're just 3.5 games behind the Braves in the NL East and just 2.5 games out of second wild-card position. However, coming into Monday the SportsLine Projection Model (@SportsLine on Twitter) gave the Phils a modest 29.6 percent chance of making the postseason. Those are just the eighth-highest odds in the NL, and they're of course a little lower after this latest defeat.  

Lester does it all in Cubs' win

Veteran lefty Jon Lester twirled a quality start for the Cubs on Monday night, but that was only part of his evening bestowals. Witness, if you dare, Monday's most complete player ... 

Anthony Rizzo stayed hot with three hits, and the Cubs won their sixth in a row. Chicago is now 4 1/2 games up on the idle Cardinals, which ties their biggest division lead of the season.

As for the Mets, their consolation was this forthcoming crush-job from Michael Conforto ... 

Like the tweet says, that one traveled 472 whopping feet into the Chicago night and left the bat at 110 mph. That's the longest home run by a Met since Statcast began tracking such things. That was also Conforto's 19th homer of the season. 

Quick hits

  • Astros RHP Lance McCullers Jr. will return as a reliever. He is currently on the disabled list with an elbow injury and the team doesn't want to waste time stretching him out to start. McCullers was dynamite out of the bullpen last postseason.
  • The Phillies are working to acquire Mets UTIL Jose Bautista. Philadelphia claimed Bautista on trade waivers and the two sides have until Tuesday to work out a deal. Because he's been claimed, Bautista can only be traded to the Phillies.
  • The Nationals placed RHP Kelvin Herrera on the 10-day DL with a foot injury. Herrera, an impending free agent, recently returned from an unrelated shoulder injury and figured to be traded at some point fairly soon.
  • Blue Jays 3B Josh Donaldson will begin a minor league rehab assignment Tuesday, reports USA Today. Donaldson has been out since late May with a calf injury. Toronto figures to look to trade him as soon as he shows he's healthy.
  • Yankees manager Aaron Boone is "optimistic" both SS Didi Gregorius (heel) and C Gary Sanchez (groin) will return from the disabled list before the team goes out on a West Coast trip next week, reports MLB.com.
  • The Dodgers signed RHP Zach McAllister to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A, the team announced. The veteran right-hander has a 6.20 ERA in 45 innings for the Indians and Tigers this season.
  • The Orioles acquired minor league 1B Jack Zoellner from the Phillies for an undisclosed sum of international bonus money, the team announced. Zoellner, 23, is hitting .236/.364/.422 in 47 rookie ball games this season.
  • The Nationals have placed RHP Kelvin Herrera on the DL with a torn Lisfranc ligament in his left foot. As our Mike Axisa writes, Herrera had been an August trade candidate. 
  • The Yankees have signed OF Quintin Berry to a minor-league contract.

Live team updates