The Upper Deck

Welcome to The Upper Deck, Baseball America’s daily look at the biggest stories around the game and some lighter fare.

HARVEY HITS HOUSTON

.@Rangers depart to play fellow West Division friends the @Astros. This isn’t about baseball. We wish everyone in Texas & Gulf Coast safety. pic.twitter.com/azuCIvAqLj

— Oakland A’s 🌳🐘?? (@Athletics) August 28, 2017

Baseball is a secondary concern in Texas after Tropical Storm Harvey battered parts of the state this weekend. The Astros were scheduled to play host to the Rangers on Tuesday, but the games instead will be played at Tropicana Field, home of the Rays.

“At this point, our focus is on the safety of our fans, our players, and their families and our front office staff and their families,” Astros president of business operations Reid Ryan said.

The games will have first pitch slated for 7:10 p.m. ET on Tuesday, 7:10 p.m. ET on Wednesday and 1:10 p.m. ET on Thursday. No determination has been made regarding the Astros’ scheduled weekend series in Houston vs. the Mets.

MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association also said Monday that they will jointly donate $1 million to various relief efforts for the damage throughout the state of Texas created by Hurricane Harvey, including to the American Red Cross.

FIFTY SCENT

Giancarlo Stanton’s amazing home run surge continued this weekend as he became the first National Leaguer since Prince Fielder in 2007 to hit 50 homers in a season. Stanton’s 50th helped the Marlins sweep the Padres. Stanton became the 28th player in big league history with at least 50 homers and he’s hit 17 in August alone, leaving him one shy of the August record of 18 set by Rudy York in 1937. Sammy Sosa hit 20 in June 1998, the most ever in any month.

Thanks in part to Stanton, the Marlins find themselves in the wild-card race. They have won 13 of 16 to improve to 66-63, 4 1/2 games out of an NL wild-card spot.

RED-HOT HOSKINS

Rhys Hoskins, who was second in the minors in homers a year ago, has begun his big league career in similar fashion. The Phillies slugger has hit a home run in five straight games and eight of the past nine games and reached 11 homers Sunday in just 18 games, quicker than anyone in big league history.

BUXTON BUSTING OUT

As recently as July 4, Byron Buxton was batting below .200. But now the former No. 1 overall prospect is proving that ranking correct. Buxton had his first three-homer game Sunday and set a career high with five RBIs as the Twins beat the Blue Jays 7-2. In the past 30 games, Buxton is slashing .330/.362/.649 with eight homers and 21 RBIs and the Twins have won 15 games since Aug. 6, more than any other team. Thanks to Buxton, the Twins hold the second wild-card spot, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Angels and Mariners.

NOT-SO-LITTLE LEAGUE

That feeling when youre a #LLWS Champion. 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/9Wq6XoBAA5

— Little League (@LittleLeague) August 27, 2017

A team from Japan won the Little League World Series for the fifth time since 2010 as Japan run-ruled Texas 12-2 on Sunday.

The Lufkin, Texas, team got two early homers for a 2-0 lead, but Japan got three long homers in the fourth inning to roll to the championship. Japan outscored opponents, 39-3, in the LLWS.

PENALTY BOX

Ben Badler tells us which teams won’t be able to spend much in the next two international signing periods.