Alonso hits 41st homer off Scherzer as Orioles defeat Blue Jays on September 23, remain alive in Wild Card race

Pete Alonso hit his 41st home run of the season on September 23 to lift the Baltimore Orioles to a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of a doubleheader, keeping the Orioles alive in the AL Wild Card race with an elimination number of one. Alonso's two-run blast came in the fifth inning off Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer, according to MLB.com. The homer marked Alonso's first against Scherzer, against whom he had previously gone 4-for-25 with a .160 average, two doubles, one walk and 12 strikeouts, per MLB.com. Alonso was named the unanimous winner of the 2026 Most Valuable Oriole Award on Wednesday morning. He signed a five-year, $155 million contract with the Orioles in December and has started every game for the team this season. The slugger has produced at an elevated rate in the season's final month. According to MLB.com, Alonso has hit nine home runs over his past 18 games and 18 homers in 41 games since August 9. He led the AL with 110 RBIs entering Wednesday, the most by a Baltimore player since Chris Davis had 117 in 2015, per MLB.com. Alonso is one of only three AL players with 41 or more homers entering Wednesday, joining Houston's Yordan Alvarez and Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero, each with 41, according to MLB.com. Rafael Palmeiro holds the franchise single-season record with 43 in 1998. Alonso has four remaining games to add to his homer total: Wednesday's nightcap against Toronto and a three-game set against the Yankees in New York this weekend, per MLB.com. Chris Bassitt, Baltimore's starter, allowed two earned runs over five-plus innings. Bassitt was Alonso's teammate in New York in 2022. According to MLB.com, Bassitt said: "Pete deserves MVP votes, and he deserves them every single year. That's just the reality. He's one of the most underappreciated players in our game. He's easily a top three hitter every single year. He's not having a crazy historical year for his standards. It's just Pete being Pete, and people are like, 'Dang, this is really, really special.' But he's been doing that for years." Alonso told MLB.com: "It's not trying to be anything different or anything more or less than who I am and what I can bring on a day-to-day basis. There's a lot of comfort and peace of mind in that, where it's like, 'Hey, we believe in you, not just from a player's side, but what you bring as a personality and teammate.' For me, that speaks volumes." Manager Craig Albernaz told MLB.com: "The biggest thing that stands out with Pete is, yeah, he's going out there and competing, he wants to go out there and produce for the team, but he also wants everyone around him to do the same thing. He wants to help. He wants to pull everyone in the right direction, for the team and to win games." The Orioles' victory in Game 1 kept them alive in the Wild Card race, but Baltimore faces elimination with either a loss in Game 2 of the doubleheader against Toronto or a White Sox victory at Kansas City, according to MLB.com. The Blue Jays were eliminated from postseason contention following the 4-2 loss, per MLB.com.