Long Beach State Professional Athletes

Long Beach State has two alumni punching postseason tickets in 2026, and the bigger story belongs to Jarren Duran — a player whose season has been equal parts frustrating and quietly historic.

Duran's Milestone Moment

It hasn't been the year anyone envisioned for the Red Sox left fielder. Duran enters the final week of the regular season hitting just .209, a mark that would have been easy to write off as a down year and move on. But buried inside that disappointing average is something unexpected: Duran has reached the 20-20 milestone — 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases — a threshold that puts him in exclusive company and underscores the raw tools that made him a top prospect in the first place. He accomplished the feat alongside Mookie Betts, no less.

Boston has already clinched a postseason berth and is positioning for a Wild Card Series that could open at Yankee Stadium against New York. The question now is what role Duran plays in October. With Ceddanne Rafaela navigating an injury, Boston's outfield calculus has been in flux all week, and manager Chad Tracy — who had the interim tag officially removed during this stretch — has been shuffling Duran in and out of the lineup against Cleveland. Duran went hitless in Tuesday's loss, came off the bench Wednesday, then broke out with two hits and a run scored in the same game before logging another hit Thursday.

His playoff deployment will be one of the more compelling roster decisions Boston faces. The bat speed and speed-on-the-bases combo that produced 20-20 make him dangerous. The .209 average makes him a gamble.

McNeil Contributes in Oakland's Stretch Run

On the other coast, Jeff McNeil has been a steady presence in the Athletics' lineup as Oakland pushes through its own late-season stretch. The former Dirtbag second baseman has been one of the more reliable bats in the lineup this week, batting .267 on the period.

McNeil had his best game of the stretch on Friday against Houston, going 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs in a losing effort as the A's fell 7-5. He followed it with a hit and a run scored Saturday as Oakland edged Houston 6-5. Earlier in the week, McNeil drove in two runs against the Angels on Wednesday in a 9-7 Oakland win.

McNeil's consistent contributions — hits in four of five games during the week — reflect a player who has stabilized his approach since a rocky stint with the Mets in prior seasons. At .267, he's providing exactly the kind of professional at-bats a team in a pennant chase needs from the middle of its order.

The Dirtbag Postseason Picture

Long Beach State's footprint in this year's MLB postseason is real. Duran is heading to October with a 20-20 season as his calling card, whatever the batting average says. McNeil is doing the dirty work to help keep Oakland's hopes alive. Two alumni from the same Southern California program, playing meaningful baseball in the final week of September — that's a Dirtbag fall worth watching.

Duran's Milestone Meets Offseason Noise

Jarren Duran is producing. He's also, apparently, already on the block.

The Long Beach State product drilled his 20th home run of the season Monday, Sept. 7, breaking open a 5-2 Red Sox win over the Angels with a two-run shot in the bottom of the second inning. By Wednesday he went 2-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored. By Friday, Boston dropped the series opener against Kansas City, 3-2, and the Red Sox found themselves 5.5 games behind the Yankees for second in both the AL East and the broader American League wild card picture, with just 14 regular-season games remaining.

That backdrop — a team trending the wrong direction, a player whose game has regressed over two seasons — has fueled an early and unusually loud offseason trade narrative. The Sporting News labeled Duran the "poster child" change-of-scenery candidate for the coming winter, calling him "the most obvious trade candidate of the offseason." Sports Illustrated echoed the sentiment, noting that Duran has already surfaced in early trade buzz even while the regular season is still alive.

The irony is thick. Duran was not traded at the July deadline despite chatter that Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow was fielding calls. Interim manager Chad Tracy went out of his way to defend Duran publicly after the Angels win, a visible vote of confidence from the dugout. But public support from an interim skipper does not quiet front-office speculation, and the narrative has taken on a life of its own.

Duran's season batting average sat at .205 through September 12, a figure that tells a complicated story alongside the 20 home runs. He's got pop, he's got speed, and he's got a Long Beach State pedigree built for a rebuild-era reclamation project — which is exactly why rival front offices are reportedly circling. Whether Boston moves him or not, Duran's name will dominate Hot Stove conversations from October onward.

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McNeil Quietly Thriving in Oakland

While Duran's situation plays out under a spotlight, fellow Dirtbag Jeff McNeil has been doing quiet, steady work for the Athletics. The former Met and current Oakland second baseman delivered one of the week's better individual moments: a walk-off infield single against the Blue Jays on Tuesday, Sept. 8, legging out a soft grounder to short with the bases loaded to plate the winning run.

McNeil finished the week hitting .270 with multi-hit games on both Sept. 9 and Sept. 12, going 2-for-4 with two runs, an RBI, and a walk in Saturday's outing against Seattle. His season average has hovered around .270 — a respectable mark for a veteran infielder navigating a new organization after his tenure in New York came to an end.

Two Long Beach State alumni, two very different September storylines: one fighting for a postseason spot and a roster future in Boston, the other quietly grinding for a rebuilding Athletics club trying to find its footing in Sacramento. Both, unmistakably, still belong in a big-league conversation.

Two Dirtbags, Two Playoff Races, One Big Week

Long Beach State's MLB footprint is never hard to find in September, and the week of Aug. 30–Sept. 5 was a reminder of exactly that. Jarren Duran (Red Sox) and Jeff McNeil (Athletics) — two former Dirtbags now chasing October — both made noise in high-leverage moments, on opposite coasts.

Duran: Clutch Hits and a Personal Announcement in Boston

The Red Sox entered their four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles firmly on the playoff bubble, and Duran has been right in the middle of the chaos. Boston took the first two games of the series, extending a stretch that has the Red Sox scrapping for their postseason lives in the AL. Duran went 1-for-the-day on Friday (Sept. 4) with a hit, and added a run scored in Saturday's action to keep his name in the lineup conversation.

His week actually opened with a bang. On Monday, Aug. 31, Duran went deep against the Seattle Mariners — a two-run homer that contributed to a wild 9-8 extra-innings Red Sox win. It was exactly the kind of contribution Boston needs from their left fielder down the stretch. He's hitting .203 on the season, a number that has raised questions about his role, particularly against right-handed pitching — but his power in clutch spots remains undeniable.

The Red Sox also made a personal announcement about Duran during the Orioles series, adding a human-interest layer to an already dramatic stretch run for the club.

The conversation around Duran isn't purely celebratory, though. With Mickey Gasper's emergence — seven home runs in 13 games — Boston faces a genuine roster puzzle heading into the playoffs about who gets the bulk of starts against righties. It's a good problem to have for the organization, but a pointed one for Duran's October role.

McNeil: Locked In for Oakland

While Duran navigates roster uncertainty, Jeff McNeil is simply raking. The second baseman has been one of the Athletics' more reliable bats during a stretch run that has Oakland in its own playoff picture.

On Saturday, Sept. 5, McNeil was part of an extraordinary third inning in a 7-6 win over Seattle — he joined Max Muncy, Alika Williams, and Zack Gelof in hitting home runs in the same frame. McNeil finished the game 2-for-the-day with a homer, two RBIs, and a run scored, pushing his average to .271.

It wasn't a one-game fluke. McNeil went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored on Friday, went deep again on Wednesday (Sept. 3) against the Rangers, and has posted multi-hit games in four of his last six outings. He's been a steady presence in the Athletics lineup at exactly the moment Oakland needs consistency.

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Between Duran's late-summer clutch hitting and the off-field news swirling around him in Boston, and McNeil quietly becoming one of the more reliable bats in Oakland's lineup, Long Beach State alumni are doing what they tend to do in September — show up when it matters. The playoff picture for both franchises will sharpen considerably over the next two weeks, and both Dirtbags figure to be central to it.