When it comes to the playoff chase, nobody is overlooking the importance of established stars such as Shohei Ohtani , Aaron Judge or Tarik Skubal . Those players have the weight of their teams' fortunes squarely on their shoulders, and everyone knows it.

But in reality, it doesn't take huge names to make a huge impact. The stretch run, which features a number of tight races, could very well hinge on players who were not widely expected to be significant factors, at least not up until recently.

With that in mind, six writers (three from MLB.com and three from Yahoo Sports) got together and picked one player apiece whom they see as underrated candidates to be impact players down the stretch. Here are their selections.

All statistics updated through Tuesday.

RHP Cristian Javier ,

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