First in October even, bottom of league recently (2,4)
I believe the answer is:
of late
'recently' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'first in october even bottom of league' is the wordplay.
'first in october' becomes 'o' (1st letter of 'october').
'even' becomes 'flat' (similar in meaning).
'bottom of' indicates one should take the final letters.
The final letter of 'league' is 'e'.
'o'+'flat'+'e'='OF LATE'
(Other definitions for of late that I've seen before include "Alternative to 21 down" , "recently, not long ago" , "In the past few days" , "Not long ago, in recent times" , "Recently, not long agor" .)