1. Toronto Blue Jays. Twelve of the first 16 Blue Jays batters reached base as Toronto scored three runs in the first and seven in the second to beat the A's 10-3 for its 10th consecutive victory ... and then moved into first place when the Indians knocked off the New York Yankees 2-1. What a remarkable two weeks. When Toronto acquired Troy Tulowitzki, it was in fourth place and eight games out of first place. Since then, the Blue Jays have gone 13-1 (while picking up David Price along the way, of course) while the Yankees have gone 4-9. Here, each team's numbers in this stretch:
Pitching
Blue Jays: 1.95 ERA, 6.6 SO/9, 1.8 BB/9, .186 AVG, .214 BABIP
Yankees: 4.00 ERA, 8.4 SO/9, 2.8 BB/9, .259 AVG, .309 BABIP
The pitching has been insane. Or, rather, the results have been insane, as it's not like Toronto's staff is racking up big numbers of strikeouts. They're limiting hits but doing it with an unsustainable average on balls in play. But that's how you win 13 out of 14: Things go your way. Remember, this 10-game winning streak isn't even Toronto's longest of the season; the Blue Jays won 11 in a row in June.
Hitting
Blue Jays: .273/.343/.482, 5.8 runs per game
Yankees: .227/.309/.389, 4.4 runs per game
The Yankees had three blowout wins in this stretch -- twice scoring 13 runs and once scoring 12 -- but they've scored just nine runs in their past seven games, losing four of those by one run. Toronto's win also showed that it's getting offense from others besides the big names such as MVP candidate Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista. Chris Colabello hit a three-run homer in the first, and Justin Smoak slammed a three-run shot in the second.
#BlueJays bullpen has not allowed a run over its last 23 innings. Starters three earned runs or less in 16 straight. I'd say that's good.
— Gregor Chisholm (@gregorMLB) August 13, 2015The @BlueJays become the first AL team with multiple 10-game win streaks in a season since the 1977 Royals.
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 13, 20152. Hisashi Iwakuma, Seattle Mariners. No-hitter! More here, including some fun tweets.
3. Walking off in Chicago! First off, the Chicago Cubs won in the 10th inning on Miguel Montero's home run. Then the Chicago White Sox walked off in the 13th inning on Avisail Garcia's double. Our pal Mark Simon of ESPN Stats & Information informs us it's the first time both Chicago teams walked off on the same day since Sept. 29, 1995.
4. Anthony Rizzo says hello to the fans in the third row. Tarp? Wall? Seats? Spectators? No problem. Don't forget about Rizzo in those MVP discussions, either.
Anthony Rizzo rates well as a 1st baseman, but he's not usually making these types of plays. We look at his D here- http://t.co/q3tEIigBQZ
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 13, 2015Braun on Anthony Rizzo's catch: "From a pure effort perspective, one of the greatest plays I've ever seen in the regular season."
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) August 13, 20155. Miguel Sano, Minnesota Twins. Love, love, love this kid. Buy stock. Buy rookie cards if those still exist. Buy replica jerseys. This kid's going to be a star. He hit two home runs -- although the second one into the third deck was measured at just 402 feet -- as the Twins pounded the Rangers 11-2.
.@SanoMiguel Wanna pick up Chinese food and watch Netflix sometime?
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) August 13, 2015The voting committee also considered Jacob deGrom, the parakeet at Citi Field, Clayton Kershaw (I mean, really sorry Clayton, not sure how you got left off), the Cardinals' amazing ability to strand runners (the Pirates went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position), Joey Votto, the angst of Yankees fans, Grady Sizemore (if only to remind us how good he once was), the Rays (just 1.5 back of the Angels for wild card No. 2), afternoon baseball, peanuts, and, of course, Hal Steinbrenner.
