Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s okay, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter.
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Here’s a blunt opinion for you: Home runs are cool. The coolest baseball players are the ones who hit a bunch of them. That’s why Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa caught the nation’s eye back in the late ‘90s and that’s also why Barry Bonds is such a beloved figure. It’s also why players like Nelson Cruz and Bryce Harper (the current league leaders in home runs this season) are fun to watch. In addition to their other talents, they can hit the ball a ton, and that’s always entertaining.
Going into Tuesday’s games, Harper had 14 homers on the season while Cruz had 15. Harper wasted no time in that game by hitting his 15th homer of the season in the first inning to tie Cruz for the league lead. However, Cruz took the lead back by the third inning of his game when he launched a dinger of his own. Amazingly, this chain of events happened again on Friday night. Early into his game, Harper hit his 16th homer of the season to tie Cruz, only to be foiled an hour later when Cruz crushed home run No. 17 of the season. Crazy stuff!
Of course, this mini home run chase pales in comparison to what was going on back in the ‘90s, but again: Home runs are cool! Any time there’s some sort of chase going on in baseball, it’s exciting.This is no different. There’s no telling if these two are going to keep on doing this all summer, but it’d be fantastic if they did. Even if there aren’t any records involved, any era of baseball can always use a good home run chase. Here’s hoping that this mini-chase turns into a legit one.
- Remember when everybody was screaming out “Odd-year Giants!” Guess who’s won seven in a row, all of a sudden?
- On the other side of the bay, the Oakland A’s have been a huge disappointment so far. Their potentially historically-bad defense is playing a big role in making that happen.
- Part of Mike Trout’s superpowers as the best player in baseball include being able to bend time and space to his will in order to be called safe on a steal attempt.
- The Twins may or may not be for real, but one thing is definitely true: This is an awesome catch by Aaron Hicks.
- On Friday, Milwaukee got the best form of revenge for Thursday’s debacle that saw one of their relievers receive a controversial ejection during a 10-1 loss: They won by eleven runs.
- The American League playoff picture (I can’t believe I just said “playoff picture” in May) looks weird. What in the world is going on over there? Sports on Earth tried to figure it out by using WAR.
- Back to the Brewers, word on the street is that Jonathan Lucroy is available. The Brewers are denying it, but where there’s smoke...
- On Friday night, Ichiro officially passed Babe Ruth on the career hit list. Anytime the phrase “passed Babe Ruth” is used, you know you’re dealing with a legend and that’s exactly what Ichiro is.
- The Pirates made a typo on Instagram while trying to promote special donuts. Instead, things got hot and heavy. Don’t worry, Pirates; Donuts have that effect on everybody.
- Aaron Harang and Aaron Barrett got into a staring contest before Friday night’s game between the Nationals and Phillies. Who was the last man staring?
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