The Nationals have apparently thrown in the towel on a season in which they were prohibitive preseason favorites to win a third straight division title. Today, playing below .500, they dispatch two veterans, 2B Daniel Murphy, who heads to the Cubs in return for a minor leaguer, and 1B Matt Adams, who returns to the Cardinals after being claimed off waivers. They also place their highest-profile player, OF Bryce Harper, on waivers, but pull him back when the Dodgers claim him but are only willing to pay his remaining salary and not offer any players in return.

2018 – Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen returns to the mound after missing two weeks because of an irregular heartbeat, but he allows a pair of 9th-inning homers to Jedd Gyorko and Matt Carpenter as Los Angeles loses 5 – 3 to St. Louis with the two clubs in a tight race for a wild card spot.

2018 – The Mets defeat the Phillies, 8 – 2, in the second edition of the annual MLB Little League Classic staged to coincide with the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. Amed Rosario has 3 hits and 3 RBIs, with Jeff McNeil adding a two-run single to back the pitching of Jason Vargas.

2018 – With a 7 – 1 win over their rivals, the Athletics come into a tie with the Astros for the lead in the AL West division. As late as July 10th, the Astros still had a ten-game lead, and it seemed the best the A’s could hope for was to catch the second-place Mariners for the second wild card spot. In today’s game, a re-born Trevor Cahill holds the defending World Champions to 1 hit over 7 innings and his teammates tie a club record with 8 doubles.

2018 – The Cubs tie a major league record by turning seven double plays in a 1 – 0 win over the Pirates. Fittingly, the game ends when David Freese hits a grounder to 3B David Bote who starts the record-tying twin killing. They are the third team to achieve the feat in a 9-inning game.

Just two weeks after suffering a 25 – 4 loss, the worst in team history, the Mets turn around and defeat the Phillies, 24 – 4, in the first game of a doubleheader, setting team records for runs and hits (25). Coming on the back of a 16 – 5 win over the Orioles the day before, the win also marks the first time they score at least 15 runs in back-to-back games. Jose Bautista, who does not even start the game, leads the offense with a grand slam and 7 RBIs. However, the Mets return to form in the nitecap, losing 9 – 6.

The Rangers turn an extremely rare triple play in their 8 – 6 win over the Angels. It goes 5-4, i.e. from 3B Jurickson Profar to 2B Rougned Odor, and all three outs are baserunners – not the batter – something not seen since 1912. With the bases loaded, David Fletcher smokes a liner to Profar, who fields it on a short hop, steps on the bag then tags Taylor Ward, who is returning to the bag, thinking the ball has been caught on the fly. Profar then throws to Odor to force Kole Calhoun and complete the triple killing.

2018 – Jose Urena of the Marlins decides that the only way to stop Ronald Acuna, who has led off his last three games with a homer and has homered in five straight, is to hit him with his first pitch of the game. He plunks the Braves’ 20-year-old budding superstar on the elbow, prompting a bench-clearing brawl. Urena is immediately ejected, as is Braves manager Brian Snitker. Most commentators call for exemplary punishment for a stupid gesture that even manager Don Mattingly refuses to defend. The Braves go on to win again, 5 – 2, but Acuna has to leave in the 2nd inning with a bad bruise. Urena will be suspended six games and fined an undisclosed amount for his antics.

2018 – Rookie Ronald Acuna of the Braves achieves a very rare feat as he homers to lead off both games of a doubleheader against the Marlins. In the opener, he starts the game with a home run off Pablo Lopez as the Braves cruise to a 9 – 1 win, then in the nitecap, he victimizes Merandy Gonzalez, making his first big league start, as Atlanta completes a sweep with a 6 – 1 win. Only three other players had done this before him: Hall of Famers Harry Hooper (in 1913) and Rickey Henderson (in 1993), and most recently Brady Anderson on August 21, 1999.

2018 – After another great performance by Max Scherzer, the Nationals go into the bottom of the 9th with a 3 – 0 lead in a Sunday night game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, only to see rookie David Bote hit a two-out pinch-hit walk-off grand slam off Ryan Madson for a 4 – 3 win.