MLB Bullets Is Changing Minds

The Cubs have the fourth-best record in baseball and the third-best record in their division. I think they ought to move.

• The Blue Jays swept the Yankees and are now within 1½ games of first place. Tim Healy says the Blue Jays have been good the whole season, even if their record didn't always reflect that.
• Mike Axisa writes that even beyond David Price, pitching has become a strength for the Blue Jays.
• Grant Brisbee thinks the Blue Jays success explains why the Padres didn't make any deals at the trade deadline.
• The Blue Jays did make one more minor move, picking up Cliff Pennington from Diamondbacks.
• Neil Paine and Rob Arthur examine why so many of the preseason prognostications of team records got it wrong this season.
• The Diamondbacks didn't make any trades at the deadline, but now they've made two since the deadline as they dealt Oliver Perez to the Astros. How those two made it through waivers, I don't know.
• The Indians and the Braves made a deal with some bigger names, albeit ones with bloated contracts that few teams would want. The Indians sent Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn to the Braves for Chris Johnson.
• The Red Sox traded Mike Napoli to the Rangers.
• I guess we're still talking about Dave Dombrowski's firing. Lynn Henning has the details of Dombrowski's final week on the job and how the need for the Tigers to sell was the immediate cause of his dismissal. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• There was an incident in the Tigers dugout as shortstop Jose Iglesias and catcher James McCann went after each other.
• The next day, Iglesias said the whole thing was no big deal.
• The Marlins are expected to bring in a new manager next season. (That's been cut and pasted from every season the Marlins have been in existence.)
• Reno Aces pitcher Evan Marshall is recovering after suffering a fractured skull by a line drive against El Paso.
• Denard Span doesn't know if he'll be able to play again this season. The Nationals are 22-28 when Span is not in the lineup.
• Jose Fernandez goes back to the DL with a biceps strain. At least it's not his elbow.
• The Yankees' Brett Gardner was hit in the back of the head with a home run ball that had been thrown back on the field. Gardner wasn't hurt, thank goodness. And I've been wondering when this was finally going to happen.
• Michael Baumann looks back to March and notes how wrong everyone was about Jung-Ho Kang. He's mostly talking about sportswriters, but he includes every major league team that let the Pirates have him for a $5 million posting fee and a four-year, $11 million contract. Steal of the century so far.
• David Golebiewski explains just why Kang is such a special player and just how much of a bargain the Pirates got.
• The Diamondbacks retired Randy Johnson's number 51.
• The team made a 51-inch corn dog to celebrate the day. Go ahead and snigger.
• David Ortiz reached the number of at-bats for his contract option for 2016 to vest, so he says he'll be back in Boston next season.
• The Cardinals will never lose again. Sigh.
• Dayn Perry examines whether Cardinals outfielder Randal Grichuk can continue to produce at the high-level he's at now.
• The Hiroshima Carp wore special jerseys to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of their city.
• Jeff Sullivan asks if Carlos Correa is already the best shortstop in baseball? I think I'd still go with Troy Tulowitzki (or maybe Brandon Crawford) at this point, but by the end of the season I might change my mind.
• Will Leitch thinks Brian Kenny may have won -- No one seems to care about the pitcher's "win" stat anymore.
• You often hear analysts talking about what prospects did in the Cape Cod League. But do you know exactly what the Cape Cod League is? Andrew Felper has a primer on the premier summer league.
• How the Dodgers got their "LA" logo.
• The Angels celebrated Mike Trout's birthday by making a cake on his head. (sort of)
• Cameron Maybin wore some sweet stirrups in Thursday night's game. He was told by Nina Garcia the Braves that he couldn't wear them anymore. Spoilsports.
• Here's a collection of some very odd versions of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."
• The Indians/Twins game went on despite a fire in a nearby building to Progressive Field.
• Finally, the Tampa Yankees are not made of sterner stuff. They had to postpone a game because a circus tent was too distracting.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.