MLB Bullets Is The Centre Of Attention

I think the last time the Cubs went a week without losing was February.

• In case you hadn't heard, Hisashi Iwakuma threw a no-hitter against the Orioles. The Cubs streak of being the most recent team to be no-hit ends at 18 days.
• Jeff Sullivan breaks down Iwakuma's game.
• Felix Hernandez was wearing some interesting headgear for the celebration.
• David Schoenfield writes that Iwakuma's no-no finally gave Mariners fans something they could be happy about this season.
• For the Orioles, however, it was just another bad day in a brutal two week stretch.
• Jeff Passan has an interesting proposal. He wants to get rid of divisions in baseball. I can see some pros and cons both ways. The biggest pro right now is that the Cubs wouldn't be looking at the one-game play-in game. It would also mean that some teams would finish 15th, which is not ideal but that happens in soccer all the time and people are just used to it.
• If you want some hope that the Cubs might just miss the play-in game, Ben Lindbergh notes that the Cardinals have been massive beneficiaries of "cluster luck" this season. He also tries to figure out if there is a reason the Cardinals have this beyond, you know, luck.
• Joe Posnanski has a must-read profile of new minor league home run king Mike Hessman and the man whose record he broke, Buzz Arlett. Hessman sums up his thoughts by saying "Obviously wish I could have had five or ten years in big leagues. . . But the game's been awesome to me."
• The Blue Jays have won 11 in a row and have moved into first place. John Allemang writes about the electric atmosphere in a Toronto that has been seized with baseball fever.
• David Price is not happy with what ESPN's Dallas Braden has been saying about the Blue Jays.
• Is R.A. Dickey the key to the Blue Jays pennant hopes?
• As far as the team they've passed goes, Wallace Matthews looks at both the glass-half-full and glass-half-empty perspective for the Yankees.
• Rob Neyer says to forget about the glass. The Yankees are in serious trouble.
• Neyer also thinks the Mets need to get creative about protecting the arms of their young pitching staff.
• Mike Axisa chimes in with a call for extra rest for Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey.
• We always like to make fun of Hawk Harrelson around here. But Scott Lindholm joins in over at Royals Review and dismantles Harrelson's assertion that the White Sox are better than the Royals. I'm sorry, Hawk, I thought the only stat that mattered was TWTW? And I see the Royals have 13 games more Will To Win than the White Sox do.
• Speaking of crazy, Jayson Werth says the Nationals feel good about being behind the Mets at this point of the season. Something about chasing rather than being chased.
• Dave Cameron looks at where Doug Melvin went wrong in Milwaukee.
• The Red Sox have hired former Angels GM Jerry DiPoto for their front office. Sean McAdam says the move was predictable and not a sign that DiPoto might replace current GM Ben Cherington.
• Matt Collins at Over The Monster asks if Pablo Sandoval is really as bad as he's looked this season. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, he thinks the answer is yes.
• All 15 home teams won on Tuesday for the first time ever.
• GM Bobby Evans confirmed that the Giants have made a trade offer for Chase Utley.
• Will Leitch looks at players like Utley who spent their whole careers with one team.
• The Rockies designated Drew Stubbs for assignment. That was an expensive mistake. Well, not Pablo Sandoval expensive.
• Justin Turner returned from the DL and revealed that he had a potentially very serious staph infection.
• Commissioner Rob Manfred says positive things about baseball. That's nice. You'd think that would be obvious, but Bud Selig was commissioner for a decade before he said anything nice about the game.
• Erik Malinowski is a big fan of Carlos Correa. Who isn't? (At least when your team isn't playing the Astros.)
• Correa talks to Eno Sarris about the preparations that Correa sees as the secret to his success. (ESPN Insider Only)
• People who argue that PED cheats shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame are missing that Pud Galvin is already there, and he took a potion of crushed dog and guinea pig testicles in the 1880s.
• Alex Remington looks at one-hit wonders, or players who burned out after only one good season in the majors. Joe Charboneau leads the list, and those of you too young to remember Charboneau should look him up.
• Bob Klapisch looks at the search for the next great pitch. Is throwing underhanded part of the future?
• The Indians had the daughters of Mike Aviles, one of whom is battling cancer, throw out the first pitch.
• The Mets have a Rally Parakeet now, apparently.
• A really good article looking at two new Red Sox draftees and their transition to life in the minor leagues.
• And finally, this Pirates fan is a moron. Checking Fangraphs, the Pirates have a 6.7% chance of winning the World Series this year. Also, it's ugly.