Bronx boos, Baez is back, an early Cy Young favorite: MLB's top 10 storylines
Wondering what you may have missed last week in the busy world of baseball? We've got you covered.
This year, we started a new series where we spotlight the 10 best storylines that happened in MLB each week. Here's a look at last week's standout stats and thrilling performances, including the weekend's New York Mets-New York Yankees series as part of MLB Rivalry Weekend.
10. The Bronx: 2; Queens: 1
The first edition of this season's Subway Series drew more than 182,000 fans across three games at Yankee Stadium. Players on both sides said it felt like a playoff atmosphere in the Bronx, and the clash of two first-place rivals lived up to the hype. Sunday's rubbermatch was the highlight as southpaws Max Fried and David Peterson battled in a pitching duel for six innings. The Yankees finally broke out in the eighth inning after Pete Alonso made a costly throwing error and, moments later, Cody Bellinger hit a grand slam to deliver a series win for the Bronx Bombers. The series' next edition heads to Queens on the Fourth of July, when the Mets will look to even the score. Until then, Yankees fans have earned their bragging rights.
9. Devers' first-career walk-off home run
A week ago, Rafael Devers was making headlines for his comments towards the Red Sox front office, voicing his displeasure with the way they'd handled their expectations of him. Now, the slugger is grabbing attention for recording his first career walk-off home run, defensive versatility be damned. The Red Sox had just suffered five losses in seven games when Devers pulled them out of the trench on Saturday with a ninth-inning missile that landed in Boston's bullpen. The Red Sox needed it, but so did Devers to continue building his confidence at the plate, no matter if he's the DH, third baseman, or first baseman. Just let him rake.
8. Harper joins 1K Hall of Fame company
Bryce Harper is no stranger to elite accomplishments. Two-time MVP. Rookie of the Year. Eight-time All-Star. Four-time Silver Slugger. This past Friday, he added another triumph to the growing list when his fifth-inning bloop single scored a run, representing the 1,000th RBI of his career. The 32-year-old Harper is the 14th player in MLB history to reach 1,000 RBI, 1,000 runs and 1,000 walks before turning 33. Eleven of the previous 13 players to accomplish that feat are in the Hall of Fame. The other two are Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols. Harper isn't close to calling it a career, but when he does, Cooperstown will be calling.
7. Twins win streak snapped at 13… by Chourio
With the kind of run the Twins have been on, it was going to take a special, jaw-dropping play for their winning streak to finally come to an end. Minnesota trailed Milwaukee 4-2 in the eighth inning Sunday when Royce Lewis sent the would-be game-tying home run to left field. Enter: The uber-talented Jackson Chourio. The 21-year-old reached over the wall and brought back Lewis' ball, completing one of the filthiest home-run robberies we'll see this season. The Twins' momentum stalled, and so did their 13-game win streak.
6. Are the Braves… back?
After that brutal 0-7 start to the year, Atlanta finally crept over .500 for the first time this season following its 4-2 win over Boston on Friday night. Fortunately for Braves fans (and, unfortunately, for the rest of the NL East), it looks like they're trending up. Chris Sale looked like a reigning NL Cy Young winner again when he struck out eight batters over seven dominant innings at Fenway Park. And the Braves have reinforcements on the way in the form of a former MVP and a Cy Young-caliber ace. Ronald Acuña Jr. is expected to be back in the lineup during Atlanta's upcoming homestand, and right-hander Spencer Strider on Tuesday is slated to make his first start since sustaining a hamstring injury in April. Watch out, because the Braves are on the upswing.
5. The Javier Baez renaissance
Give it up for El Mago, who is one of the most entertaining players in the game when he's hitting like he is. Baez slugged not one, but two three-run home runs on Tuesday night against the Red Sox, the second of which was a walk-off for the first-place Tigers. The win gave the Tigers the best record in the American League, and they haven't looked back since. Baez's .836 OPS is his best mark since 2019, and he's doing it all as a center fielder, not as a shortstop. Baez had six home runs through 80 games for Detroit last season, and he already has six on the season this year. The Tigers are hoping this isn't just a hot start, and Baez sure looks like he'll be a key contributor all season.
4. Soto embraces boos in return to Bronx
Juan Soto was prepared for the noise when he stepped into the batter's box Friday, his first time back in the Bronx since he walked away from the Yankees and straight to the Mets in free agency. He tipped his helmet and said thank you to the crowd as Yankees fans booed him at the plate, and continued booing him when he took the field, and even when he popped his head out of the dugout. The booing went on all weekend, and though Soto had a comeback ready with his hat-tip, he never responded with his bat. The slugger went 1-for-10 with four walks at the plate in the Subway Series. He has 14 years left on his Mets contract, and Yankees fans are all but certain to let him hear it for a lifetime.
3. One night, five walk-offs
Even though it was a random, unimportant Tuesday in the middle of May, there was no shortage of baseball drama when we saw a total of five walk-off wins in one night this past week. Fernando Tatis Jr., Isaac Paredes, and Baez all crushed walk-off home runs, while JP Crawford and Justin Turner won on walk-offs on Tuesday night. Tatis' 11th dinger of the season was his first-career walk-off home run, and he gets extra credit for the best bat flip among the walk-off bunch. Turner's walk-off double marked yet another comeback win for the Cubs, and that was exactly the kind of moment Chicago expected when the club signed him this offseason.
2. Ohtani swats 16th HR
Move over, Aaron Judge. These two just can't help but push the limit. After Judge and Kyle Schwarber led the big leagues in home runs for weeks, Shohei Ohtani slugged his 16th homer of the season on Friday while facing his former team. May has been especially kind to the Japanese phenom; Ohtani entered Sunday batting .339 with nine home runs, a 1.239 OPS, and 19 RBI, all of which led MLB in that span. Even though he only has one stolen base this month, the nine bags he swiped in March and April made him one of four players to hit at least 16 home runs and steal 10 bases in his first 43 games of a season since 1994. Ohtani making history never gets old.
1. It's time to talk about Eovaldi
Who saw this coming? Nathan Eovaldi is a frontrunner for the American League Cy Young award after going on an incredible run in his first 10 starts for the Texas Rangers this year. The veteran, in his age-25 season, entered Sunday with the fourth-lowest ERA (1.61) in the major leagues, with a 2.21 FIP that suggests he'll be able to keep this up. Eovaldi's 28% strikeout rate and 3.4% walk rate are both the best of his 14-year career. He has limited opposing hitters to a .179 batting average across 61.1 innings. It's been particularly impressive to watch Eovaldi adjust to his drop in velocity by ditching his slider in favor of a splitter that's been incredibly effective (38.4% whiff rate). Eovaldi has tough competition to win a Cy Young against pitchers like Tarik Skubal, Hunter Brown and Max Fried, so stay tuned. This is an arms race worth watching.
Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. Follow her on X at @DeeshaThosar.
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