1. Jake Arrieta, Chicago Cubs: A dozen whiffs and just one walk to no-hit the Dodgers isn't just something beautiful to behold, it's something that might finally change the national conversation about Arrieta. His performance might finally get the country to take him a little more seriously as a guy who can be considered the best starter in his league.
It wasn't too long ago that the argument was whether he was better than free-agent addition Jon Lester and to get his due as the best starting pitcher on the Cub. Now, forget Lester, because Arrieta's plausibly the best starting pitcher to call Wrigley Field home since Greg Maddux himself. He just completed a month in which he went 6-0 with a 0.43 ERA and allowed just 19 hits in 42⅓ innings pitched.
Instead, maybe we should move on to wondering whether he might be the non-Dodger who keeps this year's NL Cy Young Award out of Los Angeles.
OK, so I've handicapped Arrieta's case by leaving wins and losses out of it, but there's a reason for that: Some segment of the voters are going to use them anyway, and so would some of you, given the chance. But as hot as Arrieta is right now -- and now that he has an MLB-leading 17 wins -- when it comes to asking whether will get the award, would you bet against him if he keeps this up down the stretch?
Finally, a bit of schadenfreude at the Orioles expense, because they did after all send Arrieta to the Cubs in July 2013 (with Pedro Strop) for Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger. But as ESPN Stats & Information's Mark Simon notes, the big thing that Arrieta has added is a slider to freeze lefties to complement that plus fastball he has always sported. That's something he didn't reliably have going for him in Baltimore when he was dealt. He used to throw fastballs almost three-quarters of the time, but these days he's splitting his stuff pretty evenly between fastballs versus curves and sliders. He's using that mix to get more swings -- for bad contact as well as swings-and-misses -- to put away hitters with his off-speed stuff. It's a combination that has changed him from a power pitcher to purely overpowering.
2. Derek Holland, Texas Rangers: If it wasn't for Arrieta's late entry, we'd be talking about Holland's mastery of the Orioles to complete Texas' sweep of Baltimore. While whiffing 11 O's yet giving up just three hits, he showed command of over the full spread of his stuff. He tossed his first shutout since 2013 as the former Rangers ace tries to make his way back from two injury-marred campaigns. That said, if this is what he's got in store for opponents in September, you won't want to mess with Texas.
3. Further Blue Jays feats of strength: It's getting to the point where we just have to keep a spot warm for whichever Blue Jay risked denting the moon on that day. Edwin Encarnacion ripped his 30th home run while Josh Donaldson ripped his 36th among four blasts belted against the Tigers in a 9-2 win. With an MLB-leading 184 home runs, they're on pace to hit 229 on the season, which would rank third all-time in franchise history. But this season would be that much more memorable than 2010 (257 bombs) or 2000 (244) if they hang on to win the AL East.
4. Abraham Almonte, Cleveland Indians: His grand slam against Jered Weaver made the Indians 9-2 winners over the Angels. Now that they're just three games below .500, the Indians are on the periphery of the AL wild-card race, just five games behind the Rangers. One key factor for the Indians' return to relevance has been improved defense, which having Almonte in center is a part of. Since shortstop Francisco Lindor's debut on June 16, the Indians lead baseball with Defensive Runs Saved at 26. With a trip to Toronto on deck for the Tribe, we're quickly going to find out if this is a legit in-season comeback.
5. The Tampa Bay Rays bullpen: While the Rays weren't close enough in the wild-card race to merit inclusion in Sunday's overview of contenders' bullpen performance, blanking the Royals in the last four innings gave the Rays a 3-2 win sealed by Brad Boxberger's 32nd save. How's he doing it? It's gotta be the beard.
Christina Kahrl writes about MLB for ESPN. You can follow her on Twitter.