Baseball

Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein showed he isn't afraid to take big risks when he dealt his two best pitchers late Friday night. 

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported the details of the trade:

It looks like the Chicago Cubs are loading up for the future.

The Cincinnati Reds' top 10 prospects received a little bit of a shakeup since my last version of this recurring article. The MLB draft brought along newcomer Alex Blandino, while some other players either worked their way into the top 10 or found new homes on the list.

Much like previous installations, we'll go through each of the club's top 10 prospects, analyze their past week of play and issue a stock-up or stock-down grade based on their performance.

The Pittsburgh Pirates received a major boost last Saturday when their young starting pitcher, Gerrit Cole, made his first start in over three weeks.  

The 23-year-old had been shelved with right shoulder fatigue, which had caused him to lose velocity on his fastball and yield more hits to batters.  

On June 8, the Giants were a Major League best 42-21 with a 9.5 game lead over their rival Dodgers. It appeared the Giants would just run away with another NL West title.

My oh my how the tables have turned.

Making his ninth start of the season and the 10th of his career, Los Angeles Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker struck out seven Houston Astros over six innings in Thursday's 5-2 victory.

The Atlanta Braves (47-38) are currently riding a season-best seven-game winning streak as we hit July.

Despite their hot streak, the Braves hold just a half-game lead in the division as the Washington Nationals have also improved their play.

You can bet general manager Frank Wren will be looking to improve the roster as the July 31 trade deadline nears in order to give the Braves a leg up over the Nationals.

The Cincinnati Reds are entering the break as one of the hottest teams in baseball and have several deserving All-Star candidates. Cincinnati has gone 20-10 over their past 30 games, improving their record to 43-39.  

The cast representing the Reds at the 2014 All-Star Game will have a different look this season. Cincinnati's usual suspect of Jay Bruce, Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto will all likely be watching the game at home. 

The Oakland Athletics own the best record in baseball but are currently fighting through injuries to critical players, most notably outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.

There's what Jake Arrieta used to be, and then there's what Jake Arrieta is.