Baseball

Seattle Mariners outfielder James Jones had a night to remember Monday against the Houston Astros, as he became just the second player in franchise history to record four hits and three stolen bases in the same game, per MLB Stat of the Day.

For the first time since 2010, the Seattle Mariners will have a position player representative at the All-Star Game.

Robinson Cano will be making the trip to Minnesota on July 15 to play in his fifth consecutive All-Star contest. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will join teammate Felix Hernandez, who would be making his fourth straight appearance.

The San Diego Padres posted an atrocious .171 batting average during June, setting a live-ball era record for the worst team batting average in a calendar month, per ESPN Stats & Info.

The Tampa Bay Rays pitching staff struck out 287 batters in June, setting a new MLB record for most strikeouts by a team in one calendar month, according to MLB.com.

It may not coincide with some ridiculous campaign commercials dished out by rich politicians, but the 2014 MLB All-Star vote has been entertaining nonetheless.

Like any formal political vote, the MLB's deadline is rapidly approaching, and each and every tally will count. Some positions are such toss-ups at this juncture that it's hard to imagine who comes out on top.

Boston's World Series title defense hasn't gone quite as anyone anticipated, as the Red Sox have been outscored by the opposition and sit with a losing record on the outskirts of the playoff picture in the American League.

Ninth in an 11-part series examining the vagaries of awards voting.

The rebuilding process in Chicago that general manager Rick Hahn began in earnest last year has already begun to pay dividends.

Are the Cleveland Indians contenders or pretenders?

It's an impossible question to answer, with the club hanging around the outskirts of the playoff race despite having a losing record and a negative run differential, which makes the Indians one of the more intriguing teams to follow as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline draws near.

Things haven't been nearly as bad in Houston as many expected they would be, with the Astros looking very much like a team that has finally taken a big step back towards respectability after years of being the laughingstock of the game.

General manager Jeff Luhnow has done a remarkable job in recent years of unloading his veterans for younger, less-expensive talent, and the current roster doesn't have much in the way of valuable trade chips to peddle at the trade deadline.