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We are now only five days away from the 2017 non-waiver trade deadline. Remember, one game won't change a player's trade value. Anyway, here are this week's Power Rankings and here is our daily recap of the day in baseball.

Wednesday's scores

Chris Sale is an MVP candidate

On Wednesday against the Mariners, Chris Sale did it again ... 

player headshot
Chris Sale
ATL • SP • #51
vs. SEA, 7/26
IP7
H3
R0
SO11
BB1
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This season, Sale has made 21 starts, and in 14 of those he's struck out at 10 or more batters. That's the highest seasonal tally of 10-plus strikeout games since 2002, when Curt Schilling had 14 and Randy Johnson had 15. The record is 23, and it's shared by Johnson (1999, 2000, and 2001) and Nolan Ryan (1973). Assuming Sale has 12 or 13 starts left, it's certainly possible he'll break that record. 

Speaking of strikeouts, want to see some from Wednesday? Sure you do ... 

With that gem, Sale lowered his 2017 ERA to 2.37, and he's allowed just three unearned runs in 148 1/3 innings. He also paces the AL in quality start percentage and average Game Score. (Game Score is a quick-and-dirty Bill James metric that measures a pitcher's dominance or lack thereof in a given start -- 50 is average and anything 90 or higher is an absolute gem.) He also leads the AL in innings per start. If you're into team outcomes, then know that the Red Sox are playing .714 ball when Sale starts, and their winning percentage is precisely .500 when anyone else starts. 

At this point, Sale's the heavy favorite for AL Cy Young honors, but his excellence has been such that's also emerging as a legit AL MVP aspirant. If pressed, I'd certainly say that Aaron Judge and Jose Altuve are the frontrunners, but Sale's putting himself in the discussion. For instance, coming into Wednesday's start, Sale ranked sixth according to the AL in the Baseball-Reference version of WAR and first by a wide margin according to the FanGraphs version of WAR.

WAR of course isn't determinative, but it's a pretty good snapshot of overall value. It also squares with the notion that Sale has been one of baseball's most needle-moving players in 2017, which, well, he has. 

The Royals can't, won't stop

As you see above, the Royals throttled the Tigers on Wednesday night, and in doing so won their eighth game in a row.

First things first: Let's admire the chippiness from this one ... 

In keeping with ancient baseball tradition, this bench-clearer consisted mostly of jostling and naughty words.

Anyhow, yeah, the Royals have won eight in a row, and thanks to this beating their run differential, presently negative-3, is for the first time in a long time within spitting distance of positive territory. 

The bad news for the Royals is that this win streak has roughly coincided with first-place Cleveland's six-game win streak. The good news is KC is in second wild card position, and the AL Central, thanks in part to the Twins' recent struggles, is emerging as a two-team race. Danny Duffy's looked strong in his return from injury, Eric Hosmer's been crushing the ball for months, and GM Dayton Moore added multiple big-league arms in that recent trade with the Padres.

Yep, things are looking up for the Royals and one last run before all those core players become free agents. 

And your new major-league home run leader is ... 

It's Giancarlo Stanton, as of Wednesday night ... 

That's his 33rd of the season, and that moves him in front of the Yankees' Aaron Judge for the major-league lead. Of course, there was much more to this home run than you might think. 

Back-to-back HRs turn a 2-0 A's lead into a 3-2 Jays win

The headline says it all, no? Here's the first clutch ninth-inning bomb off the bat of Justin Smoak ... 

And here's the very next batter, Kendrys Morales, with the walk-off ... 

Yeah, it's a battle of non-contenders, but walk-offs are always cool (as long as you're not a partisan of the losing team). 

Darvish's last start before deadline didn't go well

While most observers tend to read way too much in a trade candidate's final start leading up to the non-waiver deadline, there's no disputing that Rangers ace Yu Darvish soiled the linens against the Marlins on Wednesday night ... 

player headshot
Yu Darvish
SD • SP • #11
vs. MIA, 7/26
IP3 2/3
H9
R10
ER10
SO5
BB2
HR2
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That's the second-shortest outing of Darvish's career, and that's the first time he's allowed 10 or more runs in a start. Thanks to those outputs, Darvish saw his 2017 ERA jump from 3.44 to 4.01 in the span of a couple of hours. Oh, and the Marlins this season rank an unimpressive 11th in the NL in runs scored. 

There's still very much a trade market for Darvish, and one start isn't going turn off serious suitors. However, that's Darvish's second disaster start (more runs than innings pitched) this month. Still, if Wednesday's work scares off any potential trading partners, then that's because some concerns were already in place. 

Martinez has first big game as a Snake

The Diamondbacks wisely acquired slugger J.D. Martinez from the Tigers on July 18 to fortify their outfield in particular and their push for the postseason in general. Coming into Wednesday's game against the Braves, Martinez was lugging around an OPS+ of 59 since the trade. The sample size of course is minuscule, and it was just a matter of time until Martinez made impact.

On Wednesday, he did just that ... 

So that's two home runs, one to left and one to right. Counting his Detroit bestowals, he now has 19 homers on the season, and he's now batting .301/.384/.644. Martinez rebuilt his swing prior to the 2014 season, and the results have been undeniable. As for the power-to-all-fields display on Tuesday, that's been a hallmark since J.D. Martinez became J.D. MARTINEZ ... 


Source: FanGraphs

Yep, Martinez can hit it out from pole to pole, and now the D-Backs have seen it for themselves.

Severino dominates again

The Yankees are reportedly in the market for a starting pitcher prior to the trade deadline -- they're said to be progressing toward a deal for A's righty Sonny Gray -- though they don't need an ace. They have one already in Luis Severino. 

The 23-year-old All-Star allowed two runs (both unearned) on three hits and two walks in seven innings in Wednesday's afternoon over the Reds. He struck out seven, and only five of the 27 batters he faced hit the ball out of the infield. Severino ended his afternoon with a sweet barehanded play on a comeback chopper.

Following Wednesday's start, Severino now ranks eighth in ERA (3.03), sixth in FIP (2.94), and fourth in WAR (3.9) among the 72 pitchers with enough innings to qualify for the ERA title this season. Wednesday's start was not an uncommon event for him.

Wednesday's win was the fifth in the last six games for the Yankees, who sit in the top AL wild card spot and are right behind the Red Sox for the AL East title. If they get another starter at the deadline, either Gray or someone else, they could be a very dangerous team down the stretch.

Devers cranks first home run

In his second big-league game and seventh big-league plate appearances, Red Sox rookie third baseman Rafael Devers smacked his first big-league home run. It was a rocket too. Dead center field.

Check it out:

Devers, 20, was one of the game's truly elite prospects before being called up. He hit .311/.377/.578 with 20 home runs in only 86 games between Double-A and Triple-A this season.

As you'll see here, Devers wasn't the only top prospect to hit his first career homer on Wednesday.

Trade rumors and news

  • The Rockies have acquired RP Pat Neshek from the Phillies in exchange for three prospects. Read all about it here.
  • Rangers ace Yu Darvish has a 10-team no-trade list. Among the teams not on his no-trade list are the Dodgers, Astros, and Yankees, arguably the three clubs most likely to trade for him prior to Monday's deadline.
  • The Nationals continue to seek pitching help, both starters and relievers. They added Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson in a trade with the Athletics two weeks ago, but they're still looking to add even more arms.
  • The Royals are "in talks" with the Blue Jays about LHP Francisco Liriano, reports USA Today. Liriano will be a free agent after the season and Kansas City is said to be looking for rotation help even after acquiring RHP Trevor Cahill.
  • Mets OF Curtis Granderson is beginning to draw some trade interest, reports FanRag Sports. Granderson is an impending free agent. So is OF Jay Bruce, another Mets player on the trade block prior to the deadline.
  • The Cubs are one of several teams with interest in Mets RHP Seth Lugo, reports ESPN. Lugo is seen by some as a potential breakout candidate despite not reaching MLB until age 26 last year, and having an elbow injury earlier this year.
  • Mark Feinsand tweets that the Marlins and Rockies have discussed RP A.J. Ramos. 
  • Jon Morosi tweets that the Twins, despite being in the thick of the playoff race, may consider moving SPs Ervin Santana and Jaime Garcia (whom they recently acquired from Atlanta) prior to the deadline. 
  • The Brewers and Nationals are reportedly among the teams interested in Rangers SP Yu Darvish.
  • According to multiple reports, the Mariners and Nationals are among the teams with interest in A's SP Sonny Gray.

Quick hits

  • You really need to see why Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre got ejected.
  • Astros SP Dallas Keuchel will return to the rotation on Friday against the Tigers. He's been out since June 2 with a neck injury.
  • The Rays placed RHP Jake Odorizzi on the 10-day DL with a lower back strain, the team announced. He's been dealing with back issues since spring training. The team hopes Odorizzi will only miss two starts.
  • Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has denied the Cubs' request to lift the cap on night games at Wrigley Field.
  • The Nationals will reportedly soon call up top pitching prospect Erick Fedde.
  • The Braves will demote struggling SS Dansby Swanson to Triple-A.