Three up, three down: Mike Trout wins the week

Face of baseball: Mike Trout is having such a superb season that he scored again on Wednesday — a day on which the Angels did not play. The All-Star Game was obscured by a focus on why Trout is not a bigger player in pop culture, triggering a bizarre punch from commissioner Rob Manfred (“Player marketing requires one thing for sure: the player”) and counterpunch from owner Arte Moreno and the Angels ("We applaud him for prioritizing his personal values over commercial self-promotion”). The pseudo-debate launched a million hot takes on Wednesday, with no games to divert attention, and in this instance the adult in the room was Trout himself. “Everything is cool between the Commissioner and myself. End of story,” he said. “I am ready to just play some baseball!”

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