MLB

Baseball is a humbling game. Just ask Paul Goldschmidt and Todd Frazier—two of MLB's brightest stars who just stumbled through a forgettable week.

Neither of those standouts has enjoyed much success since the calendar flipped to August, but no one had a worse week than Starlin Castro, who suddenly finds himself out of a job.

The Washington Nationals needed something.

Some sort of a boost, a spark, whatever, but it had to be the kind of performance that kick-started their stalling, sputtering second half. Because as things stood going into Saturday night, Washington was a flailing club in danger of falling out of arm’s reach of the rival, first-place New York Mets.

David Ortiz is a franchise icon for the Boston Red Sox, and he will be firmly in the middle of the lineup in 2016 after his 425th plate appearance of the 2015 season came Saturday. 

Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald provided the details:

The Washington Nationals activated ace Stephen Strasburg off the disabled list Friday after more than a month on the shelf due to a strained left oblique, and he twirled a gem Saturday evening in his first MLB start since July 4. 

Hanley Ramirez underwent X-rays on Saturday for his left foot, which came back negative.

Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez, who has made just seven starts in 2015, is dealing with an injury to his shoulder that has left his status up in the air. 

Continue for updates.

It's been said that records are made to be broken, but sometimes the milestones reached on the journey are just as memorable as the record-breaking moment itself.

The days leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline are some of the most anticipated of the entire Major League Baseball season, and this latest edition did not disappoint.

There were blockbusters early and right up until the deadline. Teams made them while in the thick of divisional and Wild Card races as well as on the fringe of postseason discussions.

After last week's trade deadline craziness, the 2015 MLB season got back to plain, ol' baseball in its 18th week of action. All told, it was a nice change of pace.

Happen to miss anything? Worry not, friend. We're here to recap the good stuff.

Evidently, the Texas Rangers feel the key to getting back to the postseason for the first time since 2012 is to reunite with as many members of that team as possible.

And given the names they're reuniting with, that's actually not a bad idea.