MLB

While the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds had a lengthy rain delay on Thursday afternoon, the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers had to stop their game for a far more interesting reason.

A squirrel got loose and ran onto the field.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke didn't bring his A-game to the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, but there's no doubt that his bat game was on point.

In the top of the third inning, Greinke hit the first pitch from Phillies right-hander David Buchanan over the wall in left-center field. Judging by the bat flip, it looked like he knew it as soon as he hit it.

New York Mets reliever Jerry Blevins hasn't pitched since April 19, and it's unlikely he'll pitch again in 2015 after aggravating a previous injury.  

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The trade deadline has passed, but players will still be dealt throughout the month of August due to the waiver system.

Teams who wrongly decided to bet that they would get hot and reach a second wild card spot will now have a second chance to unload some dead weight that won't help them moving forward. This is good news for contenders who are still searching for that one extra piece that can get them over the hump.

Every year, MLB's trade deadline brings about a flurry of activity. And every year, players get traded after that deadline, throwing many fans into confusion. Isn't a deadline supposed to mean something?

The July 31 trade deadline is officially called the non-waiver trade deadline, meaning that in order for players to be traded after July 31, a much more complicated process is followed.

During Wednesday's game at Coors Field, a Seattle Mariners fan went for a foul ball but instead wound up "catching" Colorado Rockies left fielder Kyle Parker.

At the top of the sixth inning, Mariners shortstop Ketel Marte hit a ball in foul territory down the left field line. The Mariners fan made sure to keep his eyes on the ball as he went for the catch.

Fact: With his save on Wednesday against the Twins, LaTroy Hawkins became the 13th player with a save against all 30 MLB teams.

Bleacher Report will be bringing sports fans the most interesting and engaging Cold Hard Fact of the day, presented by Coors Light.

It's time for an updated version of our position-by-position power rankings, as we enter the final two months of the 2015 MLB season.

Impact trades after baseball's July 31 non-waiver trade deadline might be uncommon, but they aren't impossible to pull off. We only need to think back to the nine-player blockbuster that Boston and Los Angeles pulled off in 2012 for evidence of that.

While we are unlikely to see a deal of that magnitude go down this month and the vast majority of trades that are completed will largely be considered mundane, there are impact players to be had and impact deals to be made.

With just under two months of regular-season baseball left, playoff races around MLB are beginning to take shape. 

With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, major league front offices have fewer ways of improving their rosters for the upcoming pivotal stretch of games. However, talented players on the farm system can provide significant impact for teams hoping to make the postseason.