On the first official night of summer, which by happenstance turned out to be the first night of the sports year following the conclusion of basketball and hockey, baseball delivered. Clayton Kershaw was masterful, Justin Upton walked one off after Miguel Cabrera had obliterated a ball earlier, and Steven Wright made a night of magic like this.

Steven Wright’s Knuckleball has been ridiculous tonight. Is that even one full rotation? pic.twitter.com/291k4lZr6u

— Pitcher List (@ThePitcherList) June 21, 2016

The stage is yours, baseball.

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No matter how bad the week has gone, cheer up: It’s Friday, and it can only get better from here.

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Freddie Freeman hit for the cycle! Not only was it the first cycle in major league baseball since August and the first for the Braves since 2008, it also had the distinction of representing the first hits a Braves player has recorded all season.

Freeman hasn’t quite lived up to his draft status as the 10th first-baseman off boards, but he’s hit the ball really well so far in June, pushing him back to 18th in value at the position. If he can get the strikeout rate down to a level he’s more accustomed to, he could be in for a solid second half.

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When you try to be a responsible adult and go to bed at a reasonable time so you don’t write the Roto Riteup at night, only for insomnia to set in, forcing a very tired 6 a.m. writing. Or something.

OK, enough fun. There’s a ton of news to get to. It’s going down, for real.

Superstar meets superstar. Before tonight’s @Angels game, @MikeTrout meets @official_flo! pic.twitter.com/34HhU2cJgK

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 15, 2016

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What’s better than weekday afternoon baseball? I beg of you, find me something. With apologies to A.J. Hammons, I’m ditching on the Raptors’ pre-draft workout today to take in a 12:37 Toronto Blue Jays start. It’s Marcus Stroman, Zach Eflin, an open dome, a 66-degree day, and maybe a beverage or two. The Jays should have to have a weekday afternoon game every week.

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You ever think you did a really good job on something, feel really great about it, and then ultimately get punched in the stomach as the result doesn’t turn out the way you’d hoped? Yeah, Giancarlo Stanton, too, after hitting the hardest ball ever recorded by Statcast, a 124 MPH ground ball right into a glove.

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In all my time here at Fangraphs/Rotographs, I somehow didn’t realize we had a stat called “sabermetrics.”

Sabermetrics is the most important stat, imo pic.twitter.com/pWsI653tXW

— Jonah Birenbaum (@birenball) June 9, 2016

Always learning.
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Well, you can expect Manny Machado to be suspended at some point. That means you’ll be out one of the top bats in your lineup, probably for a week, and you’ll just have to hope (if you’re in a league with weekly lineups) that the appeal process plays out such that the punishment starts on a Monday. And if you’re still one of the Yordano Ventura owners (they exist in 52 percent of leagues), you’ll get the benefit of not having to play him for a start or two.

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Michael Fulmer hasn’t allowed a run in 22.1 innings. That may seem like a short streak – it’s still more hand stuff than Orel – but Fulmer’s been really impressive. Sadly, I watched his start Monday as he dominated the Jays, and I really hadn’t grasped just how effective his change up’s been playing. Given that his fastball sits around 95 MPH and his slider’s a dangerous weapon, mixing in a change with nearly 10 MPH of separation and some nice drop seems a little unfair. Blame his catchers.

Fulmer on his change-up “I’ve always trusted it I just haven’t thrown it, I don’t know why” Catchers are forcing him to throw it now.

— Jeff Riger (@riger1984) June 7, 2016

Fulmer’s now the owner of a 2.83 ERA (3.50 FIP), a 25.1-percent strikeout rate, and still just a 58-percent ownership tag.

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Your boy’s a little under the weather. It seems easing off the throttle even just for a minute signaled to my body that it was OK to let up, and it’s finally catching up on being annoying after a lengthy NBA playoff run (shout out to the Raptors). That’s not to excuse the poor calls and bad puns that follow – you get those in sickness and in health – but to note that I’m writing this late Thursday instead of first thing in the morning, as usual, so if any updates broke after 1 a.m. ET or so, they won’t be reflected here.

So, apologies for that, and now lift a Nyquil Dixie cup in hopes the next intro isn’t nearly as self-involved.

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