Three Up, Three Down: Another October will come and go without Mike Trout

Last season, Andrew McCutchen finished the year with 0.6 WAR according to FanGraphs, and it sure seemed like he was ready to hit the inevitable decline that all baseball players eventually go through. However, McCutchen has had himself a lovely bounce-back season and is currently on 3.7 WAR — a full three wins better than where he finished last season.

McCutchen's performance on Tuesday night was the icing on the cake. He nearly hit for the cycle, but instead he had to "settle" for hitting a grand slam, a three-run home run and a run-scoring double. He ended up with eight RBI on the night, which led to an easy 10-1 win over the Orioles. It was an amazing night for McCutchen — even more amazing when you consider that it took him this long to finally hit his first grand slam — and another reminder that the end is not near for McCutchen. He's still got plenty left in the tank.

Down: Another October will come and go without Mike Trout

You have to give the Angels credit for at least making a big effort to make the playoffs this season. They hung in there until the latter stages of the season thanks to attempting to shore up their squad with the likes of Justin Upton and Brandon Phillips, but it appears that it's probably for naught. The Twins have clinched the second AL Wild Card spot, which means the Angels are going to miss out.

That also means we're going to go through another postseason without the best player in baseball taking part. Granted, Mike Trout has been having a slow month of September (for his lofty standards), but it still would have been great to see him in the playoffs this season. While we'll definitely see the likes of Kris Bryant, Aaron Judge and Jose Altuve tearing things up this October, the rest of us baseball fans will be wistfully fantasizing about seeing Mike Trout and his excellent brand of baseball. See you in April, Trout.

Up: The Cubs finally took care of business

It may have taken them a lot longer than their fans and general observers would have expected, but the Cubs did it. On Wednesday night, Chicago beat the Cardinals to finally clinch the NL Central. Again, I don't think anybody figured back in March that this would be the final NL divisional race to be decided, but it still must have been nice for Cubs fans to see their team celebrate in front of Cardinals fans.

So now that that's taken care of, the Cubs turn their sights toward the Washington Nationals. If I had to put money on it, I'd say that this will be the most exciting series of the playoffs. The Cubs have already been through a big struggle in order to make it back to defend their title, and if the Nationals want to finally make it to the NLCS, they will have to go through the defending champions in order to do so. The Cubs gave us an amazing show last season on their way to winning the title, and now we'll see if they can repeat this year.

Down: Todd Frazier falls for the laziest hidden ball trick

This isn't necessarily a bad thing since baseball shenanigans are normally cool, and this is no exception. It's always cool to see something rare in baseball, and any time you see someone pull off the good ol' hidden ball trick, it's a special day. With that said, Todd Frazier fell for what had to have been one of the lazier attempts at the trick in recent memory.

There wasn't a lot of chicanery going on here: Ryan Goins simply feigned throwing the ball to the pitcher and then tagged Frazier once he stepped off the bag. Instead, this was more on Frazier for not paying attention. Granted, it's hard to stay locked in during a somewhat meaningless game at the end of a season, but if you're going to fall for the hidden ball trick, at least make it spectacular!

Up: Bruce Maxwell kneels and A's fans react with respect

This past weekend, the president of the United States drew the ire of large swaths of the NFL and NBA. The resulting backlash from the comments from the president eventually made its way to the shores of baseball after Bruce Maxwell of the Oakland A's became the first MLB player to take a knee during the national anthem. Maxwell told his teammates before the game that he'd be kneeling and explained to them why he was doing it. He also explained it to reporters following the game.

What made this interesting was the reaction from teammates and fans. It appears that Maxwell has the full support of his mates in the clubhouse, and he actually received a standing ovation from the fans during his first at-bat following the beginning of his protest. The Oakland fans seem to understand that the player from a military family wouldn't do this to disrespect the troops or the country itself.  There's no guarantee that every MLB city would have reacted like this, but it was still good to see fans respect Maxwell for what he did.

Down: Cardinals fan tragically loses his nachos

It's been a rough week for the Cardinals and their fans. St. Louis is more-than-likely going to miss the playoffs for a second straight year (which has only happened once for them since 2000 — wow), and if that wasn't enough, then what happened to this poor Cardinals fan on Monday night was just the cap on what's been a rough season.

One of the cool things about sitting near the foul line is that there's always a chance the action could come right to your lap. That's exactly what happened when Addison Russell attempted to make a catch on a foul ball by diving into the stands. He didn't make the catch, and on the way out he kicked a poor fan's nachos and ruined them. From that moment of tragedy, Nacho Man was born, and the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry was never the same again.