Three Up, Three Down: The MLB hot/cold report

Ramon Laureano makes the play of the year

Every time we see something spectacular happen, the majority of the baseball world is quick to say that it's the play of the year and nothing is going to top it. With that being said, what A's outfielder Ramon Laureano did over the weekend is going to be extremely difficult to top and if we do see something better than that, then it's going to be absolutely astonishing.

Laureano made a fine running catch to record the second out of that particular inning, but the rookie outfielder decided to get greedy and try to end the inning right then and there. From the deepest part of left field, Laureano uncorked an absolute laser beam of a throw to catch the runner trying to get back to first base. The throw was on the money, and Laureano immediately became an internet legend.

Again, if we see anything better than what Ramon Laureano did, then we're going to see something special. But for now, Laureano is currently on the top of my personal leaderboard for play of the year. It even topped the throw that Yoenis Cespedes made in that same ballpark a few years ago. It may have been a sad bit of deja vu for Angels fans, but it was amazing for the rest of us!

Ronald Acuña Jr. kicks it into high gear

Last week in this space, I talked about how baseball was in good hands if the likes of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Juan Soto were running around doing great things. As it turns out, Acuña decided to turn it up to the next level as he proceeded to go on a tear over the weekend and into this week as well.

Acuña became the youngest player in history to hit a home run in five consecutive games and on top of that, he became one of only a handful of leadoff hitters to hit a leadoff homer in three straight games. Two of those other hitters are Hall of Famers, with one of those guys being Rickey Henderson. When you're in company with quite possibly the greatest leadoff hitter to ever play the game, then you're doing something pretty good.

He didn't get a chance to make it four games in a row on Wednesday night, and we'll talk later about why. But he will have a chance at it thanks to the MLB rulebook coming through in the clutch. With that being said, it's time to strap in and get your popcorn ready because the race for the NL Rookie of the Year between Soto and Acuña is going to get really, really fun.

Brad Boxberger makes uniform and emoji history

Remember last year when MLB loosened its tie and gave all of the teams special caps and uniforms with wacky nicknames on the back for Player's Weekend? The good news is that it wasn't a one-time deal. Instead, it appears to be an annual thing and later this month, we're going to have the second edition of Player's Weekend!

So of course that means that we're going to have new nicknames, and we've got a dandy. This year's king of the nicknames is Brad Boxberger, who decided to test just how creative he could get. So he submitted a box emoji and a burger emoji (get it?) and MLB returned with this gem. Yes, we are going to see a baseball player play a game with emojis on the back of his jersey. 2018 is a magical time, my friends.

Three down

Washington falls into a deeper hole

Oh, Nats. It's all gone so wrong for the overwhelming offseason favorite to win another NL East crown. Instead, they've fallen into a nine-game hole in that division and are actually closer to the fourth-place Mets than they are to the first-place Braves. On top of that, they suffered a couple of losses that would bring baseball fans to their knees, even in August.

On Sunday, the Nationals went into the bottom of the ninth inning against the Cubs up 3-0, and they were seemingly going to get out of Wrigley Field with a series victory against the NL Central leaders. Instead, they found themselves in a pickle with the bases loaded and two outs. Even still, they were a strike away from getting out of it, but David Bote crushed their dreams with a grand slam that sent Wrigley Field into delirium and the Nationals into the doldrums.

To make matters worse, the Nationals lost via walk-off for a second straight night on Monday. This time, it was the Cardinals who sent them to their demise. This was after the Nationals made a two-run deficit disappear in the top of the ninth, only to lose via walk-off dinger from Paul DeJong in the bottom of the ninth. Washington's bullpen's failures over 48 hours prompted a sad response from its manager, and can you really blame him? At least you have the Capitals, Washington.

Jose Ureña goes into bad business for himself

Remember when I was talking glowingly about Ronald Acuña Jr. earlier? For some strange reason, his "antics" rubbed his opposition the wrong way. Jose Ureña in particular decided that instead of ending up on a highlight reel, he'd just bean the 20-year-old rather than become the latest Marlins pitcher to get victimized by Acuña.

Not only did Ureña draw the ire of the Braves, but also of the Marlins who weren't exactly thrilled with his actions. If you look at catcher J.T. Realmuto, it was apparent that was not where he wanted the ball to go and he wasn't happy when he saw Acuña leave the box in pain. This was clearly Ureña going into business for himself, and it was for such a dumb reason.

If you're angry about a guy beating you and having fun while doing so, the best thing to do is to get revenge on the field. Nobody gains anything from playing beanball, and now Jose Ureña will have to serve a suspension and pay a fine, and Acuña will surely be sore for a while. This is an ugly part of baseball that really needs to be nipped in the bud as soon as possible.

The Orioles are already officially eliminated

The Red Sox are on pace for a historically good regular season. Meanwhile in the same division, the Baltimore Orioles are going the opposite way at the same breakneck pace. They were officially eliminated from the AL East race after their 19-12 loss to Boston back on Aug. 10 — with an entire 46 games left to play. The loss put them in company with the 1962 New York Mets for the earliest elimination.

Simply put, you never want to be mentioned in the same breath as the '62 Mets, and here are the 2018 Orioles. They've been in the muck and mire of the AL East cellar since Day 1, and it seemed inevitable that this day would come. It's just amazing that it arrived so quickly, and now the O's will be battling history for the rest of the season. Will they just simply be terribly bad, or will they join those horrible Mets and finish the season as a historically bad outfit? It's been a rough week for the Beltway teams, huh.