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          SweetSpot

          Five things we learned Wednesday: Josh Donaldson, MVP again?

          • David Schoenfield, ESPN Senior WriterAug 4, 2016, 01:59 AM ET
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            • Covers MLB for ESPN.com
            • Former deputy editor of Page 2
            • Been with ESPN.com since 1995
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          A lot of stuff to write about on this night ... the San Francisco Giants blew a 4-0 lead late against the Philadelphia Phillies (they're now 1-7 since the All-Star break in games started by Johnny Cueto and Madison Bumgarner). ... Max Scherzer continues to dominate. ... The New York Mets put Yoenis Cespedes on the DL on a day he was also out golfing and you imagine how that's going to go over in New York. The top five:

          1. Josh Donaldson is bringing the rain. The reigning MVP hit two home runs -- both to the opposite field -- as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Houston Astros 3-1 (he went back-to-back with Jose Bautista in the sixth inning). Donaldson is hitting .299/.408/.587 with 27 home runs, 76 RBIs and a league-leading 89 runs. He's on the short list of American League MVP candidates, along with Mike Trout and Jose Altuve. Your WAR leaders entering Wednesday:

          Baseball-Reference: Trout 6.8, Altuve 6.3, Donaldson 5.9

          FanGraphs: Trout 6.3, Donaldson, 5.9, Altuve 5.8

          As Trout well knows, it's difficult to win an MVP award if your team misses the playoffs, so this race could be decided by the Blue Jays or Astros making the postseason and the other one missing it. If both teams miss, that would presumably help Trout. Anyway, we'll wait a few more weeks before examining this race more in depth.

          Donaldson is one of my favorite stories in the game -- a late bloomer who started to hit after moving from catcher to third base. His four-year peak is among the best we've seen among third basemen since 1950. Here are the best runs for some Hall of Famers and one future Hall of Famer:

          Ron Santo, 1964-1967: 35.2

          Mike Schmidt, 1974-1977: 34.8

          Wade Boggs, 1985-1988: 33.6

          George Brett, 1977-1980: 31.0

          Josh Donaldson, 2013-2016: 29.7

          Eddie Mathews, 1953-1956: 29.2

          Adrian Beltre, 2010-2013: 26.5

          Chipper Jones, 1998-2001: 25.5

          Brooks Robinson, 1965-1968: 25.2

          Donaldson should still accumulate another 2 WAR or so the rest of the way and move past Brett into fourth on the list. Donaldson's MVP finishes have been fourth, eighth and first. Few third basemen have reached this level of play. Enjoy, Blue Jays fans.

          Oh, and how about a shout-out to Kevin Pillar. Diving catch Tuesday, even better diving catch Wednesday. Kevin Kiermaier won the AL Gold Glove in center field last year, but I think Pillar will get it this year:

          1A. Aaron Sanchez may NOT be going to the bullpen. More Blue Jays news, as John Gibbons said before the game that the team is "still debating what's going to actually happen" with the All-Star pitcher.

          Stay tuned.

          2. Welcome back, J.D. Martinez. The Detroit Tigers finally activated their slugging outfielder from the DL, and all Brad Ausmus asked him to do was pinch-hit in the eighth against Chris Sale in a 1-1 game. He did this:

          One of the cool moments of the season, and not just for the Tigers. That's eight straight wins for them. The Minnesota Twins bombed the Cleveland Indians again, so Detroit is suddenly just two games back. The low point for the Tigers was May 14, when they were 15-21 and 8½ games back. They were 7½ back on July 20. We have a race. Now the Tigers just have to beat the Indians. They're 1-11 against them with two series left in late September.

          3. We have to start paying attention to the Colorado Rockies. Trevor Story is out of the season, but the Rockies keep on winning, blasting the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-2 behind four home runs off a Dodgers rookie named Brock Stewart, whom I had never heard of until typing this sentence. Stewart started the season at Class-A Rancho Cucamonga and made his second MLB start at Coors Field. Probably not a good idea. The Dodgers have used 12 different starting pitchers ... wait, I digress. This is about the Rockies. They're 14-5 since the All-Star break and have gone from 16 games back of the Giants to just seven and three back of the St. Louis Cardinals for the second wild-card spot.

          One key has been rookie outfielder David Dahl, who was called up the same day as Astros rookie Alex Bregman to less fanfare. While Bregman has gone 1-for-32, Dahl is hitting .389/.421/.583 after going 3-for-5 on Wednesday. Carlos Gonzalez, who hit two home runs, did leave with an ankle sprain but it appears he should be OK:

          4. The Miami Marlins give a good gift to the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs stunned the Marlins with two runs off closer A.J. Ramos in the bottom of the ninth, just his second blown save of the season. The winning run came on this wild pitch:

          5. The Seattle Mariners give good gifts, too. Although I'm not sure if David Ortiz should take that fish on the plane. (The Mariners also beat the Boston Red Sox 3-1 with just three hits off Rick Porcello -- all solo home runs.)