Face of baseball: Mike Trout is having such a superb season that he scored again on Wednesday — a day on which the Angels did not play. The All-Star Game was obscured by a focus on why Trout is not a bigger player in pop culture, triggering a bizarre punch from commissioner Rob Manfred (“Player marketing requires one thing for sure: the player”) and counterpunch from owner Arte Moreno and the Angels ("We applaud him for prioritizing his personal values over commercial self-promotion”). The pseudo-debate launched a million hot takes on Wednesday, with no games to divert attention, and in this instance the adult in the room was Trout himself.
Three up, three down: Mike Trout wins the week
