What’s Next: Memorable April winds down

Was it a coincidence that voting for the 2016 All-Star Game launched on Sunday, not long before Bryce Harper launched a pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie a game?

Maybe. Then again, it could just be the fact that the magic of Major League Baseball is happening every inning, and what’s next in the week ahead is a rousing final seven days of the first month of the season. Yes, we’re still in the midst of an April that will be impossible to forget, but we’re also steaming right ahead toward the first day of May, inching ever closer to the drama of summer and the grand stage of October.

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Harper’s majestic blast against the Twins on what was originally supposed to be his off-day continued an otherwordly run for the defending National League Most Valuable Player Award winner that figures to keep going this week as his Nationals, who hold the best record in the Majors at 14-4, headline a home series against the Phillies and a road series against the Cardinals.

“What he’s doing is pretty special,” Nats left fielder Jayson Werth said. “He’s really coming into his own. He’s arguably one of the — if not ‘the’ — best players in the game.”

Harper enters the week with nine home runs, 23 RBIs and 10 walks. He’s clearly been one of the stories of April with plenty of momentum toward May.

But he’s hardly the only one.

Take Jake Arrieta. His no-hitter Thursday night in Cincinnati was the first one of the 2016 season, and the Cubs right-hander, who happens to be the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, should get the chance for an encore on Wednesday night at home against the Brewers. Opposing hitters and fans know quite well at this point that Arrieta is no ’15 fluke, nor does he appear to be an April mirage.

Arrieta’s just the real deal, …

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