10 reasons why Wednesday’s action thrilled

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Where do you start on a day like this one? With Mad Max’s 20 strikeouts? Of course. No doubt about it.

On the other hand … did you catch Noah Syndergaard’s amazing night? Sure, we love the guy because of that 100-mph fastball and an absolutely fearless approach. About the last thing we expect is to be celebrating his hitting. There it was, though, on this crazy day. Syndergaard hit the second home run of his career in the third inning against the Dodgers on Wednesday. Two innings after that, he hit another one.

That was the day in a nutshell. How about three extra-inning walk-offs? Or the Padres sweeping a doubleheader from the Cubs? Or the Red Sox making a habit of scoring 13 runs?

Was this the best day of the 2016 season? Absolutely. That’s the thing about this game. It delivers again and again, not just with incredible individual performances, but teams doing themselves proud.

This is a reminder why it’s the best sport on the planet and why we love it. This isn’t the September stretch run. This isn’t the postseason.

Doesn’t matter. On Wednesday, baseball gave us one of those days that was spectacularly entertaining. We could use a day or two to wrap our minds around all of it. That is, if we weren’t back at it on Thursday.

Wednesday was memorable in many ways. OK, let’s count ’em:

1. Max! Scherzer was ridiculously good in striking out 20 as the Nationals beat the Tigers, 3-2, at Nationals Park. He was just as good afterwards, soaking in the moment, looking for the right words. That was one of the sweetest parts of this day.

Scherzer is one of the real good guys in baseball. He’s smart, curious, talkative and relentlessly driven to be great. Scherzer has remade himself during nine big league seasons, refining his slider, adding a curveball, looking for any advantage.

Scherzer had it all on display, throwing 51 of 62 fastballs for strikes, throwing 119 pitches in all and joining Kerry Wood, Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens in the 20-strikeout club.

2. Thor! Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda did what he was supposed to do. He threw the opposing pitcher a batting-practice first-pitch fastball in the top of the …

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