Five things we learned Sunday: Dustin Pedroia can still play

12:56 AM ET

Andrew Miller is a member of the Cleveland Indians, Jonathan Lucroy is not. The Baltimore Orioles picked up Wade Miley, but Jay Bruce is still with the Cincinnati Reds. But there are still games that were played! Sunday’s top five, on-field edition (note: the Cubs’ crazy, 12-inning win over the Mariners that ended with Jon Lester squeezing in Jason Heyward with two strikes finished after this had been written; really, we could have done a top five just off that game alone):

1. Dustin Pedroia is still doing Dustin Pedroia things. You could see it coming. The Red Sox got a couple runners on base against struggling Angels closer Huston Street. Then Mookie Betts lined a two-out, two-strike single to right-center to make it a 3-1 score. Then Dustin Pedroia launched one to center field. Mike Trout tried to scale the wall, to no avail. Pedroia’s three-run home run gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead and Xander Bogaerts delivered the exclamation point with another home run.

Down to the last out?Not an issue for @15Lasershow.https://t.co/frEoI9WjrH

— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) July 31, 2016

Pedroia’s fine season has been lost in the glitter of David Ortiz’s final campaign and the All-Star first halves of Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr., but he’s hitting .303/.373/.453 with 12 home runs, 70 runs and 46 RBIs plus his usual excellent defense.

Somebody asked me recently about Pedroia’s Hall of Fame chances. He’s closing in on 50 career WAR, and usually 60 or so is needed to get you into that gray area. Pedroia will have other positives to go with that: An MVP Award, a Rookie of the Year Award and two World Series rings (so far). The analytics have always loved his defense and while he’s won four Gold Gloves, I’m not sure his reputation is in the same area as a Roberto Alomar or Ryne Sandberg, so it’s hard to know how much credit voters will give him …

continue reading in source espn.go.com