MLB Players of the Week May 3–9

MLB Players of The Week: Means Takes Honours in the American League

In the American League it is Baltimore Orioles starter John Means who tossed the no-hitter May 5th against the Seattle Mariners. Means’ single baserunner reached on a third-strike wild pitch and was later erased on a caught stealing. This was the only blemish on his otherwise perfect game.

For Orioles and baseball fans, it’s been a while since we have seen a member of the Baltimore pitching staff throw a no-hitter. On July 13 1991 four Orioles pitchers combined to no-hit the Oakland Athletics. 

You’d have to go back to 1969 to when Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer again no-hit the Athletics and the Orioles won by a score of 8-0. He was the only pitcher on the hill that day.

This nomination for Means is also significant because he is the the first Baltimore pitcher to earn that recognition since Arthur Rhodes in August 1994.

MLB Players of the Week: Miley Gets Nod in The National League

In the National League, Wade Miley also threw a no-hitter on Friday May 7th against the Cleveland Indians.

Miley and the Indians Zach Plesac had been staging a pitching duel until the Indians bullpen and infield behind them fell apart in the 9th. Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase"s throwing error and a balk allowed three Reds to ultimately score and then Miley was able to shut down the Indians in the bottom of the ninth.

Miley is the first Red to garner Player of the Week honors since Nick Castellanos who received it for the week ending Aug. 2, 2020 and the first Reds pitcher since Johnny Cueto for the week ending Aug. 10, 2014.

Is 2021 Shaping Up To Be the Season of the No-Hitter?

With Miley and Mean"s no-hitters, we"ve now seen four no-hitters so far this season. The Padres Joe Musgrove who threw the first in Padres" history on April 9. On April 14, Chicago White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodón blanked the Indians, just missing a perfect game when he hit a batter in the ninth inning.

The Arizona Diamondbacks Madison Bumgarner pitched a seven-inning no-hitter against Atlanta on April 25, but that one isn"t recognized as official because it didn"t go nine innings. That no-hitter is one that still has controversy surrounding it in our opinion.

We also haven"t seen four no-hitters this early in the season since 1917. That season the fourth was thrown on May 5 and the fifth on May 6. Is there correlation with the amount of no-hitters and the record-low .233 batting average in the Majors this season. Only time will tell.

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Main image credit: Embed from Getty Images