Velocity records, win streaks, and a rookie who will not stop hitting home runs.
Last week had managers getting fired and Munetaka Murakami announcing himself to the baseball world. This week had a pitching record that may never be broken, a Cubs team that simply will not lose, and an Astros franchise watching its season fall apart in real time. Here is everything that mattered in the MLB week of May 3-9.
The Story of the Week: Misiorowski Rewrites the Record Books
On May 8 at American Family Field, Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski did something no starting pitcher in the Statcast era has ever done.
He set a new starter velocity standard in the Statcast era. His fastball topped out at 103.6 mph - three times - surpassing Jordan Hicks' previous tracked starter high of 103.2 mph set in 2022. In the first inning alone, he threw ten consecutive fastballs. None were below 102.4 mph. He finished with 10 pitches at 103 mph or higher, struck out 11 Yankees, and threw six shutout innings in a 6-0 Brewers win.
This was not a relief appearance. This was not a two-inning opener. This was a starting pitcher carrying triple-digit gas deep enough into the night that the radar gun became the story. The velocity record is one thing. The command to go with it is another. Misiorowski did both.
The Cubs Are a Problem
The Chicago Cubs are 27-13 and they have now accomplished something their franchise has not done since 1935: two 10-game winning streaks in the same season.
The second one reached 10 games on May 8 when Ben Brown - called up to replace injured starter Matt Boyd - threw four no-hit innings against the Rangers in his first start of the season. A Cubs win streak also features one of the best individual moments of the week: Michael Conforto coming off the bench to hit a pinch-hit walk-off home run at Wrigley Field, pushing the Cubs to their 12th consecutive win at home.
They are 20-3 over their last 23 games. The NL Central lead is 3.5 games over St. Louis. The Cubs are not just hot - they look like a team building toward something in October.
Murakami Update: He Keeps Going
There is not much new to say about Munetaka Murakami except that he keeps doing things nobody has ever done before.
After tying a Chicago White Sox franchise record with homers in five straight games in late April, Murakami's early-season power binge kept carrying into May. He is now the first player in MLB history to homer in the opening game of eight consecutive series. His home run total is near the top of baseball, his OPS sits at .965, and the only question anyone is asking in Chicago is when, not if, this pace slows down.
It has not slowed down yet.
The AL Rookie of the Year race is shaping up as a three-way fight between Murakami, Oakland's Nick Kurtz - who extended his on-base streak to 32 games this week, second-longest by an Athletic in the last 20 years - and Detroit's Kevin McGonigle, who is hitting .311 with a .417 OBP and enough baseball IQ at 21 years old that the Tigers locked him up with an eight-year, $150 million extension in April.
Correa's Season Is Over
The news that changed everything in Houston came on May 6, before a game against the Dodgers. Carlos Correa tore a tendon in his left ankle in the batting cage. Surgery required. Six to eight month recovery. Season done.
The Astros are 16-24 and five and a half games out of first in the AL West. Shortstop Jeremy Pena is also on the injured list with a hamstring strain. Catcher Yainer Diaz is out with an oblique strain. Houston has been one of the most injured teams in baseball and the Correa news is the worst of it. This was supposed to be a bounce-back year. It has not been.
Luke Raley's Career Night
The Mariners needed a big week and Luke Raley delivered one. On May 8 against the White Sox, he hit a grand slam in the third inning and a three-run homer in the seventh - a career-high seven RBI in a 12-8 win, the most by any player in baseball this season. He became the first Mariner to hit a grand slam and a three-run homer in the same game since Nelson Cruz in 2016.
Seattle is 19-21 and two and a half games behind Oakland in the AL West. Nights like Raley's are exactly what they need more of.
Did You See This?
Seven walks, one inning. The Cincinnati Reds issued seven consecutive walks in a single inning against the Pirates this week, tying an MLB record that had only been matched twice before in the sport's history - in 1909 and 1983.
The glove play. Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel, unable to get to the bag in time, threw his glove at it. The ball lodged inside. The umpire called the runner out. It is legal. It is also something most baseball fans have never seen.
Standings Snapshot
The two clear stories at the top: the Atlanta Braves (26-13, best run differential in baseball at +79) are running away from the NL East, and the Chicago Cubs (27-13) are doing the same in the NL Central. In the AL, the Yankees (26-14) and Rays (25-13) are in a dead heat at the top of the East while the rest of that division is 7.5+ games back.
The Oakland Athletics lead the AL West at 21-18 behind Kurtz's on-base machine act. The NL West remains tight - the Dodgers (24-14) lead the Padres (23-16) by a game and a half.
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