Brandon Phillips’ 10-and-5 rights are about to kick in, which will give him full no-trade protection. Those rights, plus the money he’s owed, mean Phillips will likely be a member of the Reds through the end of his contract.

Nice move by the Pirates today. If Gregory Polanco can’t be in Clint Hurdle’s lineup on a regular basis, he needs to go somewhere that he can play.

The Angels are back on top in the American League West and find themselves looking down at every other team in the Major Leagues with five weeks remaining in the regular season.

It’s taken nearly seven months, hours of video review, discussions with umpires, managers and other catchers, but the Cubs’ Welington Castillo and John Baker believe they finally understand Rule 7.13 after some hands-on guidance from Joe Torre.

Having asked the bullpen to cover 13 innings in their weekend series against the Phillies, the Cardinals fortified their pitching staff on Monday by adding lefty Tyler Lyons prior to their series opener against Pittsburgh. St. Louis created space for Lyons on the 25-man roster by optioning infielder Greg Garcia to Double-A Springfield.

Throughout the season, the MLBPipeline.com staff will name Pipeline Prospects of the Week — one hitter and one pitcher who excelled over the previous seven days. This week, Cubs’ prospect Kyle Schwarber and Dodgers’ prospect Julio Urias were the winners.

If Houston’s Jose Altuve and Philadelphia’s Ben Revere can keep doing what they’ve been doing, 2014 will be one of those rare seasons in which one player — possibly two — could win a batting crown and also have as many as 40 stolen bases.

It is the year of the catcher in the National League Central. Whatever happens the rest of the way with a division title and a Wild Card spot or two up for grabs, the catchers in this division will be a major part of the storyline. There is no kind of catching shortage in four NL Central locales, and that’s with the premier all-around catcher in the game, Yadier Molina, currently on the disabled list.

The top of the stretch is in view. The contenders are gearing up for that final push. The best part of the season is almost here. The week ahead in Major League Baseball will close out the pivotal month of August and lead us into the frenzied, fantastic free-for-all known as September, when pennant races rule.

With Bartolo Colon reportedly on waivers, the door has opened on several possible scenarios for the Mets to move the right-hander in a trade.

Jered Weaver blanked the A’s through the first six innings, and his offense came to life against Scott Kazmir in the meantime, pushing the Angels to a sweep-avoiding 9-4 win at O.co Coliseum on Sunday to give the Halos a one-game lead in the AL West.

The A’s are suddenly drowning in injuries, chief among them a right intercostal strain to closer Sean Doolittle, who had to be placed on the 15-day disabled list in advance of Sunday’s series finale against the Angels.

Sharon Robinson, daughter of Jackie Robinson, couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride as she watched a team named for her father advance to the championship game of the Little League World Series.

The Mets turned their first triple play in more than four years Sunday at Dodger Stadium, thanks in large part to Yasiel Puig trying to take home on the sly.

Max Scherzer became the AL’s first 15-game winner with five innings of damage control as the Tigers pounded out 18 hits Sunday to earn a series split with Minnesota.

Brian McCann hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning to give the Yankees a 7-4 victory over the White Sox on Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

In all three games against the Pirates this weekend, the Brewers took an early two-run lead, only to see it disappear in the next frame. The first two instances resulted in blowout losses for the Brewers, but on Sunday, they did what was necessary to keep it from becoming three straight defeats. The offense added on runs immediately, and Mike Fiers made the lead stick with another strong start as Milwaukee avoided a sweep from its division rivals with a 4-3 win at Miller Park.