A tough loss on the last day of the week has the Turtles looking ahead to Minnesota. The Turtles still are at the top of the American League, but just barely. 

Ah, so that's what revenge tastes like. The T-Birds took down the Turtles on our second attempt, outlasting a comeback attempt by Tampa Bay. 2B/SS Matt McLain had 4 extra base hits, C Will Smith hit a homer, and 1B Freddie Freeman got his 2000th hit on Sunday to keep ourselves in the lead. Most importantly, recent callup 3B/SS Elly De La Cruz hit for the cycle in what may have been the game of the year, adding to the legend of the T-Birds' most recent promotion to the bigs. After that exciting week, we return home to Gila River Park to host the Havana Cubans. We beat them in the first week of the season, which means they won't make it easy on us to capture a piece of the AL lead. As we will wear our traditional home set, we will focus on the exotic Chiricahua National Monument in the southeast corner of the state, protected for its vast number of hoodoos and balancing rocks. #Thunderstruck

The team of the week featured almost exclusively players that had been on the Team of the Week previously, but I think that, regardless of the fact that he wasn't the highest scoring hitter out there (that was Ketel Marte), we should highlight Thunderbirds rookie Elly De La Cruz for hitting for a cycle and making the team for the first time. You can swap him and Ha-seong Kim between 3B and SS this week, they both qualify at both positions, and both were the top two at those positions.

Back on the winning track as we head into the All Star Break. This week the first place Turtles take on their Florida Straits Rival, the Havana Cubanos. 

The Team of the Week features a player make the team for the 5th time on the season, as Shohei Ohtani claims the Utility spot again, but the Cubans took the loss (that's a joke on Shohei doing historical things and the Angels always losing). Both the top hitter and top pitcher this week were from the Deacons, as Detroit is doing all the things well, so we get to see both Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider. Also, it was a good week individually if your first name was Spencer, as three Spencer's made the Team of the Week.