Cubs infielder Javy Baez is having the kind of season that is putting him in the MVP discussion.
On Sunday, he hit some milestones to go with his case for illustrious award. First off, by taking the field, Baez reached 500 games for his career. The 25-year-old is in his fifth season with the Cubs, but this is by far his best.
Baez homered off Phillies starter Aaron Nola in the sixth inning of an 8-1 Cubs win. He later added a triple, but that home run gave Baez a pair of round numbers. He is up to 30 home runs on the year, which is tied for seventh most in the National League. Baez also reached the magical 100-RBI mark, which is tied for the NL lead with Eugenio Suarez of the Reds.
He became the first Cubs middle infielder to reach 100 RBIs since Ryne Sandberg in 1991.
Baez has stiff competition in the MVP race, but he also leads the league in slugging percentage (.581) and is top 10 in stolen bases (21) and OPS (.912). He is also eighth in the NL with 131 strikeouts.
There's still a month left, but Baez is setting career-highs across the board. The 30 home runs and 100 RBIs are already new career-highs. The same goes for his 21 stolen bases and 83 runs scored. Baez is currently more than 100 points higher in OPS than he was last year (.797)