One is looking to put together the kind of healthy and dominant season that we've been expecting from him since he emerged as the game's top prospect more than a decade ago, and the other has been key to helping a young Cardinals team surpass preseason expectations in what is quickly emerging as the game's most competitive division.
On Monday, Byron Buxton and Alec Burleson shared the spotlight as their league's winner of the Player of the Week Award.
In seven games last week, Buxton went 10-for-29 (.345) with a double, five homers, two steals, six runs scored and seven knocked in. He went deep in five of the seven games, including three straight for the sixth time in his career.
This is the third Player of the Week Award in Buxton's 12-year career. He also took home AL honors on Aug. 26, 2017, and June 11, 2022. This was the first Player of the Week Award for any Twins hitter since Luke Keaschall last Aug. 9.
Buxton is the sixth player to win at least three awards as a member of the Twins, joining Kent Hrbek (four times), Hall of Famer Joe Mauer (four times), Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett (four times), Hall of Famer Rod Carew (three times) and Johan Santana (three times).
Burleson, 27, helped to lead the surging Cardinals to six wins in seven games last week by going 11-for-27 (.407) with three doubles, two homers, eight runs scored and 11 RBIs. The NL's Silver Slugger winner at first base a year ago, Burleson had at least one hit and one RBI in six straight games.
This was the first Player of the Week honors for Burleson, who made his big league debut with St. Louis in 2022, and the first by a Cardinals player since Nolan Gorman on May 20, 2023.
Burleson's teammate Nathan Church helped to secure one of the Cardinals' six wins last week by robbing the Pirates' Nick Gonzalez of what would have been a walk-off home run at PNC Park on Wednesday.
Church is the sixth Cardinals fielder to earn Play of the Week honors since the award's inception in 2019, and the first since Nolan Arenado on June 30, 2025.