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Can Ronald Acuña Jr. join 40-40 club after becoming second youngest to 30-30?

Mark Townsend
Yahoo Sports Contributor

Major League Baseball won't have the spotlight to itself for much longer. The NFL and college football seasons are upon us, meaning fans attention will be divided in the weeks and months ahead.

Some of the league’s brightest superstars did their part to keep that spotlight on Friday. That includes Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. In Friday’s thrilling 2-1 win in 14 innings against the New York Mets, Acuña became the newest member of MLB’s 30-30 club.

Now his sights are set on an even more exclusive club: 40-40.

That was just one notable moment in a night filled with milestones, comebacks and records that highlight how fun and unpredictable baseball can be.

Let’s take a quick look back.

Second-youngest to join 30-30 club

If was a matter of when, not if, Ronald Acuña Jr. would reach 30-30. In doing so, Acuña became the second youngest player overall and the first Venezuelan-born player to reach the milestone.

It’s fitting that Mike Trout is the only player ahead of Acuña. Prior to Friday’s game, teammate Freddie Freeman made that exact comparison.

Trout ended 2012 with 30 homers and 49 steals. He’s not since repeated a 30-30 season, which gives Acuña an opportunity to go somewhere Trout hasn’t and likely never will.

Next stop: 40-40 club?

The question now is whether Acuña can achieve 40 homers and 40 steals.

Jose Canseco (1988), Barry Bonds (1996), Alex Rodriguez (1998) and Alfonso Soriano (2006) are the only four players in MLB history to reach the 40-40 mark.

Acuña needs four more home runs and 10 steals in Atlanta’s final 32 games. He figures to have the green light on the basepaths, which gives him a really good shot to do it.

As for the other big happenings around MLB.

Marlins’ comeback makes history

If Acuña brought the fun, then the Marlins brought the unpredictable.

Friday’s game started like many others for Miami this season. Even without Bryce Harper in the Philadelphia Phillies lineup, Miami was down 7-0 by the third inning.

Seven runs is a lot for any offense. It likely feels like even more to Miami considering that’s twice what its NL-worst offense has averaged per game this season.

So what happened next?

Naturally, the Marlins scored seven runs in the third inning alone, and then nearly tripled that number by game’s end. Miami won the game 19-11, completing the biggest turnaround in an MLB game since 1990.

The outcome is more of an indictment of the Phillies. Not only did they blow Friday’s game, they’ve missed several opportunities by going 6-8 against Miami this season. The Braves, Mets and Nationals have gone a combined 36-11 against the Marlins.

In other words, it’s one of the biggest reasons Philadelphia is struggling to gain ground in the wild card race.

Gary Sanchez’s history-making milestone

It’s only fitting Gary Sanchez reached a notable milestone on Players’ Weekend.

With “Kraken” written across his back, the New York Yankees catcher went down to one knee to launch the 100th home run of his career.

Only one player in MLB history has reached 100 home runs faster. And that player wasn’t a catcher.

Aristides Aquino sets another home run record

Cincinnati Reds rookie Aristides Aquino ended a six-day home run “drought” with a second-inning home run in Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Yet despite his slowing home run pace, he’s still making history.

You can’t stop Aristides Aquino. You can only hope to contain him.

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