You are no longer allowed to trade Major Leaguers players this season. Hope that doesn’t ruin any plans you had for August and September.

As has been the case throughout the One True Trade Deadline Era, there was a flurry of activity in the days, hours and minutes leading up to Tuesday’s 6 p.m. ET Deadline. Much of it was orderly. Many of the names we expected to move moved, and many of the teams we expected to try to get better tried to get better.

• Here is every Trade Deadline deal

But as is always the case in baseball, there were developments that caught us off-guard. So here are seven storylines that surprised us, not just on Deadline Day but in the period leading up to it.

• The 23 best deals of the '23 Trade Deadline

Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are now division rivals!
A major narrative going into the year was two future Hall of Famers who were reportedly not buddy-buddy in their shared time in Detroit once again trying to win it all together in Queens. Now, we head into the home stretch with Scherzer and Verlander both in position to impact a great division race between the Rangers and Astros.

Clearly, no bridges were burned when Verlander got big money to leave Houston, and now the Astros have a piece that probably makes them the favorites to win the AL West once again. But Scherzer and his new squad will surely have something to say about that.

We’ve known for some time that the Mets would be sellers, but, until recently, few would have expected this steep a sell-off. Scherzer’s raw stuff has declined this season, and his homer rate has spiked, so it was, perhaps, no shock that the Mets would deal him despite designs on contending in 2024. Trading both Scherzer and Verlander will make a quick turnaround a lot more difficult for the Mets, though give them credit for using their immense financial capital to ensure these deals brought back important organizational prospect depth.

Eduardo Rodriguez is still a Tiger
E-Rod had a 4.74 ERA in 2021, but a 3.32 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) mark and other positive peripherals got him not only a five-year, $77 million contract with an opt out after two years but -- importantly -- a 10-team no-trade clause.

The veto power turned out to be impactful on Deadline Day, as Rodriguez turned down a deal to the Dodgers, who were on his no-trade list, because he wanted to be closer to his family. Now, he has the power to opt out of his remaining contract with a still-rebuilding Tigers team that, quite simply, hoped to move him and take advantage of his trade value in this market.

The Angels were buyers!
Not only did the Halos pull Shohei Ohtani off the market with five days to go (at the risk of going 0-5 and having egg all over their face), but they were among the Deadline’s most aggressive acquirers, bringing in Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López from the White Sox, then bringing back Randal Grichuk (who made his Angels debut 14 years after he was drafted by the club) and C.J. Cron before adding Dominic Leone on Tuesday. All this, in addition to the earlier additions of Mike Moustakas and Eduardo Escobar ... not to mention promoting two Draft picks from just last year.

(By the way, how about Giolito and López being involved in the same trade ... with Adam Eaton nowhere in sight?)

For the sake of all of us who want to see Ohtani in October, let’s hope this works. And frankly, this had better work. The Angels better need some return on their in-season investment, because the alternative is another empty season that prolongs what is tied for the longest active postseason drought in the sport and then trying to sell Ohtani on staying in Anaheim after forking over several more prospects to prop up the club.

The Cubs were buyers, too!
The North Siders were in good position to cash in on seller status this Deadline. Marcus Stroman (who can opt out and become a free agent this winter) would have been one of the best starters available, and Cody Bellinger (an impending free agent) the best bat available.

Except ... they weren’t available, because a funny thing happened on the way to the seller’s market: The Cubs won a bunch of ballgames (10 of 13 going into Deadline Day). Rather than laying down, the Cubbies asserted that they are still a factor in an NL Central race by bringing back Jeimer Candelario and adding reliever Jose Cuas. The second-place Brewers beefed up (Mark Canha, Carlos Santana, Andrew Chafin), the Reds were curiously quiet (lefty reliever Sam Moll was their lone add), and the Cubs, who entered Tuesday five games back, reminded everybody this could still be a three-team race.

The Royals’ return for Nicky Lopez
Not that anybody is viewing the utilityman Lopez as the darling of this Deadline, but there was no stranger trade return than the Royals trading Lopez, a good defender under control through 2025, to the Braves for a 28-year-old lefty reliever in Taylor Hearn, who comes with the same years of control and was just designated for assignment by the Rangers on July 19 ... and therefore available to the Royals at the time for cash.

The tepid tussle for AL Central supremacy!
Look, nobody’s going to be expecting much from whoever comes out of the AL Central this season. There’s a not-small chance the division champ has a losing record.

But at a time of year when competitive instincts kick in (as evidenced by the aforementioned Angels, Cubs and others), neither the Twins nor Guardians made much of an effort to assert themselves in 2023. The Twins dealt one struggling reliever (Jorge López) for another (Dylan Floro). The Guardians swapped starting shortstop Amed Rosario for Noah Syndergaard and made two moves more fixated on the future in dealing starter Aaron Civale and first baseman/DH Josh Bell for prospects Kyle Manzardo and Kahlil Watson.

Neither club is better today than it was a few days ago. But the format insists one of them will be good enough to claim the AL’s third seed.

The Padres were buyers ... but not for anything dramatic!
San Diego played poorly enough to invite discussion about impending free agents Blake Snell and Josh Hader but not poorly enough to actually sell off in a season in which fans have packed Petco Park. It was not a shock to see AJ Preller support a team that still has the pieces to advance in October ... if only it can get to October. Rich Hill, Ji Man Choi and Scott Barlow figure to be helpful, complementary pieces as the Padres try to pull off a late-season push.

But the Padres have spoiled us to the point where not bringing in Scherzer, Verlander, or Ohtani, qualifies as a surprise.