AL West

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Ian Kinsler cranked a two-out, bases-empty home run in the top of the fourth inning of Thursday's Game 2 of the American League Division Series, giving the Texas Rangers a 2-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays.

The bomb could go a long way toward earning the Rangers a far more important 2-0 lead—in the ALDS, that is.

Kinsler's shot was sweet redemption after he grounded out with a runner on second base in the second inning, and came on a fastball from the homer-prone Jame Shields of the Rays.

Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers doubled to center field off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher James Shields with one out in the top of the second inning, but the Texas offense could move him no further. Second baseman Ian Kinsler grounded out to shortstop, failing to move Cruz over to third. Mitch Moreland then flew out in foul territory to left field, ending the Texas threat.

Cliff Lee opened up the ALDS yesterday for the Texas Rangers in Tampa Bay as they faced off the Rays in Game 1. Lee was matched up against Tampa’s ace, David Price. It was set to be an epic pitching duel, but Lee completely dominated leading the Rangers to a 5-1 victory.

Texas Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee pitched a great Game 1 of the the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays. The only problem is that he quickly took a back seat to Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay.

Statistics can prove anything, but more often than not, they mean nothing. I enjoy bits of trivia, not because I want to win a bet with my friends, but because they can shed light on trends and highlight new things. As a baseball fan and sports junkie, I love hearing something and saying, "Wow, I never knew that."

Keeping that in mind, here are a collection of stats, facts, and notes about your American League playoff teams, thanks to Elias Sports Bureau, SABR, press officers, and media reps. Enjoy the information overload.

Finally. With the completion of Sunday's Major League Baseball regular season schedule, we now know who's in, who's out, and which matchups to look forward to when playoff action commences Wednesday.

The divisional round of the baseball playoffs begin this week.

All eight teams have at least 90 wins. This is only the third time since 2000 that each playoff team has hit the ninety-win plateau. It certainly means that the cream has risen to the top.

It took the entire 162 game season to clarify the playoff pairings for both leagues.

In the American League the AL East Division title was still up in the air. Tampa Bay's victory assured them the AL East title, and the best record in the league.

While the Cy Young debate in the American League is getting a lot of attention, the Most Valuable Player award is not. Although it is discussed occasionally, people are not giving it the attention that it deserves.

The front-runner(s) at this point are Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera, and Josh Hamilton. All have had incredible seasons, but can also be easily argued against. If you ask me, this debate will come down to the wire, because no one is running away with it.

Expectations can be tricky things.

Often times, teams with high expectations fail to measure up, while squads without expectations do better than anticipated.  For the 2010 Athletics, the latter is true.

Without any considerable power threat on the roster (Jack Cust started the season at Triple-A), it was hard to imagine the non-explosive A's coming close to .500 record.  With two games the left, Oakland is two wins away from finishing 81-81.