Best Slideshows - League

In a year of stunning rookie performances, Cuban defector and Reds uber-prospect Aroldis Chapman made his major-league debut on Tuesday, facing three batters in one inning of work. The 22-year-old was electric, hitting 103 mph on the radar gun.

Winning a Triple Crown is one of the rarest feats in all of baseball. Very rarely do we even see one player contending for the average, home run, and RBI titles.

And you're telling me that there are three contenders in the National League this year?

Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez, Cincinnati's Joey Votto, and St. Louis's Albert Pujols are all in the hunt for the Triple Crown. And if none of them wins the honor, it will be one of them that keeps another from winning.

All season long, these three have been hitting absurdly for average and power.

October is creeping closer and closer as each day passes, which means the postseason is on the horizon.

We are in the Dog Days of summer, as many great baseball pundits like to call August. This is the point in the season when teams step up and make a push or crumble under the pressure.

Whether a team will falter down the stretch or rise to the occasion will generally come down to how good its manager is. This season a lot of the top managers in the game have their respective teams in the playoff hunt.

Without further ado, let's get rolling.

Since the days of Walter Johnson, the fastball has been a pitch that, when mastered, can blow hitters away.

Many pitchers enjoy looking at the radar gun on their fastball, but here are the ones that really come in at high velocity.

These are the top 10 flamethrowers of 2010 so far ...

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For one reason or another, the Twins always seem to get the better of the White Sox in Minnesota. Last night, that reason was Jim Thome.

The slugger belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning off reliever Matt Thornton to give the Twins a 7-6 win. More importantly, Thome's walk-off gave the Twins a four-game lead in the division race over his former team.

Here's a look at the 10 of the most important walk-off homers of the 2010 Major League Baseball season:

As of August 16, thirteen teams find themselves within six games of a playoff spot.

So while Boston, New York, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Chicago, Texas, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, San Diego, San Francisco, and Colorado will relish playing each other, that doesn't mean they should glaze over the rest of the schedule.

As we get ever so close to the end of the 2010 MLB season, the playoff picture has begun to slowly take form. There are six teams in the American division and six teams in the National division fighting for a postseason berth, with everybody else 8 games or more away from even flirting with a wild card.

In no specific order, the Yankees, Rays, Twins, White Sox, Rangers, and Red Sox are the big six slugging it out in the American League, while the Phillies, Braves, Cardinals, Reds, Padres, and Giants are battling it out in the National League.

Not everyone can be a winner.

These ten pitchers have found this out the hard way this season. Despite pitching very well for their teams this season they each have a losing record.

These ten pitchers have suffered from a lack of run support, poor defense behind them, and a case of bad luck.

Three of the pitchers on this list pitch for teams that are last place in their divisions, two play for teams that are still in the playoff hunt, and one pitcher on this list is actually on a first place team.

The MLB Playoffs are getting closer and many teams are still in contention. 

Since the trade deadline has passed, many teams will rely on their top prospects to help them get to the postseason.

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After shellacking the Chicago White Sox 12-6 on Tuesday night, the Minnesota Twins have moved into first place in the AL Central by one game.

Both teams are hot, with the Twins winning 12 and the White Sox winning 10 of the teams' last 15 games. White Sox have gone 39-16 since June 8th, overcoming a horrendous start to get to this point, while the Twins have gone 19-10 since the All-Star break without one of, if not their best, hitters.