Best Slideshows - Team

For Los Angeles Dodgers fans, the realization that their club hasn’t played a meaningful game in the last month of the season remains tough to swallow.

Los Angeles is headed for a sub-.500 record and an offseason of turnover, a 500-foot home run from the last two seasons that saw the Dodgers advance to the National League Championship Series. 

The New York Yankees are sputtering down the stretch and could find themselves as the American League Wild Card team once the playoffs get underway.

A.J. Burnett struggled yet again as the Yankees suffered a 7-5 loss to the Blue Jays in Toronto Monday night.

New York's magic number to clinch a playoff spot is still stuck at one following their fifth loss in six games.

Make no mistake, the reigning World Champions have big problems as the postseason rapidly approaches.

Here's a look at 10 reasons why the Yankees won't make it out of the ALDS.

The list of things that went right with the 2010 Seattle Mariners season starts and ends with Felix Hernandez.

King Felix should be the favorite for the Cy Young after a stellar season that includes a 2.31 ERA (second in baseball), a 1.06 WHIP (tied for fourth in baseball), and 227 strikeouts (second in baseball). 

Ichiro Suzuki is pretty good too, recording his 10th straight 200-hit season early last week.

After that, however, the Mariners roster is a collection of misfits, underachievers, over-the-hill veterans, and colossal busts. 

The Minnesota Twins have clinched the AL Central and heading into the final week of the regular season they are likely to rest key players such as Jim Thome, Joe Mauer, and Michael Cuddyer.

A first round matchup with the New York Yankees is looking more and more likely with each Yankee loss and Tampa Bay win. 

Which team gives Minnesota the best chance to advance is a discussion for another time. The main focus here is going to be what the Twins need to do in the postseason to ensure they advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2002. 

Here we go...

Felix Hernandez is having a season to remember.

The Cy Young Award is hardly a gimme in Major League Baseball.

Reserved for what is supposed to be the best pitcher in his respective league that year, the pinnacle of a season's pitching achievements sometimes is not given to truly the top thrower.

Though his record may not portray Hernandez's position among the best, the Seattle Mariners unquestionably boast a top candidate for this year's AL Cy Young.

It's been a bad year for Cleveland Indians fans.

Most of us Tribe faithful had low expectations when the season began. This was supposed to be a transition year, as the fruits of one of the deepest farm systems in the game got their first taste of the big leagues.

But even if they weren't supposed to be serious contenders, it's hard to see the Indians flailing behind even the Kansas City Royals in the basement of the AL Central without wondering how things went this wrong.

When it comes time to renew a player's contract, make trades, or sign free agents, major league general managers can seem incredibly cut-throat and can be perceived as demonstrating little loyalty to their players.

But when major league general managers change jobs, they are often stricken with a dose of loyalty, and will often seek to acquire many of the prospects and youngsters they developed during their time with the previous team.

Only July 21st of this year, the Philadelphia Phillies lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis. The loss was the sixth in seven games for the Phils, and dropped the team to just two games over .500 and 7.0 games behind the Braves in the NL East.

The season looked to be all but over for the Phils, who weren't playing particularly well in any facet of the game.

Now, on September 9th, less than two months later, the Phillies have the best record in the National League.

What a difference a year makes.

After two consecutive trips to the NLCS in 2008 and 2009, Dodgers fans had even higher hopes for the 2010 season.

Folks in Dodgertown knew that the divorce between Frank and Jamie McCourt would have some type of effect on the organization, but nobody guessed the 2010 campaign would turn into a struggle on the field.

Man, Ruben Amaro blew it.

He had Cliff Lee in his possession, and threw him away for nothing so that he could acquire Roy Halladay.

And now? The Philadelphia Phillies are screwed. Sure, they picked up Roy Oswalt, but he's not Cliff Lee, and they had to give up J.A. Happ to get him.

Amaro could have had the best pitching staff in baseball, and he threw it all away.

He sucks.

Except...

It isn't true. It is a myth. It is a Phillies' myth, one that Phillies fans have latched onto, and one which they need to let go of.