Mariano Rivera

I find it funny that Yankee fans are already proclaiming that CC Sabathia is the greatest free-agent pitcher signing in team history. Colin Linneweber of Bleacher Report offers an article titled "CC Sabathia's the Greatest Free-Agent Pitcher the Yanks Have Ever Signed."

He offers quotes from Joe Girardi and Mike Scioscia of his performances in the 2009 postseason. Sabathia has had a stellar postseason going 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA, but last time I checked Sabathia has only been in New York for less than a year.

The MLB finally had a chance to do the right thing in regards to a player that was caught cheating, but instead just as usual MLB turned its back on its fans! It's getting very old; this is the same MLB that allowed for steroids to become rampant.

Who was MLB protecting this time? The answer is Mariano Rivera. On camera there's a clip that shows Rivera clearly spitting on a baseball. Here's the clip if you want to see for yourself what Rivera did.

Twenty minutes to go before Game One. I am sorry I left this so long, but I've had a lot to look at, and a long week at my real job .

These two teams are absolutely the best two teams in the American League, both by record and by statistics. The winner of this series is the prohibitive favorite to win the World Series, no matter which National League team is left standing.

The deciding factor will be in the one place where there's any true disparity between the Yankees and the Angels: the bullpens.

Joe Girardi is fully enjoying his first appearance in League Championship Series as the New York Yankees manager.

Hopefully he would love that his joyous ride continues all the way to the Fall Classic.  However, first of all they have to beat the red hot Los Angeles Angels.

All fantasy owners know that closer is one of the most unpredictable positions to draft. Just look at this season, where David Aardsma and Ryan Franklin (just to give two examples) emerged from relative obscurity to help buoy fantasy bullpens. With that said, let’s take a look at an early shot at ranking the Top 15 fantasy closers, though a lot of things will cause this list to change, potentially drastically:

If there was any doubt about who was the best closer in the postseason, last night proved that Mariano Rivera is the man that all managers want to send out in a close game. Last night, the Colorado Rockies lost the third game of a best-of-five series to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Looking back at the game, the blame can easily be put on the closer. Huston Street entered the game with a two-run lead and watched it vanish before his eyes. The day before that game, the Red Sox experienced a similar heart-breaking experience with their closer, Jonathan Papelbon.

By Ryan of The Sportmeisters

About The Minnesota Twins:

A day after clinching the AL Central in a one-game playoff, the Twins travel to the Big Apple to take on the Yankees. At 87-76, the Twins closed a seven-game deficit, going 17-4 over the final month to tie the Detroit Tigers and force the playoff before clinching the AL Central.

In 1998, the Yankees won 114 games in the regular season, which at the time was an American League record (it would be broken in 2001 by the Seattle Mariners). 

The 1998 Yankees were not the most talented team ever, but they were the most complete team. 

Each of the 25 guys on the team had a role, and they each executed it. The 1998 Yankees had a great combination of youth and experience, power and speed, and right-handed and left-handed pitching. 

For the better part of thirteen years, Mariano Rivera has been coming out of the bullpen for the Yankees and doing God-like things. 

Mo has come through time after time in the clutch, using his signature cut-fastball to strike fear in the heart of major league hitters every where. 

Yesterday against Tampa Bay, with the game tied at five in the ninth, Girardi went to his reliable closer, and instead of holding the tie, Mo blew the lead...big time. He actually had to be taken out of the game, something that is rarely seen when it comes to Rivera.