MLB History

Welcome to the third edition of Bleacher Report's MLB rivalry series.

In the weeks to come, we'll be highlighting some of the biggest head-to-head rivalries in our national pastime and shining light on the past, present and future of those matchups.

Welcome to the second edition of Bleacher Report's MLB rivalry series.

In the weeks to come, we'll be highlighting some of the biggest head-to-head rivalries in our national pastime and shining light on the past, present and future of those matchups.

Los Angeles Angels superstar Albert Pujols hit his 564th and 565th home runs Monday, surpassing Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson and putting him 13th all time in career home runs. 

In 1995 the New York Mets felt they were on the verge of an All-Star pitching rotation consisting of Bill Pulsipher, Jason Isringhausen and Paul Wilson. This highly promoted young trio was dubbed "Generation K."

When Adam Wainwright tore his Achilles tendon in April, the St. Louis Cardinals were left without their true ace—let alone one of baseball’s top pitchers—for most of the season.

October 25, 1998, has been seen as a great day in Toronto Blue Jays history. The ball passed from one legend to another when reliever Dave Stieb took the ball from starting pitcher Roy Halladay for the first and only time in club history.

These icons are widely considered two of the greatest in Blue Jays history, so it is no wonder that this moment has been frozen in time.

Major League Baseball's offseason has been bananas, right? Perhaps the wildest and most active in recent memory—or maybe ever. At least, that's how it feels while we're right in the middle of it.

But how does this offseason stack up with hot stoves past?

Let's start with a quick table that ranks the past nine offseasons in terms of total spending on free-agent contracts, according to ESPN.com:

With just over three quarters of the MLB season complete, it is a good time to take a look at some records that are on the verge of being broken during the rest of the 2014 campaign.

True, the marks we are going to discuss don’t necessarily carry legendary weight. No one is on the precipice of breaking Barry Bonds’ single-season home run record, for example, or of topping the 233 strikeouts Mark Reynolds amassed in 2009.

These will be a bit more obscure.

If you are a fan of power pitching and strikeout artists, it's never been a better time to watch the game of baseball evolve. Heading into play on May 5, 26 starting pitchers were averaging at least one strikeout per inning.

Hey, want to see how legendary scandals are made?