MLB Playoffs

We have officially hit crunch time in the 2014 MLB season, as the month of August comes to a close and teams have roughly 30 games left to secure a spot in the postseason.

In the National League, seven teams still boast a winning record, and the Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds are hanging on the fringe of contention as well.

The 2013 playoff races were defined by strong rookie performances.

There was Michael Wacha, who went from first-round draft pick in 2012 to No. 2 starter for the St. Louis Cardinals down the stretch and well into the postseason. Gerrit Cole and Sonny Gray had similar impacts on their respective teams, as both right-handers reached the major leagues in the middle of the season and ultimately shined in their first tastes of playoff baseball.

1. Golden State will rule in October

"Don't know much about history...

"Don't know much biology..."

Dang. That time of year again, huh? Time to trade the sun block for the textbooks, the pool for the school. Already? Believe me, if I could roadblock summer's end, I would.

"Don’t know much about geography..."

Wait! I can help get you on track there. Geography? Easy. Follow the bouncing hardball west.

The 2014 MLB season keeps trucking along.

Just over a week removed from the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline and the corresponding intrigue, a new set of storylines has emerged.

Tony Bosch is back in the news, surrendering to the DEA for conspiracy to distribute steroids. And with his arrest comes a request from MLB for a new set of names. If granted, the repercussions could have an impact on the playoff race.

The 2014 MLB season has given us plenty of interesting storylines.

Chicago White Sox rookie Jose Abreu is filling up the stat sheet on a nightly basis. New York Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka took the American League by storm before landing on the disabled list.

With the trade deadline now passed and the calendar switching over to August, we have officially reached the stretch run of the 2014 MLB season.

The entire MLB landscape has been wide open this season, and after one of the busiest trade deadlines in recent memory, the final two months of the year should be awfully exciting.

No division lead is bigger than four games entering play Saturday, and a grand total of 21 teams are within six games of a playoff spot, as parity has certainly reigned in both leagues here in 2014.

Taking a temperature reading in the dead of winter is never fun, but with February officially underway and spring training just around the corner, it won't be long before everything starts to thaw and eventually warm up in Major League Baseball.

With the calendar set to flip from 2013 to 2014, there is still a good deal of MLB offseason left between now and the start of spring training, but already it has started to become clear who will and will not contend in the season ahead.

There are always surprises, as the Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles in 2012 and Cleveland Indians this past year can attest to, but it's still fun to predict how things will play out.

With the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reporting that the New York Mets inked Curtis Granderson to a four-year, $60 million deal, the team is undoubtedly improved heading into the 2014 season.

With the Hot Stove season in full swing and rumors flying around about what the New York Mets will do in free agency, the 2014 roster is far from set.

While moves in free agency and the trade market need to be made before the Mets can be considered a potential playoff team, there is one player already on the roster whose development can push the Mets to a 2014 playoff berth: Travis d’Arnaud.