MLB Playoffs

I wouldn't want to be a Los Angeles Dodger fan for a variety of reasons, mainly because I've lived in San Francisco or its suburbs for most of the last 22 years. As such, I'm a die-hard fan of the Giants and I loathe the Bums.

At this particular moment, however, I wouldn't want to follow the beautiful Dodger blue for one, specific reason: the national media is setting them up for a fall. They're being sacrificed at the altar of commerce and wishful thinking is taking the place of objective analysis to do the job.

Bobby Abreu, Vladimir Guerrero, and Kendry Morales were the heroes in the Los Angeles Angels' defeat of the Boston Red Sox.

Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, and Robinson Cano were among the hottest Yankee bats in the three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins.

The Tampa Bay Rays have been surging through the AL East standings of late, winners of eight of their last 10 and went 19-7 in the month of June. Now the question remains are they peaking to early or playing up to their potential? And if they are peaking too early how do they become better.

Analysts on ESPN, Fox Sports, and Sports Illustrated believe the Rays do not have enough to compete with Boston and New York, barring a move before the trade deadline. It is suspected both Boston and New York will get better, thus the Rays also need to get better. 

This is an open letter to the Seattle Mariners front office with a realistic list of moves that need to be made whether that be trades, call ups, free agent signings etc.

The reason I have included the word realistic is because this will not include dreams like Ronny Cedeno to the Cardinals for Albert Pujols. No, all of the moves will be realistic.

The Florida Marlins have enjoyed a nice recovery thanks to Interleague play. Taking two of three against the Yankees and sweeping the Orioles have helped them climb back into NL East contention.  

There seems to be a battle for the team RBI lead. Hanley Ramirez currently has 47 thanks to two grand slams in the Baltimore series. Jorge Cantu is in second with 46, while Cody Ross and Dan Uggla are tied for third with 45. Emilio Bonifacio has 13 stolen bases, while Ramirez has 11. 

Growing up in Toronto during the heyday of the Blue Jays run to the back-to-back titles, I was blessed with being able to witness both the building of a championship team from scratch as well as the ability of a wealthy team and city paying big bucks to keep the team together.

While the Blue Jays payroll was at or near the top of the league in '92 and '93 when they won their titles, the differences from top to bottom were nothing like they are today.

The New York Yankees destroyed the New York Metropolitans 15-0 Sunday in the Bronx to win two out of the three games played during this weekend’s first installment of the 2009 Subway Series.

The lopsided victory was the biggest blowout between the cross-town rivals since the inception of interleague league play in 1997 and it was the Bombers largest margin of victory since they defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 21-4 in 2007.

An achy back sidelines your dominant young hurler.

A freak accident causes a hairline fracture to the thumb of your hot-hitting all-star second baseman.

A strange ailment that started as mysterious dizzy spells and has changed to a stress-related condition has put your best hitter on the DL.

Just like that, the promising season of the Cincinnati Reds has begun to unravel.

This article originally appeared on Fantasyfootballmaniaxs.com.

Finally, after weeks of waiting, the top prospect in baseball arrives to the majors. 

Matthew Wieters, a switch-hitting elite catching prospect, will be making his major league debut on Friday against Dontrelle Willis and the Detroit Tigers. 

It will be a grand day for baseball, as a new era of young stars is born. He is the first to make some noise.

"As time passes, my story fades away."

-Dave Dravercky

Dave Dravecky made his major-league debut with the San Diego Padres on June 15th, 1982.