Opinion

It is time to take these guys quite seriously.

Most of the numbers say we probably shouldn’t. Their run differential says they should be well under .500. Their offense is not entirely intimidating and could be seen as a liability. Their overall pitching is about the worst in Major League Baseball, and their rotation has not been much better.

Based on all of that, this is a club that should be falling back for a top draft position: not holding onto a playoff position.

The main plot of the three-game series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels that concluded Sunday was the playoff chase.

The Halos are in the thick of the wild-card hunt, and the Jays hold a narrow half-game edge over the New York Yankees in the American League East.

But there was a solid subplot to this weekend's action: the burgeoning AL Most Valuable Player race between Josh Donaldson and Mike Trout.

Since Major League Baseball added the wild card to the playoffs in 1995, 12 teams have advanced from Wild Card Weekend to World Series. Six of those teams went from Wild Card to world champions, proving that all you need is a chip and a chair.

Both World Series teams last season advanced to the Fall Classic via the wild card, and that’s what this list is all about. September is about to play out in front of our eyes, and October lies just on the other side.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have arguably the two best starting pitchers in the National League. After that, they have a lot of troubling questions.

Here's the biggest one: Is this team good enough to call itself a legitimate contender?

The answer seems like an obvious "yes," considering the Dodgers entered play Sunday in first place in the National League West at 67-55.

Talk about drumming up drama where there is none. 

In what might have easily erupted into a full-blown baseball scandal, a shiny substance that may have been anything from sunscreen to sweat was pictured on Houston Astros right-hander Mike Fiers' glove during his historic performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. 

However things turn out, 2015 will go down as a magical season for the Houston Astros. On Friday night, Mike Fiers added a pretty neat trick of his own.

The criticism has been shot with impunity, mostly because everyone with an Internet connection has done it, and the targets have been easy to hit.

NEW YORK — The best team ever didn't win.

No, that's not right. By definition, the best team ever is one that won.

However, the "BEST TEAM EVER!" didn't.

It was the 2011 Boston Red Sox, and we know it now as the team that collapsed in a mess of beer and fried chicken. But the day before Opening Day, we knew it as the team the Boston Herald called the "BEST TEAM EVER!"

Another week of MLB action is in the books, which means it's time for a fresh installment of Bleacher Report's Team of the Week.

In case you're new to the party, these are the players (one per position, plus a designated hitter) who have busted box scores over the past seven days. Forget their overall stats. We're judging them solely on what they accomplished between August 14 and August 20.

Marlon Byrd has value. 

It is tangible. It’s not like saying he brings leadership or veteran experience to a clubhouse. Those things can’t be measured. And who knows if they actually help? Especially when a team already possesses such qualities across its rows of lockers.