Opinion

The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida has released its annual report on the diversity of Major League Baseball. According to an article on ESPN.com, the report lists the percentage of black MLB players at 8.5 percent, down from 9.1 percent in 2010.  It has been declining a little every year since 2008, when it was at 10.2 percent.

Well, this certainly isn't the start anyone expected, right?

The Boston Red Sox now sit at 7-11, are in the cellar and are four games off the pace of the New York Yankees in the AL East race.

For the first week of the season, it was easy to be relaxed and beg those in "The Nation" to remain calm because it was still early. After the second week, even the optimistic became nervous.

On Opening Day this year, the percentage of African American players fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest since 2007. The highest percentage was 19 percent in 1995. So why is the percentage of black players going down in the majors? Is there an underlying racial problem?

Not as much as you would think.

Playoff expansion has its pros and cons.

I think it is obvious that including more teams (within reason) would be beneficial for the game. The more teams that make the playoffs, the more revenue there would be for teams and more baseball for fans.

But it's equally obvious that there are pitfalls, such as extending play deeper into the cold and rainy months of October and November.

There was a time when the team with the best record in its league qualified to play in the World Series. It was called "winning the pennant."

Starting in 1969, the team with the best record in its division qualified for a best three-of-five playoff series against its league's other division winner. This led to some interesting results.

It's hard to be a baseball manager. It's even harder to manage in New York City. It's even harder than that to manage the New York Yankees.

With pockets deep enough to absorb almost any contract and make any change at any time, the Yankees possess power no team can match.

Success in baseball generally comes from solid pitching. This is especially the case for the Pirates this season.

When the Pirates hold opponents to four runs or fewer they are 7-2. When they give up five runs or more they are 1-9.The Pirates team ERA is 4.24, which is good for 19th in Major League Baseball.

They aren’t striking many batters out (118) and are walking too many (73).

More and more, teams are handing out big money to lock up their players long-term. That's really nothing new. When you have a big-time talent, you want to keep that guy in uniform as long as you can.

But what's interesting is the lengths teams have gone to recently to sign players to contract extensions that may or may not be necessary.

For those of you that have ESPN Insider, it is likely that you may have seen Eric Karabell's article yesterday going over some early performances among the league's rookies.

He states in the article that while the Atlanta Braves are "very committed" to Freeman, he had some worries about how well he has hit so far this year.

It's time to bring Showtime back to Los Angeles.

With everyone on the planet speculating about who could possibly step up and become the next owner of one of the most storied franchises in all of professional sports, the Los Angeles Dodgers, there is one name that is not only intriguing, but would ignite a passion not seen in Dodger Stadium since Kirk Gibson hit one of the most magical home runs in World Series history: Earvin Magic Johnson.