Opinion

The topic of Major League Baseball realignment is in the headlines again.

Published today, on MLB.com, was an article by John Schlegel who says realignment talk now revolves around the games' big rivalries. 

Schlegel states:

Earlier, I was posed with the question: What is the toughest, most entertaining division in baseball?

After shortly processing it, I came out with the answer—the NL East.

There are many interesting and intense divisions out there, especially the AL east, but for many reasons, the NL East is superior.

So here it goes—the top five reasons why the NL East is the best in Major League Baseball.

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At this point, there should be no need for Giants fans to debate over whether or not Bruce Bochy is a quality big league manager.

Simply said, he isn't one.

Why? Because quality managers put the eight most useful position players on the field day in and day out and place them in the ideal spots in the lineup.

But San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy has done neither in every single game of the season since his bosses acquired Pat Burrell off the free agent wire back in late May.

The Marlins' recent decision to fire Fredi Gonzalez has not worked out so far. They were just swept by the Padres, and on top of that, Bobby Valentine, their primary managerial target, will probably not join the squad because of philosophical differences.

What does this mean to Marlins fans?

It means the Marlins will probably not land a top-notch manager for the rest of the season. Let's discuss two in-house candidates, including the current interim manager.

With the weekend series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers coming to a close last night, the MLB and its fans are finally ready to move on with the post-Joe Torre Yankees.

While Torre may not be as loved and cherished by New Yorkers as he was once was, there is no denying that he brought the Yankees from a mediocre team to becoming the premiere franchise in all of professional sports.

This is what his starters would look like, if Torre selected individuals from his tenure with the Yankees and put them together on one team.

The Philadelphia Phillies have made a mid-rotation starting pitcher their top trade deadline priority, according to a tweet by ESPN's Buster Olney .

The two-time defending National League champions, who find themselves two and a half games back and in third place in the NL East division, will look to supplement a rotation that already includes the dominant Roy Halladay and a pair of strong left-handed hurlers, in the ageless Jamie Moyer and 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels.

The term "Batting Average on Balls In Play" (BABIP) has become one of the most popular stats among fantasy managers in recent years. 

To put it simply, BABIP measures the number of batted balls that fall safely for a hit (excluding home runs).

According to The Hardball Times Glossary, the exact formula for BABIP is: (H-HR)/(AB-K-HR+SF).

As of Monday night, the Texas Rangers are four-and-a-half games in front of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the race for the AL West crown, and don't look to be slowing down any time soon.

What's surprising about that is the fact that the Rangers currently have the fourth-lowest payroll in all of baseball, just in front of the Oakland A's, San Diego Padres, and Pittsburgh Pirates.

What has impressed me about this ball club is that it is doing all of this in the midst of the team going through bankruptcy proceedings.

The New York Mets have been superb in June. They have become a bona fide contender in the National League East, and have solidified their position as a buyer rather than a seller before this season's trade deadline.

There have been a tremendous amount of positives which have come hand-in-hand with their overall success.

Yet, in the middle of all of those positives, there has been one surprising—and alarming—dark spot for the Mets: Johan Santana.

It's hard to be a Mets fan.  It means a lot of broken hearts and lonely Octobers.  But still we persevere. 

The Mets owe it to their fans to start taking themselves seriously and really go after a title. 

The Mets, who many believed would spend the season in the basement of the NL East, are within striking distance of the divisional lead.  And although optimism is something we Mets fans are wary of, there are undeniably good omens for this team's outlook.