Preview/Prediction

Who’s the hottest team in MLB right now?

The answer is the New York Yankees.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is a Yankee-hater, because you either bleed pinstripes or you burn them. It is that simple.

Jose Bautista used to be a problem for the home team, when that team was the Pittsburgh Pirates.

But now that he has found his stride, or rather his bat, in Toronto, it's now his opponents that are wondering if they have a problem.

He's looking at 50 or more home runs this year. This seems like a "high water mark," at least for now, but even if he regresses to say, 30 to 35, he will still be a dangerous long ball hitter.

Winning for the second night against the Tampa Bay Rays, the New York Yankees are 2 ½ games ahead in the AL East; in addition to lowering their magic number for playoff spot to three and winning the division to 10.Yankees can thank the Boston Red Sox for helping those numbers falling to the Baltimore Orioles for the second nigh tin a row.

Most fans in Los Angeles knew Brad Ausmus was going to retire before he did.

The 41-year-old catcher has missed a large part of the 2010 season with back problems and appeared more comfortable providing quiet advice to teammates than squatting behind the plate for nine grueling innings on aging knees.

Ausmus will get the opportunity to take the reins for the Dodgers in one their few remaining games.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, hoping to somehow come back next season with a decent team, will try to re-sign left-handed pitcher Ted Lilly this winter. Lilly was acquired from the Chicago Cubs in a trade deadline deal that also moved Ryan Theriot to L.A. as well.

Tonight marks the first of four games, between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in the Bronx.

Don't tell Joe Girardi, but the Yankees haven't clinched anything yet.

The sputtering Bombers, who have lost nine of their last 13, somehow still have the best record in baseball. But their lead entering their final four-game series with the second-place Rays is just half a game, so the American League East title and homefield advantage could very well be decided this week in the Bronx.

Ending a horrid 3-6 road trip, the New York Yankees are glad to be back home.

Home or not though, starting with a 4-game series against the second-place Tampa Bay Rays, the next two weeks will challenge the Yankees in every possible way.

If they're not playing for all the marbles the next few days at Citizens Bank Park, they're playing for a lot of them.

The host Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves, owners of the best two records in the National League, open a three-game series tonight with the Phillies leading the Braves by three games.

About a month ago, I wrote a prediction for next year's Detroit Tigers starting lineup. But my how things change. 

The Tigers are still out of the playoff picture, but are currently playing with no distractions and no worries about choking down the stretch.