Rankings/List

With his 97-pitch complete game shut out of the Washington Nationals, Phillies starter Roy Halladay sent the Phillies back to the postseason for the fourth straight year.

Soon after, pitching coach Rich Dubee announced that Halladay would be the Phillies Game 1 starter in the NLDS, it will mark the first time in Halladay's career that he pitches in the postseason.

How good has Cubs closer Carlos Marmol been this season? Historically good. 

The '90s were an interesting time for baseball. We saw the first Canadian world champion and a strike that devastated the game.

We saw the reemergence of the Evil Empire and one of the classiest men in baseball break the consecutive games started streak, and we saw a home run chase that made baseball America's pastime once again.

This was all fueled by the players themselves. I made this list based on many factors including stats, accolades, impact on the game, and my own opinion, among other things.

These past two seasons have seen the Orioles graduate more top prospects than nearly any other franchise. 

According to Baseball America's 2009 top prospects list, four members of the Orioles top 10 graduated to the Majors, and eight of the top 29.

This season, the team has seen five of the top 10 players move on to the greener pasture that is Camden Yards, including prospects number one (Brian Matusz), two (Josh Bell), and four (Jake Arrieta).

With the 2010 regular season coming to a close and the playoff picture starting to become a little clearer every day, there are some teams that will focus on free agency and which players they are going to bring back or which players they could possibly land this offseason.

One of those players that will hit the free agent market is third baseman Adrian Beltre, who seemed to reinvent himself this season as a member of the Boston Red Sox.

As the regular season wraps up, many teams and their fans are looking to October and, they hope, a World Series win. For other teams and their fans, they are looking to the offseason, hoping to make a few trades or free agent acquisitions to bounce them back into contention.

In some situations, these trades end up paying huge dividends, and not always for the party that was looking to get the major piece. At the same time, once in a while there's a great free agent pickup at a bargain that launches a team into the playoffs and a World Series ring.

With the regular season about to end, playoff spots are getting filled by eight of the 30 MLB teams who compete each season.

For players on the Yankees and Phillies, October is a familiar time of year but for many it will remain a mystery.

This offseason, Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford will be headlining this year's free-agent class.  Both players will be demanding major contracts, and both players might end up in New York.

Well, Lee will be in the Bronx, but the verdict is still out on Crawford.

For teams that can ill-afford to get the "Big Fish," they must look at other options—the second-tier players.  Guys that can still contribute, but will be affordable to acquire. 

With only four games remaining in the 2010 campaign, venerable manager Bobby Cox is making his last push for the postseason.

We all know that...and knew (or hoped) that this would be the case from the first side-sessions down at the Disney Wild World of Sports Complex in Orlando.

But, the fact that Cox is in his final stretch brandishing a cap with a fancy "A" is starting to feel "real," if you will.

After all, if the Braves manage to lose grasp of their current Wild Card advantage in the season's final series, No. 6 is gone for good.

With the baseball regular season coming to a end it is about time to talk Cy Young award candidates. The NL dominated the pitching early with the help of Ubaldo Jimenez and Roy Halladay, but the AL pitchers have been no slouches either. CC Sabathia leads all the majors in wins and Clay Buchholz is second in ERA.

In the AL it will come down to just a hand full of pitchers that will be considered. Most of them play for teams in the playoff hunt or a division leader.

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