Rankings/List

WhatIfSports.com utilizes its award-winning baseball simulation engine to present the most comprehensive and unbiased ranking possible of all 30 teams in baseball each Monday during the regular season. To come up with the rankings—using only their statistical performance to date this season—each team is simulated against every other team 100 times (50 at home and 50 away) so that all five pitchers in the current rotation start ten times at each location.

This year in baseball is truly a race for October meant for the history books.

Just about every division in baseball is up for grabs and the contending teams are overflowing with young and veteran talent.

However, a championship-caliber team does not solely depend on it's talent.

It also depends on how you use and coach that talent.

This slideshow will rank all of the managers at the helm of teams in the middle of the pennant race.

With just a few weeks to go, the year of the rookie is set to come to a close in baseball, and what a year it was. So many great rookies appeared on the scene, many of whom would win the Rookie of the Year Award no problem most years. Of course, this is not most years. We have the performers, the hyped stars, and Stephen Strasburg this year, among all the other rookie to sneak on the scene that you may not have heard of.

All the talk about 2010 being the “Year of the Pitcher” in Major League Baseball is true. 

It has been an excellent year for pitchers.

For whatever reason, there’s been more no-hitters and perfect games than usual, and that’s without counting Jim Joyce’s rob job of Armando Galarraga.

But this year doesn’t only belong to the hurlers, it belongs to the young guns.

At a time when some people argue the fading relevancy of baseball, there has been more great young talent in the game than we can remember.

Less than a month ago, Francisco Rodriguez injured his right thumb in an altercation with his girlfriend's father at Citi Filed in New York. The injury will keep him out for the remainder of the season, costing both he and the Mets over the next couple of months.

Of all the major team sports, baseball is, uniquely, a game of great matchups and showdowns. Mostly, it’s a game of individual showdowns within the construct of team ball.

While postseason baseball already brings us to the edge of our seats, there are certain pitcher versus batter showdowns that take us out of our seats altogether.

Another wacky week of baseball. The ever-annoying Nyjer Morgan decided to slam into the Marlins catcher one too many times.

After being thrown at, Morgan decided to charge the mound and MLB's second brawl of the season occurred.

More violent than Reds vs. Cardinals, Morgan got in a few head shots before getting knocked down by the entire Marlins team.

Aroldis Chapman of the Reds made his major league debut this week. He arrived in a blaze of glory, hitting 103 on the radar gun multiple times.

With news that Cardinals outfielder Colby Rasmus has requested a trade, a team with an already cloudy future did not get any clearer. 

Here are five reasons why Cardinal fans’ motto for the rest of the season should be “playoffs or bust.”

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It’s time for another ride on the waiver wire roller coaster.  I know some of you are searching high and low for any bit of help with all the trade activity and waiver claims that went down.  These moves can wreak havoc on a fantasy roster. 

Debating the pros and cons of a player's Hall of Fame chances is without a doubt one of the most controversial issues in baseball.

For example, how much do stats matter? What about longevity?

And should a player's attitude, whether positive or negative, have any impact?

Then there's the all-important question of steroids, and how much they should affect a player's chances.

Taking all of the above into consideration, I evaluated the careers of fifteen players and ultimately picked a yes or a no for the Hall of Fame.

11 of the players are still playing.