Rankings/List

Sure, they have a possible Triple Crown candidate in Joey Votto—and fellow All-Stars Brandon Phillips and Scott Rolen. The pitching staff has been solid, if not spectacular, led by the most consistent pitcher in the majors: Bronson Arroyo.
 
But the glue that keeps this team together is the bench. They are unsung heroes that have proven to be the WD-40 to the Reds' machine when it gets a bit rusty. The players that were expected to be afterthoughts have instead been essential to the Reds success.
 

Some of the biggest difference makers come the playoffs did not start the year with that team. Just think about last years World Series when Cliff Lee mowed down the Yankees in game one. 

In 2010, with many teams on the brink of the playoffs, everyone was looking to improve their team.

Here are the top five deals made at the trade deadline.

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The 2010 season has been kind to the Baltimore Orioles minor-league system.

This is great news, because the 2010 season has been a plague for the big league club, who aside from snagging manager Buck Showalter, has failed to incite any real excitement.

As such, the race for Orioles Minor League Player of the Year honors is heating up, and for the first time in a good long while, there are actually more than a few promising nominees.

If you were to build a Major League pitcher, where would you start?

No, I'm not talking about Elmer's glue and popsicle sticks. I mean the best pitchers' control, velocity, and mental makeup. Look around the league—what would you take from who?

In this slideshow are the 10 body parts and attributes I would take from around the game, from arm and command to glove and pickoff move.

In Major League Baseball there are always teams who have high expectations, but sometimes those teams with high expectations do pretty well or they do pretty poorly. 

There are some teams who get great players during the offseason, and there are some who we expect to always be good like the Yankees and Red Sox.

In this list I give the top five teams who had great expectations this season but have performed terribly.

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Every season, fans, writers, and anyone following baseball has an idea of how the season will play out. We know that Albert Pujols will always be great. We know that the Yankees will always have way more wins than losses.

But there are always individual and team performances that we can't predict.

And this year, many teams have surprised, in both good and bad ways. There are many surprising division leaders and even a few surprising division cellar dwellers.

Here are the top 10 surprising teams of the season thus far, as we head into the stretch run of September.

NOTE: team and player statistics updated through Monday morning, August 23 11:00 AM CT
 
1. New York Yankees (77-47)
As every week goes by, I’m believing more and more that the Yankees are going to be the ones to take the AL East once again. And with C.C. Sabathia holding a strong 17-5 record with a 3.02 ERA and 151 strikeouts to this point, I say we have a new favorite for the AL Cy Young Award.

2. Tampa Bay Rays (76-48)

For all of the doubters, take a look at where the Pirates' overall organizational depth is right now compared to where it was at this point three seasons ago.

While it doesn't currently show at the major league level, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington and staff have done a tremendous job of loading up the organization with young talent.

Baseball free agency is often what separates the the pretenders from the contenders.

In the offseason prior to the 2009 regular season, the New York Yankees spent over $200 million to bring in Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett. The moves paid off as the Yankees waltzed their to way another World Series title. 

With little more than a month remaining in the 2010 regular season, it's time to take a look at which 2009 free agent acquisitions paid off the most.

The Steroid Era has officially left its mark in professional sports while tarnishing the reputation of America's pastime.

With the recent indictment of legendary hurler Roger Clemens, the next generation will be very confused about which players to look up to.

Players like Roger Clemens have forced parents to lie to their Little Leaguers and young baseball stars by telling them their favorite players are stand-up citizens.