Rankings/List

It has been a while since I last put pictures up of the old Yankee Stadium being torn down, so I thought now was as good a time as any. Especially since they have done so much over the past couple of weeks.

I must give a tip of my hat to Sliding Into Home , as Greg has kept his readers much more up to date with these pics and I simply stole these from him.

Tampa Bay Rays GM Andrew Friedman has been the best in baseball in accumulating young starting pitching. And they are not just young. They are good. They are very good.

The cup is overflowing in Tampa Bay.

After two weeks of the season, all five of the Rays starters are tapping into their immense potential.

Mascots have been around since 1964, when Mr. Met appeared at the Shea Stadium opening. Since then, the major league baseball mascot has taken on incredible responsibilities including diving down slides, dancing on dugouts, and racing each other around the field for pure amusement.

The following is a ranking of the best mascots in baseball, from worst to first.

When I was named a Featured Columnist for the Cleveland Indians last year, my fellow FC Samantha Bunten invited me to be a part of Tribe Talk, a weekly roundtable in which the top Indians writers on Bleacher Report talk about recent news and discuss how the team could better itself in the future.

Last week, as I was filling out Samantha's latest survey, I had the idea of creating a poll for not just one team's top writers, but for passionate fans around the league.

The story of the week was flame thrower Ubaldo Jimenez's incredible no hitter against the Braves.

The Phillies lose Jimmy Rollins to the DL, and the Twins opened up their new park in style.

The season is still in it's infancy, but certain teams are already seperating themselves from the rest of the crowd.

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While the Yankees and Rays have each gotten off to hot 9-3 starts to the season, the Red Sox, expected by many to be atop the division when the dust settles, have sputtered out of the gate.

Out West, the A's and Giants continue to win with great pitching, while none of the remaining seven teams in those divisions has a record better than .500.

The 2010 season is just about to enter its third full week, and we've seen plenty of surprises already.

Several players have unexpectedly emerged as seemingly-reliable fantasy options, while other normally productive players are off to slow starts. 

Here's a rundown of who's hot and who's not as we begin the second half of April.

Risers

Teams across Major League Baseball are always in pursuit of that next great, young arm. The emergence of a young, powerful arm that can put together the full compliment of pitches is often the crown jewel for organizations.

In recent seasons, baseball fans have seen the emergence of many arms just like that with more to come. These young pitchers may not all hold down the ace position on their respective staffs, but their timing is coming.

To note, all of these pitchers are not only under 25 but none are turning 25 this season.

If you've caught a Los Angeles Dodgers game this season, you've undoubtedly noticed the struggles the team is going through trying to pitch their way to victory. The Dodgers are near the top of the Major Leagues in runs scored, and yet they are still playing sub-.500 ball.
The "Boys in Blue" sorely miss their mainstays in the bullpen. Hong-Chih Kuo is still out with shoulder problems but is due back in the next week.

I recently asked the Double G Sports Expert Panel to give me their MLB team rankings and with that I have come up with our power rankings.

I realize its only two weeks into the season and you can't get a true evaluation of a team in that short period of time. We will bring you our power rankings once a month.

Who is the top team? Is it the defending champion Yankees? Their World Series opponent the Phillies? Or could it be a surprise team such as the Blue Jays or Rays?