Tim Lincecum

San Francisco Giants have been one of the hottest teams in all of Major League baseball since the start of September. After a rough August that saw them play unimpressive baseball to the tune of a .464 winning percentage for the month, they have bounced back to be one of the best teams in baseball.

A solid ace is the most important part of any postseason rotation. In 2001, the Mariners were clearly the most talented team in the league, having won a record 116 games.

But they ran into the Yankees' Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina and lost in a mere five games. Whatever team's pitching proves most consistent will be the team that wins the World Series.

While the Padres are still mathematically in the race, their loss tonight has given them a nearly impossible task...and for that reason, their pitching has been left off this list.

When the San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night, they guaranteed that the three-game series against the San Francisco Giants to end the year would be meaningful.

Exactly how meaningful remains to be seen, as the Giants continue to play good baseball.

With their own victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the good guys maintained their two-game lead on the Friars in the loss column.

Don't ask. It's a bad idea.

The only reason the suggestion even need be entertained is because it's already been put forward. People who over-analyze everything and think they know which of the final six games of the season will be most important are calling for the Giants to pull Barry Zito from the starting rotation and get Tim Lincecum two starts this week.

Major League Baseball’s regular season is about to end, and the postseason is about to begin. BetPhoenix has the latest odds for the MLB playoffs, and the odds of each team to win the World Series. Once the playoffs begin, any team can make a run for the World Championship.

Here is a look at the teams in the National League, and their chances to win a World Series.

The saying goes good pitching beats good hitting. It's actually more than a saying. It's a reality. If you have a dominant pitcher on his game, there is not a hitter on the planet that can hit him.

Painting the black. Hitting your spots. Changing speeds.

It is something the Giants pitching staff has done very well for the past 18 games. They have not allowed more than three runs in a game since September 4.

Everyone knew the San Francisco Giants' starting pitching would be the team's strength heading into the 2010 season.

However, even those lofty expectations didn't prepare the Major League Baseball world for what would unfold in the month of April—the starters came out firing bullets.

Extremely accurate and effective bullets.

Tim Lincecum roared from the gates (1.27 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 43:7 K:BB) and three of the other four starters were right on his heels.

By the time the San Francisco Giants take the field in Colorado Friday night, there will be nine regular season games left.

I'm not sure there is anything regular about them. In these remaining games, the Giants will face the Colorado Rockies who are very much in the hunt AND the division leading San Diego Padres.

Through today (9/23), the Rockies are 3.0 games out of first place, and dropping three in a row to Los Angeles and Arizona.

The Giants and Rockies clash for three games over the weekend. If you are starting to see a trend here, you nailed it.

Starting in Feburary, when spring training begins, MLB experts and fans begin their preseason predictions by selecting Division, MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year winners.

But there are many twists and turns during an MLB season.

Most of the time these predictions go sour (unless you're me who correctly predicted all four AL playoff teams and at least two NL playoff teams—once in a while a person gets lucky with these things). 

With just over a week remaining in the season, here are five storylines MLB experts and fans didn't see coming.