Going into Tuesday's action, the Oakland A's have found themselves losers of their last three games and six of their last 10.

They're trending downwards at the wrong time of the season.

In what has been a surprising season to say the least, Oakland sits 5.5 games behind the Texas Rangers for the lead in the American League West and just a half game out of Wild Card contention.

Of course, yesterday they owned one of those Wild Card playoff berths.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article arguing that San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy was wrong to play catcher Hector Sanchez over Brandon Belt. I based my argument on Belt's superior minor and major league statistics as well his higher prospect pedigree, according to publications like Baseball America and prospect experts like Keith Law of ESPN.

John Axford recorded 46 saves in 2011, which began a streak of 49 in a row—second most all-time. Axford's magical run ended this year and it has been a struggle for him to even record a save. Axford has done so poorly that he even cut off all his hair to remove the jinx on his performance.

It didn't work.

Five years ago on Aug. 7, Barry Bonds hit home run No. 756 for his career, taking over baseball's all-time home run record from Hank Aaron. 

DeWayne Wise is a familiar face to Chicago White Sox fans. He could find his way back to the the scene of his more memorable moments before the 2012 season draws to a close. It just might help the Chicago White Sox win a division title to boot.

The White Sox signed Wise to a minor league contract. He has played two games with Triple-A Charlotte. The 34-year-old outfielder was released by the Yankees July 31.

Cincinnati Reds fans are witnessing the greatness of Johnny Cueto for a second consecutive year.  The Dominican starter has firmly entrenched himself as the Reds' No. 1 starter, their true ace.  Cueto's numbers have been dazzling, and this season he's getting what he desperately needs for the Cy Young race: wins.

As if the Baltimore Orioles faithful were not stoked after Wei-Yin Chen’s brilliant performance against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night, Manny Machado just chimed in with his own from down on the farm.

The 2012 Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone with the usual flurry of activity taking place, shaking up the landscape of baseball.

With the addition of the second Wild Card this season, it appeared that several teams appeared gun shy at times, afraid to make any earth-rattling moves. Instead, there were several small moves with a couple of blockbusters sprinkled in.

Now that the dust has settled it is time to re-examine and re-rank all 30 MLB pitching rotations as we inch closer to the playoffs.

Cliff Lee has been claimed by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and now the Phillies must allow their star lefty to walk for the sake of financial flexibility.  

After months of MLB trade rumors and speculation, the trade deadline is now over. Players who were expected to move stayed on their own teams, and players who completely slipped by all the trade rumors were shipped out.

As a result, as is the case every year, the landscape of baseball looks different. Which teams made great moves to push themselves to the playoffs and which teams stocked up on solid prospects?