There are moments in time where sports takes a backburner—and life takes center-stage.

Unfortunately, Major League Baseball has had their share of losses in terms of players dying way too young.

Especially in the past decade.

Today, we’re going to quickly take a look at a trio of former Houston Astros stars—as well as leaders, teammates, and fan-favorites—whose legends will live on forever.

Regardless of their final bows here on Earth...

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With the lack of excitement and appeal that surrounds Major League Baseball every May, draft talk begins to dominate all conversation in baseball realms— and rightfully so. 

It wasn't too much of surprise when 33-year-old Roy Oswalt requested a trade from the Astros last week.

After all, the Astros and their awful offense aren't going anywhere in 2010 and the right-handed Mississippi native isn't getting any younger.

But, what was surprising was the list of teams Oswalt offered up for teams he'd wave his no-trade clause to go to.

St. Louis, Texas, and the Atlanta Braves.

Two pitching-rich franchises with polished arms in their rotations and an up-and-coming Rangers squad not necessarily in need of a big contract?

There is much hype surrounding the impending promotion of Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals to the big leagues. Deservedly so. If he wasn't hyped up enough before being drafted by Washington, he's proved his mettle in the minors this season, specifically with his spotless 0.00 ERA after 18 1/3 innings at Triple-A Syracuse.

Every Baseball fan knows Milton Bradley for one thing and unfortunately it's not for his playing ability.

With his newest club Seattle, Bradley is batting .222 with 2 home runs and 12 RBI.

He is also getting paid $11 million.

Bradley has been with eight different teams throughout his ten years in the majors, and it just seems like he can't find a good fit.

Are these teams paying Bradley for his bat or for pure entertainment?

You decide!

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When a team musters just a single run in a three game series, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the offense is struggling.

Essentially, changes to the San Francisco Giants' lineup are a guarantee.

Even if their manager was napping in the clubhouse during the past three games, changes would be made after looking at the final box scores.

Once the manager wakes up after such a dreadful offensive series, he will see 20 straight zeros in the boxscore and will naturally be inclined to shake things up.

It has been an amazing quarter season for the Tampa Bay Rays. Many wonder if they can keep this up. But when you dig into the reasons behind the Rays success, this has been a few years in the making. And it sure appears it can be sustained.

The Tampa Bay Rays are one of the most home grown teams in all of baseball. Nearly every single player is a result of the Rays drafting. Take a look at each player and see how this team has been comprised.

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I know that the Cubs' bullpen has struggled.

Through 45 games, they have combined for an ERA of 4.81 and opponent average of .251 in 119.2 innings. In fact, those numbers give the bullpen a little too much credit.

Carlos Marmol, Sean Marshall, and James Russell have carried the group. They've combined for an ERA of 1.97 and an opponent average of .185 in their 59.1 innings of work, good for almost half of the bullpen's total innings.

Without the aforementioned trio, the bullpen has combined for an ERA of 7.61 and an opponent average of .306 in 60.1 innings.

I woke up this morning and decided to make a change. Not the kind of change that would make my parents proud like getting a paying job or removing myself from their payroll, but more of a change that affects only me.

I expect to get a lot of well-deserved criticism from my father and friends for switching my MLB fan allegiance from the Chicago Cubs to the Washington Nationals at this point in my life.

On May 23, 2010 against the Minnesota Twins, Trevor Hoffman pitched game No. 1,000 for his career, coming on during the eighth inning in a 4-3 victory. He became the 14th player in major league history to accomplish this.

We then went back to our daily routines.

For a sport so focused on the milestone stats, it's interesting to see this one completely slip by. We have 500 home runs, 3,000 hits, 300 wins, and others. Yet, any milestone for games played is not really looked at as any accomplishment. It's a testament to little more than longevity, right?