The Nationals have been a “team on the rise” for a few years now, with young stars like Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg, and Jordan Zimmermann making up a solid core in the always tough NL East. 2011 was Washington’s best year since 2005, as they won 80 games and finished third in the division behind […]

The 2011 Atlanta Braves season went pretty well for five months, as they were the consensus second best team in the National League, behind only their division rivals in Philadelphia. And then, the calendar turned to September. The team had an eight and a half game lead on the Cardinals in the wild card race […]

It was expected to be a year where the Phillies would contend for a world championship. And to an extent, the season was a total success. The team won a franchise record 102 games, the four aces (later pared to three as Roy Oswalt battled injury problems) were lights out for a majority of the […]

Allen Craig had a pinch hit, go ahead single in the sixth inning, and the Cardinals bullpen threw three innings of shutout ball, as St Louis defeated Texas 3-2 to take a 1-0 lead in the World Series. Craig came up with two on in the sixth, pinch hitting for Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter, who […]

We have a minor controversy in Dallas today, as the MLB has denied the Rangers request to have Dirk Nowitzki of the NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks throw out the first pitch of one of the World Series games in Dallas this weekend. The Rangers have had a shorter history than some of the other MLB […]

The Seattle Mariners spent the first half of the season looking like a nice collection of overachievers and a team possibly on track to getting back to respectability.  Then they went and lost 17 straight games and undid any progress that their surprising start had built. Even with that embarrassing streak marring their season, 2011 […]

Previous Series The Rangers defeated the Rays three games to one in the ALDS, and knocked off the Tigers four games to two in the ALCS. The Cardinals upset the top-seeded Phillies three games to two in the NLDS, and defeated the Brewers four games to two in the NLCS. Schedule Game one: October 19th, […]

There were few relievers that posted better numbers than Koji Uehara during the regular season. In 65 innings between the Orioles and Rangers, Uehara struck out 85 (11.8 K/9) and walked only 28, two of the intentional variety (1.3 BB/9). His 2.35 ERA and 2.33 xFIP reflected that outstanding mix of nasty stuff and pinpoint command. However, […]

Coming into the 2011 season, many had the Oakland Athletics tabbed as a dark horse to win the American League West.  Um, yeah, not so much as it turns out.  The resurgence of the Oakland A’s looks like it will have wait a year after a rash of bad decisions and bad luck sank Oakland’s […]

The 2011 Angels enjoyed quite the eventful season.  The former kings of the AL West finally got displaced by the Texas Rangers in 2010 and had big plans to try and reclaim their crown.  Those plans quickly went awry after a tumultous off-season that included an embarrassing failed attempt at Carl Crawford which they only […]

This season for the Rangers, Alexi Ogando was one of their four best starters. He was tied for third in fWAR among the rotation (3.6 in a rotation low 169 innings). His strikeout and homer rates each ranked third among the starters, and he had the lowest walk rate. But when it came time to […]

There is little pitching talent on this AFL team, but the Peoria Javelinas have some promising hitters. Chih-Hsien Chang OF (SEA): Having played in the Futures Game and been part of the Erik Bedard trade, Chang made some headlines outside of an impressive first half. Chang is one of those guys that’s good at a […]

The first base market is heavy at the top, but once the top two have signed their huge deals, the rest of the teams in need will scurry for what’s left and it’s not all that much. Player’s age listed in parentheses. 1. Albert Pujols (32) – In a “down” year, Pujols hit .299/.366/.541 with […]