It was announced today that Brett Anderson of the A’s, who hasn’t pitched since June 5th, would miss the rest of the season and most of (if not all of) next season with Tommy John surgery. When he first got injured, I initially considered writing an article about this topic, but decided to hold off […]

The Mets have officially opened up the 2011 trade market, sending one of biggest names rumored to be available, Francisco Rodriguez, to the Brewers. While GM Sandy Alderson claims that the trade will not affect the organization’s attempt to contend this season, it certainly never helps to trade away a significant piece of the roster. […]

As we look ahead to the start of the second half of the MLB season today… well, at least the portion played after the All-Star break, we’re going to examine players and teams that will be risers and fallers in the second half of the season.  April, May, and June brought us several good and […]

Let’s be honest, a 5-1 NL win isn’t all that exciting. Adrian Gonzalez’s early home run off Cliff Lee put the AL on the board, but once Prince Fielder hit his 3-run home run, there was this feeling that the game was over. The NL ran out a terrific pitching staff, and adding 2 more […]

It’s easy to overlook short players (all puns intended), and it’s actually for a pretty good reason. As a general rule, you want baseball players to be between 6’ and 6’5”. They’re tall enough to get good leverage and not too tall as to have significant coordination issues. Sure, tall guys like Michael Pineda and […]

Time for our final award here at the OC. Without any further ado, let’s take it home…and I’ll have a recap of all of our awards at the end of this piece. AL MVP1) Jose Bautista (62 points, 11 first place votes)2) Adrian Gonzalez (44 points, two first place votes)3) Curtis Granderson (38 points)4) Ben […]

Sorry about the lateness of this. Let’s cut to the chase right away. NL MVP1) Jose Reyes (56 points, seven first place votes)2) Andrew McCutchen (39 points, three first place votes)3) Matt Kemp (33 points, one first place vote)4) Prince Fielder (19 points, two first place votes)5) Ryan Braun (17 points)6) Roy Halladay (9 points)7) […]

In the first half of 2011, no division has been more fun to watch than the National League Central. The surprising Pirates have joined pre-season contenders in Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Cincinnati to create a four-team race that has the Brewers and Cardinals tied at the top, the Pirates a game back, and the fourth […]

There’s a good chance that Cole Hamels is the most valuable starter in the Phillies’ vaunted rotation.  It sounds weird, so I’m employing one of my least favorite writing devices — the one sentence paragraph, also known as the Bill Plaschke special — to let that marinate for a minute. How, in a rotation stocked […]

The National League won the 82nd All-Star Game in Arizona last night, defeating the American League by a score of 5-1.  It’s the second straight win for the NL after not winning the previous 13.  (We have to include that ridiculous tie in 2002 in the record books, hope Uncle Bud enjoys seeing that beauty […]

In a post-All-Star Game shocker, Sports Illustrated’s

The second act for the Lake County Fielders, an independent minor league baseball team purportedly partially owned by actor Kevin Costner has gone from comic to tragic in a heartbeat. Although if you believe people now formerly associated with the organization, Costner himself has never really had any involvement with the team and is likely […]

This time it counts… for a ninth time!  Can you feel the excitement!!  Who doesn’t love the idea that tonight’s All-Star Game will determine which league will get homefield advantage in the World Series? Oh, right, everybody. Fans hate it.  Players hate it.  Managers hate it. Ever since Bud Selig grossly overreacted to the league’s […]

Time for the fourth of our six awards at the OC, the AL Cy Young award. This one went down to the wire between a pair of players who are both very much deserving of the award. But only one can win. Who was it, you ask? AL Cy Young1) Justin Verlander (31 points, seven […]

The National League has its share of awesome pitchers this year. Hell, three of the men who received votes in our poll are from Philadelphia. There was a lot less variety with the Cy Young votes than with the Rookie of the Year votes, as only five NL players got votes, in comparison to eight […]