Baseball

For the New York Yankees, star power always trumps the success or failure of top prospects. In the case of 21-year-old catcher Gary Sanchez, a difficult start to the 2014 season could be a prelude to another bust emanating from general manager Brian Cashman's farm system.

You know it's a weird week in sports when Drake turns down an NBA Finals game in Miami to watch the Houston Astros play.

Nevertheless, the hip-hop star wisely avoided the sinking ship that is the Miami Heat in favor of showing love to Houston—his home away from home.

Although the Philadelphia Phillies are in the midst of their longest winning streak in over a year, they are still one of the worst teams in baseball at 28-36. They sit dead last in the NL East, and despite being just a half-game behind the fourth-place New York Mets, they have shown no promise of contending this year.

Life clings to the Boston Red Sox like a disease.

At 30-36 and eight games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays, they are unlikely to make the playoffs this season. Yet they keep winning just often enough to keep them on the periphery of relevancy at 4.5 games back of a wild-card spot, and this is a team with enough natural talent to make a run.

The Atlanta Braves have already signaled they would like to add a reliever or two to their bullpen. General manager Frank Wren was clear about that when he spoke with SiriusXM radio host Jim Bowden earlier this week:

As long as MLB All-Star Game voting is done by the fans, there will always be cases where popularity wins out over production—and this year is no different.

While the game does mean something these days with home-field advantage in the World Series at stake, it is still very much an exhibition for the fans, and they certainly have the right to elect the starter they want to see play.

It's hard to blame Chicago Cubs fans, really.

Ryan Zimmerman did not show up this spring planning to vacate third base. Did you start the year expecting to give up the job you love? Volunteer to move to a new cubicle? Wistfully admit you're just not the same?

Things change. Days pass. They become years.

If you're lucky, you find the ability to adapt with the times and continue to thrive.

The Tampa Bay Rays have set a new record for offensive futility after getting shut out by the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night, per SportsCenter:

The defeat is Tampa Bay's 14th in its last 15 games, per Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times:

The Atlanta Braves announced on Tuesday night that outfielder Justin Upton strained his left hamstring. He's listed as day to day:

The two-time All-Star was removed after the first inning, making way for Jordan Schafer, per Kevin McAlpin of 680 The Fan in Atlanta: