MLB

Giancarlo Stanton looks like Superman, but injuries have been his kryptonite. On a hustle play in extra innings Monday night, Stanton racked up another injury. This time it is a hamstring strain that could cost Stanton a month or more, depending on the severity.

Baseball's best rivalry will be on display Tuesday night when the Cincinnati Reds take on the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. 

The season series is tied 2-2, and the winner of this game could move ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates atop the NL Central. The Reds have won back-to-back games on the road for the first time all season, but the Cardinals have dropped their past three home games.

The Atlanta Braves (16-9) have all but wrapped up the first month of the 2013 season.

Highs include a 10-game winning streak and a sweep of the National League East preseason favorite, Washington Nationals. The low point came over the weekend as the Detroit Tigers swept the Braves.The tough series with the Tigers knocked a few players' grades down a letter.

Baseball fans have seen plenty of action through the first month of the 2013 MLB season, but the month of May is when the schedule really ramps up.

The weather gets warmer, the players get adjusted and the schedule gets more difficult, as May will pit plenty of divisional and crosstown rivals against each other.

Which series should you be paying attention to throughout May?

Take a look.

Begin Slideshow

April results may not give Major League Baseball the big picture just yet, but it’s not too early to weed through which teams are contenders and which are pretenders.

Some teams have had great starts that will soon fade, while others have had forgettable Aprils and will look to get back on track come May. Eventually, there will be 10 playoff teams—six division winners and four wild-card teams.

Can we project those 10 teams now? No, but we can somewhat tell which will be in the playoff hunt down the stretch and which will focus on the 2014 season.

April is both the best and worst month of the Major League Baseball season. 

On the one hand, baseball is in full swing and we finally have enough games to adequately judge teams and players. For all the previews and predictions we have during the winter and spring training, no one knows exactly how things will pan out until a decent sample size of games are played. 

On the other hand, the panic starts to set in if a team has gotten off to a bad start or a star player has gotten hurt and will have to miss a substantial amount of time. 

With the first month of this major league baseball season nearly finished, reality is beginning to set in for both, teams and players.

For those off to hot starts out of the gates, it is business as usual, but those who are struggling need to make adjustments ASAP. Even teams that are playing well may need to address injury concerns. 

There truly is no rest for the team looking to win it all in October, or even in April and May.

With concern centering around Stephen Strasburg following Monday's 3-2 loss to the Braves, the offense also may not have come out unscathed. Right fielder Jayson Werth, the team's second-leading home run hitter and run producer, fouled a ball off his ankle and aggravated his hamstring.

Their debatable sellout streak may be over, but the 2013 Red Sox have quickly become the talk of Boston after their incredible start to the season.

At 18-7, the Sox are off to their best start since they opened the 2004 season at 18-7. We all know how that year turned out—with World Series rings in Boston.

Injuries don't care how much money a player makes, how gaudy the stats on the back of a player's baseball card are or what time of year it is.

When they hit, they often hit hard—and teams are left scrambling trying to fill the void.

Some, like the New York Yankees, have been able to weather the storm. Other teams haven't been quite as fortunate.

Let's take a look at the players who are now sidelined that their respective teams cannot get back on the field fast enough.