MLB

When Cincinnati Reds star Joey Votto bumped umpire Chris Conroy during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday, it was only a matter of time before Major League Baseball took action.

Fact: Alex Rodriguez passes Willie Mays for 4th on MLB's all-time home run list with his 661st career HR.

Bleacher Report will be bringing sports fans the most interesting and engaging Cold Hard Fact of the day, presented by Coors Light.

Source: SportsCenter

You know the feeling of seeing a spider in your kitchen when it's nighttime and you're barefoot? It seems Baltimore Orioles outfielder Delmon Young experienced that emotion Thursday night.

As Young fielded a hit from the Yankees, his facial expression went viral. It looked like he saw a ghost or the baseball was a bunch of bees coming after him after he broke their hive.

Because the baseball season is so long, it's often unwise to put too much stock in early-season performances before teams and players have a chance to find themselves. This is particularly true for prospects, who can be even more volatile while needing even more time to figure things out.

The other angle, however, is that these young players have provided less to go on in their still-nascent careers—they are prospects for a reason—making any noticeable change in production that much more stark.

Fans of any sport tend to react and overreact to anything and everything surrounding their favorite team, and Major League Baseball is certainly no exception.

That goes double for the small sample sizes we have to work with during the early parts of the year, and it's important to remember it's a long, 162-game season.

With that in mind, what follows is my take on the early-season approval rating of all 30 MLB teams, based on how they have performed to this point and how they look to be positioned for the long haul.

Alex Rodriguez stands alone in fourth place on the all-time home run list after hitting his 661st bomb against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankees Stadium on Thursday, passing Willie Mays.

What good is a fantasy owner who lacks a sense of timing?

Fantasy baseball—just like the real thing—is a game of skill, luck and timing. That last trait in particular comes in handy in regard to getting value in the trading game.

Knowing which player(s) to trade away and which to deal for—and knowing just the right time to do so—can make all the difference.

Expectations poured down on Gerrit Cole unlike few Major League Baseball draftees before him. 

That tends to happen when you have a triple-digit fastball, are picked first overall and sign for an $8 million bonus, the highest ever in MLB draft history.

The only job that followed for Cole was living up to the hype. Billing it was the easy part. Fulfilling it, that would take some professional seasoning.

After a long week of work, play or whatever you've been up to, Fantasy Friday should do the trick. With a full schedule for DraftKings owners to sort through, finding the best MLB position players can not only be difficult, but downright tedious on a Friday morning or afternoon.

Based on your general disposition, you see the Cincinnati Reds in one of the two following lights: They're a team at or floating around .500 with baseball's worst OBP and worst bullpen ERA, or they're a team at .500 and tied for the remaining wild-card slot.

History suggests Reds owner Bob Castellini will see the latter. He's a competitive soul, so long as the Reds can sniff a playoff spot, don't expect them to sell.