MLB

At the beginning of Tuesday, the Baltimore Orioles find themselves with their biggest divisional lead since the 1979 season. At the end of Tuesday night, the Orioles inched a bit closer to their first AL East title since 1997 as they defeated the Boston Red Sox (63-82) 4-1. 

When you give a baby a baseball, you never know what's going to happen.

In the second inning against the Houston Astros on Monday, the Seattle Mariners' Logan Morrison hit a ground-rule double. One lucky fan was able to snag the ball when it bounced into the stands. Once he had the ball, he gave it to the baby he was holding.

That's when the baby decided to see how the baseball tasted.

Who knows what was on that baseball?

Fact: The Oakland Athletics were an MLB-best 72-44...they're now 8-19 in the last 27 games (tied for worst in MLB in that span).

Source: ESPN Stats & Info

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When the rosters expanded in early September, the Cincinnati Reds' transaction report was loaded with prospects. Unfortunately, many of the top names fans might have hoped to see grace the list (e.g., Robert Stephenson, Ben Lively and Michael Lorenzen) were nowhere to be found.

Even so, there are two prospects—maybe a third in Carlos Contreras—who could have solid yet very different futures at the big league level.

Marcus Stroman was nearly decapitated on Monday.

At the very least, the Blue Jays pitcher could’ve found himself picking Chiclets out of the dirt after a vicious comebacker zipped back toward the mound.

With the MLB playoffs fast approaching, it is time to take a glimpse into some ideal scenarios that set up well as part of the larger conversation.

To be sure, nothing has been finalized with relation to seeding and no one has clinched a playoff berth yet. As such, we are going to keep things simple by only referring to teams that qualify for the playoffs as of game time Monday.

1. Atlanta Works to Save Its Season

Not that the Atlanta Braves offense has gone quiet, but the library just called asking them to please make a little more noise.

An entire season of struggles can be easily forgotten if a player steps his game up down the stretch and helps his club reach the postseason.

With so much riding on the final month of the MLB season this year, and with so many teams still in contention both for their respective division titles and one of the four wild-card spots, finishing strong is all that matters for a number of teams.

Watching the Atlanta Braves for the past couple of months has been like watching a train wreck in super-slow motion. Every few games, you can see a few fans jump off in anticipation of the inevitable crash. Every time a runner is left in scoring position, a fan changes the channel.

Pop quiz, hotshot: Which Major League Baseball team has spent the most days in first place during the course of the 2014 season?

Here's a hint: Check the picture up top.

Yep, it's the Milwaukee Brewers, who surprisingly sat atop the National League Central with at least a share of the lead from April 5 until Sept. 1.