MLB

It's almost unfair that Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish has so many different pitches in his arsenal. Detroit Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter would probably agree.

In the late innings of Thursday's game between the Rangers and the Tigers, Darvish broke out the rare eephus pitch against Hunter:

In 2013, the Detroit Tigers had many people convinced they might be baseball’s best team. Boasting arguably the game’s best pitcher (Max Scherzer) and inarguably its best hitter (Miguel Cabrera), they seemed to have the necessary weapons to dominate any opponent.

The 2014 MLB trade deadline is still two months away, but it's never too early to get the rumor mill churning. There is still a lot of baseball to be played, as most teams have not yet established themselves as buyers or sellers. But we can already start to paint a picture of who will be available at the July 31 non-waiver deadline.

Major League Baseball is a mercurial sport. And by that I mean the fortunes of an MLB player can turn on a dime.

Some players—who were of almost no use—will suddenly come alive and carry their team to several victories. Conversely, players who were performing at a high level can go through stretches where it seems each ball they hit hard goes right to someone. 

Year one of the Xander Bogaerts era at shortstop is not going as planned.

The Philadelphia Phillies have not been the most successful franchise. They were the first team in MLB history to reach 10,000 losses, their all-time record is below .500 and as one of the oldest teams in baseball, they only have two World Series titles to their name.

The Baltimore Orioles (23-22) have finally come to a skid in the road on their path to securing a division title and a postseason berth.

As was to be expected, the Orioles' weaknesses of an underperforming offense and an unreliable starting rotation are finally catching up to them, as they are 3-7 over their last 10 games played, which included a three-game sweep at the hands of the visiting Detroit Tigers early last week.

Baseball enthusiasts, like players, have tendencies.

Some players tend to perform better after the All-Star break than they do before it, while others tend to have far more success against left-handed pitching than they do against right-handed pitchers. For fans and pundits alike, we tend to wax poetic about our team's top prospects.

No matter how small the sample size may be, comparisons to current and former All-Stars are made, expectations are raised and...we wind up disappointed with the results.

Minnesota’s Prairie Home Baseball Companion is mostly everything you would want for $184 million over eight years, at $23 mil per season: On-base machine, world-class bat speed, face of the franchise, astute baseball mind, flexible enough to change positions, hometown hero, clubhouse icon.

He is everything you would want, except for one not-so-subtle thing: Joe Mauer does not put baseballs over the fences.

The 2014 Philadelphia Phillies are a confounding baseball team, stuck between a successful past and a bleak future. In the present, a mediocre potential contender has emerged due to the parity engulfing the National League East.