Opinion

I have let my opinion be known regarding how I feel about the New York Yankees (which is funny, really, considering that the Yankees' provenance developed right in Baltimore, Maryland, 1901). The perennial team of "haves" and World Series titles and the most-prized free agents over the last few decades or so, Team Pinstripes has been an annoyance and the object of my disaffection for years—including when they won the 1996 ALCS over the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1.

With this season finally drawing to a close, I have spent most of the past six to eight weeks listening to Mets fans and those who cover the Mets in the media trash over and over and over again the Mets first baseman, Daniel Murphy.

To me it's just unbelievable what extremes these fans take when it comes to blame and evaluation of a players year.

I'm not unrealistic. I'm not delusional. I know the Cubs aren't going to win anything, other than (if they're lucky) some 15 more meaningless regular-season games, this year.

But I have decided to keep hoping against hope anyway.

For years, the pitching staff of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was an embarrassment of riches.

The starting rotation and bullpen rosters over the last decade have read more like the baseball equivalent of a Forbes Fortune 500 list, with names like Bartolo Colon, Francisco Rodriguez, and a healthy Kelvim Escobar throwing hostile takeovers from the mound each night.

That was then.

The Washington Nationals are on a pace to finish the season at 56-106, four games worse than last year’s woeful effort.

Their wish list for next year, however, is not nearly as long as their record would suggest.

Joe Girardi and the Yankees are praying that A.J. Burnett will be able to return to his summer form come playoff time.

After a dominant stretch from June 14 until August 7, in which he went 6-2 and posted a 2.32 ERA, the Yankees' hard-throwing righty has been dreadful on a regular basis. Entering today's game, Burnett had allowed 25 earned runs in 36.1 innings in his six starts following the gem he tossed against Boston on August 7. He was 1-3 in those starts.

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To say that Derek Jeter passing Lou Gehrig as the NY Yankees all-time hit leader is much ado about nothing would be completely disrespectful…yet, I am left feeling that all of the fuss that has been attributed to the accomplishment is significantly overblown.

As of this morning, the St. Louis Cardinals are 84-58, 10.5 games in front of the Chicago Cubs for first place in the NL Central. 

How have they achieved this success?

One may attribute it to the MVP caliber season of Albert Pujols, the trade deadline acquisition of Matt Holliday, or the amazing pitching of Adam Wainwright.

Or Chris Carpenter.

The 34-year-old is 16-3, with a league leading 2.16 ERA in 24 starts this season.

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Be sure to listen to Sports Overnight America, where I will discuss the final three weeks of the season with Patrick Mauro tonight at 11 PM (PST). Listen here!

Here's a nasty little secret:  I love Los Angeles—the sprawling city, not its sports teams.

It's a rough admission because I'm a die-hard San Francisco Giant fan and, as such, there is no team on Planet Earth I hate more than the LA Dodgers. Honestly, if you told me a Bum broke his leg, there would be a nanosecond of glee.

Until you told me the player's name, it would simply be a uniform and one upon which I wish much ill.

Of course, then you have to bring an individual into the situation, trigger human empathy, and ruin the whole neat equation. Oh well.