Opinion

If it feels like it's been a while since the baseball-consuming world has been captivated by Yasiel Puig, that's because it has.

The Los Angeles Angels are cruising toward October. And now, they know for sure that they will be playing in it, after becoming the first team in MLB to clinch a playoff berth on Monday night.

For so long it was the same trio of franchises bullying their way into perennial October positions. This happened for two decades, and other teams hardly ever had anything to say about it.

There are guys who hit home runs, and then there are home run hitters. For most of his superlative career, the Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera has landed squarely in the second category.

He's a beast, a masher. A hitter opposing pitchers genuinely fear. A hitter you assume is going to launch one every time he takes a cut.

With the minor league season over and several youngsters currently up in Los Angeles with the Dodgers, a few of the standouts from the minor league season are familiar to Dodger fans. However, not all of them are, and here is an opportunity to recognize a more diverse list of players.

There’s rebuilding projects, and then there’s the Houston Astros.  Ever since the team went to the World Series in 2005, the entire organization has been in shambles. 

Sure, they won 86 games in 2008, but that is their only time in the past eight years to win more than 80 games.  They are currently on their seventh different manager in those eight years, and their attendance has plummeted to one of the lowest in the league.

After defeating the San Diego Padres on Monday night and notching his 18th win of the season, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw has forced his way into the National League MVP discussion with just a little more than two weeks left in the regular season.

The fear was ever so real, terrifying the men who stood to be criticized when the spotlight shined brightest.

They could see the situation lurking, ready to embarrass the game when pitches, plays and outcomes matter the most—in October.

Major League Baseball, finally realizing how preposterous the interpretation of its rule was and that it could come back to chomp the league in the playoffs, did the right thing and clarified Rule 7.13, better known as the home plate collision rule.

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 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.