Opinion

Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn has passed away, saddening Padres Nation and any number of peers and fans of the man and his accomplishments.

At 29-39 heading into Tuesday, the Chicago Cubs are on a familiar path. That is to say they're looking at their fifth consecutive losing campaign and their 106th straight season without a championship. And yet, for an organization that hasn't had much success lately—and even not so lately—there is hope.

The San Francisco Giants have fallen on tough times in the past week, losing six of their last seven games. Fortunately for the Giants, they had built a sizable lead in the NL West and are still ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers by six games. 

The technical term for Andrew McCutchen's performance in 2012 and 2013 is "a hard act to follow."

All he did was hit .322 with a .932 OPS across those two seasons, with last year's National League MVP award being the bow on top of it all. It's hard to ask a guy to be any better than that.

1. How the Dodgers Could Fix Themselves

The Dodgers are stuck in neutral. Matt Kemp’s mind is stuck in 2011, the year he finished as runner-up to Ryan Braun in the NL MVP race.

Little of the math surrounding this most expensive team in baseball history adds up, including, still, the four-outfielders-for-three-positions equation.

The Cincinnati Reds' farm system is flush with young pitchers right now. A quick look through my most recent prospect rankings and you'll see that nine of the team's top 15 prospects are pitchers.

Of those nine prospects, only one is a can't-miss starter. That young man, Robert Stephenson, headlines the group of starters we'll analyze in this piece.

Despite a 32-38 record, the Boston Red Sox are still only 5.5 games back of a playoff spot in the American League.  Barring a complete collapse, the Red Sox figure to be buyers when the July 31 MLB trade deadline arrives.  With that in mind, what are Boston's greatest needs going forward, as they look to stay alive in the postseason race?

In his last start, June 14 against the Atlanta Braves, Garrett Richards tossed six scoreless innings and struck out 10 en route to an 11-6 victory. (Richards was denied the win when the bullpen coughed up the lead, but the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ultimately prevailed in 13 innings.)

Generally speaking, the Oakland A's are a very good baseball team—one of the best teams in baseball during the 2014 regular season. But if they want to legitimately compete for a World Series title, there are a few things they must shore up.

Don't mistake that statement as doubt.

Here come the Kansas City Royals. After getting off to a troublesome 29-32 start, the AL Central contenders have caught fire by winning eight games in a row. The latest—an 11-8 victory over the Detroit Tigers—has put the defending division champions on notice.