It's been a bad year for Cleveland Indians fans.

Most of us Tribe faithful had low expectations when the season began. This was supposed to be a transition year, as the fruits of one of the deepest farm systems in the game got their first taste of the big leagues.

But even if they weren't supposed to be serious contenders, it's hard to see the Indians flailing behind even the Kansas City Royals in the basement of the AL Central without wondering how things went this wrong.

In 1960, Gene Autry, already famous as a singing cowboy, decided to travel to the Major League Baseball expansion meetings to see if he could find a baseball team to broadcast on his radio station. He walked away with an actual team instead.

Fifty years later, that same team, the Los Angeles Angels, are planning a year-long bash to commemorate their 50th birthday.

Top Five Stories From Yesterday

1. The Phillies sweep the Braves out of Philadelphia, increasing their lead in the NL East to six games and reducing their magic number to four.

2. The Padres retake the lead in the NL West after they defeat the Dodgers, and the Giants lose to the Cubs.

3. The Rays get back to within 1.5 games of the Yankees after winning the third game of their big four-game series.

The rain knocked A.J. Burnett out of the game and the Yankees B-squad bullpen let them down as they lost at home 7-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays to drop to just 1.5 games up in first place.

Here are some highlights:

Is Kelly Johnson a player who has turned a corner, becoming a must use fantasy option, or is a one-hit wonder, so to speak?  Before we can fully answer that question, let’s take a look at the numbers he’s put up this season (through Tuesday):

627 At Bats
.274 Batting Average (150 Hits)
23 Home Runs
65 RBI
86 Runs
11 Stolen Bases
.361 On Base Percentage
.484 Slugging Percentage
.323 Batting Average on Balls in Play

On August 17, 2007, it was difficult to see exactly how stable the Chicago Cubs would be in the long-term.

There were still seven years left on Alfonso Soriano's contract, four left on Aramis Ramirez's, and three on Derrek Lee's and Ted Lilly's, but Soriano, Lee, and Lilly were all heading into their age 32 seasons. Young players like Rich Hill, Sean Marshall, Carlos Marmol, Angel Guzman, and Ryan Theriot had shown some promise but weren't far enough into their careers to even approach status as a known quantity.

There is a saying that bad news doesn't get better with time. However, announcing plans to cut payroll while your team is in the middle of a division race can't be a good idea.

That's exactly what Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu Sternberg did when he announced that even if the Rays win the World Series payroll will be cut in 2011. The current estimate is that the Rays will cut this year's $72 million payroll by $15-20 million.

With the seats getting emptier at Sun Life Stadium in the wake of yet another Marlins late-season collapse, the surging Miami Dolphins snatching the local sports headlines, and the impending start of the NBA season with the Heat Elite of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh about to take the hardwood, the Marlins are in need of a revival.

Randy Wells should be happy tonight. 

By beating the San Francisco Giants Wednesday night, following his win last week in St. Louis, it is the first time since April that he won two consecutive games.  He has been trying hard to turn his unfortunate season around but it took him until the end of the year to do so.

The right-hander (8-13) outdueled the hot Giants starter, Jonathan Sanchez in the Cubs’ 2-0 victory to tie the series at one game apiece in the three-game set.

The 2010 Major League Baseball season is quickly winding down to the final 10-plus games, and the race for postseason play—and postseason awards—is in full swing.

And with those final two weeks of races coming down to the wire, it’s time to take a quick look at the 10 biggest contenders for one of baseball’s most prestigious awards: Most Valuable Player.

So, from the likes of Cincinnati’s Joey Votto to Texas’ Josh Hamilton, who are the 10 players with the highest probability of bringing home the 2010 MVP hardware?