Fan News

Most fans in Los Angeles knew Brad Ausmus was going to retire before he did.

The 41-year-old catcher has missed a large part of the 2010 season with back problems and appeared more comfortable providing quiet advice to teammates than squatting behind the plate for nine grueling innings on aging knees.

Ausmus will get the opportunity to take the reins for the Dodgers in one their few remaining games.

The Atlanta Braves got on the board early last night, but a two-run fifth inning for the Philadelphia Phillies sunk the Braves, with the Braves losing 3-1.

Although you might not be able to hear it over the din of the early NFL season, Major League Baseball has opened the throttle for its stretch run.

Magic numbers are dwindling in the American League as the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins are days away from officially clinching the AL West and Central, respectively.

Over in the AL East, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays are still tussling over the pennant, but the runner-up will be the proud owner of the Junior Circuit's Wild Card.

The Colorado Rockies are in the middle of what seems to be their annual September march to the playoffs.

Tonight was a special night at Yankee Stadium as George Steinbrenner was honored before the game with a huge monument in center field and their center fielder blasted two home runs in an 8-6 victory over the Rays.

Here are some highlights:

According to Abbott and Costello, "Who's on first, What's on second, and I Don't Know's on third."

However, for the 2011 New York Mets, the question will be the following: who (not what) is on second?

Let's be honest. Even before his recent injury, Met fans were not getting excited about the prospects of having Luis Hernandez man second base for us next year.

If you look right now at the Mets' 2011 roster, the starting nine appear all but certain, barring any major changes (which we no doubt may see).

The first head-to-head, "for all the marbles" meeting between these two teams, came in 1915 when the surprising, Philadelphia Phillies, jumped from sixth to first in one year to lead the race for the National League Pennant.

That year, Philadelphia produced the NL's best offense, in-part to career years from outfielder, Gavvy Cravath and first baseman Fred Luderus.

Important Notes: The stats were last updated on September 20, 2010.  Sorry about that pitcher getting cut off.

Keep in mind, this will be in an order of the teams I think that made the cut.

Each week or two I will evaluate the top four things (two from the AL and two from the NL) coming into October ball.  This week I'll be talking about the top-four teams with the top 1-2-3 punch that will give them the best chance to win the World Series.

The NL West has featured some of the more interesting pennant races in recent memory, mainly centered around the Rockies amazing comebacks in 2007 and 2009 to snag the Wild Card spots.

The year 2010 is no different, as the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies are all within two games of each other entering play today.

In one line I will say this: Anything but a World Series in the year of the loss of George M. Steinbrenner, would be a disappointment.