Fan News

Welcome to the first edition of Stat School.

Every Wednesday, I’ll be taking you through one crucial stat that you should be using in your player evaluations and how it affects future performance.

It’s called Sabermetrics .

The All-Star Break is here!

Time to sit back, relax, and watch Omar Infante battle John Buck for the rights for home field advantage in the World Series. Or just tie, at least this time we’ll be numb to it from the World Cup group stage.

The All-Star Break is just about upon us, which marks the real halfway point for the baseball season. Awards can start to be discussed, playoff pictures can start to be formed, and those who are playing the best and worst can be looked at as well.

There are those who started off strong but have completely disappeared, and those who have had an amazing June for their team.

The MLB has many players from all positions who deserve awards like the Cy Young, the MVP, The Rookie of the year, and the manager of the year. In this list I will say what players will get the mid season awards.

Begin Slideshow

This article is a look at the fascinating numbers, unexpected performances, and season projections from the first half of Major League baseball's 109th season. 

.454 - Josh Hamilton's batting average in the month of June.

18 - Days the NL West leading San Diego Padres have spent out of first place. Since April 19, they have been in first place for 70 out of 74 days.

82 - The number of All-Stars this season. 

The All-Star break has historically been known as a nice three-day break where the media and fans can settle down and get a good look at where each team stands as they head into the unofficial second half of the season.

I've done just that, and am glad to share my predictions for what teams will be sporting Division Champion (and Wild Card Champion) t-shirts at the end of the season.

David Ortiz became the first Boston Red Sox slugger to win the home run derby on Monday night, powering his way past Hanley Ramirez at Angel Stadium.

Ortiz put on a show for the fans from start to finish, and he outlasted his younger competition on his way to the silverware.

Read below to get a blow-by-blow account of the evening's home run derby showdown.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Mariners’ management is taking heat for including Josh Lueke in the package of prospects they received along with Justin Smoak for Cliff Lee.

Ken Griffey, Jr. retired earlier this year. He was in the midst of the worst season of his career, failing to hit any of his career 630 home runs in 2010. Still he will go down in history as one of the greatest sluggers the game of baseball has ever seen.

But he left the game with one major accomplishment missing from his resume: a World Series ring.

And he’s not the only great player to retire without winning it all.

Rumours are swirling about Blue Jays shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

Joe Strauss reported in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch over the weekend that Toronto had scouts in St. Louis and that the Cardinals may be interested in acquiring the 33 year old veteran for the stretch run.

Gonzalez is having a big year at the plate power wise, with 17 homers and 50 RBIs at the All-Star break. Gonzalez's on base percentage is a brutal .296, but his power in the middle infield would be a welcome addition to the Cardinals' lineup.