Atlanta Braves outfielder Eric Hinske is a career .254 hitter who never batted .280, never slugged 25 home runs, never scored 100 runs, and never drove in 85 runs.

Making matters worse, all of his career highs in those categories came in his rookie season, possibly showing he peaked too early.

Stats aside, he couldn’t be more valuable to teams hoping to contend.

Roy Halladay and Don Larsen are two pitchers who couldn’t be more different, but after Halladay tossed his no-hitter against last night, the two will forever be linked.

How can today's slate of games possibly compare to the events of yesterday? Roy Halladay's first career playoff start was beyond exceptional and resulted in only the second no-hitter in playoff history!

Meanwhile, the Yankees yet again overcame an early deficit and stole home field advantage away from the wins. Lost in the shuffle will be Cliff Lee's terrific start against a potent Rays offense. Lee was lights out, giving up five hits and one run over seven innings while striking out ten.

In Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game is Wrong, Nate Silver and Dayn Perry tackled a question that had mystified fans and analysts for more than a century: What are the most important qualities for a team to have in the playoffs?

Through the magic of statistics, Silver and Perry found that only three aspects of the game had any correlation with teams doing well once they got to the postseason. The results: Good defense, a lights-out closer, and a pitching staff’s strikeout rate.

With John Russell gone, the top priority is now on selecting a new, hopefully winning, manager for the team. There are several good candidates, some of whom have strong Pittsburgh ties.

That should not be a litmus test, but could be a useful tiebreaker, if aptitudes are otherwise comparable.

No matter what they say, over the final three-plus weeks of the season, the Yankees played as if they favored taking on the Twins in the first round of the playoffs over securing home-field advantage and having to play Cliff Lee and the Rangers.

New York (95-67) seems to have gotten what it wanted and will open up the best-of-five American League Division Series in Minnesota (95-67) on Wednesday night.

It's playoff time!

I know fans of the Yankees, Twins, Rays, Rangers, Giants, Phillies, Reds, and Braves are all gearing up with their jerseys, hats, and probably car flags to show their support as the playoffs get underway this afternoon.

What happened during the season means nothing at this point. Every team starts 0-0 and it become a whole new, albeit short, season.

The postseason is finally here, and now it’s time to preview each team that has a chance to win the World Series.

I’ll list the MLB odds on every team to win it all while also giving you some insight to every clubhouse. 

I'll also be covering the postseason with more baseball articles on a weekly basis.

Philadelphia Phillies: (+225)

Patience is a virtue, everything happens for a reason, good things come to those who wait, Rome wasn't built in a day, and you have to look before you leap.

Cliches aside, the Mets (and us fans) will have to be patient in finding out who will be running the show next year and hopefully beyond.

Whether you want to see it or not, it's lingering: the possibility of having a rematch in the World Series is highly likely.  

Going into the playoffs the Philadelphia Phillies are the hottest team, winning 22 of their last 29 games.  The Yankees on the other hand, in a bold move decided to leave A.J. Burnett out of the rotation against the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS.