Category: MLB

The big news of this week has been the health of several aces. The news is bad for two teams in the NL West, as the Dodgers lose Jason Schmidt and the Diamondbacks lose Randy Johnson, both for an undetermined amount of time. Schmidt has already spent most of the season on the disabled list and has made comments that he never really felt like himself, posting a 1-4 record with an ERA over 6.00.

Johnson, on the other hand, began the season on the DL, but more often than not has looked like the 2001 World Series winning Big Unit, instead of the Booed in the Bronx Big Unit.

While the news out West is bad, Red Sox nation is breathing a sigh of relief, when Curt Schilling’s MRI revealed no damage to his shoulder, and he shouldn’t miss more than a start or two.

The amateur draft has come and gone, and the next event in line for the baseball season is the All-Star game, a juxtaposition of what baseball has done right and what they have done wrong for the sport.

Televising the draft can only be a positive thing, even if the ratings and reviews weren’t that good for its first season. It will surely be a work in progress, but definitely has the potential to increase interest in the sport at all stages, including the upcoming College World Series, where fans of MLB teams can take interest in a variety of players from different schools.

On the other hand, the All-Star game is an exhibition, and the idea that an exhibition game will determine home field advantage for the World Series is ridiculous. Bud… if you’re reading this… immediate All-Star game reform is a necessity.

What is it with the American powers-that-be and their long, obsessive, and expensive pursuits of pointless conflicts? Golf, the War in Iraq, the Mitchell Investigation, etc.

In the year or so that the Mitchell Investigation has been conducted, it has cost Major League Baseball $2 million per month, and has yielded little or no evidence concerning the current or past state of illegal performance enhancing substances in the game. And more, it has done nothing to solve the problem of former “cheaters” or how to eliminate “cheaters” from the game today.

There’s been a changing of the guard in Major League Baseball. Over the past year and a half that I have been writing this weekly article the Royals have had the worst or second-worst record in the league for essentially every single week, and have occupied the 29th or 30th spot in the power rankings each and every single week. Despite getting swept by Seattle, it’s time for Kansas City fans to rejoice… they’ve clawed their way out of baseball’s cellar and seen the light of day.

Of course, their meteoric rise has not been because of their good play, by any means, but because of the horrid play of the Cincinnati Reds and the Texas Rangers. There is still some hope, however, for the dwindling fan base of the Reds and Rangers, as the Royals still have the worst home record in baseball and are still riding a four-game losing streak.

On the other hand, the NL West, once revered as the weakest division in baseball, now looks to be one of the most competitive, with three teams in the top ten for the second week in a row.