Category: MLB

Yes, it’s been a long hard road for Cubs and Red Sox fans.  Everyone knows it was 1908 since the Cubs have won a championship and 1918 for Boston.  Those years have been filled with turmoil, agony and heartbreak.  But they aren’t the only fans that have experienced heartbreak or who have been waiting for a championship as long as they can remember.  Hell, some fans don’t even know what it’s like to be heartbroken.

Please don’t go Randy.

One of the profound speculations in sport has always been, to me, if athletic prowess were sold at Wal-Mart, in what section would it be found?

Would it be packaged among the frozen pizza in the grocery section? Would it hang beside the Wrangler jeans in the clothing isle? Could it reside amongst the candy bars and gum in the checkout lane?

Never before has this question earned more relevance than in recent weeks. As a 25-year-old accused rapist dismantles the NBA’s flagship franchise and the Yankees try to dangle a talentless farm system and a bag of money in the face of the Arizona Diamondbacks in order to lure the Big Unit to the Big Apple, talent is something to be bought, sold or swapped, not cultivated or cherished.

The baseball off-season is a time for rebuilding, revitalizing, and reenergizing your ball club. By the end of the first half of play in baseball most clubs have an idea of where their teams’ are headed. The 2004 baseball season has been anything but anticlimactic consisting of comeback stories, rising superstars, battles through injury, and underachieving, overpaid loudmouths. Some clubs have performed much to the expectation of critics, and others have not performed as expected.  I’ll examine which off-season deals were helpful and which were devastating to the clubs during the first half of play.

As America’s pastime begins its home stretch, it’s now time to look at what’s about to happen. Since I’ve got a few leftover tea leaves, let’s take a look:

Ah, summer time rolls around again and the 2004 baseball All-Star game from Minute Maid Park has concluded. Another year of the greatest accumulation of players who have put up fantastic numbers in the first half of the season. You got I-Rod catching; he leads the majors in average. You got the Hall of Fame outfield for the NL (until Griffey got injured), Clemens making the start for the NL team, and good old Jason Giambi making the start at first for the AL. All is well, or is it?