Baseball has been full of surprises this year. Francisco Liriano threw a six-walk no-hitter despite having never thrown a complete game in his career, Manny Ramirez abruptly retired, and after starting the season 0-6, the Tampa Bay Rays sit atop the AL East. One that nobody saw coming was the Cleveland Indians owning baseball’s best record at […]

Led by rotation ace Josh Johnson, hot starts from Gaby Sanchez and Emilio Bonifacio, and a revamped bullpen with the second-best ERA in baseball right now, the Florida Marlins are second in the NL East with a 23-16 record and are just two games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the division lead. More impressively, they’re doing it on a $56.9 million payroll; […]

If it was up to Andrew McCutchen, he’d be in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform for his entire career. “I plan on being here, that’s the mindset. This is where I want to be, ” he said. “I don’t want to go anywhere, and I’m going to be here for as long as they want me to be here.” […]

When the Tampa Bay Rays shipped Matt Garza to Chicago this offseason, they robbed the Cubs of a bounty of prospects. On top of prying away Chicago’s best pitching prospect and Pitcher of the Year Chris Archer, the Rays also snagged slick-fielding Korean shortstop Hak-Ju Lee, who was ranked as the Cubs’ fourth-best prospect by Baseball America. Add in Brandon […]

At 34 years old and coming off his worst season at the plate since an injury-shortened 2007 campaign, Lyle Overbay wasn’t exactly considered one of the premier free agents available last offseason. In addition to being a solid defender at first base, though, Overbay’s strong work ethic, 10 years of experience and ability to hit to the […]

When Brandon Morrow took the mound against the Tampa Bay Rays in early August last year, all he was looking to do was to give his Toronto Blue Jays team a chance to win. After striking out 14 batters in seven innings without allowing a single hit, he was doing exactly that, and in historic […]

When the Philadelphia Phillies brought back Cliff Lee this past offseason, all of the talk around baseball was about their starting rotation, and rightly so. On top of adding a two-time All-Star and Cy Young Award winner, the Phillies have their ace Roy Halladay, who is a seven-time All-Star and two-time Cy Young Award winner, […]

At first glance, Kyle Drabek does not appear to be an intimidating force on the mound. Once the ball leaves his hand, though, opposing hitters immediately recognize that he is exactly that, a borderline assassin. With only six Major League starts to his name, Drabek is already inflicting damage on his targets with a variety […]

Few teams have liquidated their rosters the way the Pittsburgh Pirates did during the 2009 season. After shipping out five of their eight Opening Day position players, a member of their starting rotation, and over half of their bullpen, few players remained from the original group. Had Ryan Doumit not suffered a wrist injury that […]

Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Neil Walker made a goal to become a Major League baseball player. While a gifted overall athlete – playing baseball, football, and basketball in high school – his decision was made easier given his lineage as the son of a Major League pitcher, former Montreal Expo Tom Walker. When the […]