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The National League Central; Who Is Really The Best Team

admin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

This season determining whom the best team in the National League Central comes down to the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers. Both teams have made the National League playoffs and could face each other for a trip to the World Series if they win their first round series. Milwaukee is a team that has a deep bullpen and starting pitching. The Brewers traded for Shaun Marcum and Zack Greinke to start the season and it helped them win the National League Central. The Brewers one weak spot is experience in the playoffs. When the games get more important the pressure, get tougher. Milwaukee has not proven they can win the big game.

For the St. Louis Cardinals they are a veteran club with good consistent pitching that has been through the playoffs before. No one thought they would make the playoffs, but they did. Albert Pujols was injured early in the year, but he came back and so did the Cardinals. Manager Tony Larussa is a manager that seems to know the right buttons to push. The best team in the National League Central right now is the St. Louis Cardinals until the Brewers prove otherwise. You have to go with a team that has been there before over an inexperienced team. Right now, the Cardinals are the best in the National League Central.

Lance Berkman; Is This Really A Surprise?

admin — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Lance Berkman has proven himself to be one of baseball’s greatest switch hitters of all time. His incredible power from both sides of the plate combined with his excellent career batting average of .297 has made him one of the most feared hitters in baseball. He entered this season coming off a tough knee surgery as a St. Louis Cardinal, and was expected to be just a washed up player. However, his performance this season was better than anyone could have asked for, with a batting average of .301 and 31 home runs. Was his performance really a surprise?
Berkman entered the 2011 season saying he felt better than he had in several years. After coming off a rough pain-filled season with the Yankees and the Astros, he lost weight and had knee surgery; Berkman appeared eager to go back out and perform. Within one month, he mounted incredible stats, and even had a three home run game during the month of April. Critics were astonished, but had nothing to say other than “The Puma’s Back.”
Berkman’s performance shows he still has a lot left in the tank, and he recently signed a one year contract extension with the Cardinals. Needless to say, if the Albert Pujols deal gets done in St. Louis, it will be another scary season of Pujols, Holliday, and Berkman. Let’s be honest folks, did Berkman really surprise us as much as we think, or did he just put up another typical Lance Berkman season?

Is Hanley Ramirez Ready To Fulfill His Potential?

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Hanley Ramirez is one of the most talented baseball players in the Major Leagues, but has never reached his full potential. Many Florida Marlins fans are starting to wonder if Hanley Ramirez will ever reach his full potential. If you look at his stats in his brief career, he has put up some very impressive numbers to say the least. Ramirez has hit 134 home runs in 7 seasons and has over 1,000 hits in his career. People still wondering why he has not reached the level of greatness yet.

The truth is Hanley Ramirez is as talented as they come, but his work ethic and dedication to the game has always been a problem with him. It is more mental with Hanley than anything else is. Toss in some managers that he did not get along with, and you have a person who has not reached his full potential. He still is very young and can reach super stardom with the right coach and people around him. Hanley Ramirez also has to want it as well. Until these things happen, it could be a struggle for this superstar in the making. It may all come down to how bad he wants to be a star, or if he will just be a guy will great talent who never realized it.

Historical Sights You’ve Got to See

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Sure you watch a lot of games on your direct.TV but have you really invested time in learning the history of your sport? If you’re bound and determined to learn more about baseball plan a trip to one of these historically enlightening shrines to the game:
Old Yankee Stadium: You can still arrange a private tour at the stadium in the Bronx but if you can’t imagine setting foot on those grounds, consider Wrigley Field in Chicago as well. Both are about as historical as it gets and have some stories to tell
Hall of Fame: If you make it to Cooperstown, you’re clearly going to head to the Baseball Hall of Fame. There’s tons of memorabilia and interactive exhibits and you’ll leave knowing more about the sport than you ever thought possible.
City Island Ball Park: It’s where Jackie Robinson played his first major league game and if that’s not enough history for you, go ahead and take in spring training to see what the future of the game’s going to look like.

Finding The Most Important Statistic In Baseball

admin — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Of all of the major professional sports in the United States, the one sport that creates the largest obsession on statistics and trends is baseball. Over the years many different statistics and metrics have been created to determine just how productive a player is.

One of the most popular statistics used by statisticians today is the OPS. OPS, which stands for on base plus slugging percentage, is a metric which combines two of the most historical statistics in baseball history. This statistic does a good job of taking into consideration how well a player reaches base as well as how powerful a hitter is.

Another statistic that is gaining a lot of popularity with general managers as well as avid baseball fans is the RBI efficiency statistic. RBI, which stands for runs batted in, has always been one of the most highly used statistics in all of baseball. While this statistic is quite important to follow, it does not do a good job of capturing how well a player does at taking advantage of their RBI situations. The RBI efficiency statistic is a percentage based statistic which shows how often a player knocks in a RBI when there are runners in scoring position when they come to bat.

Why Your Team Will Not Compete This Year

admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Ten reasons why your team will not compete this year:

1. You root for an AL East team not in New York or Boston (Rays, Blue Jays, Orioles). Sure Tampa Bay has a chance. Just like I have a chance at getting elected to Congress.

2. You root for an NL East team not in Philadelphia or Atlanta (Mets, Nationals, Marlins). No caveats here.

3. Your team’s owners are going through a major divorce (Dodgers). Pray for a quick sale.

4. Your team hasn’t had a winning season since 1992 (Pirates). Be happy your team is over .500 this late in the year.

5. Ed Wade is still your GM (Astros). Try not to think of Brad Lidge celebrating his 2008 championship.

6. Your team has already been outscored by more than 70 runs this season (Cubs, Twins).

7. Aaron Crow is your All-Star representative (Royals). Apologies to Aaron’s mom.

8. Your team’s ERA is above 4.00 (Diamondbacks, Reds, Rockies). Quasi-exceptions: Brewers and Twins.

9. Your starting 3rd baseman has one home run more than I do this season (White Sox).

10. Your team’s OPS is less than .650 (Mariners, Padres, A’s).

Congrats to fans of all teams not listed!

Why Can’t The Marlins Draw Fans?

admin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Baseball fans are attracted to teams capable of putting up winning season after winning season and make the occasional deep playoff run. Fans become bitter fans-no-more when they see losing season after losing season or when the teams deals away some of their best and most beloved players. I mean, who can imagine the New York Yankees without Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter? Or who can picture the St. Louis Cardinals without Albert Pujols? If teams lose one of their biggest names in the system, they will in return lose a huge fan base. This is exactly what happened to the Florida Marlins, but on an immensely large scale. After the Florida Marlins’ World Series victory in 2003, the upper management decided to deal some of the organizations biggest and best names over the next several years: Dontrelle Willis, Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Delgado, Juan Pierre, and Mike Lowell. In turn, this angered the fan base and their desire to go to baseball games to see these players’ replacements had vanished. In order for the Marlins to get their fan base back, they will need to have several winning seasons led by MVP caliber players. This could take a couple years.

The Biggest Surprises Of 2011 And Is Your Team One?

admin — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Baseball is an extremely long season; 162 games to be exact, and that is just the regular season (does not include playoffs). With such a long season, there are bound to surprises, Cinderella stories, come-from-behind wins, winning streaks, losing streaks, and more. That is the beauty of a baseball season; no one can ever predict who will win their division or who the best hitters and pitchers will be. You can never know anything when dealing with such a long, grueling season.

With this being said, the 2011 baseball season certainly is not any different. Unexpected players have shined to keep their unexpected teams in a close race for an October playoff entrance. The Cleveland Indians started the season with baseball’s best record up through the first 50 games or so. The Pittsburgh Pirates, who hold the all-time record for the most consecutive losing seasons among every professional sports team in the country, have a winning record and are only 1.5 games behind the division leader. I do not believe any sports columnist, reporter, analyst, or hardcore fan could have seen that coming. It really is a wonderful thing, watching an underdog do things that were not expected of them.