 |
| sportsillustrated.cnn.com |
In the dog days of summer, baseball has been keeping me going. There is so much to talk about around the league. The most interesting team could quite frankly be the Dodgers. Since the emergence of Cuban rookie sensation Yasiel Puig the Dodgers have been rolling. Puig has had 11 HR and 25 RBI since the start of June. More importantly, he has given this team life and hope. Hanley Ramirez has also given the Dodgers a huge boost. Ramirez has 11 HR and 37 RBI for LA. Both Puig and Ramirez have been super aggressive. Ramirez is a candidate for NL MVP. The Dodgers are 3.5 games up on the Diamondbacks in the NL West.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been playing great baseball as of late. The Pirates are 1.5 games up on the Cardinals in the NL Central, the toughest division in the MLB. The Pirates fell one games short of pulling off an insane 5-game sweep against the Cards. The Cardinals did embarrass Pittsburgh last night at PNC Park with a 13-0 win over Pittsburgh. Charlie Morton got the loss for the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez have been leading the team. McCutchen is a frontrunner for the MVP.
The AL Central is host to two of the hottest teams in baseball in the Indians and Royals. Cleveland has won their last 8 while Kansas City has been on a tear and have won their last 9 appearances. Cleveland is sitting in the second Wild Card spot and is up on the Orioles and Rangers by 0.5 games. The Rangers have won four straight games and are making up ground in the AL West and the Wild Card. Three of the four wins have come from walk-offs against the Angels. Texas fans are not too happy, though. The MLB has seriously been considering suspending players linked to the Biogenesis scandal. Ryan Braun is currently serving a rest-of-the-season suspension. The 2011 NL MVP lied about not using steroids and blamed it on other people. It has been a rough few weeks for Milwaukee fans. Nelson Cruz of the Rangers is one of the players linked to the scandal.
 |
| cbssports.com |
The AL East battle has been heating up lately. The Red Sox are currently one game up on the Rays for 1st place. Baltimore is sitting 5.5 games out of it and the Yanks are 8.5 games back. The BoSox and Rays have been neck and neck. The Rays are facing a load of NL West opponents to start August off. They finish off August with the AL West. The Red Sox were part of a three-team trade where they sent Jose Iglesias to the Tigers and got back Jake Peavy from the White Sox.
