Tuesday, FanHouse had the opportunity to discuss the MLB Playoffs with Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, who currently serves as a studio analyst for TBS. TBS will be broadcasting all four Division Series and also the NLCS again this season. Ernie Johnson is the studio host while Dennis Eckersley and David Wells join Ripken as studio analysts for these playoff games.
Of all the things Ripken discussed Tuesday, the most intriguing subject, not surprisingly, was one Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod is an oft-maligned regular season superstar, in that he's put up extremely gaudy regular season numbers throughout his career, yet has never played in a World Series and has pretty sub-par numbers in the playoffs overall -- especially of late.
In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down each of the playoff teams from a scouting perspective.
With a bullpen loaded with power arms and an assortment of pitchers who can shut you down in a variety of ways, the team to vanquish the Dodgers would likely want to do their damage early. The key is to remain patient and try to wait out their quality starting pitchers to get them out of the game by the middle innings.
If you begin to run into the back end of the Dodgers 'pen, chances are things will not go well. Young pitchers like Clayton Kershaw can fall victim to high pitch counts in a playoff atmosphere, so his starts in particular could be turning points in the series.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's weekly, extended look at some aspect of America's pastime.
As I look ahead to the MLB playoffs, I'm faced with the fact that my beloved Cubbies aren't going to be competing. Being a devout baseball fan, though, there's no way I'm not watching the postseason. Without a horse in the race, I'm forced to focus instead on individuals, and there are always plenty of reasons to watch certain players. Thus, I'm going to list 10 players I'm looking forward to watching and five players I wish I could come October.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Cardinals have hit the skids. Well, relatively speaking. The Cardinals have lost two games in a row for the first time since July 25-26. Even worse, their loss on Saturday came after closer Ryan Franklin blew his second consecutive save opportunity, allowing the Braves to score twice in the ninth in a 7-6 defeat.
It's just a hiccup for the Cardinals, who remain 10 1/2 games up on the Cubs in the National League Central. Their magic number for clinching the division is 11. Still, any slump by Franklin is bound to raise some eyebrows, especially this close to the playoffs.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday -- it's running Friday this week.
Earlier this week, Brad Lidge's nightmare 2009 season continued, when he allowed a walk-off homer to Andrew McCutchen. Ed Price covered the outing the following morning. The abysmal performance by the Phillies' closer underlines the only weakness of the defending World Series Champions.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Yes, the Dodgers' solar system revolves around Manny Ramirez. He's their star on the field and their main attraction.
But they wouldn't have Ramirez, nor many of the players who carried the team in his absence, were it not for a farm system that has been remarkably productive.
"It's nice that management kept us all here," ace Chad Billingsley told FanHouse. "There's some teams that maybe just start trading guys away. And believing in us, that's a huge thing."
In the 2002-03 drafts, Los Angeles took Russell Martin, James Loney, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Kemp and Billingsley. Those five players made their big league debuts within an 11-month span, from July 2005 to June 2006.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
The only downside of the NBA playoffs is that I feel like I miss some baseball that I would normally get to see. But with the Lakers (sigh) crowned champs now, both Kobe Bryant and I -- he was at the stadium, I was pantsless in my apartment, natch -- got the chance to watch the Angels and Dodgers go to civil war on Sunday Night Baseball.
And what I was treated to was a very impressive showing from my current favorite mancrush, Clayton Kershaw. You might know him as the "next Sandy Koufax" if you're a real devote, but more than likely, you know him as the "inconsistent southpaw who has yet to really flourish in the Dodgers rotation."
The Mariners are still hanging around in the AL West, though, so it's not exactly a sure thing they'd be willing to part with Washburn. He does make quite the hefty salary, but his contract is up at the conclusion of this season, so moving him wouldn't really save the Mariners much money.
MLB Power Rankings:Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
Sorry for the delay, kiddos, on the Power Rankings. I'm sure you spent the entirety of Wednesday wondering "WHERE IN GOD'S NAME ARE THEY??? WITHOUT THEM I'LL HAVE NOTHING TO BANTER SENSELESSLY ABOUT TO MY CO-WORKERS!!!1" Or something like that. Either way, it's time to debate the worthlessness of your favorite baseball team in numerical form once again. Do enjoy.
Tuesday, FanHouse had the opportunity to discuss the MLB Playoffs with Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, who currently serves as a studio analyst for TBS. TBS will be broadcasting all four Division Series and also the NLCS again this season. Ernie Johnson is the studio host while Dennis Eckersley and David Wells join Ripken as studio analysts for these playoff games. 
In 
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
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MLB Power Rankings
