In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down each of the playoff teams from a scouting perspective.
With several key players still left on the roster from their run in 2007, the Rockies will have the playoff experience that they were lacking two years ago. This will not be a team that scares and they'll come out as ready and seasoned as any club in the mix. So, what's the formula for taking them out? This is a lineup that is as geared for the good fastball as any in baseball -- filled with hitters that never met a heater they didn't like.
Whoever is able to quiet this lineup will need a good mix of breaking pitches and be able to pitch backwards whenever possible. While they aren't a free-swinging lineup by definition, these are potent, fastball-hunting bats that, if challenged, will burn you again and again.
Colorado downed Cincinnati 5-1 with a five-run third inning and six scoreless innings from its bullpen after starter Jose Contreras suffered a strained quadriceps running to first base.
Ahhh, the National League -- where pitchers can play out their golden years without a care in the world.
Think of the NL as baseball's rest home.
Just in the past few weeks, Brad Penny and John Smoltz have reached the legendary fountain of youth that Ponce de Sabathia discovered last year in the wilds of Wisconsin.
"In reality, it's a little tougher to pitch in the American League than it is the National League," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who formerly managed in Seattle and Tampa Bay.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
For the second consecutive year, the Indians have given a playoff contender a huge boost. For the second consecutive year, they traded the previous season's AL Cy Young award winner. And for the second consecutive year, he's absolutely dealing in the National League.
Through five starts, Cliff Lee is 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 2 complete games and 39 strikeouts (with only 6 walks) in 40 innings. Sound familiar?
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.
So, quick apology on my part: the Power Rankings were supposed to go live Wednesday, but things happened, I'm a jerkstore, excuses, etc., and here we are. It's not Wednesday! So please note that the records reflect Wednesday -- not Thursday, not Friday, not Saturday. Don't freak out in the comments and call me names. Please. I can't take that in my fragile emotional state right now. I might turn into Raul Ibanez, at which point I would yell at you and then strain my groin. And that wouldn't be good for anyone.
Each year the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox play six times. Six. Out of 162 total games. Those games aren't any more relevant than six games between the Twins and Cubs or Brewers and White Sox. Of course, there are millions of misguided fans who believe there's a rivalry between the two teams, a notion that is only perpetuated when our President talks about how the White Sox play "real baseball." FanHouse's resident Cubs fan (Matt Snyder) and resident White Sox fan (Tom Fornelli) got together to discuss the aura surrounding what shouldn't be a rivalry.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That Jose Contreras and Manny Parra took a day between Triple-A assignments to share a mound in Milwaukee. Parra and the Brewers can only hope that he emerges from his demotion as well as Contreras did.
The White Sox veteran righty pitched eight scoreless innings to beat the Brewers on Saturday. In two starts since returning from his voluntary Triple-A assignment, Contreras has not allowed a run in 16 innings.
"I know what Jose went through during the last eight months, and going to the minor leagues was a great thought by him," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "Before he left, he told [White Sox general manager Kenny Williams] and myself, 'I need to pitch, I need to go out on the mound, I need to get stronger. When I come back, I'll come back fine.' "He's stepping up to his word, and he's just throwing the ball good."
The Tigers' 2006 AL Rookie of the Year and 18-game winner in 2007 slumped to 11-17 last year and begain this season 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA. But now he seems to be straightened out.
Verlander on Friday shut out the Indians on two hits, his second straight start with 11 strikeouts. Over his past three outings, Verlander is 3-0 with a 0.39 ERA, allowing 11 hits and striking out 31 in 23 innings.
While his recovery from a ruptured achilles tendon last August has been miraculous, Jose Contreras's performance on the pitching mound this season has been disastrous. Contreras wasn't expected to be back until the middle of the season, if at all, but somehow he worked his way into the White Sox starting rotation out of the spring.
Since then he's done nothing but work his way out of it, going 0-4 and posting an 8.31 ERA in five starts. Contreras had a very strong outing against the Blue Jays last week which provided a glimmer of hope that maybe he was getting his control back, but a shellacking in Dallas on Saturday put any of that optimism to rest. Now the Sox are saying they're concerned about Contreras, but they're not going to take him out of the rotation just yet.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... The AL Central could be tight all the way through September. Going into Tuesday's games, three teams were tied for first at two games over .500, and all three -- the White Sox, the Tigers and the Royals -- lost. So now four teams are within a 1/2 game, and last-place Cleveland, with four wins in its past six games, is 2 1/2 out.
That could come as news to some in Cleveland. Attendance Tuesday night at Progressive Field was 11,408 -- hurt by a simultaneous Cavaliers playoff game.
In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down each of the playoff teams from a scouting perspective.
Starting Five
Every Sunday, 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
MLB Power Rankings
Starting Five
While his recovery from a ruptured achilles tendon last August has been miraculous, 
Starting Five
