You may not have noticed, but this is shaping up as a pivotal baseball season.
Oh, we haven't hit the quarter pole yet, but if, like me, you are tired of the big spenders going overboard with multimillion dollar long-term contracts, there are some interesting figures to ponder:
But hopefully there is a trend here. Last season, Las Vegas favored a World Series matchup between Philadelphia and either the Yankees or Red Sox. Boston didn't even make the playoffs and the Phillies and Yankees were eliminated in the first round.
Instead, two middle-of-the-road spenders, Texas and St. Louis, gave us a World Series to remember. It could happen again.
With Nolan Ryan, a non-believer in long-term contracts, calling the shots, the Rangers have been the American League champs the last two years. The Cardinals, who refused to shell out to keep Pujols, have won two of the last six World Series.
The unknown factor is always injuries. This season, Philadelphia, Boston and the Yankees all have been hit hard.
While we can be sure that New York will spend what it takes to make the playoffs, the same cannot be said for the Red Sox and Phillies, who say they have hit a spending wall. Their playoff hopes hinge on getting their injured stars healthy.
The two teams that should benefit most if Boston and Philadelphia continue to struggle are Tampa in the AL East and Atlanta in the NL East.
Once again, manager Joe Maddon has the over-achieving, low-salaried Rays in the thick of the pennant race. And likely they will still be there in September.
Meanwhile, the no-name Braves are kind of operating under the national media radar. Excellent pitching, pretty good hitting and so far no major injuries. Manager Fredi Gonzalez seems to have settled in nicely in his second year.
One nitpick. If you tune in on the Atlanta telecasts, you'll discover the players have no last names. With the ever-biased hometown announcers, it's always Randall and Craig and Brandon and Tyler and Eric and so forth.
Maybe if the Braves make the playoffs and some professional announcers do the games we'll find out who these guys are.
