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2008 MLB Team MVPs: AL East

2008 MLB Team MVPs is a blogging series done by FanNation users dudeman and Cincy with a special guest appearance by thehemogoblin in this edition. Dudeman had actually had a series just like this for the NBA a few months ago, but it never was completed. Teams are in alphabetical order. Note: This blog was written nearly a week ago, stats may be outdated.

Baltimore Orioles

Cincy's take:

O my the O's. Don't expect to see a pitcher here. Sherill isn't that great a closer and the best ERA for a full time starter is over 5, yikes.

MLB News and Notes from 9/1/08

The final month of the regular season began yesterday with a few enticing stories from all around the league:

Stephen Drew and Adrian Beltre both hit for the cycle

For the first time in over 80 years, 2 players hit for the cycle on the same day. Although the feat is usually extremely rare, having happened only 284 times in Major League Baseball history, both Drew and Beltre manage to accomplish the feat yesterday. They both had 5 hits, with Drew's extra being a double and Beltre's extra hit being a single. Both were accomplished in a win Labor Day night.

BREAKING NEWS: MLB will use Instant Replay THIS week.

A breaking news story that I just saw on ESPN reports that MLB has approved instant replay.

Video will be used to determine close calls on whether a ball left the park (i.e. it hits the top of a fence and bounces back in, is it a homer?) and if a homer is fair or foul. Video may be used for more calls in the future, but for now, it's confined to those two situations.

It will be used on Thursday in the PHI-CHC, MIN-OAK and TEX-LAA series'. All other games will get replay on Friday.

The Rays approach a franchise milestone.

The Tampa Bay Rays have been the darlings of MLB all season. They have made quite a turnaround and have been arguably the best team in baseball all season long. They started around .500, but were supposed to fall into the depths of the AL East by the end of the season. They aren't supposed to be able to lead their division this late in the season, yet they have done the improbable by winning 79 games and being ahead of the Red Sox with just 5 weeks left in the season.

We are nearing history, but why is nobody paying attention?

When Tom Glavine achieved a feat only 22 others had achieved before him, many said that was going to be the last time a pitcher won 300 games. Over time, 300 wins has become a magnificent and magical feat that is only achieved by pitchers who are durable, dominant, and wise. The feat requires many skills and is widely regarded as the "magic" number which guarentees a pitcher entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

There is one pitcher, however, who is ever so close to the amazing feat. Yet, no one seems to care. All I seemed to hear when Glavine reached the plateau last season, was that this is the last time that a pitcher will win 300 games in a career.