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With only a little more than a month to go, the gun commencing the 2012 MLB playoff race has finally been shot—no team is safe. Some division leaders have a bit more cushion but, as of right now, any team can be dethroned. The wild card position in the American league is as tight one might expect.The contenders—Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Oakland and Detroit—are all currently within a game of each other. Plus, the White Sox lead the Tigers in the Central Division by only two wins.There is a bit more of a gap in the National League.The Atlanta Braves set the bar high for the rest of the league. However, it's not high enough to topple the Washington Nationals for the lead in the East Division. St. Louis is two wins behind Atlanta and the Los Angeles Dodgers—four wins behind—are also wild card contenders. Here are five teams that will come up ...

The Boston Red Sox have yet to be officially eliminated from postseason contention, but the remainder of the season looks rather bleak. That, however, does not mean that you should refrain from watching as there are still several exciting storylines that have long-term effects on this Boston club. In a few days, Boston’s current 25-man roster will expand to 40, and the names on the jerseys will become even more unknown than ever before. Adrian Gonzalez is gone. Carl Crawford is gone. Josh Beckett is gone. Boston is in a partial rebuilding state as it attempts to get younger and build from within, not buy its way to wins as that clearly doesn’t always work. This course of action might not be the most popular decision, but it is the best decision for this team. Some players will be playing for new contracts and some will be playing for their ...

Which major league players act with their own best interests in mind, rather than thinking about their teammates or the organizations that employ them? Whether it's their behavior on the field—for instance, refusing to switch positions—or off the field by blocking a trade or getting busted for PED use, a handful of players have demonstrated some selfish behavior over the past few months. Bleacher Report's MLB Lead Writer Ian Casselberry and Pop Culture Lead Writer Gabe Zaldivar name a few players whose self-centered actions have ultimately hurt their respective teams. Who do you think are some selfish players in MLB? Which ones did we miss? Were we unfair to the players we mentioned? Sound off in the comments section below. Follow Gabe Zaldivar at @gabezal Follow Ian Casselberry at @iancassBe sure to sound off and let us know what you think in the comments below. If you like what you ...

Just as baseball fans witnessed last season with Mike Trout and Anthony Rizzo, it’s easy to fail in the major leagues as a young, inexperienced rookie. However, it's often times simply part of the process in a long, successful big league career. Appearing in 40 games with the Angels in 2011, Trout batted .220/.281/.390 with 11 extra-base hits and 30 strikeouts in 135 plate appearances—an experience that was for the better given his absurd production this season. Similarly, Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo batted .141/.281/.242 with 10 extra-base hits and 46 strikeouts in 49 games with the Padres in 2011. Now with a new organization and playing a significantly more hitter-friendly home park, Rizzo currently owns a .785 OPS is his second exposure at the major league level. This season, right-hander Trevor Bauer is poised for a return to the major leagues after posting a 6.06 ERA over four starts.And ...

It won't be long now before the New York Yankees implement a new rule: Effective immediately, all players must wear bubble wrap under their pinstripes.It's been that kind of a season for the Bombers. Michael Pineda was the first major player to go down, and then went Brett Gardner, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, CC Sabathia (twice), Alex Rodriguez and Ivan Nova.Am I missing some names? Yeah, probably. Honestly, you could pick a name out of a hat full of Yankees players, and odds are, that player has spent some time on the disabled list this season.First baseman Mark Teixeira could be next. As Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com reported, Teixeira suffered a Grade 1 strain of his left calf in Monday night's loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after the game that Teixeira could be out as many as seven days, or maybe even as long as two weeks.Teixeira ...

With all of the trades of veteran players the Astros engaged in this season, it is a deal in 2010 that is about to pay off dividends.Lance Berkman was as good a Houston Astros player that put on the uniform in the past decade. Maybe he was not on the same level as Craig Biggio or Jeff Bagwell.But in his 12 years with Houston, starting with the 1999 NL Central Champs, he put up all-star numbers. He led the league in RBI in 2002 and finished in the top ten for the MVP vote five times.He called the Astrodome home and later helped lead the Astros to their only pennant, crushing a key grandslam in the 2005 Division Series against Atlanta.But when Berkman's skills were diminishing along with the Astros pennant hopes, Houston sent him packing to the defending World Champion Yankees in 2010. He would not win a World ...

Daisuke Matsuzaka has been an enigma for the Boston Red Sox since he came to the team in 2007.That year he went 15-12 with a 4.40 ERA and helped the Sox win Game 3 of the World Series against the Colorado Rockies. The following season, he was a Cy Young contender, having gone 18-3 with a sparkling 2.90 ERA. His strikeouts went down in year two, but he gave up almost half as many runs, and seemed to settle into his role with the team.Since 2009, Daisuke has yet to win more than nine games, and his ERA was under five once in 2010 when he logged 153.2 innings. Injuries have certainly played a major role in his downswing, but it has become increasingly difficult to predict what he will do during any given fifth day.His career ERA of 4.29 does not scream of a guy who is downright terrible, ...

Roger Clemens' solid comeback start with the Sugar Land Skeeters may have the legendary pitcher hungry for more. Deadspin's Erik Malinowski has the report: A source close to the Skeeters tells Deadspin that Clemens has already penciled in September 7 as his next (and final?) start for the club. This is certainly not a shock. Given even a semi-decent performance, it seemed obvious that the "Rocket" would make a push to keep pitching.So when the 50-year-old toed the rubber and delivered 24 strikes on 37 pitches in 3.1 innings of shutout baseball for the Skeeters, all questions turned to when, not if, Clemens would pitch next.However, Roger wasn't going to make this conclusion cut and dry, which seems appropriate since nothing is cut and dry regarding Clemens. The Houston Chronicle's Alan Blondin captured this post-start quote from Clemens addressing whether or not he would be pitching professionally again. "Not at this point. That could change in a couple days, but ...

The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers completed one of the biggest trades in major league history, a nine-player deal which saw LA take on more than $270 million in salary.Roger Clemens, fresh off a not guilty verdict at his perjury trial, pitched for the Sugar Land Skeeters at the age of 50. He was very good, allowing one hit in 3.1 innings in what many think could be a precursor to a major league comeback with the Houston Astros.But what are the big stories being dwarfed by these ones, the stories no one is talking about?Begin Slideshow

Frustrations seem to be mounting in Washington.But one day after Davey Johnson's alleged tirade against general manager Mike Rizzo, veteran outfielder Jayson Werth and Johnson himself decided to take shots at former Nationals manager, Jim Riggleman.Riggleman stepped down as manager of the Nationals after 75 games last season, even though the team had a respectable 38-37 record. The reason for his departure was over a contractual dispute with Rizzo.John McLaren was the interim manager for just three games. Johnson was named to the position after McLaren, and he lead the team to an 80-81 record. It would have been the first winning record for the franchise since the team moved from Montreal prior to the 2005 season.Johnson, who has clearly taken the team to new heights this season, has the complete support of Werth. Werth had this to say about the differences between Riggleman and his current manager:"Between last year ...