Kuzul

With the MLB playoffs just around the corner, San Francisco Giants are on verge of eliminating the San Diego Padres from the divisional race and claim their first NL West crown since 2003. 

Barry Bonds isn’t the big bopper in the lineup anymore and Jason Schmidt isn’t the ace of the pitching staff. 

Instead the 2010 Giants have a young catcher by the name of Buster Posey leading the way on offense and a pitching staff led by two time NL CY Young Award winner Time Lincecum.

The Giants host the San Diego Padres for a three game set that will determine the winner of the NL West as well as the NL Wild Card champion.

The Giants only need one win this weekend to pop champagne and begin talking about October baseball by the bay.

Giants’ fans must be patient waiting for their team to officially clinch.  Once they do, they should note that these five qualities will result in a deep playoff run from Buster Posey and company.

Begin Slideshow

With news that Cardinals outfielder Colby Rasmus has requested a trade, a team with an already cloudy future did not get any clearer. 

Here are five reasons why Cardinal fans’ motto for the rest of the season should be “playoffs or bust.”

Begin Slideshow

With the news that Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren made their divorce official and with Frank and Jamie McCourt’s divorce starting tomorrow, August 30th, let’s take a look at some of the other big splits in the professional sports world.

Begin Slideshow

It was made known that Stephen Strasburg will most likely undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right elbow. 

The Nationals award Strasburg with a $15.1 million contract after being selected No. one overall in the 2009 MLB draft.

There is a major issue with this scenario.  In baseball, players can get injured very easily, just like any professional sport, but without a slot system, US players are still going to get large sums of money before ever playing a single inning of professional baseball.

A slot system requires that a  player receive a predetermined amount of money depending upon which pick that player is selected within the draft.

This can cause problems for teams like the Washington Nationals. They invested a large amount of money to the “future” of their organization only to endure a catastrophic injury such as Stephen Strasburg’s.

Although Tommy John is a very successful surgery these days, it will still require hard work and dedication from Strasburg if he wants to pitch at an elite level again. 

The lower budget teams in the MLB—the ones that tend to draft higher on a yearly basis than most teams—are never going to work themselves into contenders if they have to shell out millions of dollars for US baseball players that are hyped to be the next big thing, but never live up to it due to injury or other reasons.

Baseball is such an international sport that instead of spending $10 million on a US player coming out of high school or college, teams can spend that same amount of money on five to 10 Latin American players that have the same, if not greater, potential than the US players.

The current system is going to continue to bury teams, like the Nationals and thr Pirates, if there is not a slot system instituted.

The Nationals were actually beginning to establish a decent fan base solely because of the presence of Strasburg on the mound.  If he recovers from surgery well and regains his form, the fans will come back. But until then, it appears that baseball is once again dead in Washington D.C.

The Nationals do have the debut of Bryce Harper to look forward to in a year or two, but until then, the fanfare and excitement that was generated will be dormant.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The MLB Playoffs are getting closer and many teams are still in contention. 

Since the trade deadline has passed, many teams will rely on their top prospects to help them get to the postseason.

Begin Slideshow