Yankees, contenders race for postseason [Globe]

OK, we're getting down to the wire now. There's one week left in the season, and all five playoff spots in the American League are up for grabs, and the National League still has one opening left to complete the playoff puzzle. Check out my latest, and perhaps last, feature for the Globe breaking down the races.

By the way, MLB.com has a nice graphic on the postseason picture updated daily to keep for reference. It projects all of the matchups and includes dates and television information.

Baseball instant replay expansion unnecessary

Mets fans have been patient for so long. Tom Seaver came close several times. Dwight Gooden tried, too, but to no avail. On June 1, Johan Santana became the closest Met to nail down a no-no, but a call on Carlos Beltran's liner down the line midway through the game was overturned due to expanded instant replay rules. The Mets and Padres remain as the only two franchises without a no-hitter. 

That's what the story would be if Bud Selig expanded instant replay before June. Instead, the Mets got their wish without interference from a well-placed camera.

Last Friday on "The Mike Lupica Show," Selig said instant replay in baseball will expand to include trapped balls and plays down the foul lines. He didn't give any time reference other than the word "now," but clearly those rules are not in effect -- yet.

10 early-season surprising stats [Globe]

I'm not your typical journalist. I love statistics. Databases? I eat those for breakfast.

I compiled 10 of the most surprising statistics in the first month of action, and they are available for your consumption in gallery form at Boston.com. Enjoy. And because I love stats so much, you'll find a few surprising Yankees statistics if you continue reading.

2012 MLB predictions

The Yankees open today, and that means it's time to make predictions. You can also find my more detailed league scouting reports on Boston.com (AL | NL). The Reds let me down last year, but I'm sticking with them.

AL East 
1. Yankees
2. Rays* 
3. Red Sox
4. Blue Jays 
5. Orioles 

AL Central 
1. Tigers 
2. Royals 
3. Indians
4. Twins
5. White Sox

AL West 
1. Angels 
2. Rangers* 
3. Athletics
4. Mariners 

NL East 
1. Phillies
2. Braves* 
3. Marlins
4. Nationals
5. Mets 

NL Central 
1. Reds
2. Cardinals*
3. Brewers
4. Pirates
5. Cubs
6. Astros 

NL West 
1. Giants 
2. Diamondbacks
3. Dodgers 
4. Rockies
5. Padres

*Wild Card Winner 

Playoffs:
AL Champion: Angels 
NL Champion: Reds 
World Series Champion: Angels, 5 games 

Awards: 
AL MVP: Albert Pujols  
NL MVP: Joey Votto  
AL Cy: David Price  
NL Cy: Tim Lincecum 
AL RoY: Yu Darvish
NL RoY: Bryce Harper 
AL Manager: Jim Leyland  
NL Manager: Ozzie Guillen 
  
Yankee Stats:  
Alex Rodriguez RBIs: 148 
Andy Pettitte wins: 13  
Derek Jeter AVG: .306 
Robinson Cano HR: 35 
Brett Gardner R: 123   
CC Sabathia Ks: 220  
Michael Pineda ERA: 3.88 
Mark Teixeira SB: 2 

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2009 predictions  
2009 results 
2010 predictions 
2010 results
2011 predictions 

What are your predictions for this year?

American Legion baseball lost a great man in Bill Broughton

I'm sorry to tell you that an important person in my life passed away recently, but I would be remiss not to mention him here.

Bill Broughton, the founder of American Legion baseball Post 22 and my coach for two summers, was an inspiration and a motivator to me and so many other kids who played baseball in New Hampshire over the last two decades. 

Bill Broughton is in the back row on the far right, and I'm standing behind No. 11 in the center. This season we made the playoffs for the first time in Post 22's history. (Click to enlarge.)

Make no mistake, if I didn't love baseball, this blog wouldn't exist. I didn't know a thing about blogging when I first started playing for him, and he wasn't the one who turned me on to this (he probably never knew the word "blog" existed). But he did strengthen my love for the game.

Below is a letter of appreciation that ran on the sports front of my hometown newspaper, the Valley News, this morning. Even if Bill Broughton is just a name to you, he was a man worth meeting and certainly worth writing and reading about.

Baseball’s unwritten rules [Globe]

They’re guidelines, really. Nothing’s official, but the players know to follow them. Or else … watch out! What I love most is these are really put on display during a rivalry, like the one we’ll all be watching this weekend when the Yankees come to my town (at least for the next few weeks). Other times you’ll see them come to light during a no-hit bid, or a dirty play. 

I put together this list of baseball’s unwritten rules for Boston.com, but it may very well foreshadow the Sox-Yanks series. Enjoy.

Guest Post: Moneyball: A great book, an upcoming movie, a correct baseball theory

Ryan writes a WordPress blog where he blogs about music, politics, and sports (namely the Yankees) with a graduate school classmate. He’s written for LenNY’s Yankees before when he discussed the Yankees false reluctance to move their top prospects. You can follow him on twitter @Ryan_Kantor.

I just finished reading Moneyball by Michael Lewis—a phenomenal book that explained how a more objective way of managing baseball was discovered and resisted. It was great for its statistical objective look at baseball, its bashing of Joe Morgan, and its nostalgic reminder of Scott Hatteberg, Chad Bradford, Jeremy Giambi, and the Oakland A’s always falling just a hair short of beating the Yankees.

There’s also a movie based on the book coming out on Sept. 23, with Brad Pitt playing the role of Billy Beane. It should be pretty good, but it’ll be hard for it to capture even half of what the book gets into. You can see the movie trailer here.

If you want to read a book review you can read one on my personal blog, but I’m going to use the rest of this post to discuss about the actual style of baseball that Moneyball purports.

Poll Results: Most people watched some of the All-Star Game

Most voters said they watched some of last Tuesday’s All-Star Game. In other news, the sky is blue and grass is green.

OK, but I hope you know what I was getting at when I posed that question last week. There is so much wrong with baseball’s All-Star Game, from the fan voting to the game’s management to the impact on the World Series. Bud Selig only has one more year left in his reign over baseball. If he can’t change all — or at least some — of what is wrong with the Midsummer Classic, I hope his successor will be able to fix it.

Next poll: Would you include Jesus Montero in a trade for Ubaldo Jimenez?

Poll Results: Interleague play is just right

Fans voted in my latest poll that baseball’s interleague play is just right. Not one person said it was time to realign.

The two big things I’ve been hearing from players about the divisions are “we play too many games against teams in our division” and “why change a game that’s already great?” I tend to side with the latter, but I could stand for an addition of a wild card to each league. This would create a short series scenario between the league’s two wild cards and would place more importance on winning a division.

Next poll: What’s your overall take on the Yankees in 2011?

Poll Results: Few chose to watch MLB draft

The MLB draft doesn’t compare to the NFL’s or the NBA’s. It definitely has gained steam recently, but it’s not on the same level as the other two main sports. Fans corroborated that idea in my latest poll (see right).

I watched some, but it was hard to keep track of 50 rounds. Yes, 50. Here is a complete list of the Yankees’ 2011 draft picks, from Dante Bichette Jr. to Cody Stewart.

MLB ‘leaning toward’ expanding instant replay

The Associated Press reported yesterday that “Major League Baseball is leaning toward expanding replay for the 2012 season to include trapped balls and fair-or-foul rulings down the lines, a personal familiar with the talks tells The Associated Press.”

I know I’m in the minority here, but here are my views on instant replay in baseball. Last January, I said “Fair/foul calls under review wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but calls on the bases and balls and strikes must remain pure.” I stand by that statement.

My preseason World Series picks will shock you, but they’re looking good right now

In an offseason that the best got better (Phillies, Red Sox), who would’ve picked the Rangers (6-0) and Reds (5-0) to make the World Series? That would be me, and neither team has lost through a week of play.

Meanwhile, the all-mighty Red Sox join the Rays and Astros as the only winless teams in baseball. [Full standings]

Perhaps I’m getting a bit too excited — OK, I am — but it’s still cool to see the Red Sox and Rays winless after a week.

Speaking of odd predictions looking good right now: one commenter said to watch out for the Orioles this year. The Orioles, really? Yeah, well they’re in first place and have looked great under Buck Showalter’s management.

Now it’s time to explain my surprising World Series picks.

2011 MLB preseason predictions

For the past two years, I’ve provided my forecast for the season. Consume with pleasure. Last year, I *cough* proudly *cough* went 10-for-50 on these calls. This year, I’m striving for perfection.

AL East
1. Red Sox
2. Yankees*
3. Rays
4. Blue Jays
5. Orioles

AL Central
1. White Sox
2. Twins
3. Tigers
4. Indians
5. Royals

AL West
1. Rangers
2. Angels
3. Mariners
4. Athletics

NL East
1. Braves
2. Phillies*
3. Nationals
4. Marlins
5. Mets

NL Central
1. Cardinals
2. Reds
3. Brewers
4. Cubs
5. Pirates
6. Astros

NL West
1. Giants
2. Rockies
3. Dodgers
4. Padres
5. Diamondbacks

*Wild Card Winner

AL Champion: Rangers
NL Champion: Reds
World Series Champion: Reds, 6 games

Awards:
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez 
NL MVP: Jay Bruce 
AL Cy: Jon Lester 
NL Cy: Cliff Lee
AL RoY: Jesus Montero
NL RoY: Aroldis Chapman 
AL Manager: Ron Washington 
NL Manager: Fredi Gonzalez
 
Yankee Stats: 
Alex Rodriguez RBIs: 148
A.J. Burnett wins: 16 
Derek Jeter AVG: .291
Robinson Cano HR: 33
Brett Gardner R: 123  
CC Sabathia Ks: 200 
Ivan Nova ERA: 4.01
Jorge Posada SB: 0
Jesus Montero GS: 55
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2009 predictions 
2009 results
2010 predictions
2010 results

Let the smack talk begin in the comments!

[Video] How a baseball is made

Here’s an in-depth video of how a baseball is made: all the way from the cork, to the layers of yarn, and finally to the leather.

In the factory featured in this video, there are 350 sewers who help produce 8,000-10,000 balls per day.