Most Unbreakable Record In Baseball

56, 511, 4256, 383, 5714, 2632, 130.....All these are milestones in baseball that some believe are unbreakable records. All of these records are held by legends of the game and in some cases, are the reasons why they're considered legends. The game has evolved over the 150+ years it has existed and with the way it is played today, are these records unbreakable?

56...Out of these records listed above, I believe the one that could fall the easiest is 56, as in consecutive games with a hit. Held by Joltin' Joe DiMaggio, he set this record in 1941. In 73 years since he set the record, the closest players to come to it were Pete Rose in 1978 with 44 games and Paul Molitor with 39 in 1987. Both of them hall of fame caliber players in their own right, but still miles away from Joltin' Joe.

So why do I think this record is breakable? First off it was accomplished in a single season. I believe that most single season records are easier to beat than career long records. Especially in this case where a player on a hot streak could try to go after the record. Also, it technically has been beaten before, but on other levels of baseball. Robin Ventura hit in 58 straight games in 1987 for Oklahoma State. Plus the game hasn't changed so much, that the number can't be hit.

130...The most stolen bases in a single season is held by legendary leadoff man, Rickey Henderson. If he played today, fantasy baseball players would draft him first overall because he could single handedly win you the stolen bases category. Since he broke the record in 1982, the next closest was Vince Coleman with 110 in 1985 and 109 in 1987. Since that 1987 year, no one has even had over 100 stolen bases in a season and the most since Rickey and Vince is Jose Reyes with 78 in 2007.

Baseball changed. "Money Ball", power hitters, and stolen bases being more evenly distributed among teammates have caused the running game to change. The Money Ball method cites that your team has a better chance to score if the game is played straight up, without trying to bunt or steal bases. Ironic that the team that has employed this tactic is the Oakland A's, the very team that employed Rickey Henderson for much of his career including his record breaking 1982 year. The "Steroid Era" also is a reason for the drop. Power hitting became gold in the MLB and even if one of your faster players is on base, you would hold him off from running so you wouldn't bug your power hitter who is at-bat.  Finally teams seem to spread out the stolen bases these days. You'll have more players on a team with ten or more stolen bases, but none with very high individual numbers.

4256...The all time hits record held by Pete Rose, a player who played for 24 years. He had ten seasons with 200 or more hits and several more that just finished just short such as 198 in 1972. He also led the league in hits for seven different seasons. Is this record breakable? I think so, although it would take the right circumstances to do so.

The current active leader is Derek Jeter, who is on a farewell tour. Unfortunately, he won't break the record because he ONLY has 3363 hits as I type this blog out. He's ninth on the all-time hits list, but as long as he stays healthy for his final season, should be able to move past the sixth spot currently held by Cap Anson with 3435 hits. He could even move past Tris Speaker for fifth, who has 3514, but that would take some great hitting by Jeter.

If star Japanese player, Ichiro Suzuki came to the MLB earlier, he could have had an outside shot. He broke the single season record for hits and despite having only fourteen seasons under his belt (the last three which haven't been too productive), he currently has 2768 hits. He too has ten 200 hits or more seasons (all of them in a row) and also like Pete Rose, has led the league seven times. Unfortunately, he didn't come over to the MLB until he was 27 years old, spending his younger years in the Japanese baseball league. He currently has 4046 hits between the two professional leagues, but that takes into account that even though he hit 1278 in Japan, they only play 130-140 games a season. He too is currently playing, and by the end of his career, should have more hits overall than Pete Rose, but unfortunately for him, it won't count.

Currently playing, with a small outside shot of getting near the record, is Miguel Cabrera. He currently has 2058 hits in twelve seasons, but has spent the last couple of years dominating the MLB in not just average, but overall hitting. He won the triple crown in 2012. He also plays in the American League, which will allow for him to hit as a designated hitter, long after his fielding days are over.

2632...This was achieved by Cal Ripken Jr., breaking the Iron Horse Lou Gehrig's record of 2130. The closet since the record being set in 1998 was Miguel Tejada with 1152 games, but that ended in 2007. The most recent streak was at 547, broken this year by Prince Fielder. Unfortunately a herniated disk in his neck forced him into a season ending surgery. Can this record be broken? There is a small chance that it can, but with managers being overly conservative with players, especially star players, Cal Ripken Jr. was a member of a dying breed.

383/5714...Nolan Ryan's records for strike outs in a single season and in a career, in the modern era. In 1973, Ryan broke Sandy Koufax' record of 382 and since then, the closest was Randy Johnson in 2001 with 372. Both Koufax and Ryan accomplished the feat when teams ran with four man rotations. Ryan had pitched in 40 games when he had 383 strikeouts, giving him an average of 10.6 per 9 innings pitched. When Johnson threw 372, he average 13.4 strikeouts per 9 innings, but he did it in the five man rotation era while only pitching in 34 games. So why is this record harder to break than the all-time hits record? With five man rotations sometimes giving way to six man rotations, innings limits being set by teams and player's agents, and pitch counts rarely going 100 pitches, star pitchers are sometimes only limited to 30 starts in a season now. This means they would have to average nearly 13 strikeouts a game, when they now rarely go over seven innings a game.

With the career record, Ryan accomplished this in twenty-seven seasons and quite frankly was a durable, freak of nature. Several other players of the same makeup have followed since (Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Dwight Gooden), but various factors prevented them from breaking Ryan's career record. Johnson never pitched a complete season until he was 26 years old and by the time Ryan was 26, he 1205 career strikeouts, including two seasons with over 300. Clemens had 1215 by the time he was 26, but retired by age 44, had two seasons shortened by injury, and two more seasons that he didn't start playing until midseason. Of this bunch, Gooden had the most strikeouts by age 26, with 1541, but injuries and drug problems proved to be road blocks in his career, preventing him from being a future Hall-of-Famer.

Currently, CC Sabathia is the active leader with 2437, but that's in fourteen seasons and his body has been breaking down the last few. The three current players with the best shots are Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander, and Clayton Kershaw. At age 28, Hernandez has 1786 strikeouts, fairly close to Ryan's pace. Verlander has 1721, but is 31 years old. Both Hernandez and Verlander have been solid when it comes to health as well. Finally at age 26, Kershaw currently has 1252 strikeouts, 47 more than Ryan at the same age and the season still isn't over. By the time all three retire, it's easy to believe that they'll all be in the top twenty-five of all-time, but to break the top five, they'll have to prove themselves to be freaks of nature like Ryan, Johnson, and Clemens.

Finally, the record that will be the most impossible to break, is 511 career wins. Set by Cy Young himself, he averaged 22 wins a season for his entire 22 year career. In Cy Young's days, he often would pitch as much as 50 games in a season, starting around 45 in a season at his peak. Today, a reliever that pitches in 50 games in a season, is considered to have pitched in a lot of games, at that's usually around 1 inning at a time. Cy Young started so many games, that he lost 316 games.

The closest in recent years has been Greg Maddux (355) and Roger Clemens (354) and both of them retired in their 40's. Greg Maddux pitched for one of the longest dynasties in baseball and Clemens was a freak of nature. In his time, Cy Young had over 815 career starts, but the closest active leader is CC Sabathia with 440. As with the strikeout records, with limited innings/pitch counts, five/six man rotations, and the wear and tear of pitching a whole career, this record is the most untouchable in baseball.

Expansion Time

With everyone in Major League Baseball trying to find ways to improve or change the game in some form, I wonder why it hasn't occurred to someone to suggest another expansion? In the "Expansion Era" (1961-present), fourteen teams were added to the MLB. Now baseball has gone longer without expanding since the era started.

The last expansion draft was in 1998 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks being added to the MLB. That's sixteen years without adding a new team. Since the era started, the MLB has had expansions in 1961, 1962, 1969 (4 teams), 1977, 1992, and 1998. The biggest gap as you can see was fifteen years.

So why is expansion needed? First off, the AL and NL both have fifteen teams now. Because of this, every game day, there is an interleague matchup happening. Now I'm not exactly against interleague play, but it was supposed to be something special. Now it's common place and because of this, TV ratings and fan attendance will drop slightly. It takes the fun and mystique out of it. Adding two more teams in an expansion will create equal sixteen team leagues, which can be divided to into four team divisions. That's four first place teams that can go to the playoffs.

Second, there are markets that can flourish with MLB teams. San Jose has been trying to steal the A's from Oakland or Giants from San Francisco, but they're so close to the Bay area, that I think that they are best served by hosting a Triple A level team. Markets I think can handle a MLB team include Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Memphis/Nashville, Portland, and Charlotte.

Third, with team's payrolls raising up so high, two more teams can spread out the cost to pay the players. The highest cost players would be spread among thirty-two teams instead of thirty. This would leave more room for teams to play/sign lower cost players, thus lowering their payroll.

I would split the divisions like this....
AL North: New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles
AL South: Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros
AL Central: Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers
AL West: ANAHEIM Angels, Oakland A's, Seattle Mariners, LAS VEGAS BANDITS

NL East: New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates
NL South: Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Charlotte Moonshiners, St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies
NL West: LA Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks

So as you can see, my expansion team cities would be Las Vegas and Charlotte. I think these areas would be most appreciative of an MLB team. Las Vegas is dying for a professional sports team in general and if they built a stadium similar to where the Arizona Diamondbacks play, it could work with the extreme temperatures. Also Las Vegas is larger than teams that already have teams such as Atlanta, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh.

In the case of Charlotte, I believe that Charlotte can grow as a sports city. With teams like the NBA's Bobcats, NFL's Carolina Panthers, and NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, why wouldn't this be a city to host the MLB? Also many banks call Charlotte their headquarter city. It should be easy to find corporate sponsors for a stadium and with a growing population, a growing fan base can provide an even better financial backing.

So in what baseball historians still term "The Expansion Era" why has baseball still yet to expand? There's no reason not to. It could give the American and National Leagues a form of symmetry as both leagues could have an equal amount of teams and divisions could be split into an even 4 teams a piece. Baseball should start now since it tends to take several years for an MLB to set up. They need to find/build a stadium, develop a minor league system, and the season before, hold an expansion draft.

In my opinion, it's time to expand.

A Tangled Web

Was it really a shocker when the audio tape leaked out of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling basically confirming to his girlfriend V. Stiviano that he's a racist? No. He's been accused of it before and even though his cases were "settled" out of court and in Elgin Baylor's case, thrown out for lack of evidence, it had been pretty much known that Sterling was racist. He is a slumlord who would often refuse to rent out his properties to people of African-American or Latin descent.

Money Talks

What baffles me is why would the NAACP even decide to give him a lifetime achievement? Money talks. He has donated money to the NAACP before and in the words of Leon Jenkins, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP "The Los Angeles NAACP intention to honor Mr. Sterling for a lifetime body of work must be withdrawn, and the donation that he's given to the Los Angeles NAACP will be returned." In Sterling's own words on the leaked tape, he gives his players "food and cars and clothes and houses." In Sterling's mind, money is the ultimate power and he treats his employees and players as property or charity cases. He doesn't "give" his players all the luxuries he claims. They earn him millions of dollars through their playing. They aren't "charity cases", they are his money makers.

Girlfriend/Wife

And what of his girlfriend V. Stiviano? She's African-American and Hispanic. She's also pretty, so as far as Sterling probably thinks, as many plantation owners in America's slave days did, as long as she's pretty, it's okay to overlook her ethnicity. She's everything racially that he hates. From her standpoint, her attorney released on Sunday night, "Neither Ms. Stiviano, nor this office has ever alleged that Ms. Stiviano is, or ever was, Mr. Sterling's girlfriend." Funny, because Donald Sterling bought her a $1.8 million duplex, a Ferrari, two Bentleys, and a Range Rover, along with being given thousands of dollars in spending money and jewelry that belonged to Rochelle Sterling, Donald's wife.

That's right, his wife. He's still married. Despite publicly dating Stiviano, and her appearing on his side at the Clippers games, he's married to Rochelle Sterling still. Rochelle Sterling sued Stiviano to return the property because she is claiming it's community owned property due to her marriage with Donald.

The Recording

Now Stiviano is claiming that she never leaked the tape, nor did she intentionally try to make it. So it was "accidentally" recorded and someone "stole it"? Listening the audio recording, it almost seems as if the recording was a set up by the girlfriend. The questions that she asks Donald Sterling almost come off as scripted and more closer to the manner of an interview than a natural conversation a person would have with someone they're dating. Did she do it on purpose? I'm betting yes, but what was her reason? The Los Angeles Clippers President Andy Roeser is claiming she embezzled millions of dollars. Was this her way to blackmail Sterling? Maybe, although she had been still by Donald Sterling's side at the most recent games (before his ban). Did he know he was being recorded? I highly doubt it otherwise I don't think he would have been so blunt about his beliefs to her.

1st Amendment

One argument being made on Sterling's behalf or at least in his defense is that it's his 1st amendment right to believe and say anything he wants. While that's technically true, the 1st amendment doesn't protect someone from the consequences of saying something that could be potentially damaging to their own self. While you are allowed to say anything you want, you aren't given a license to say anything you want without public opinion judging you for what you say.

The NBA bylaws for the owners also have extreme scenarios for when one of the owners hurts the reputation of the league so badly, that he or she can be forced to sell their share of the team. When Sterling purchased the Clippers, he was aware of this.

The Future

The NBA owners are putting it to a vote to force the sale of the Clippers. It takes seventy-five percent of the owners to do this, but with all the momentum this has, I have a hard time believing an owner would put his own reputation on the line by voting to keep Sterling as the owner. Mark Cuban has already expressed his belief that this could lead to a "slippery slope" of owners voting other owners out for reasons such as not liking their fellow owners, but I believe this is more of the exception to the rule, rather than the new standard. This is an extreme case and needs to be dealt with swiftly by the owners getting rid of Sterling. The NBA has taken over the ownership of a team in the past (New Orleans Hornets), so a precedent has been set and I belief would be a better solution than to let Sterling continue to own the Clippers. Commissioner Silver has already banned Sterling for life from the NBA and fined him for $2.5 million (the NBA maximum), but it's still not enough.

It's time for the NBA to show the public that racism needs to be eradicated. It's time for Donald Sterling to leave the NBA and let someone else take over. It's better for the Clippers and better for the NBA. Game three against the Warriors was a disaster as the team seemed to be playing with a weight on their shoulders, but they turned it around in time for game four. I hope that this will unify the Clippers during their playoff run and motivate them to play harder for themselves.

The Transfer Rule

As the new year for Major League Baseball, there was debate about the two big rule changes for the 2014 season. Instant replay and catcher collisions were the topics that all the news outlets for the up and coming season. In the first two weeks these two new rules have been some major talking points, but a third rule change that flew under the radar is having just as big of an effect on the game as the first two.

The MLB instilled a new transfer rule that has changed the outcome of games multiple times already. When a player makes a catch, if he doesn't grab the ball with his throwing hand cleanly, the hitter/runner is now safe as a result of the incomplete transfer.

The problem is in many of these occurrences is that the fielder has made a clear catch and even taken a few steps and then bobbled the ball, only to lose the out. When right fielder Elliot Johnson of the Cleveland Indians caught a ball, took three full steps, crashed in the wall, took one more step, and then bobbled the ball, the umpires ruled the hitter safe. After the game Terry Francona, the manager for the Indians was asked by the press about what he thought about the play. He joked that if anything, he would have thought the umpires would have called traveling if anything.

In another incident, the Texas Rangers JP Arencibia took a throw at home plate as part of a force play. He stepped off the plate to throw the ball to first base, but bobbled the ball. Not only did he catch the ball, but he took steps to position himself to throw the ball. After reviewing replay, the umpires rules Dustin Ackley safe because of the transfer rule. Manager Ron Washington came out to argue, but was thrown out before ever getting a chance to argue. After the game, he was quoted as saying, "“We’ve got to do something about it. I understand the rule and I understand their interpretation of it. I just don’t agree with it.”

On another play, Rays manager Joe Maddon was upset on a double play that was ruled safe on all ends because when second baseman Ben Zobrist received the ball and tried to turn two, he bobbled the ball as the runner slid into him. Joe Maddon said, "He was absolutely out,'' Maddon said. "Part of it is that everything is slowed down, there is instant replay, it is slow. You could easily discern that Zo had the ball in his glove with his foot on the bag and the runner is out, period. So as we move this forward there had to be a differentiation between that and the two-handed transfer. … I do believe that has to be revisited.''

This new transfer rule has become a hindrance to the game. If a player has clearly made a catch, the hitter/runner should be out. Simple as that. Several times a day, the transfer rule comes into effect and in some cases, it has changed the outcome of the game.

Unfortunately MLB only changes rules once a year at the Winter Meetings. In this case, it would be advisable that they hold an emergency meeting as soon as possible to change the rule back to it's previous interpretation. If this bleeds into the playoffs and the World Series, we could see a massively important game of the season, hurt by a new rule that is clearly wrong.

The biggest reason to change this rule is that a fan should be able to watch a play and even if they don't like a rule or the call, understand why the umpire has ruled in a certain way. In a couple of cases, one involving the injury of a player, a player did drop the ball, but the hitter was still ruled out. Joe Maddon, the Rays manager affected by this call asked for a clear cut answer from the umpire why this play was ruled out. The umpire cited the injury and could tell him where the actual line is between catch and transfer. If the umpire doesn't know exactly how to interpret the rule, how is a fan in the stands or watching TV supposed to know (this can also be said for the catcher collision rule too)?

MLB....please change the rule back so fans don't have to pull out their hair over this stupid, new rule.

2014 Season Predictions For The MLB

Standings:
NL West Standings:
1. Los Angeles Dodgers, 2. San Francisco Giants, 3. Arizona Diamondbacks, 4. San Diego Padres, 5. Colorado Rockies...As long as health can hold up, the Dodgers will be the favorite. With Kershaw helming the pitching staff, they are favored over the Giants and the Diamondbacks who were dealt a blow when Patrick Corbin went down. Arizona has enough offense to win the division, but with a staff anchored by Wade Miley, it won't be enough.

NL Central Standings:
1. St. Louis Cardinals, 2. Pittsburgh Pirates, 3. Cincinnati Reds, 4. Milwaukee Brewers, 5. Chicago Cubs...The Cardinals hold on to the division this year with the Pirates and Reds right behind them. Despite the loss of power (Beltran and Freese), the Cardinals will hold off the Pirates who are only a strong ace from taking the division. The Reds are right behind and only a couple of injuries away from taking the division themselves.

NL East Standings:
1. Washington Nationals, 2. Atlanta Braves, 3. Philadelphia Phillies, 4. New York Mets, 5. Miami Marlins...The Nationals will not disappoint this season. A strong pitching staff that only got stronger and an offense that is the strongest in the east, will let them coast to an easy divisional win. The Braves have the offense to have a strong season, but with injuries to key pitchers, they drop into the second place slot. The aging Phillies will try to make one last hurrah as veterans Utley, Rollins, and Howard will try to stay healthy through the season.

NL Wild Cards: Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates
NL Champions: Washington Nationals

AL West Standings:
1. Oakland A's, 2. Texas Rangers, 3. Seattle Mariners, 4. ANAHEIM Angels, 5. Houston Astros...The A's are a season older and are ready to take the west. A strong pitching staff followed by the comeback of Reddick should hold off the Rangers, but barely. The Rangers lost power in Cruz, but gained Choo, a better fit with the current roster. They also bolstered their power with Fielder and found a spot for Profar, which will make them the favorite for the division if the A's starting pitching runs into injuries. Despite the fact that they will end up in last place, the Astros core has actually improved and will be a factor around 2016.

AL Central Standings:
1. Detroit Tigers, 2. Kansas City Royals, 3. Cleveland Indians, 4. Chicago White Sox, 5. Minnesota Twins...The Tigers will take division again as Verlander will regain form and the defense improves with Cabrera moving back to first base. The Royals will be behind them by a few games with the offense coming together and their pitching staff producing top three results in the American League. The Indians will fall just short and will need to add more talent to their bullpen to ever climb higher in the central.

AL East Standings:
1. New York Yankees, 2. Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays, 3. Boston Red Sox, 4. Baltimore Orioles, 5. Toronto Blue Jays...The Yankees will take the top spot once again with improvements to their pitching staff. CC Sabathia leads this staff, but Japanese stars Kiroda and Tanaka and the emergence of Nova and comeback of top prospect Michael Pineda will lead one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. The Rays weren't able to move Price, so in the short term, combined with Alex Cobb, they have a potent one-two punch. The Red Sox will drop off as holes opened up in their roster, but they weren't able to sufficiently plug them.

AL Wildcards: Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals
American League Champions: New York Yankees

World Series Champions: Washington Nationals

Seasonal Award Winners:
NL Awards Winners:
MVP-Bryce Harper, Cy Young Award-Jose Fernandez, Rookie of The Year-Archie Bradley, Comeback Player of The Year-Curtis Granderson, Manager of The Year-Matt Williams
Silver Sluggers- Catcher Yadier Molina, 1B Paul Goldschmidt, 2B Aaron Hill, 3B Ryan Zimmerman, SS Troy Tulowitzki, OF Andrew McCutcheon, Bryce Harper, Carlos Gomez

AL Awards Winners:
MVP-Miguel Cabrera, Cy Young Award-Felix Hernandez, Rookie of The Year-Masahiro Tanaka, Comeback Player of The Year-Grady Sizemore, Manager of The Year-Ned Yost
Silver Sluggers- Catcher Brian McCann, 1B Miguel Cabrera, 2B Robinson Cano, 3B Evan Longoria, SS Elvis Andrus, OF Mike Trout, Shin-Soo Choo, Adam Jones

When Greed Conquers The Fans

Every year since the mass production of television, Americans have been able to watch the Opening Day in the MLB. In recent years, it possible required having cable television to do so, but still accessible to one hundred percent of people. Unfortunately, this year, things have changed.

The Guggenheim Partners whom are the owners of the Dodgers, signed an exclusive contract with Time Warner Cable. Unfortunately over seventy percent of the Southern California market that would be considered the Dodgers regional area, don't have Time Warner Cable. What is worse, is that is many of these cases, the Dodgers fan doesn't have a choice to even switch over to Time Warner cable.

As many people know, cable television distributors sign exclusive contracts with cities in particular, which means you only have one choice to receive your tradition cable in your city. Your only other options would be if you live in an area that can be served by Verizon Fios or AT&T U-Verse (which aren't that many) or if you sign up for satellite cable such as DirecTv or The Dish. Problem is all those other options are also not Time Warner, which means no Dodgers baseball for you.

In signing this contract, a city such as Long Beach, which is the second largest city within Los Angeles County's own limits, doesn't have the ability to even watch the Dodgers baseball. That's approximately 478,000 Los Angeles County residents within one city, who cannot watch Dodgers baseball unless the leave the city and go to a sports bar in a city that does have Time Warner Cable. How ridiculous is that?

This year's Opening Day for baseball was even more special because it was in Sydney, Australia. The MLB Network itself had a countdown clock on the bottom right of their screen and even though it was at 1am Pacific time (Dodgers' time), many fans were willing to stay up late and watch the Dodgers face division rival Diamondbacks. Unfortunately, even though the MLB Network is a subsidiary of Major League Baseball, even they weren't allowed to broadcast the game to non-Time Warner Cable subscribers and instead fans got to watch Intentional Talk with Dan Plesac and Chris Rose, talking about how great Opening Day will be.

When your average fan is denied the chance to watch Opening Day baseball, which even has a petition going around to declare this a holiday, you irreparably hurt your fan base. You can't expect local Southern California kids to grow up and become Dodgers fans if they can't even watch them on television. Best case scenario, these kids will become Angels fans, whom broadcast to the same television market. Worst case scenario, you lose your fans completely, hurting the growth of baseball within the most populated region in the country.

Unfortunately, for the next twenty-five years, this will be the new way of Southern California baseball. Seventy percent of fans won't get the chance to hear Vin Scully's voice announce a game. In a case of irony, even Vin Scully couldn't watch a Dodgers game now. Scully is a resident of Malibu, California, which is covered by Charter Cable. It would appear that if Vin wants to watch Dodgers baseball, he'll have to keep announcing for them no matter what.

Time For Fantasy...Baseball

It's that time of year again. The weather is getting warmer, the rain is going away, and the grass seems a little greener. You guessed it...fantasy baseball is about to start. Unlike Major League Baseball, fantasy baseball starts as early as March.

Actually, if you're in a keeper or dynasty league, it's probably started years before. This is the time of the year where your average baseball fan becomes a general manager of his own team of players he wished he could manage in real life. It lets every Joe Schmo out there get to act out his dreams, even if only in a simulation world, by starting and benching players, trading a player to upgrade their team, and dropping aging veterans for recently called up rookies on a hot streak.

There are various ways a fantasy team could be created. Snake drafts tend to be the easiest to understand, especially for newcomers. That's where players pick in a predetermined order and then the person with the last pick in a particular round becomes the first pick in the next with others following in the reverse order of the previous round.

I particularly prefer live auction drafts. This is where you start with a budget and have to fill a roster within that budget by bidding on players called out during the auction. Without proper planning, a fantasy player could make or break his team before the season even starts. This is almost a game within a game, getting the players you want to build a team to your liking.

Unlike snake auction drafts where your only real strategy is having a back up if a player you wanted is drafted before you can get to them, a live auction draft has multiple strategies that players use. Some up bid on players they don't want, so their opponents have to spend more money on players they wanted. Some players sneak bids in at the last second to steal players they were hoping for. Other strategies exist, but every player has their own method.

Keeper and dynasty leagues give a real sense of ownership. Owners get to keep a predetermined amount of players for multiple seasons. Hit it right with a rookie and you could be set at a particular position for years.

Fantasy baseball may seem silly to some, but for others, especially the hardcore types, it's a way to stake a form of ownership on your favorite players and feel like you're a part of the game itself. Bonus for those who earn money at the end of the season in rewards for placing in their league.