The Houston Astros are fighting for their playoff lives right now.  They currently half a game ahead of the Angels in the Wild Card standings.  Houston would need to sweep Arizona and have Texas be swept by the Angels to claim the American League West crown.  Moral victories are tough pills to swallow, but the fact… Continue reading Best Candidates To Be Next Year’s Astros

God, injuries are annoying. I mean, nothing disrupts a team’s good mojo like a poorly timed injury to a key player. And every year, it seems like there are more and more. Or maybe they’re just more noticeable because they seem to be happening to marquee players. A lot of these injuries are not just… Continue reading The Effects of Year-Round Baseball

There is just one week left in the season which means that this is the last edition of Top of the Heap: Plays of the Week before Top of the Heap: Plays of the Year!  It has been a wild 150+ game ride thus far in the Majors and we’ve seen some really awesome things… Continue reading Top Of The Heap: Plays Of The Week

Jake Arrieta won his 20th game last night with a masterful 3 hit, 11 strikeout, complete game shutout of the Milwaukee Brewers.  The records he has accumulated this season, especially for his post-All Star Break work, have been numerous.  Last night’s gem gave him 18 consecutive quality starts, a modern era (post-1914) Cubs record.  His… Continue reading The Revival of Jake Arrieta

We are up to thirteen teams officially eliminated from postseason play.  Though some have already begun their role as spoilers, just as many have begun to look ahead.  On the other side of the standings, the AL West race continues to seesaw while the AL East looks to have finally stopped doing just as much.… Continue reading Top Of The Heap: Plays Of The Week

In the annals of baseball, few pitchers shine with sparkling reputations. The likes of Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, and Nolan Ryan are the some of the greatest of all time, but one legend stands among the rest, immortalized in history: Cy Young. Thus, it is only fitting that year after year, the baseball… Continue reading Pitchers’ Duel

Think about the last time the Cardinals were really bad for any length of time.  Go ahead, get to Googling.  Having trouble?  That is because you would have to dig back to the end of the first World War to truly find a period in which the Cardinals were consistently under .500 with little hope… Continue reading The Mind Numbing Consistency Of The St. Louis Cardinals

The countdown to the end of the 2015 run of Top of the Heap.  There are just two more editions after this one leading up to the grand finale in which we crown our plays of the year!  Teams are starting to be mathematically eliminated on one end of the standings in the National League… Continue reading Top Of The Heap: Plays Of The Week