The Fifth Liners

Watching him at bat during Spring Training for the New York Yankees in Tampa, Florida, it appears that the Alex Rodriguez come back trail is now in effect. It has been 18 months since we last saw A-Rod grace the majors due to his lengthy 211 game ban for his involvement in the Biogenesis Scandal . Public opinion has been split about whether this guy deserves another shot at glory, particularly as he was caught publicly trying to prolong his career by illegal means. But love or hate the guy, baseball has felt slightly less exciting without this guy around. Rodriguez career stats on the surface read like a dream and would probably have seen him grace the hall of fame automatically. A .299 batting average, 654 home runs, 2.939 hits and an incredible 1,919 RBI's rival his long time friend Derek Jeter's stats. But the one element to his play that caused friction among baseball fans is his lackluster ability during the playoffs. A-Rod won a World Series in 2009 with New York, but...

Last night, one of the modern greats of the game of Baseball, Derek Jeter retired in style as the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 at Yankee Stadium. Fitting it was the Captain himself who delivered the game winning hit in front of a sea of emotional fans! As final games go, Jeter couldn't have asked for a better end to a stunning career. Winner of 5 World Series titles, including the MVP award in 2000, the renowned Shortstop has made no less than 14 All Star appearances, won 5 Golden Glove awards, 5 Silver Sluggers, 2 Hank Aaron Awards along with a career batting average of .309. One of the deadly men on planet earth with a bat, Jeter has notched up an incredible 3,461 hits which includes 260 home runs and 1,307 runs batted in! Globally this man is unmistakable and has succeeded in bring the Yankee franchise to a global audience. This has been one career has been anything but ordinary, baseball will miss you DJ! Thank you for the memories.

Soon both the American and National League Division series will be upon us in the MLB, currently the Baltimore Orioles, Oakland A's and Kansas City Royals are currently tearing up the American League and are almost assured to feature in the playoffs. Meanwhile in the National League the LA Dodgers led by the dynamite pitching of Clayton Kershaw are dominating the West Division and are set be joined by a resurgent Milwaukee Brewers and the Washington Nationals (Expo fans go wild!). But who will make up the other four teams contending for a final playoff slot? Fans we have ourselves a wild card race! American League Wild Card Standings LA Angels Detroit Tigers Seattle Mariners Toronto Blue Jays New York Yankees  Prediction: This league is one the more closely contested one with five teams who are only 3.5 games away from causing an upset to each other. The LA Angels are always a consistent team and they would have to be my first pick for a wild card slot, particularly a...

Hockey season has been and gone, so making the most of Alex Watson: Toronto Correspondent, here's a question about the Blue Jays, Canada's only representatives in the MLB: "The Blue Jays haven't seen World Series success since the heady days of the early 90s, does the team have the potential to challenge again? Or is it destined to wallow in mediocrity, surviving on being the only MLB franchise in the county?" Alex's Answer The city of Toronto still casts its mind back to the night of October 23, 1993 when Joe Carter 's three run homer at the bottom of the ninth inning sealed back to back world series titles for the Blue Jays! As the fireworks exploded over the Toronto SkyDome, the city could finally consider itself among the elite of baseball. But since then the Jays have suffered a 20 year playoff drought and have not placed higher than second in the American League East Division since then. Despite some fine individual players such as multiple ...