Aside from the lone Sunday night game, the Major League Baseball season will be getting under way in less than two hours. Should be a fun afternoon, evening and night planted in front of the TV. If you can’t be lazy on a day like this, when can you be?

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post about the Minnesota Twins season, which starts at 3 p.m. against Detroit. This post will focus on Major League Baseball as a whole.

Before I get started, make sure to pick up Monday’s Forum for comprehensive coverage previewing the Twins and the MLB season. This is one of those cases where the print product provides much more than the online product due to graphics, illustrations, breakouts and the like. Here’s the story with Twins GM Terry Ryan discussing the team’s need for pitching and his offseason spent in pursuit of it.

My predictions for the division races (with playoff teams bolded):

• AL East: Rays, Blue Jays, Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles.
• AL Central: Tigers, White Sox, Indians, Royals, Twins.
• AL West: Angels, Rangers, Athletics, Mariners, Astros.
• NL East: Braves, Nationals, Phillies, Mets, Marlins.
• NL Central: Cardinals, Reds, Brewers, Pirates, Cubs.
• NL West: Giants, Dodgers, Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies.

In the World Series, I’ll take the Rays over the Braves. Love the pitching for both teams (and improved lineups too), and the Giants have shown that the World Series lately has been all about pitching.

Finally, a few more thoughts on the season:

• In the AL East, any one of those teams can win, and any one of them can finish dead last. I’d have to go back to my elementary school days to find a time when the Yankees and Red Sox were in this mediocre state, while the other teams in the division realize it and have tried to make the most of their best chance to win the division.
• The AL Central seems like the Tigers and everyone else. But we all thought that last season too, didn’t we? I’ve been surprised how many national experts have elevated the Royals to second place, and a great many of them have dismissed the White Sox. I know KC added James Shields and Wade Davis, but I just don’t think the Royals are better than the ChiSox and Indians. Cleveland had a great offseason too, adding Micheal Bourn and Nick Swisher. With all of this happening around the Twins, it’s hard for me to not imagine them getting buried in the standings.
• I’m in three fantasy baseball leagues this year, which definitely puts me at capacity. It’s too late for sleeper talk. But among those three leagues, there are a few players I own on multiple teams. Atlanta Braves pitching prospect Julio Teheran is on all three of those teams, and the following are on two: Shin-Soo Choo, Ben Zobrist, Mike Moustakas, Justin Morneau, Yu Darvish and Matt Harvey. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’m very high on Morneau this season. At worst, he’ll be a great start against righties. At best, well, you’ve seen how good he can be. As for Teheran, he was the fourth-best prospect in baseball entering 2012, after Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Matt Moore. Good company. Teheran had a disastrous 2012 season. But he has dominated in the spring, so I’ve been willing to reach for him.

Anyone out there find a national pundit who hasn’t picked the Minnesota Twins to finish in last place in the AL Central? I haven’t.

There’s no reason to think the Twins will be anything but terrible. I know it’s hard to believe, but I contend a lot of things went RIGHT for the Twins last season despite losing 96 games. They had career years from Josh Willingham, Ryan Doumit and Trevor Plouffe and relatively healthy years from Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer. And don’t forget about Scott Diamond‘s big season on the mound too. I have a hard time believing Diamond can repeat that, and starting the year on the DL only decreases the likelihood of 2012 Part Deux for him.

The Twins have actually taken away from their offense this season by trading Denard Span and Ben Revere, although Aaron Hicks has promise (I’ll get to that in a second). They’ve added a few starting pitchers, but is there any reason to think Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey and Vance Worley will be much better than Francisco Liriano, Carl Pavano, etc.? I don’t think so. And my gut feeling is the bullpen’s ERA will be worse than it was a year ago. I’m thinking a 64-98 season is ahead. Tough to stomach for many of you.

There’s enough to be sour about with this group, and the shortcomings have been widely reported. Here are a few things for fans to be optimistic about heading into this season:

• I have a hunch that Justin Morneau is going to return to his pre-concussion numbers. Maybe not the blistering start he was off to in 2010, but I think he’s going to have a very good season. Let’s go with a .290 average, 25 homers, 90-95 RBIs and an .870 OPS.
• Aaron Hicks has looked real good this spring. The stats he posted were impressive in Florida. But beyond the numbers, I saw a player who has a great eye at the plate, something he demonstrated in the minors. He looks similar to Denard Span in that regard. I’ve liked Hicks for awhile because of his on-base percentage skills and his defensive ability. Very interested to see how he does skipping Triple-A.
• While the major league rotation will be dreadful and is banged-up already, the minor league system has the potential to produce some big-time arms. Twins GM Terry Ryan told me earlier this spring that he sees plenty of promise in the likes of Jose Berrios, Trevor May, Alex Meyer, Kyle Gibson and B.J. Hermsen. The last four names mentioned aren’t too far away from the majors with the proper amount of development, and Berrios probably has the highest ceiling of them all.

Enjoy the season. The summer is near.

Something about a foot of snow and 40 mph wind guts gets me thinking about baseball this time of year.

Actually, regardless of the weather, it’s safe to say I’m in baseball mode by mid-Februrary. Temps are typically getting warmer, football is done, fantasy baseball registration is open and pitchers and catchers report. For the Twins, the latter happens on Tuesday.

Minnesota has had some turnover from a year ago, when the team posted its second straight season of 90-plus losses. I don’t believe the turnover will be overly impactful, but it’s turnover nonetheless.

So while I’m stuck in the house watching some Gophers basketball, I figured it would be a good time to review the Twins roster heading into this week’s first workouts of the season.

Let’s start with the position players for today.

The Twins had some encouraging signs regarding their offense in 2012.

Joe Mauer bounced back from an injury-plagued 2011 to hit .319 in 147 games, splitting time among catcher, designated hitter and first base.

First baseman Justin Morneau – another former AL MVP – also returned from concussion issues that had held him back the previous two seasons. He hit .267 with 19 homers and 77 RBIs in 134 games. His numbers against right-handers were very impressive (.291 BA/.531 SLG/.902 OPS).

And OF Josh Willingham (35 homers) and 3B Trevor Plouffe (24 homers) enjoyed career seasons at the plate.

However, despite all that went right, the Twins still were only 10th in the AL in runs scored. There will be concerns in 2013 as to whether or not the four players mentioned above can repeat their 2012 seasons, plus the Twins traded center fielders Denard Span and Ben Revere away in the offseason.

So the offense has some big holes to fill, notably in center field and in the middle infield. Darin Mastroianni would appear to the favorite to replace Span and Revere, with prospects Aaron Hicks and Joe Benson also under consideration.

Mastroianni actually put up a pretty similar season to Revere. Both players’ OBPs were around .330, with Mastroianni utilizing more walks in getting to his number. Both are crazy fast and neither slugs all that much.

In the middle infield, Pedro Florimon is expected to get a good look at shortstop. He hit just .219 in 43 games last season, and there’s no reason to think he’ll hit much better than that. But he brings a reliable glove, one that will be needed with the pitch-to-contact staff.

Brian Dozier and Jamey Carroll are also battling for playing time at shortstop and second base.

With the starting lineup in flux, it’s hard to gauge the bench. But if you’re looking for an under-the-radar player to keep an eye on, Brandon Boggs might be your guy. The 30-year-old outfielder and non-roster invitee has big league experience and a career .381 OBP at Triple-A.

My projected starting lineup
OF Darin Mastroianni
2B Brian Dozier
C Joe Mauer
LF Josh Willingham
1B Justin Morneau
DH Ryan Doumit
3B Trevor Plouffe
RF Chris Parmelee
SS Pedro Florimon

Bench
C Drew Butera
IF Jamey Carroll
IF Eduardo Escobar
OF Brandon Boggs

There are no shortage of sports topics for which I like to obsess about: the Minnesota Twins, fantasy football, the push for NHL teams in the South to return to the North, etc.

Sometimes those rants can get a little long, which is pretty much what happened with me on Twitter yesterday. Twitter was not built for such rants as my Baseball Hall of Fame one. It merits a blog post instead.

The Baseball Hall of Fame inductees will be announced tomorrow, assuming that there are any to announce at all. According to Baseball Think Factory, which keeps a running tally of voters’ ballots when they are posted online, has 125 ballots so far tabulated. And the results? No player has the 75 percent needed to be inducted. Still a lot of votes missing – roughly 80 percent – but it’s still telling.

There are “big” Hall of Fame guys – people who want lots of players in – and “small” Hall of Fame guys. I’ve always thought of myself as a small Hall guy, keeping Cooperstown induction limited to only the best.

Yet I would be stunned to see no player inducted when the ballot appears to have no shortage of players worth voting for, even if you’re like me and don’t think known performance-enhancing drug users should be in.

And that’s where things get messy. That’s why some voters have opted not to submit a ballot, or submit an empty one (the latter counts against the vote totals of other players).

Some writers are uncomfortable with having to vote for PED users and suspected PED users. Everyone has their own opinion of who should be included in the process, and that’s fine by me. But to me, there are quite a few worthy players on the ballot with no known reason to suspect them of PEDs, so to submit a blank ballot is pretty unfair to the clean players.

Example: Craig Biggio has 3,000 career hits. No player eligible has been left out of the HOF with 3,000 hits. He’ll get in one day. So why the wait?

And if you’re worried about voting in someone who we might find out later on did test positive for PEDs during baseball’s anonymous testing (like David Ortiz did during 2003 testing), I understand the concern.

But sometimes cheaters get away with it. Gaylord Perry threw a spitball, and is in the Hall of Fame. Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker were once involved in a scandal to throw a game (both were cleared, but there was solid evidence implicating them). Use of amphetamines in the 1960s and 1970s was widespread.

Some guys get away with it, and some guys don’t. That’s life. And my take is I’d rather let a couple of steroid users into the Hall than keep a couple of innocent, deserving players out of it due to suspicions.

So, as I did last year, here are the players that would get my vote if I had a ballot:

• Jeff Bagwell. What I wrote last year about Bagwell pretty much sums up my thoughts this year. “If after his Hall induction we find out that he took steroids – and yes, I wouldn’t vote for anyone that took steroids – so be it. Sometimes people get away with it. That’s life. Not every criminal is apprehended. There are cheaters in the Hall of Fame right now. But I believe in innocent until proven guilty.” Had 449 career homers and a .948 OPS.
• Craig Biggio. The great Joe Posnanski thinks that Biggio will be the recipient of collateral damage due to this ballot if he doesn’t get in. That’s very true. More than 3,000 hits. Bill James said in 2001 that Biggio is the fifth-best second baseman of all-time. Also played extensively at catcher and center field (who does that?). Five seasons of 20+homers. Four Gold Gloves. He’s in, and he shouldn’t have to wait.
• Edgar Martinez. What I wrote last year still rings true: “The stats are just too good to ignore for me, even if he was often injured throughout his career and rarely played in the field. Hit .312 with a .418 OBP over 18 major league seasons in Seattle. His 147 OPS+ (basically his OPS in comparison to the era he played and ballpark he called home) is 40th all-time, tied with Jim Thome, Willie McCovey, Mike Schmidt and Willie Stargell. That should give you an idea of the company he keeps on that list. He’s ahead of modern players like Alex Rodriguez and Prince Fielder.”
• Fred McGriff. I think McGriff is someone who is only going to look better on the ballot as the years go by during our current pitchers’ era. McGriff hit 493 homers in 19 seasons. He slugged better than .500 for his career and made five All-Star Games, and probably lost out on other selections due to juiced-up contemporaries. Enjoyed a seven-year peak from 1988-94 in which he hits 242 homers (35 per season) and slugged .545 with a .390 OBP. Yet remarkably in that peak, only two of his All-Star selections occurred.
• Jack Morris. Didn’t have him on my fake ballot last year. Morris collected 67 percent of the vote last year, a number that every player who has reached it has eventually gotten in. MLB Network made an interesting comparison between Morris and Mickey Lolich that was eye-opening. Morris’ 3.90 ERA would be the worst among Hall of Famers if elected. But he won 254 games, was a five-time All-Star, was top-five in Cy Young voting five times. Won World Series with three different franchises, twice serving as the undisputed ace on those teams. Had a 2.96 ERA in seven World Series starts. Another interesting stat: No AL pitcher in the DH era has more eight-plus inning starts than Morris (248). Hard to imagine that getting matched again. He was the ultimate workhorse.
• Mike Piazza. Piazza might be the most fascinating case on the ballot. It seems that most baseball fans probably think that Piazza did steroids. And the story fits. After all, Piazza was a former 62nd-round draft pick (a favor to Tommy Lasorda) who became the greatest offensive catcher of all time. Piazza is the best example of my stance that there just isn’t enough evidence to keep him out.
• Tim Raines. I love this guy’s case. Only got 48 percent of the votes last year. But I could go on and on about Raines’ numbers. He ranks fifth in stolen bases, and among players with more than 300 steals, he is the most efficient base stealer who ever lived. He hit .294 in a 23-year career, and he had a peak from 1981-87 with Montreal where he hit .310 and stole 504 bases (72 per season) and 63 triples. This one seems to easy to me.
• Curt Schilling. Best strikeout-to-walk ratio in major league history of anyone with at least 1,000 innings pitched. Only 216 career wins in 20 seasons, but an ERA+ of 127 and a career WHIP of 1.137. And the postseason counts for me too just as it did for Morris. Led the Phillies to a World Series appearance and the Red Sox and Diamondbacks to titles. Postseason stats are sick: 11-2, 2.23 ERA, 19 starts. World Series ERA: 2.06. Wow!
• Alan Trammell. Another guy I added from last year. I’ve been swayed. Enjoyed a 20-year career entirely with the Detroit Tigers. Six-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner. If you believe in WAR (wins above replacement), Posnanski points out that Trammell ranks tied for sixth among shortstops behind only Honus Wagner, Cal Ripken, Ozzie Smith, Arky Vaughan and Luke Appling. I’m not sure Trammell has the classic peak some voters desire. But 20 years at shortstop hitting .285 really doesn’t happen that often.
• Larry Walker. What I wrote last year: “The Coors Field homer-happy reputation has no doubt hurt his candidacy. He hit .313 for his career and slugged .565. Those are facts. From 1994 (when he was not calling Colorado home) to 2002, he hit .339 with a .631 slugging percentage and averaged 28 homers and 15 steals per season. And while I can’t find advanced defensive metrics for the prime of his career, he did win seven Gold Gloves. I know the Denver air helped him, but I just can’t ignore his numbers and Gold Gloves. He was unquestionably a better hitter at home during his career. But maybe he just felt more comfortable at home too. In 1999, he hit .461 at Coors Field. Thin air or not, there was more going on there than just altitude.”

There is no Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, nor should there be. Baseball may not have been governing itself against PED use, but it was still an illegal activity that gave them distinct advantages over their peers. And there’s just too much evidence that they used for me to ignore.

I would keep them out.

Finally, I’ll leave you with Raines’ most memorable moment. This was Raines’ first game in 1987 after collusion kept him from being on a team in the season’s first month. He had quite a debut in this May game against the Mets on national TV.

The Atlanta Braves found their center fielder in B.J. Upton on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Minnesota Twins wasted no more time in trading their center fielder to one of the remaining teams in the baseball marketplace looking for help at that position.

The Twins shipped Denard Span to the Washington Nationals in exchange for top pitching prospect Alex Meyer.

The surprise for me isn’t so much in the trading of Span (which has been rumored for weeks months years) as it is in what the Twins received in return.

That’s not meant to be a slight on Meyer, who has plenty of promise. However, I always thought the Twins would be seeking a major league-ready arm in exchange for Span.

Newly acquired Minnesota Twins prospect Alex Meyer pitched in the MLB Futures Game last season. Associated Press photo

That leaves me wondering if the acquisition of Meyer isn’t a sign that the Twins are thinking about, to some degree, blowing up the major league roster. After all, almost all of the team’s top prospects – Meyer included – were in A-ball last season and years away from being able to help out. The Twins’ loss total in each of the last two seasons has approached 100, and there isn’t a lot of hope that the farm system will provide any help in the next couple of seasons.

With Joe Mauer‘s massive contract still on the books, the Twins probably aren’t looking to do a Florida/Miami Marlins type of dismantling of the roster.

But could we see Josh Willingham – coming off of a career season in 2012 – get dealt at next week’s winter meetings? Is there a market for Justin Morneau? Will the Twins keep dealing for help in A-ball and Double-A with hopes of that wave of players – led by Miguel Sano, Oswaldo Arcia, Meyer and Co. – will be the ones to revive the franchise? Only time will tell.

Twins fans know all about Span and what he brought to the table. He is a reliable leadoff hitter known for taking a lot of pitches. Among major leaguers that qualify for the league lead, Span was second to Marco Scutaro in swinging strike percentage.

He is under a very reasonable contract that called for $21 million over the next three seasons (the last of those three is a $9 million club option, which in all likelihood would be picked up by the Nats when the time comes).

However, Span’s durability has suffered lately, and now he has a concussion history that clubs need to think about.

As for Meyer, he was drafted 23rd overall in the 2011 draft. The 6-foot-9 right-hander from the University of Kentucky brings a mid- to upper-90s fastball along with a slider according to reports. One post-draft assessment said that he needed work on his change-up.

In 129 innings at two levels of A-ball in the Nationals’ system, Meyer struck out 139 with an ERA of 2.86. As a 22-year-old, he would be expected to play well at that level of the minors, but FanGraphs’ Dave Cameron writes that there’s still considerable upside and plenty of risk – in this deal for the Twins. 

 For more on Meyer, you can go back to the FanGraphs’ well and check out this re-published story about him.

The Minnesota Twins should have one goal in mind this offseason: acquire pitching. As much pitching as they can find.

That’s not to say the Twins don’t have other warts. But after back-to-back seasons with win totals in the 60s, Minnesota isn’t going to turn its franchise around overnight. There needs to be a priority.

What do we know? Scott Diamond is coming back to provide what the Twins hope will be a steady option in the rotation. But beyond that, the starting staff gets pretty sketchy.

They probably won’t spend the big bucks it would take to get right-hander Zack Greinke in free agency, even though it’s been reported in the past that he would prefer to avoid large markets.

So their attention will likely turn to the trade market. And in order to get something, you have to give something up.

Denard Span is often discussed as a trade chip for the Minnesota Twins. Associated Press

The most talked about trade chip for the Twins is outfielder Denard Span, who seems somewhat expendable with the emergence of Ben Revere. Span has been a reliable on-base threat at the top of the batting order and provides a great glove in the outfield. His contract is reasonable, and all of those factors make him coveted (this FanGraphs piece goes into further detail).

Tampa Bay’s James Shields is one of the bigger names being thrown around in rumors in early November. It would take quite a bit more than just Span to get Shields. And do the Twins dare deal with the Rays after what happened in the Matt Garza-for-Delmon Young swap? It’s a dangerous game swapping with the best front office in baseball.

David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote on Twitter that he thinks it would make sense for the Braves to deal one of their young arms to the Twins for Span. The Braves could lose Michael Bourn in free agency.

“Anybody that’s got numbers [of starting pitchers] or anybody that’s got a possibility maybe of having a lot of depth, then more than likely we have talked to them,” Twins GM Terry Ryan told O’Brien, without naming specific teams. “They aren’t just going to distribute pitching to other clubs unless they can get something back that fills a need. Some way or another we kind of know who we match up with.”

The Braves have Tommy Hanson and prospects Randall Delgado and Julio Teheran competing for the fifth spot in their rotation next season.

While Span could get the Twins one solid starting option, there’s still massive holes in the rotation. And that’s what makes Ryan’s job a difficult one.

And that’s also why I’m quick to defend pitching coach Rick Anderson, who was spared while other coaches were let go this offseason. Who have the Twins given Anderson to work with in recent years? Besides Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano, how many starting options has Anderson had in the last 10 years who had good stuff? Not many. A lot of pitch-to-contact guys in an era dominated by power pitching.

Ryan has turned the Twins around once before at the beginning of this century. I’m starting to wonder if this turnaround won’t be more difficult to orchestrate.

An exciting afternoon of baseball – featuring the Oakland A’s improbable AL West title – was capped by a pretty dull night. The New York Yankees won the AL East, keeping the Baltimore Orioles in the AL wild card game.

When compared to last year’s final day of the season, this one couldn’t and didn’t measure up.

Even Miguel Cabrera‘s pursuit of the AL Triple Crown is lacking in drama. How did he become the first player in 45 years to win the batting average, homer and RBI titles, and accomplish it without even needing a big hit on the season’s final day?

There are some great arguments to be made for many of Major League Baseball’s regular-season awards (Can R.A. Dickey win the NL Cy Young?). But how about Cabrera vs. Mike Trout for the AL MVP award.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout shouldn’t be dismissed too quickly from the AL MVP race, even though Miguel Cabrera (not pictured) won the AL Triple Crown. Associated Press photo

Cabrera’s accomplishments seem to make it a foregone conclusion that he will win the  award. Heck, I was in the Trout MVP camp for most the year, but the Triple Crown has swayed me. How can a Triple Crown winner not be named MVP? And yes, I realize Ted Williams many decades ago didn’t win the MVP after a Triple Crown season. But that was then. Much has changed.

So what about Trout? He opened the year in the minor leagues and didn’t debut with the Los Angeles Angels this season until April 28. And since then, he has also done things that we have never seen before. Combine an average in the .320s with 30 homers and nearly 50 steals plus Gold Glove-caliber defense in the outfield, and you have the total package.

No player in history has ever had at least 30 homers, 45 steals and 125 runs in a season. That is, until Trout did it this year. Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times argues that type of historic season is why Trout SHOULD be the MVP, not Cabrera. 

If you’re a sabermetric-type of fan, Trout blows Cabrera out of the water in WAR (wins above replacement). Trout leads all of baseball at 10.1, with Cabrera ranking sixth at 7.3.

Why is that? Because of defense. Cabrera ranks very poorly among MLB third basemen, though I think some credit should be given to Cabrera for attempting to make the difficult transition back to third base from first base. That’s not exactly a normal defensive progression as a player ages.

Trout, though, ranks among the best outfielders – according to FanGraphs – in all sorts of defensive metrics.

It’s a difficult decision. I just don’t think either player should be robbed of it. I imagine I’ll get lambasted in the comments section for saying it, but if there was ever a year to name co-MVPs, this is it. I know, I know. I’m taking the easy way out.

Both players did remarkable things on the diamond in 2012, and they should both be considered the AL’s best.

The Washington Nationals entered play on Monday with a 6.5-game lead in the NL East standings.

Come mid-September, they will likely start putting plans together to set their rotation favorably for the NL Division Series. And those plans won’t include their ace.

Nats manager Davey Johnson announced this past weekend that Stephen Strasburg will make just two more starts this season, with his final appearance on Sept. 12 against the New York Mets.

Johnson is following through on general manager Mike Rizzo‘s opinion that Strasburg pitch between 160 and 180 innings this season. It’s Strasburg’s first full season back after Tommy John surgery sidelined him for almost all of last season.

Strasburg has been nothing short of dominating, posting a 2.94 ERA in 156 1/3 innings, striking out 195. Opponents are hitting just .225 off of him.

The Nats are pitching deep like no other team in baseball. Their 477 runs allowed are by far the fewest given up in the NL. However, there really is no replacing a guy like Strasburg.

I’m left asking myself: How can this happen? As former NY Jets coach Herm Edwards reminded us so many years ago, you PLAY to WIN the GAME! Yet the Nats, by benching Strasburg for the postseason, seem content in just getting to the playoffs rather than trying to do something when they get there.

A playoff appearance alone would be considered a huge milestone for a franchise that hasn’t been to the postseason since 1981 when – as the Montreal Expos – they reached the NLCS.

But how many opportunities does a team get like this to win a World Series? And the Nats with their pitching would be among the favorites. No team would want to face a Strasburg-Jordan Zimmermann-Gio Gonzalez-Edwin Jackson staff.

I have no problem with the innings limit for Strasburg. There seems to be little evidence that an innings limit benefits his long-term health, but I realize that the environment in Major League Baseball thinks that it does, and Rizzo would be under intense scrutiny if something happened to Strasburg.

And Strasburg is a valuable investment that must be protected.

But the Nats seemed all season long to be ill-prepared for the innings limit, almost as if they just decided to hold firm on it two months ago.

You can’t shut Strasburg down now, then re-start him for the postseason. That seems like a terrible idea.

But why wasn’t his turn in the rotation being skipped in the early and middle parts of the season, allowing him to extend his season into October? That’s what I don’t understand.

It’s not like the Nats had a late-season rally to get into first place. They’ve been there almost all season. October baseball has been within reach for them since April, yet it’s like the organization itself never believed it was actually attainable until recently.

The Nationals have a chance to do something really special, and bring Washington its first World Series title since 1924. Those hopes take a hit without Strasburg, but it really should have never come to this.

The fourth and final stop on my vacation earlier this month may have provided the worst of the four ballparks, but it was the most exciting city of the group.

It’s hard to compare Toronto to an American city. In terms of population, I suppose it would most closely resemble Chicago. Myself and two friends from high school arrived in Toronto (via Pittsburgh) on Aug. 9 before leaving two days later.

Niagara Falls on the Ontario side.

Toronto really was awesome. Among the cities I’ve visited, I’d rank it with Boston and Seattle as my favorites. I’ve heard multiple people refer to Toronto as the “New York of Canada.” I’ve never been to New York, so I can’t say whether that nickname is justified or not.

But Toronto certainly was a lively city. The downtown area was bustling. It just seemed like there was an awful lot of young people in their 20s and 30s. And there was quite a bit of construction going on downtown for a major city. I got the feeling that it could be much larger – and more congested, I suppose – five years from now than it is today. Lot of big buildings going up.

Aside from a Yankees-Blue Jays game at Rogers Centre, we tried to do as much as we could during our two days in Canada. Before reaching Toronto, we checked out Niagara Falls on the Ontario side of the border. Quite a sight! I had never seen the Falls on either side before. Very impressive.

Tim Horton’s!

I was pretty stunned by the tourism mecca that is Niagara Falls too. We were there on a Thursday afternoon, and it was absolutely packed. The city is full of little shops and restaurants. We made the obligatory Tim Horton’s stop, and that place was an absolute zoo. But it lived up to the billing. How have donut combos not taken off in most of the States?

From there it was off to Toronto. My Forum Communications cohort Dom Izzomade a couple of great restaurant suggestions. We ate at Wayne Gretzky’s restaurant on that Thursday night, then went to East Side Mario’s (Italian food, obviously) on Friday afternoon before the Jays game. I give thumbs-up to both.

The Stanley Cup inside the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Aside from East Side Mario’s, much of Friday was spent within hockey’s hold on Toronto. We checked out the Hockey Hall of Fame in the morning. Had my photo taken with the Stanley Cup. A must.

During a dull moment that afternoon we walked to the site of the Maple Leaf Gardens, which has been converted into a shopping center. Not much to look at inside, but the exterior probably looks much as it did when the Leafs played in the historic ice arena.

I even stopped into the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for those of you who didn’t grow up within an hour of Canada) to see if I could find any Don Cherry memorabilia. Had to settle for a “Hockey Night in Canada” T-shirt.

That night we saw the Yankees take care of business against a pretty depleted Jays squad. Having grown up going to games in the Metrodome, there was a sort of nostalgic feel to Rogers Centre. After all, I probably haven’t seen an indoor baseball game since the Twins’ final game at the Metrodome.

Inside the Rogers Centre for Yankees-Blue Jays.

And the Blue Jays were so good when I was growing up, I just naturally have a lot of memories watching Jays games on Canadian channels or when they were playing in the postseason.

But ultimately, Rogers Centre just doesn’t stack up with the modern ballparks of today. It’s enormous and doesn’t have a lot of frills to it. The team store was very large and had all kinds of Jays merchandise. I managed to avoid spending any loonies there, which was difficult since I really like the Jays retro-style logo this year.

The Jays game did mark the end of the trip. The next morning, we hopped into the car and headed back, stopping that night in Madison, Wis., before arriving in the Twin Cities the next day.

I’m either really focused or falling asleep. It’s been quite a trip.

But before I end this four-part blog series, I should point out two more things about our visit to Toronto.

First off, I had an easier time finding Labatt’s in the States than I did in Canada.

Secondly, Canadians have NOT forgotten about the Montreal Expos. I opted to wear an Expos jersey and hat in Toronto on that Friday both to the Hockey Hall and to the Jays game. And I must have gotten at least a half-dozen comments (all but one positive) from people on the streets. I even had someone say something in French to me. I should have said “merci” back.

And I was hardly alone. A few people were wearing Expos stuff at the Blue Jays game. And they’d look at you as if you were one of their own. Just hilarious! I went up the aisle in our section at one point to go to the bathroom, and another guy sitting in an aisle seat wearing an Expos T-shirt and hat gave me a head nod and lifted his beer bottle into the air.

Long live Les Expos!

So you think Target Field is pretty cool, huh? Imagine that park on riverfront property.

That’s why I named PNC Park the best of the 13 active ballparks 11 newer ballparks that I’ve been to. There are a lot of great stadiums that make the most of every square inch. But not many of them have the remarkable surroundings of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ stadium.

Honus Wagner statue outside the stadium behind home plate.

We went to PNC Park on the third leg of a vacation that myself and two friends from high school took a couple weeks ago, attending the Aug. 8 game between the Pirates and Arizona Diamondbacks.

It’s an amazing scene that unfolds with every step toward the stadium, as fans funnel to and from the park via the Roberto Clemente Bridge, which is closed to car traffic for games.  You can see right into the stadium from the bridge, with the river crossing directly behind the right-field wall.

Once you get across the bridge, there stands the statue of Clemente himself. At seemingly every gate, fans are greeted by a statue of a former Pirates great, whether it be Willie Stargell or Honus Wagner or Bill Mazeroski.

Yours truly with the Willie Stargell statue

My buddies and I walked inside the stadium and quickly made our ascent to the third level of the park behind home plate. And what a view for 300-level seating price! Our seats were in the 100 level behind the plate, but we had to go to the top to take a look. Completely worth it.

Bill Mazeroski statue next to a portion of the Forbes Field wall that Mazeroski hit his winning home run over in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series.

And the stadium is impressive even when you’re leaving. It’s really something to walk alongside all of those fans cross that river via the Clemente Bridge.

No stop to Pittsburgh would be complete without a meal at Primanti Bros., which is famous for its “Pittsburgher” sandwich loaded with steak, french fries and cole slaw piled in the sandwich. We stopped at Primanti Bros. for lunch. My meal at the game was the chicken nachos in Pop’s Plaza. I HIGHLY recommend them. A heckuva deal, and a nice change of pace from the usual bratwurst that I order at the ballpark.

As for the game, the Pirates hung on for a one-run victory. The real fireworks were provided by Arizona’s Chris Young and Justin Upton, who were ejected from the game after Young argued balls and strikes with the home-plate umpire.

View from our seats at PNC Park

The city of Pittsburgh was very sharp. I had read that the city had put a lot of work into revamping its downtown district. And it really showed.

The fourth and final stop on the tour would send us to Toronto with the knowledge that we had just completed a visit to one of baseball’s great venues. A must-see for the diehard baseball fan.

Leaving PNC Park across the Roberto Clemente Bridge.