(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)   For years, there has been a huge controversy surrounding Barry Bonds and his Hall-of-Fame credentials. On the field, he is more than deserving, but off-the-field issues and steroid allegations have kept him from Cooperstown to this day. In August, he will enter a Hall of Fame: it won’t be the National Baseball Hall, but the Pittsburgh Pirates will induct him to their own Hall in a ceremony alongside other franchise greats. “It may not be Cooperstown, but Barry Bonds will be inducted into the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Hall of Fame in August alongside Jim Leyla ..read more

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)   The Kansas City Royals have been surprisingly good this season. They entered play on Wednesday with a 31-19 record, much better than anticipated even after their winter spending spree. The Royals are just 1.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the AL Central lead, and currently hold one of the American League’s Wild Card spots with an eye on the postseason. They have been so good in large part thanks to the leadership of Salvador Perez. The catcher/first baseman has been magnificent this year, hitting line drives and homers left and right. A f ..read more

(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)   Roughly a quarter of the MLB season is already in the books. By now, we have an idea about which teams and players are performing the best. We have surprises, disappointments, sleepers, and busts all around. With the help of former All-Star pitcher Dontrelle Willis, we can get an idea of which players have been the best at what they do to this point. Willis, and the folks at FOX Sports: MLB, handed out some quarter season awards. “We’ve got some Quarter Season Awards! @DTrainMLB shares his picks,” they tweeted, with a graphic containing the MVPs, Ro ..read more

(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)   After being somewhat decent for a while, the Oakland Athletics have lost eight of their last 10 and have been ceding ground in the AL West. Still, there is no denying they are far better and more entertaining than last year. One of the reasons why Oakland makes for good TV is because of Mason Miller. The flame-throwing reliever is one of the best closers in baseball, perhaps even the best at this point. The eye test and the stats rarely lie, and Miller excels at both. Just take a look at his stuff from the hitter’s perspective. “Mason Miller ..read more

(Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images)   The Toronto Blue Jays have had a rough season to this point. By win-loss record, they are still relatively “salvageable” at 21-25, but circumstances make the situation a bit more serious. They play in perhaps the most competitive division in baseball, the AL East, and are already 10.5 games behind the leaders, the New York Yankees. At -40, they currently boast the third-worst run differential in the American League, a shocking development for a team that has been a playoff contender for the last few years. Their current situation, at least according a ..read more

(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)   Bryce Harper’s Philadelphia Phillies are off to a dominant start to this season and are currently sporting the best record in baseball at 34-14 behind a scintillating mix of thunderous offense and stellar pitching. Despite all this winning, Harper has still found time to make an impact off the field as well, as evidenced by a recent fan video that went viral. MLB shared a clip on Twitter of Harper helping out a young Phillies fan named Jake Portella, who brought Harper along to his prom date’s house to help ask her to prom. He got Bryce Harper to h ..read more

(Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)   The Kansas City Royals have been one of, if not the most surprising team in baseball so far this season and currently sit just 1.5 games out of first place in the AL Central with a 30-19 record. This is beyond just a hot start, as we are now roughly a third of the way through the season, and the Royals are on pace for 99 wins and are already finding themselves in elite company league-wide. MLB on FOX shared a post on Twitter that detailed the elite company the Royals have already found themselves in, as the Royals are now the fifth team to reach 30 wins ..read more

(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)   It’s no secret that superstar catcher Adley Rutschman has changed the trajectory of the entire Baltimore Orioles franchise since he was quickly called up following a brief stint in the minor leagues after being selected No. 1 overall in the 2019 MLB Draft. One stat stands out above all else when evaluating Rutschman’s impact on the team. Today is the official two-year anniversary of Rutschman’s debut, and at the time of his debut the Orioles were 16-24, and since then the team has gone 197-132 which is the best record in the American League, per M ..read more

(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)   The New York Yankees pitching staff has been magnificent to this point. As of Monday afternoon, they rank first in baseball with a 2.81 ERA, the only team under 3.00. The work performed by pitching coach Matt Blake has been outstanding, and the pitchers have been phenomenal. The Yanks have done this without their ace, as Gerrit Cole has been battling right elbow inflammation since spring training. The right-hander has been making strides, though, throwing bullpens in the past couple of weeks. Now, according to Yankees insider Bryan Hoch, he is ready to t ..read more

(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)   In the mid-2010s, the Cleveland Guardians developed a true star. Shortstop Francisco Lindor graduated from an exciting rookie to a big star who played a huge role in a World Series run in 2016. He went on to have a very productive stint in Cleveland before being traded in 2021. Now, after three years, the prodigal son returns. He will do so in a New York Mets uniform, but Guardians fans likely won’t forget his contributions to the 2010s and early-2020s teams. MLB Network reminded us all about Lindor’s return to Cleveland and some of his achievements ther ..read more