Baseball's Time To Shine

The NBA and NHL playoffs are rapidly heading towards their conclusions although the NBA surely has another month or two left. It's baseball's time to shine and so far this season hasn't let us down. Let's take a look at why this season has been very good:

1) Check out the standings...Right now Kansas City and Toronto are in first place and are giving those cities hope of a bright future. Heck, Zack Greinke might put up amazing numbers this year for the Royals bringing them the Cy Young Award. Toronto has Roy Halladay and a bunch of no-name starters making people scurry to baseball-reference.com to find out the difference between Scott Richmond and Richmond Virginia.
2) The Mets and Yankees are struggling. Granted the Bronx Bombers are headed in the right direction but the Mets are a mess. They have superstars but not super leaders. Their rotation is as mediocre as it gets and when they send Johan to the mound, they just don't score. Thank goodness there won't be a Subway Series.
3) The Texas Rangers are no longer a black hole for starting pitching. Scott Feldman and Kevin Millwood have led the charge as the Rangers are atop the AL West. Good for them. Josh Hamilton isn't even hitting much yet but the rest of the team is. I hope they keep it going.
4) The Nationals are a fascinating team. Check out these numbers: Relievers have a 6.68 ERA and are 1-13. Washington is 6-10 when they've scored 6+ runs this season whereas Pittsburgh is 14-0 in the same case. This is one of the best lineups in the NL with quite possibly the worst bullpen in the history of major league baseball. They don't draw but perhaps they should. If people are clamoring for offense so desperately, then why not go patronize the team with some of the best in baseball. Ryan Zimmerman should be in the NL All Star game. And with that, time for me to get on my soapbox. Vote for who belongs not your home team. I love the Marlins but im sure as hell not voting for Emilio Bonafacio or Cody Ross to go. I've got some sort of soul so here's who you SHOULD be voting for

AL
C: Victor Martinez, Cleveland (.401 on that bad team is pretty good) Also Acceptable: Joe Mauer, Mike Napoli
1B: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit (almost hitting .400 and 30 RBI's) Also Acceptable: Kevin Youkilis, Justin Morneau
2B: Aaron Hill, Toronto (leads 2B's in all major categories except SB's) Also Acceptable: Ian Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia.
3B: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay (Putting up obscene RBI Numbers) Also Acceptable: Michael Young
SS: Jason Bartlett, Tampa Bay(.384 5 HR, 22 RBI are by far the best here) Also Acceptable: NONE
OF: Adam Jones, Baltimore (.370 8 HR, 26 RBI from a relative unknown before this year), Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay (a terror on the basepaths and hitting over .300), Johnny Damon (.324, 10 HR....someone's benefitting from the new park) Also Acceptable: Jason Bay, Torii Hunter, Nick Markakis
SP: Roy Halladay (If the fate of the world depended on one game, I'd give the ball to this man) Also Acceptable: Zack Greinke

NL
C: Bengie Molina, San Francisco (hitting over .300 and represents the power in a weak Giants lineup) Also Acceptable: NONE really
1B: Albert Pujols, St. Louis (usually one of the few that the fans get right; Prince Albert just keeps rolling) Also Acceptable: Todd Helton (pretty nice numbers for him), Nick Johnson (what he's not hurt?), Joey Votto
2B: Orlando Hudson, Los Angeles (pretty nice pickup at the end of the FA for the Dodgers) Also Acceptable: Chase Utley, Freddy Sanchez, Felipe Lopez
SS: Hanley Ramirez, Florida (.343 6 HR, 20 RBI...i'm a homer so what) Also Acceptable: Cristian Guzman (NL's leading hit guy)
3B: Ryan Zimmerman, Washington (.358 10 HR, 31 RBI...shame he'll lose) Also Acceptable: David Wright, Aramis Ramirez (injured), Chipper
OF: Carlos Beltran (.378...hate rewarding big market guys but he belongs), Ryan Braun (gotta rep the Jews especially when they hit over .300 with power), Raul Ibanez (.357 13 HR...does the guy ever smile? Meanest homerun hitter ever) Also Acceptable: Carlos Lee, Hunter Pence, Manny Ramirez
SP: Johan Santana