For years, I have the same Fantasy team name on Yahoo for the sole reason that it was just the "one I always had".

But as the years go on and I have grown considerably bored with "jagsNbosox" and much like a real pro sports player, sometimes you need a change of scenery.

Last year after searching on the internet, I tried my luck at a new name, Dirty Mark Sanchez. The name was funny, relevant and most importantly, won me a boat load of cash.

Deciding the keep the momentum going into Fantasy Baseball season, I will happily be playing in the "Babes Love Baseball" league--which is a GREAT baseball site written by 2 talented and lovely ladies.

But the all important problem arises, what name should I pick for my team?

A couple predetermined rules have been established:

• Must be funny
• Would prefer it to be Redsox related but its not a requirement
• Yankee team names are automatically excluded. Unless its making fun of them

After setting the rules, the only issue was becoming brain dead with ideas for the actual name itself. Lucky for all of us, there is a site that exists that gives us all a plethora of options...

Read on to see the best fantasy baseball team names and help me choose which one to use...

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Imagine yourself as a Major League Baseball player. Now imagine going 34-5, with 35 complete games, 10 shutouts, a 1.91 ERA, and even a .290 batting average during ONE season!

Red Sox Pitcher, Smokey Joe Wood, compiled those stats in the 1912 season. Obviously, Wood was loved in Boston but it was everywhere else where he was hated.

While most fans boo a player on an opposing team they don't care for, it seems as if there has always been the crazy sports fans out there to take it just a tad too far.

Such is the case when Smokey Joe Wood traveled to Cleveland and upon staying at the Red Sox team hotel, he received this death threat:

Hit the title/read more to continue reading on one of the first MLB related death threat...
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Because MLB decided to remove all of their baseball videos off YouTube, we are forced to only share footage from a video game.

Even though the following video is gaming graphics and not the real deal, its still a factual representation of all the glorious perfect games that occurred to encourage you to play the new MLB 2K11 that awards a $1 million dollar grand prize to the first person who pitches a perfect game (in the video game world of course).

From the Philllies Halladay, Athletics Braden, White Sox Buehrle, Tigers Verlander and Giants Lincecum are all featured in the "highlight".

Only a couple more weeks until pitchers and catchers report. MLB 2K11 will release a little later on March 8th. Praise the Lord!!

Its late January, pitchers and catchers will start reporting in about 25 days, and while most websites are busy doing previews for the upcoming season, I thought it best to start off with some of the greats who won't be strapping on the cleats and writing out the lineup cards this year.

While there were many players to officially retire last year (Nomar, Big Hurt, etc..) there are a particular few who will be greatly missed. For years, Ken Griffey Jr, Lou Piniella and Bobby Cox have all entertained us with their play, antics and over all baseball genius.

Read on to reflect on the careers that were before we start looking ahead to 2011...

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 Hall of Fame pitcher's story is told beautifully by ESPN's Tim Kurkjian

ESPN receives a lot of flack in the blogosphere for just about anything under the sun. But one thing they have done right is keeping Senior Baseball Writer Tim Kurkjian around because he just hit a homerun on the feature he did for Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller.

Feller was a true American success story. He was signed by the Cleveland Indians at the age of 16 in 1939 and was estimated to throw 104 . Quit baseball temporarily to finish High School, missed several years of life due to military service but returned to the game again only to

And you might say to yourself "Wow, signed at the age of 16? He must have gotten a bunch of money even for that day in age". Not the slightest.

When Feller signed at age 16, he received $1 and an autographed baseball. In his first major league start, Feller struck out 15 batters and won over 100 games before the age of 21. He is also credited with throwing the only opening day no hitter ever in the game of baseball.

And these little bits of history about Feller are just the tip of the iceberg Kurkjian speaks of in his Feller video.

Not only was he an incredible pitcher but also a great American that left in the prime of his career to serve in the armed forces. "I don't consider myself a hero", Feller said. "I did the job  all good Americans should have done and most Americans didn't do".

You can watch this video about a dozen times but continue to learn more and become more inspired every time.

Hit the title/read more to check out the must see video on one the greatest to ever don a MLB uniform...

by Rob Lazlo

The Fall Classic features two unlikely teams but is one the clear favorite?

Texas Rangers vs. San Francisco Giants


Lineup

This is no contest.  The Rangers have a loaded batting order the equal of pretty much anyone in baseball while the Giants’ lineup is an outright liability.  Give the Giants credit for getting all of the timely hitting they needed to get this far, but a hot bad lineup is no match for a red hot good lineup.  Huge advantage Texas.

Advantage




Starting Pitching

Conventional wisdom says the Giants can pitch with anyone and I’m not about to tell you they don’t have an edge here, but it’s less of one than you might think.  The Rangers’ Cliff Lee is, right now, the best postseason starting pitcher ever.  I’m not saying the Giants are going to feel overmatched when they have Tim Lincecum on the mound, but Lee clearly neutralizes Lincecum and that means the Giants advantage is down to Matt Cain v. CJ Wilson and a very shaky Jonathan Sanchez v. Colby Lewis.  The Rangers have the ultimate ace, while the Giants staff is deeper in terms of front line talent.  The edge belongs to San Francisco, but it’s not prohibitive.

Advantage

Hit the title/read more to check ou the rest of the preview of the 106th World Series...

If you looked at these two teams on opening day, you’d quickly conclude that the Phillies had a massive advantage in all aspects of hitting.  But over the course of a season things change:  this is the year of the pitcher, and throughout baseball, homerun totals are down, including in Philadelphia.  This Phillies order struggled at times to score runs.

The Giants roster underwent a major turnover since the beginning of the year, resulting in a team that is much more capable of getting timely hits.  All that said, this is still no contest.  The Phillies lineup is hands down the superior unit, and the fact that the Giants will now have to face off against some of the best pitchers in baseball doesn’t bode well for their chance to score a lot of runs.


Advantage

Hit the title/read more to continue reading the NLCS preview...

by Rob Lazlo

MLB's Best: Our choice for Manager of the year, Rookie of the year, MVP's and Cy Young's.

Major League Baseball’s regular season came right down to the wire this season, once again producing a photo-finish on the season’s last day (much to the chagrin, no doubt, of baseball “purists” who decried the inclusion of one wild card team from each league).  

Like the regular season pennant races, the push for regular season awards have produced runaway favorites in some categories and hotly contested races in others.  Here’s how I have them winding up.

National League Rookie of the Year

Jason Heyward, OF, Atlanta Braves

While Heyward is the biggest name in the ROY race in the National League, his win here is far from certain.  Heyward batted .277 this season with 18 HRs and 72 RBIs.  He also posted an extremely impressive on-base percentage of .393 and has an OPS (on-base plus slugging) of .854.  But he has competition. 

Buster Posey of the Giants has batted .298 with 17 HRs and 66 RBIs while playing the toughest defensive position (catcher) on the field.  Other position players who will certainly get some votes include the Mets’ Ike Davis, the Cubs’ Starlin Castro, the Nationals’ Ian Desmond and, in particular, the Marlins’ Gaby Sanchez, whose numbers are just a notch off of Heyward’s for the season.  Injuries to the Nationals Stephen Strasburg and Reds Mike Leake will keep them out of the ROY discussion, but the Cardinals’ Jaime Garcia is a pitcher who will get some votes, having gone 13-8 with a 2.70 ERA. 

Typically, ROY doesn’t go to a pitcher unless there were no standout position players.  This year, there are many, and I think Heyward finishes at the top of the bunch.

Hit the title/read more to check out the rest of the MLB awards...

by: Rob Lazlo

Check out how the lineups, pitching and more all match up between the Yankees and Twins

New York Yankees (95-67) VS. Minnesota Twins (94-68)


Lineup

These are two teams that know how to hit and know how to score. The Yankees led major league baseball in runs scored and on-base percentage while the Twins were not far behind. The Yankees have more pop in the middle of the order, something that’s especially true with the Twins’ Justin Morneau out for the playoffs.

The Twins will step it up performances from players like Delmon Young and Jason Kubel accordingly. It will also be interesting to see if rookie Danny Valencia can come up with a big performance in his first playoffs. On the Yankees side, Mark Teixeira is banged up but has protection in a lineup that includes MVP candidate Robinson Cano and A-Rod. Ultimately, this is advantage New York, but less so than it might be against a lot of teams.

Advantage: