As we begin the month of September, I thought it was a good idea to take a look at what is going on in the world of Major League Baseball. 

David Wells going to the Padres:  --- This move shouldn't hurt San Diego, which is hoping to earn a spot into the playoffs as either the NL West division winner or Wild Card team.  Along with staff ace Jake Peavy, the Pads have been getting it done with relatively unknowns in their pitching rotation.  Mike Thompson and Clay Hensley together are 12-15, but have shown promise.  Veteran Woody Williams is 7-5 with an ERA under 3.90, and Chris Young (10-5, 3.66ERA entering the weekend) has been arguably their most consistent pitcher with 133 strikeouts.  Suffice to say, in order to slip past the Dodgers atop the division or hold off Cincinnati and Philadelphia for the Wild Card -- their hitting will have to step it up a few notches. 

Who is this Nick Markakis guy??? --- The Baltimore outfielder has flashed the leather, but more importantly, is doing a stellar job swinging the bat for the fourth place O's.  Coming into Friday, Markakis was batting .312 with 14 homers, 55RBI and   The ten homers he belted during August was an Orioles team record.  At the age of only 22, it's safe to say he will be around for a while.  And be a good one. 

Philly's Ryan Howard for NL MVP? --- Tough to say.  My pick all the way was with St. Louis' Albert Pujols.  Then he missed some time, the Cardinals started to struggle and other candidates emerged.  Such as Carlos Beltran of the Mets, Jose Reyes of the Mets, David Wright of the Mets.  Okay, just about any hitter doing well wearing a Mets uniform.  Also Nomar Garciaparra of the Dodgers has done surprisingly well and is the NL's version of Oakland hitter Frank Thomas (Comeback Player of the Year).  The race for MVP in the NL is not as cut-and-dry as it is perhaps in the AL.  David 'Big Papi' Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox was way out in front for much of the year, but now with his team slipping, the consensus is Yankees shortstop has a slight edge over Chicago White Sox right fielder Jermaine Dye.  In Howard's case, we're talking about a guy that is going to hit more than 50 home runs, set a club record in that category, and believe it or not, may approach the 60 homer mark.  Before the season began, I -- and quite a few others -- called for him to hit 50 home runs.  We were thinking more along the lines of eventually... before his career was over.  He has lived up to expectations and then some.  If the Phillies get in, he'll be the major reason why and it'll be awfully tough to say no to him for NL MVP. 

..... Okay now it's time for my revised playoff picks a month before the postseason arrives.  Let's start off over in the American League, work our way over to the National League and then make a World Series prediction:

AL East - Yankees... AL Central - Tigers... AL West - A's... Wild Card - Twins

NL East - Mets... NL Central - Cardinals... NL West - Dodgers... NL Wild Card - Phillies

World Series:  Oakland over the NY Mets