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FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- The opening question to Matt Ryans weekly news conference made the quarterback nervous.When he was asked about his long streak of consecutive starts, Ryan almost gasped.I have to find some wood to knock on first, Ryan said before adding, Thats the kiss of death.Ryan hasnt missed a start for the Atlanta Falcons in 105 consecutive regular-season games, a streak that began late in the 2009 season. Its the NFLs third-longest active streak for quarterbacks.On Sunday Ryan will be matched with the name immediately ahead of him on the list, San Diegos Philip Rivers, whose streak began in 2006 and reached 166 regular-season starts with last weeks win over Denver.Among active quarterbacks, Eli Manning leads the ironman list with his streak of 189 games, well behind Brett Favres record of 297.Rivers is known for his quick release, a skill which helps reduce hits from pass rushers.I just feel thankful Ive been blessed to be healthy enough to play, Rivers said Wednesday. ... I think all of us quarterbacks take a certain amount of pride in being tough and fighting through things to make sure you are out there for your team.Ryan said his secret is sleep -- at least nine hours per night.Theres no getting around it, sleep is the No. 1 most important thing, Ryan said Wednesday. Every study that you look at, every time you try to do any research on recovery, on training, whatever, any kind of performance-enhancing stuff, it all comes down to sleep.Ryan, 31, acknowledged it takes effort to maintain his sleep schedule.Youve got to force yourself to go to bed early, he said. Its just something Ive worked on throughout my career and Ive gotten better and better. Im an early to bed kind of guy and up early in the morning.Rivers, 34, had a good explanation for why he aims lower when it comes to sleep.I do think rest is important, but also I have eight children, Rivers said. In my mind, if I get over 6 hours, Im in good shape.Ryan started every game in his 2008 rookie season, missed two starts with a toe injury in 2009 and hasnt missed another game.You have to do a really good job of taking care of your body all year, Ryan said. It starts from when the season ends and its basically a never-ending process throughout the year of trying to take care of yourself and ensure youre going to be ready to take the pounding that comes with going through a season.Coach Dan Quinn said Ryan shines in his CT score for competes and toughs.Its when you throw a slant when the defensive end is right about to drill you and then you step into it and make it anyway, Quinn said. Thats why Matt has earned so much respect through the years, and Philip as well.Chargers coach Mike McCoy said Ryan and Rivers share a love for the game that helps to keep them on the field.Theyre competitors who truly love to go out and play the game, McCoy said. They work extremely hard. Ive known coaches who have coached Matt. Everyone says his work ethic, the way he loves the game, the way he prepares, thats the way Phillip is, too. They do it the right way, and thats what the great ones in the game do.---AP NFL websites: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AP-NFLFake NHL Jerseys . Colin Wilson had two goals and an assist, and Mike Fisher scored a goal and helped set up two others in the Predators 6-4 victory over the Red Wings on Monday night. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. http://www.cheapnhlcustomjerseys.com/ .J. -- Seven games into a disappointing season, New York Giants defensive catalyst Jason Pierre-Paul is getting the feeling hes back. Wholesale NHL Jerseys Online . A forerunning sled crashed into the worker Thursday at the Sanki Sliding Center. The unidentified worker broke both legs and was airlifted to a nearby hospital. Fake Adidas NHL Jerseys . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate.We interrupt our ongoing 183-part series, The Year of the Cubs, for this important reminder:ESPN investigators have uncovered the shocking news that 29 other teams did in fact play a regular season this year. And we just want to assure all of you out there that we did notice. Seriously.So now heres the proof: Its time to look back on the defining themes, numbers and memories of every team in baseball -- except, well, that team. So maybe Bill Murray, Eddie Vedder and John Cusack wont regard this lovely retrospective as their favorite baseball story of the year. But for the rest of non-Cubbie Land civilization, hey, this is for you.Youre welcome!NL EASTWashington Nationals2016 plotline: The year Bryce Harper didnt exactly zoom by Mike Trout (but the Nats zoomed by the Mets anyway)Back in April, we were pretty sure -- and the Nationals were even more sure -- that their man Bryce Harper was ready to take over the world, and theyd be riding his cruise liner all the way to October. Well, the October part worked out great. But the Nationals would like to thank Daniel Murphy (.347/.391/.596/.987) for kindly stepping in to perform the role of Bryce Harper in this evenings performance, because the real Bryce Harper has had an incredibly odd year.He has hit fewer home runs all season (24) than Brian Dozier has hit since the All-Star break (28)! He has a lower slugging percentage (.444) than Jonathan Villar! He has been worth approximately half as many wins above replacement (1.8) as his rookie teammate, Trea Turner, a guy who hasnt even been in the big leagues for 70 games! And thanks to all those walks Harper still draws, he has managed to do something that only the legendary Adam Dunn had been able to do in this century -- roll up a .375 on-base percentage despite a batting average that has sunk below .245. Yeah, he has almost certainly been playing hurt. But we never saw any of this coming.New York Mets2016 plotline: Who kidnapped their wonderful rotation?If wed told you back on April 1 that Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo, Sean Gilmartin, Rafael Montero and Gabriel Ynoa would make 13 more starts for the Mets this September than Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz, what would you have thought? Probably not: I wonder which of those guys will start Games 3 and 4 of the Division Series!But that has been the unlikely story of the Mets season. A team built around its young-stud rotation lost all its young studs except Noah Syndergaard -- no, Bartolo doesnt count -- and survived! Incredibly, the Mets went only 29-34 in games started by Harvey, deGrom and Matz this season. And theyre probably going to get back to the postseason anyway. Who knew!Philadelphia Phillies2016 plot line: Back to the futureLike pretty much all Phillies seasons in the past 129 years, this one lasted just a little too long. Like about 120 games too long. After 41 games, a team that started the season fending off charges of tanking somehow found itself at 24-17. In real life. That was a better record than both of the 2015 World Series teams owned at the time. But then, unfortunately ... the season kept going. Whereupon the Phillies took a wrong turn and just kept going. Theyre 46-70 since then, with a minus-146 run differential. So for all the talk about their hot prospects and bright future, what should they make of these past 116 games?The good news: They found two rotation building blocks in Vince Velasquez (10.44 K/9 IP) and Jerad Eickhoff (.154 average against his curveball, third-best in the NL behind Jon Lester and Madison Bumgarner). The unlikely duo of Tommy Joseph and Freddy Galvis both hit 20-plus homers. And their bat-flip king center fielder, Odubel Herrera, made the All-Star team. But the bad news: Their best young pitcher, Aaron Nola, has a sprained elbow ligament and an uncertain future. Their rising star at third base, Maikel Franco, took a step backward. And they somehow broke their team record in strikeouts while seeing the fewest pitches in the league. Moral of the story: They still have a lonnnggg way to go.Atlanta Braves2016 plotline: Goodbye to Turner Field -- but not to FreddieThe Braves soon-to-be late, great Turner Field was the scene of 38 postseason games in its 20 seasons of big league life. (Only the old Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park hosted more in that time.) Freddie Freeman played in just three of those games. But Freeman has towered over the final season in his ballpark, and we havent given nearly enough love to his season. So guess what? Thats about to change.While playing on a 92-loss team, in the middle of what was one of baseballs worst lineups for most of the year, the Braves sweet-swinging first baseman has managed to lead the league in extra-base hits (81). (The only other Braves to do that in the past 50 years: Hank Aaron and Dale Murphy.) And just three other Braves since 1900 have had an 80-XBH season with a slash line as good as Freemans .306/.404/.572. They would be Aaron, Chipper Jones and Tommy Holmes. But thats not all. Youll find Freeman in the top three in the league in slugging, OPS, OPS+, times on base and wins above replacement. So in the past year, he has gone from wrist-surgery candidate to Human Trade Rumor to a man with an outside MVP case. And lets just say thatll work!Miami Marlins2016 plotline: Hope turns to sadnessIt was a year of so much promise. It ended in so much tragedy. So how do the Marlins ever get over the loss of Jose Fernandez? Is that even possible?In the final season of his all-too-short life, Fernandez struck out 253 hitters in just 182? innings. That computes to a strikeout rate of 12.49 per nine innings, the third-best by any right-handed pitcher in the history of baseball. And the record will show that over his four big league seasons, he struck out an astonishing 31.2 percent of all the hitters he faced. That ranks No. 1 among every starting pitcher who ever took the mound (and threw 400 innings or more).Jose Fernandez was that special. But it wasnt talent alone that makes him so irreplaceable. The charisma. The smile. The ability to touch people of all ages, all cultures, all walks of life. The story behind his incredible journey to this time and place. He was a once-in-a-lifetime gift to a franchise that embraced everything about him. Now his death leaves a hole the Marlins cant possibly fill. And neither can their entire heartbroken sport.NL CENTRALSt. Louis Cardinals2016 plotline: Redbirds dig the long ballThe 2016 Cardinals may not pitch quite like they used to. And they may not catch the ball quite like they used to. But well say this for them: Theyve perfected their home run trots. They lead the league in homers -- after finishing 11th in homers last year. And thats just the half of it.For one thing, theyve already become the first National League team in history to have eight players hit at least 15 home runs. For another, they have a shot, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, to become just the sixth team since 1900 to hit 90 more home runs one year than the year before. And then there is this mind-blowing stat: Their pinch hitters have combined (along with a .324/.387/.601 slash line that gives them roughly the same OPS as Mike Trout) for 16 home runs in 238 at-bats. Which means Cardinals pinch hitters have a better home run ratio (one every 14.9 ABs) than the man who leads the league in homers, Nolan Arenado (one every 15.1). Right. Of course they do!Pittsburgh Pirates2016 plotline: When do the stars come out?All any team asks as it heads into a season is that its stars be stars. So if Andrew McCutchen had won an MVP award and Gerrit Cole had won a Cy Young for the 2016 Pirates, no one in Pittsburgh would have been shocked. But now that theyve seen what those two stars actually wound up doing this year? Now that was shocking.As our buddy David Schoenfield wrote last month, McCutchens fall from one of baseballs best players to a .255/.337/.432 kind of guy is pretty much unprecedented for a player with his career path. Everyone has denied that hes hurting. But he clearly hasnt been the same since an early-season thumb injury. Cole, on the other hand, made three trips to the disabled list (the past two for an elbow strain). Which helps explain his rough second half (2-6, 5.48 ERA). But it doesnt make the Pirates miss their fourth straight trip to the postseason any less.Milwaukee Brewers2016 plotline: Catch a whiff of thisHey, its the Year of the Strikeout. So who embodies that trend better than the 2016 Brewers, a team with an offense that seems about to set the all-time record for most whiffs in a season any minute now? But a lot more went on here than just relentless swinging and missing.Jonathan Lucroy was traded to Cleveland. Oh wait, no he wasnt. But he still headed out the door (to Texas). Ryan Braun almost got traded for Yasiel Puig. But in the end, he never went anywhere. Jonathan Villar, a fellow most baseball fans still wouldnt know from Jonathan Hornblower, was closing in on joining Rickey Henderson, Joe Morgan and Eric Davis in the 20-homer, 60-steal club. Junior Guerra (9-3, 2.81 ERA) turned into one of the greatest 31-year-old rookies of all time. Center fielder Keon Broxton caught everything between Lake Michigan and Bud Seligs house. And Tyler Thornburg turned himself into a closer by allowing 32 hits in 64? innings. So if you look past all the Ks, this is a team putting some pieces in place.Cincinnati Reds2016 plotline: The pen wasnt mightier than the first basemanOn one hand, theres Joey Votto. Hes a big fan of Life After the All-Star Break. His slash line since the break: .410/.495/.663. Amazing. If he keeps this up, he could be just the sixth player since the invention of All-Star breaks to hit .400 after one. And he has a shot to join Ted Williams and Barry Bonds as the only men to hit .400, with a .500 on-base percentage, post-ASG. But you might recall Votto also had a .535 OBP last year in the second half! Want to guess the only men to do that two years in a row? Yep. Williams (1941-42) and Bonds (2001-02). Wow.But ... on the other hand, theres that Reds bullpen. Holy moly. If we disqualify the Rockies from this competition, you can make an argument that no NL bullpen has ever taken the beating this pen has taken: a 5.04 ERA, 31 losses, 24 blown saves and 99 gopher balls served up. Since the dawn of the modern save rule, there are a handful of other NL bullpens that have absorbed that many losses, with an ERA that high. But 99 homers? No NL bullpen ever has done that. Matter of fact, only two have even come within 25 of that. So how do you spell relief? Not like this!NL WESTLos Angeles Dodgers2016 plotline: Has there ever been a first-place team like this?Maybe you can explain the wild and crazy season that led the NL West champs, the Dodgers, to the top of the standings. But were not sure we can.They got better (38-24) after Clayton Kershaw got hurt than before he got hurt (41-36)? Yup. ... They havent had the same five starters go around the rotation twice, in the same order, in over three months? That would also be true, amazingly enough. ... Speaking of starters, theyve ripped through 15 starting pitchers this season? Hey, of course they have. Before last season, only one playoff team in the division-play era (the 1989 Giants) had ever used that many starters in one year. Now the Dodgers have done it two seasons in a row! ... So its only fitting that Dave Roberts just became the first manager ever to hook two different pitchers in one year who had gotten through at least seven hitless innings. If youre busy reinventing the concept of starting pitching, it goes with the territory! ... Finally, if this team hasnt set a record for program sales, it isnt for lack of trying. The Dodgers made more than 200 roster moves this season. We kid you not. We counted them ourselves. Thats more than eight a week! ... Whoa. What a year.San Francisco Giants2016 plotline: Was it still an even year after July?The historians will always be able to remind us that the team with the best record at the 2016 All-Star break was not the Cubs. It was those San Francisco Giants, of course (at 57-33) -- because hey, it was an even year, right? And thats what they do.Until they stopped doing it, that is. No team in history has ever had the best record in baseball before the All-Star break and the worst record in baseball after the All-Star break. And thanks to the Twins ability to keep relentlessly losing, the Giants will probably escape that fate. But just barely. On the other hand, do they even want to know that just five teams in the division-play era ever missed the playoffs after starting 57-33 or better? Thats a fact. And two of them were the 1978 Red Sox team that lost to the Bucky Dent Yankees in a tiebreaker classic and the 1993 Giants team that won 103 games but went home because they did that in the last season before the invention of wild cards. So if the Giants dont make it into at least the second wild-card spot, we can only see one good thing that could come out of that: They wont have to answer any more odd-year/even-year questions for the rest of their lives.Colorado Rockies2016 plotline: The young and the altitude-lessDont look now, but theres something happening here, in the thin air of mile-high baseball. All of a sudden, the Rockies have some young dudes who can change the course of this franchise.Trevor Story is 23. He was leading the league in home runs before he hurt his thumb. ... David Dahl is 22. All he did was get a hit in the first 17 major league games he ever played in. ... Jon Gray is 24. In his first full season in the big leagues, hes piled up 185 strikeouts in 168 innings -- which would be the greatest strikeout ratio (10.09 per 9 IP) in Rockies history. ... Tyler Anderson is 26 and left-handed. Guess who leads all Rockies starters in ERA at Coors Field? Yessir, its him. Hes at 3.00 after 12 home starts. No one else is under 4.00. ... And theres one other player we ought to mention. Hes 25 years old. Hes the best defensive third baseman on earth. And hes about to lead the league in homers for the second year in a row. That would be Nolan Arenado. The face of the franchise. ... So does anyone else think theres a future here, after reading all that? You would be correct!San Diego Padres2016 plotline: Suspended animationWhen we asked one NL executive what stood out to him about the 2016 Padres, he laughed and quipped: Can I get back to you in 30 days? But in truth, theres nothing fun and lighthearted to see here. The general manager of the Padres got suspended by Major League Baseball, without pay, for 30 days -- over improper handling of medical information supplied to the Boston Red Sox before the trade that sent pitcher Drew Pomeranz to Boston. And all you need to know about that suspension is that the widespread reaction in other front offices was: Thats all he got? Thirty days?As Buster Olney reported, multiple sources have told ESPN that the Red Sox were not the only team that complained. And whether or not those complaints lead to further discipline, this is one GM who has a lot of work to do with his peers to restore credibility.Arizona Diamondbacks2016 plotline: Seemed like a good idea at the timeWhen the Diamondbacks handed Zack Greinke 206.5 million bucks last December, they were pretty darned happy with themselves. When they traded the No. 1 pick in the draft (Dansby Swanson), their best defensive outfielder (Ender Inciarte) and pitching prospect Aaron Blair for Shelby Miller, they were just as delighted. They were the talk of baseball, all right -- until the season started.Then Miller (2-12, 6.52 ERA) pitched himself into Cy Yuk territory -- if not Centerpiece of the Worst Trade in History territory. Greinkes ERA in his new, not-so-friendly home park, is nearly 5.00. And, incredibly, he has given up more runs (44) in just his 13 starts in Arizona than he gave up all last season, home and away, in 32 starts as a Dodger (43). And how has it worked out for their team? Theyve spent exactly three days over .500 all season -- and they could wind up 30 games under .500. Thats how. Well, they did what they did with only the finest intentions -- but wow.AL EASTBoston Red Sox2016 plotline: Caution -- crooked numbers ahead What team rolls out the best offense in baseball? We can just stop that debate now, OK? The Red Sox are going to score nearly 900 runs this season -- and no one else in the American League is going to score 800. Theyve scored 108 more runs than the next-closest AL team (Cleveland). And that puts them on the verge of becoming just the second AL team in the past 65 years to outscore the AL runner-up by more than 100 runs. (The other: Last years Blue Jays.)So how have the Red Sox done it? Well, theyre the only team in baseball -- and the first since the 2005 Indians -- to get 50 extra-base hits from seven different players. ... They have three of the top five (Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz) in the AL batting race. ... And Betts and Pedroia should wind up as the only teammates with 200 hits apiece. ... In other news, Betts could win the MVP award. Hanley Ramirrez could win the Comeback Player of the Year award.dddddddddddd And Ortiz -- who leads the entire sport in slugging, OPS, doubles and extra-base hits -- is merely having the Greatest Farewell Season of All Time. So theres so much thunder emanating from this team, they ought to be televised by the Weather Channel.Toronto Blue Jays2016 plotline: Are we sure this is a hockey town?We could hit you with all sorts of numbers here -- from a team that has six mashers with 20-plus homers, two starters (Aaron Sanchez and J.A. Happ) who have won over 80 percent of their decisions and an underrated rotation that leads the American League in quality starts. But are you ready for number that best tells the story of the 2016 Blue Jays? Here goes: 3,382,299.No, thats not how many home runs theyve hit. Its the number of lovestruck fans who have bought tickets to sit in the Rogers Centre and crank up the greatest ballpark atmosphere in baseball. The Blue Jays havent drawn this many people into their home sweet dome since Joe Carters famous homer dropped to earth in 1993. Theyre about to lead the American League in attendance for the first time in over two decades. And theyve drawn more than 40,000 people to 36 of their past 38 home games (not even counting those three home games in Seattle last week). Amazing what can happen when a team flips this many bats, smokes this many baseballs into the fifth deck and assembles this many big personalities on one roster. Eh?Baltimore Orioles2016 plotline: Mumbo Trumbo The man who is going to lead the major leagues in home runs plays for the Orioles -- because, well, of course he does. That man would be Mark Trumbo (currently up to 46 dingers), who would be following last years leader, Chris Davis, who followed the previous years leader, Nelson Cruz. Unless somebody roars from behind to take the lead this weekend, the Orioles are going to become the first team in history to have three different big boppers top the majors in home runs in three consecutive seasons. But its their backstory that makes that even more astounding.Cruz, youll recall, showed up in Baltimore as a late-breaking, heavily discounted free agent, in 2014. And Davis arrived from Texas in 2011 via a not-very-ballyhooed trade for Koji Uehara. So the Orioles have long been renowned for discovering classic Camden Yards swings in the old bargain bin. But Trumbo has out-bargained them all, coming over in an offseason deal for a backup catcher (Steve Clevenger). Then, naturally, he went out and had a season (46 HR, 169 whiffs, just 1.3 wins above replacement) in which, essentially, he was more Chris Davis-esque than even Chris Davis. And on a team where just about everybody except the bat boys hits 20, 30 or 40 homers, boy, was he a perfect fit.New York Yankees2016 plotline: A tale of two seasons -- Dr. A-Rod and Mr. SanchezAddition by subtraction may be a murky mathematical concept. But every once in awhile, its a totally real baseball concept. So for your consideration, friends, we would like to present the fascinating story of the 2016 Yankees. By the time theyd finished their big pre-deadline sellathon of Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran, they were just another .500 team (52-52), 104 games into their season. Then, a few days later, they announced they were booting that Alex Rodriguez guy out the nearest fire escape. And what happened with every subtraction? Magic happened. How about that?Theyre five games over .500 since The Sell-off. And we would tell you thats totally crazy, except then we remembered the two words that explain everything: Gary Sanchez. Their rookie catcher didnt hit his first home run until Aug. 10. And now he has 20! Our friends from the Elias Sports Bureau tell us that his 20 homers are the most by any player in history who hit zero homers before Aug. 1. They also tell us that the only Yankees who ever to hit 20 home runs between Aug. 10 and the end of any season were two nobodies named Babe Ruth (1927) and Roger Maris (1961). And then theres this: If Sanchez hits two more this weekend, he would tie Beltran for the team lead. According to Elias, only two players in the live ball era have ever led a team in homers (or tied) despite hitting none for that team before August: Mark Whiten, for the 1995 Phillies (11) and Danny Litwhiler, for the 1946 Braves (8). OK, come to think of it, were going to use that word, crazy, after all.Tampa Bays Rays2016 plotline: The Archery lessonYou think wins is an overrated stat? Hey, How about losses? We could probably get Chris Archer to testify for the prosecution in that case! The Rays ace owns a better ERA (4.02) this year than David Price (who is 17-9), Zack Greinke (who is 13-7) and Adam Wainwright (who is 13-9). But a lot of good that has done him. Its still going to say, on the old stat sheet, that Chris Archer lost 19 games this season. And in this goofy world we live in, how many people will remember to look past that and check out how he actually pitched?He may go down as the first 19-game loser since Darrell May in 2004. But he also almost led the league in strikeouts (with 233, second behind Justin Verlander). And we only uncovered three pitchers in modern history who could relate to that. Your complete list of pitchers (besides Archer) who lost 19 games or more, led their league in losses and punched out that many hitters: Phil Niekro (20 losses, 262 K in 1977), Mickey Lolich (19 losses, 230 K in 1970) and Big Ed Walsh (20 losses, 258 K in 1910). But if you think Archers loss total is unjust, he might want to check out Ed Walshs baseball-reference page sometime. Big Eds ERA the year he lost 20? Would you believe 1.27? Nice offense!AL CENTRALCleveland Indians2016 plotline: It wasnt the rotation after allFor a team that America concluded long ago was built around its spectacular rotation, the Indians sure have found a bunch of other ways to win. Just nobody outside Ohio seems to have caught on.You could win a lot of free beverages down at the local tavern from folks who have no idea that the Indians are second in the AL in runs scored. But thats an actual fact. ... Theyre also the only team in their league with four players who have stolen at least 15 bases. But word of that hasnt appeared to spread, either. ... Their team leader in OPS is, of course, Tyler Naquin. ... Their team leader in RBIs, Mike (Party At) Napoli, is a fellow who had never driven in 100 runs in 10 previous big league seasons. ... The guy who might have turned out to be their most important player, Jose Ramirez, has started games at four positions. ... And they just keep on winning, even though their biggest star, shortstop Francisco Lindor, is 3 for his past 50, and they havent started the same eight position players in the same eight positions for more than two games in a row all season. Wed guess theres an excellent chance you never noticed any of this. But watch out for the Indians, gang. We might be about to find out in October that this team has more 2015 Royals in it than 2015 Mets.Detroit Tigers2016 plotline: How Dave Dombrowski saved their seasonIs it possible that the most important week in the life of the 2016 Tigers actually took place in July 2015? Heck, of course its possible, or we wouldnt ask stuff like that. So what happened that week, you ask? Their former president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, pulled the plug on their season and held quite the little clearance sale. Thats what. And while Dombrowski may be gone, the returns from that clearance sale are alive and well.There is the likely Rookie of the Year, Michael Fulmer. When Yoenis Cespedes exited for New York, he entered. Good thing. The Tigers are 19-7 in games Fulmer has started. ... There are also Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd. Theyre the answer to the trivia question, Who did the Tigers get back for David Price? The Tigers are currently 17-12 in games theyve started -- which is approximately the same winning percentage (.586) the Red Sox have when Price has pitched (20-14, .588). ... Now ask yourself this: Is there any chance -- repeat, any -- that this team would still be alive in this wild-card race if it hadnt been able to drop those three arms into its rotation? Our vote: Absotively not.Kansas City Royals2016 plotline: Down go the champsTheres a reason no team has won back-to-back World Series in 16 years. We can now sum up that reason pretty darned succinctly: Stuff happens. And it sure did happen to the Royals. You know that lineup that was etched on their drawing board when they left spring training? That group got to play together for exactly 14 games all season -- none of them after Mike Moustakas and Alex Gordon?crashed into each other chasing a foul ball on May 22. So that wasnt good.But despite all the calamities that befell them, it was really one disastrous month that kept them from at least showing up in another wild-card game. That month was July. When they went an inconceivable 7-19 -- and never recovered. Only one other defending World Series champ ever had a calendar month in which it went 12 games under .500, Elias reports. And that was a 1998 Marlins team that had just completed a Wayne Huizenga fire sale. Even more amazingly, the Royals staggered through that entire month without winning two games in a row. Just two other incumbent champs ever went through any month without a two-game winning streak, according to Elias -- the 1947 Cardinals (April) and the 1918 White Sox (September). But that wasnt the same thing, either, because those Cardinals played just 11 games that month, and those White Sox played only three. So we think its official. This was the worst month of baseball any defending championship team has ever played. A moment of silence, please.Chicago White Sox2016 plotline: Remember the scissorhandsWe would love to remember the 2016 season of this team for the Cy Young caliber work of Chris Sale and Jose Quintana. Or for those 40 home runs Todd Frazier launched. Or at least for the monster second half of the always-entertaining Jose Abreu. But is that what is going to come to mind when the world looks back on this year? Uhhh, we dont think so.No, the world is going to remember these White Sox for their extraordinary knack for inner turmoil. For Sale slicing up his favorite Turn Back the Clock Day jerseys. For Adam LaRoche deciding he would rather give back $13 million and retire than play for a team that wouldnt let his son hang out in the clubhouse. And for all his teammates threatening to boycott spring training if their team president, Kenny Williams, didnt apologize and roll back those LaRoche family restrictions. So has any team in recent memories dealt with two incidents that rebellious in the same season? Hmmm. None come to our mind. How about you?Minnesota Twins2016 plotline: Beware of the Dozier!Rogers Hornsby. Ryne Sandberg. Davey Johnson. And Brian Dozier: The only four men in history to hit 40 home runs in one season as second basemen. If thats a paragraph you ever thought you would read, youve apparently been moonlighting for the Psychics Hotline. But maybe it isnt as shocking as you think.After all, once Dozier learned the art of turning on the baseball a few years back, his home run total jumped every year -- from 18 to 23 to 28 to 42. But heres the part of his season thats totally mind-blowing: As recently as June 25, hed hit only?eight homers. And since then? He has pounded 34, in 85 games. Thats only one fewer homer than Babe Ruth hit in his last 85 games in 1927, the year he hit 60. So as we were saying earlier, Rogers Hornsby. Ryne Sandberg. Davey Johnson. Babe Ruth. And Brian Dozier. Those 42 homers may not have stopped the Twins from losing 100 games. But this is still one of the great stories of the year.AL WESTTexas Rangers2016 plotline: The power of oneOur ever-fascinating ESPN standings page tells us that, in a Pythagorean world -- or, to rephrase, a Bill James-orean world -- the Texas Rangers Expected Won-Lost Record indicates they should be three games over .500 (81-78) right now. Instead, due to circumstances beyond Pythagoras control (not to mention Bill James control), theyre actually 29 games over .500. We would happily ask Pythagoras how this is possible, except that he hasnt been available for comment since about 500 B.C. So well just have to tell you ourselves.In games decided by one run, the Texas Rangers are 36-11. Which, fortunately for them, is the greatest winning percentage (.766) in one-run games in the history of baseball. And because of that spiffy record in one-run games, the Rangers also have done something else thats incredibly hard to pull off: Theyve won 94 games (with three to play) -- despite a run differential of just plus-11. So you want to know how hard that is? The worst previous run differential in history by a 94-win team was plus-49, by the 1990 White Sox. And if the Rangers get to 95 wins this weekend, no team has ever done that with a run differential worse than plus-66 (1977 Orioles). So how strong is the Power of One? Stronger than even Adrian Beltre!Seattle Mariners2016 plotline: Pick your favorite Seager brotherDown the coast in L.A., Corey Seager is going to be the National League Rookie of the Year. Youll also find him high on a bunch of MVP ballots. But heres our question: Are we sure hes even the Most Valuable Seager? Tough call, because his big brother Kyle has quite a case.Corey has a slightly more attractive slash line (.311/.369/.519/.888) than Kyle (.280/.361/.504/.865). But Kyle has more homers (30-26), more walks (67-54), fewer strikeouts (104-131), more defensive runs saved (15-1) and more wins above replacement (6.9-6.3), according to baseball-reference.com. So its practically a dead heat. Which is pretty cool, dont you think? But you know what nobody has to debate? That their teams wouldnt be anywhere near this good without them.Houston Astros2016 plotline: Short and sweetLife is too short. But apparently, Jose Altuve isnt too short. Weve never seen a 5-foot-6 guy do the kind of things the Astros favorite mini-mite is doing this year. And we havent seen many big dudes do them, either.With three games left in the season, Altuve is heading for his second batting title in three years. But that aint all. Along with that .337 batting average go 212 hits, 42 doubles, 24 homers, five triples, 28 steals, 71 extra-base hits and a .930 OPS. And you know how many players in history have cranked out a stat line like that? The answer, ladies and gentlemen, is none. Nada. A couple of ex-Rockies, Larry Walker and Ellis Burks, came close. But what were witnessing is an unprecedented season for a man of his size -- or any size.Los Angeles Angels2016 plotline: Not enough Trout in this seaMaybe one of these years, Mike Trouts awesomeness will actually coincide with a team around him that can go someplace in October except the nearest putting green. But sadly, once again, it wasnt this year. Five seasons into Trouts career, hes still making history. And the Angels still have never won a postseason series -- or even a postseason game -- with him on the field. What a waste of greatness.Its now a lock that Trout is going to lead the league in wins above replacement for the first time since, well, last year. Which was the first time since the year before that. And the year before that. And the year before that. So if youre adding up those years at home, you know this is going to make five years in a row. And you know how far back you have to go to find any other position player who led his league in WAR five years in a row? Oh, only 85. To a guy named Babe Ruth. Well even craftily ignore the fact that the Babe pulled off that feat about three-quarters of a century before the invention of wins above replacement -- because for all of those years, he was the only other hitter who had ever done it. Except now he has Mike Trout to keep him company. Maybe they can go out for a double cheeseburger.Oakland Athletics2016 plotline: How do you spell Khris?Heres something we shrewdly detected: Who says you cant trade for a slugger these days? We count seven hitters in the big leagues who have hit at least 40 home runs this year -- and three of the seven were traded in the offseason. Theres Mark Trumbo. Theres Todd Frazier. And then theres that guy in Oakland who spells his name funny, Khris Davis.The Brewers traded him to the As in February because (A) they were doing a lot of that sort of thing and (B) there were always questions about whether Davis could close the many holes in his swing. All right, so his 164 strikeouts tell us those holes are still there. But when a guy can mash 41 home runs while playing in the cavernous O.co Coliseum, its amazing how much easier it becomes to live with the swinging and missing. And heres why: Since the As moved to Oakland, just four men had ever hit 40 homers in a season. There was Reggie Jackson. And Mark McGwire. And Jose Canseco. And Jason Giambi. And now theres Khris (with a K) Davis. Kool list! ' ' '