MLB: Ownership Issues Aside, Mets and Dodgers Are Best Early Stories in Baseball

After just nine games, Terry Collins may have already locked up Major League Baseball's manager of the year. Not one baseball mind in the world thought the Mets could be contenders in the NL East this season, but after the first nine games, the Mets have already won six games—in the division.

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Despite getting Johan Santana back into the rotation, most baseball pundits thought the Mets would likely take a step back from the 77-win team last year. After losing Jose Reyes to a division rival in the offseason, many suggested the Mets should trade David Wright and any other valuable piece they might have left and totally rebuild. 

It's still early, yes, but this Mets team has surprised a lot of people in baseball. (Note: just last week on New York radio I called them "essentially a Triple-A team." Well, they're playing like the best damn Triple-A team I've ever seen after sweeping the Braves and taking two of three from the Phillies in the first three series.) 

The only team that looks better than the Mets in the NL East after the first two weeks is the Nationals, who took two of three from New York this season and stand atop the standings of the deepest division in baseball.

Maybe Davey Johnson is the manager of the year. After all, the guy who said he should be fired if his team doesn't make the playoffs this year has his team playing the best baseball in the division. 

Still, the Nationals may be in first place, but they aren't as much of a surprise as the Mets. Frankly, the Mets may not even be the biggest surprise in the National League. 

The Dodgers are 9-1 after 10 games and look rejuvenated following the announcement of new ownership. While the Mets owners had to deal with the cloud of Bernie Madoff looming over the franchise, the Dodgers had to deal with an ownership situation that somehow more devastating to the franchise: a divorce. 

Now that the McCourt saga is over—at least as far as the Dodgers are concerned—the Dodgers can be a baseball team with far less drama. Is Don Mattingly the early front-runner for manager of the year? It sure doesn't hurt to have the reigning Cy Young Award winner leading your rotation and players like Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier destroying opposing pitching in the first 10 games.

Through 10 games, Kemp is batting .487 with 16 RBI and 19 hits, with an OPS of 1.548. Ethier is only batting .289, but has an OPS of 1.030 with 11 hits, seven of which have been extra-base hits. Ethier also has 15 RBI.

The question we'll follow all season is how long any of this can last.

Does anyone really think the Nationals and Mets will fight for the NL East crown? Even with the loss of Brian Wilson, does anyone think the Giants won't bounce back and fight for the NL West with Los Angeles and Arizona? Can the Dodgers compete all year, or is this just a hot start for a team that people in southern California are suddenly excited about again?

Of course, the one division leader in the National League that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone is the Cardinals, who, despite losing Albert Pujols this offseason, are hitting the cover off the ball to start the year.

The Cardinals have the best batting average and OPS in the entire league and are averaging well over five runs and more than 10 hits per game. So far, they haven't missed a beat since their World Series run last October. 

Can Mike Matheny be manager of the year? It's too early to tell for anyone, even the Cardinals. But it's been one heck of a start.

None of this National League talk is meant to slight the teams in the American League; there are just so many teams are mired right around .500 that it's hard to know much about any of them.

It's fair to say the two best teams in the American League are teams we expected to be good this year.

Detroit will not go away all year, and after taking two of three from Detroit it looks like the White Sox won't either. The other teams in the AL Central should be wise to stay close in the standings before they look up in June and see themselves double-digit games behind and already looking at next season. 

The Rangers are the hottest team in the American League and, much like the Mets, Dodgers and to a lesser extent the Cardinals, had an extremely up-and-down offseason. 

The Rangers had the Yu Darvish circus to deal with throughout spring training. They had to absorb the loss of C.J. Wilson and the signing of Pujols to the rival Angels. And the Rangers had to handle the public relations mess of Josh Hamilton's latest relapse. 

None of that has seemed to slow down the Rangers on the field, already 4.5 games ahead of the struggling Angels. In a league where teams play 162 games and somehow every game finds a way to matter, the Rangers are the best story in the American League. 

Still, no story is better than the early tales being written in Los Angeles and New York.

JACKIE ROBINSON DAY

If you click the link to listen to our show (at the top of this post) we spend the last few minutes talking about MLB's annual Jackie Robinson appreciation day. This year is the 65^th anniversary of Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball, possibly the single most significant event in the history of the game. 

Baseball is right to remember Robinson and honor his memory.

But is baseball doing too much? Every team wears 42 (and if this year is like past seasons, teams that were on the road on Sunday will wear 42 later this week when they return home). The Phillies put a life-size statue of Robinson on the concourse for fans to pose for pictures. It feels like Jackie Robinson has become more a marketing opportunity for MLB, not the gateway to the history of the sport his legacy should be.

We love the testimonials from players about what Robinson means to them. There is a lot of good coming from MLB's promotion of the day. There's just a small part that feels like baseball is making Robinson's legacy into an annual PR stunt, in an effort to show us how much they appreciate Robinson, instead of just appreciating him. 

Still, the day (and the man) is important to remember and discuss, so if the only complaint is that baseball is doing "too much," that's probably a good thing.