Ah—the Dog Days of Summer . . . while this is usually the time when parents and children count the days until it’s school’s back in session—we baseball fans do some counting of our own—how many games up, back or out are our favorite teams from playing October baseball.

From opening day and beyond, this baseball season has seen many division rivals compete head to head for 1st and now that it’s coming down to the home stretch, expect these teams to show off with electrifying performances that will inevitably go down to the wire.

The National League Central division has experienced close and competitive races all season. While the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals are battling it out for division domination, it looks like the Pittsburgh Pirates have felt the bite of summer. Though they were previously on a tear, the Buccos have succumbed to summer’s sultry heat dropping their last 10 games in the L column and it looks like they are going to miss the playoffs for a record 19th straight year.

In American League news, it’s business as usual as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox battle it out to see who gets the division crown and who gets the wild card spot. The AL West has the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vying for a division title against the defending American League champs–the Texas Rangers. Although the Cleveland Indians are battling the Detroit Tigers for AL Central bragging rights, don’t count out the Minnesota Twins just yet—they are usually good for a late season surge in this mediocre division.

As for the rest of the playoff landscape, expect to see solid teams like the San Francisco Giants, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Philadelphia Phillies play strong through the rest of the regular season. And, as the summer winds down, now is the perfect time to take in a game at your favorite ballpark and we have sports tickets for every team and every league.

Make no mistake, I’m here because of my friendship with Team USA manager Davey Johnson, and each day of this experience I’m more grateful.

Put away the perception that a Hall of Famer can’t be a fan or couldn’t be energized by the presence of a young player. Or even be a little in awe at times.

To understand what I mean, realize I retired in 1989 and was away from baseball for 10 years. Since 2000, I have spent at least a week in Phillies camp in what I call a coach-advisory role. Most of the summer, like you, I watch games on TV and listen to talk shows to formulate my opinions on today’s game and its stars.

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Hey Fans,

Baseball is here and I arrived for my two weeks at Phillies Camp today. The World Champions are in great shape to repeat, with the same nucleus that we all know, and new faces like Raul Ibanez, Marcus Giles, and Miguel Cairo. Chase Utley is 90% following hip surgery, Pedro Feliz is healing from back surgery and will be ready to open in April, and look out, Ryan Howard is 20 lbs. lighter.

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Too cheesy? Other possible titles included Philled with a Ray of Hope, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia…and Tampa and finally,The 2008 World Series—Philadelphia vs. Tampa Bay…Seriously.

So the wait is over. One of these two teams will be champion for the next six months. If someone told me that they predicted a Philly/Tampa World Series at the beginning of the postseason let alone the beginning of the year, I would tell them to hold on a second because Vince, Ari and the boys are coming to pick me up and I’ll listen to the rest of that story when I get back from La-La land. It’s crazy talk.

But here we are anyways. The networks may not love this matchup. Vegas may not love this matchup. Every single one of my friends may not love this matchup. But this is a matchup of the best two teams over the last couple months of the baseball season. Both teams have shown an amazing amount of heart.

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