It’s that time of year again! The snow is melting, the weather is getting warmer and we’re at the beginning of the 2012 Major League Baseball season. This year’s season has a lot of interesting questions going in, how will big name acquisitions like could the Cardinals repeat, how much will Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols help their new ballclubs? Will the Marlin’s move to Miami (complete with stadium right out of Baseball Simulator 2000) pay off? It’s a long season, and we didn’t want to wait, so we took MLB The Show: 2012 for the PS3 and simmed the entire season. We used the current rosters and allowed the game to do it’s thing. The results..were interesting to say the least.

AGAIN — these are not our predictions, just what the game says will happen.

Boston folk rejoice — the Red Sox got out of last year’s chicken and beer induced slump by not only winning the division, but bringing home the best record in baseball at 111-51. They were chased closely all season by those pesky New York Yankees, who put up a 101-61 record, claiming the American League Wildcard spot. Over in the National League, the Cardinals took the best record with 100-62. The Rockies were a HUGE surprise this season, winning the west, and producing an MVP in Carlos Gonzalez. The American League MVP went to Prince Fielder.

The Playoffs became a battleground for the league’s biggest franchises and biggest names. In the American League, Boston beat Detroit in five games in the first round, with the Yankees doing the same to the rangers. That setup another classic matchup between bitter rivals The Yankees and the RedSox for a chance to return to the World Series. It looked like the Yankees would get their revenge for the regular season, winning the first two games, but Boston quickly tied it back up, before losing the next game, and finally clinching their world series birth in game 7.

In the first round for the National League, Arizona stunned the world by eliminating the world champion St. Louis Cardinals in the five games in the first round, meeting the Colorado Rockies, who beat the Phillies in the first round in the championship round. Arizona proved themselves to be the more powerful upstart team as they won a trip to the World Series in six games.

World Series: Boston Red Sox VS Arizona Diamond Backs

This year’s Fall Classic lived up to it’s name, pitting one of the sport’s biggest and most loved franchises, looking for redemption against what can only be described as a Cinderella Story. It looked like that Cinderella Story would go all the way, as the Diamond Backs won the first three games, but the clock struck midnight as in classic  franchise fashion, The Boston Red Sox won their eighth World Series Championship.

According to MLB The Show, Boston should be getting ready for another victory parade.

Check out below for complete standings and awards. What do you think will happen this year? Let us know in the comments below!

National League Standings:

Central:

Cardinals – 100-62

Reds – 85-77

Brewers – 84-78

Pirates  - 71-91

Cubs – 71-91

Astros – 59-103

West:

Rockies  - 96-66

Diamondbacks – 89-73 (wildcard)

Giants – 84-78

Dodgers: – 77 -85

Padres: – 71-91

East

Phillies – 87 -75

Nationals-  82-80

Marlins – 82-80

Mets – 77-85

Braves – 74 -88

American League Standings:

Central:

Tigers – 83-79

Twins – 82-80

White Sox – 78-84

Indians – 78-84

Royals – 72-90

West:

Rangers – 94-68

Angels: 79-83

Mariners – 71-91

Athletics – 68-94

East:

RedSox – 111-51

Yankees 101-61 (wild card)

Rays – 86-76

Orioles 70-92

Blue Jays: 68-94

National League Awards

MVP – Carlos Gonzalez (Rockies)

CY Young – Erik Bedard (Pirates) 18-9 ERA: 1.95 SO: 208

Silver Slugger Award: Carlos Beltran (Cardinals) AVG: .336 HR: 19 RBI: 84

Delivery Man of the Year Award: Rafael Betancourt (Rockies) 53 saves ERA: 3.99 SO: 45

Rookie of the Year: Lance Lynn (Cardinals) 17-5 ERA 3.21 SO 176

Hank Aaron Award: Carlos Beltran (Cardinals) AVG: .336 HR: 19 RBI: 84

Golden Glove: Adam Wainwright (Cardinals), Hunter Pence (Phillies), Mike Cameron (Nationals) Chris Heisey (Reds), Jimmy Rollins (Phillies), Scott Rolen (reds), Chase Utley (Phillies), Gabby Sanchez (Marlins), David Ross (Braves)

American League Awards

MVP: Prince Fielder (Tigers) AVG: .289 HR: 43 RBI: 132

Cy Young: John Lackey (Red Sox) 19-2 ERA: 3.37 So: 158

Silver Slugger: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) AVG: .344 HR: 33 RBI: 108

Delivery Man of the Year: Andrew Bailey (Red Sox) SV: 52 ERA: 2.35 So: 40

Rookie of the Year: Jesus Montero (Mariners) AVG: .266 HR: 16 RBI: 66

Hank Aaron Award: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) AVG: .344 HR: 33 RBI: 108

Golden Glove: Jesse Litsch (Blue Jays), Taylor Teagarden (Orioles), Adrian Gonzalez (Red Sox), Dustin Pedroia (Red Sox), Brandon Inge (Tigers), Omar Vizquel (Blue Jays), Sam Fuld (Rays), Curtis Granderson (Yankees), Nick Markakis (Orioles)

(WireImage)

One of the hottest couples in America have reportedly broken up, leaving two very eligible singles in the wake.

Minka Kelly, once and often considered the sexiest woman alive, and New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter have broken up after three years, People reported.

The couple had been rumored to be engaged.

Kelly, 31, stars in the reboot of “Charlie’s Angels” on ABC this fall. Jeter, 37, sat out the All-Star Game this year after reporting stress and exhaustion after getting his 3,000th hit in July.

Kelly’s rep told People the pair had split.

Upper Deck is releasing several new, rare Joe DiMaggio cards in 2009

Upper Deck and the estate of the great New York Yankees slugger Joe DiMaggio reached an agreement to produce trading cards that include DiMaggio memorabilia and cut signature cards.

To commemorate the exclusive deal for UD, a limited Joe DiMaggio card, #0, will be packed inside 2009 Series One Baseball packs coming out this week. The card features “Joltin’ Joe” next to a chalkboard after he tied the Major League Baseball consecutive games hitting streak record at 44. On the chalkboard it calls out “44 EQUALS RECORD” with a smiling DiMaggio kneeling behind it.

“We are thrilled to be able to work with the estate of one of the biggest names in baseball history,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s senior brand manager. “Collectors and sports fans should be excited about finding Joe DiMaggio content inside of many of Upper Deck’s 2009 baseball card releases. In this day and age when records fall frequently, DiMaggio still holds one of the most amazing baseball achievements of all time.”

It’s baseball card season again kiddies!

The following is a parody by Blast’s This is God Given Blog

Hank Steinbrenner has made a name for himself in his few shorts months as the face of the New York Yankees, so one wouldn’t think that he would need a Facebook page.

Hank Steinbrenner on Facebook? (Blast Magazine Staff Illustration/Bill Palmer)

I guess this is a good idea to keep in touch with the young generation that is in his clubhouse, but it does seem a little unprofessional to be in a group called “Papelbon Needs a Pap Smear.” However, it is a good thing that he doesn’t update his status very often because that really gets on my nerves when people clog my news feed.

The one question I have is, how about MySpace? You figure that a guy from New York ould be all over it.

So, here’s to seeing how Mr. Hanky creates his web image and waiting in anticipation for his next drunk wall post.

Julio Rodriguez, a barber from Lawrence, Mass., pleaded guilty Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter after an October 2004 he killed a man and wounded two others over a Yankees-Red Sox playoff game

The Associated Press reports that Rodriguez, 62, was sentenced to five years in prison and credited for the four he has already served since he was arrested in 2004.

Prosecutors say Rodriguez, a Yankees fan, was watching a playoff game on television in Boston. The Red Sox won 6-4 and the group started teasing the New York fan. He then pulled out a gun and shot three of them, killing one.

The outburst was apparently alcohol-fueled, and Rodriguez says he has no memory of the incident.

As Sunday marks the last game in the House that Ruth Built, Upper Deck posts a fitting tribute to one of the most legendary, beloved and despised sporting arena in American history with a 6,000+ baseball card set detailing every game very played at Yankee Stadium.

“As the wrecking balls ready themselves to start demolishing the old site, the Upper Deck Company has released the largest baseball trading card set ever assembled in tribute to the world-renowned sports shrine. The “Yankee Stadium Legacy” (YSL) collection is a 6,661-card compilation,” the company said in a statement this week. “It began its official debut in February by being inserted in random packs of Upper Deck’s 2008 Series 1 Baseball release. Since then, seven of the nine additional Upper Deck baseball launches including YSL insert cards have packed out.”

With the old Yankee Stadium playing out its last regular season this week, Upper Deck decided it was a great opportunity to acknowledge the incredible history and happenings that have occurred at Yankee Stadium since its doors opened in 1923. Besides chronicling 85 seasons’ worth of Yankees home games, this enormous compilation also includes some of the most famous sporting events that have taken place at Yankee Stadium including: legendary Notre Dame Football coach Knute Rockne’s famous “Win one for the Gipper” halftime speech inside the Yankees locker room (Nov. 10, 1928); the then-Baltimore Colts’ 23-17 overtime victory against the New York Giants in the NFL Championship game, which is often referred to as “the greatest game ever played” (Dec. 28, 1958); and Muhammad Ali’s title defense against Ken Norton (Sept. 28, 1976).‚ 

“Not only is this an ambitious effort by our Product Development Team, but it’s a timely tribute to one of the sporting world’s most celebrated franchises ever, ” said Kerri Stockholm, Upper Deck’s director of sports marketing. “And we packed the cards out in a very unique way as we decided to insert them inside of ten different Upper Deck baseball product launches during the course of the year, giving collectors everywhere a chance to share in the tribute.”

The card set has its own website‚ that includes message boards where collectors can share their personal Yankee stories. There is also a comprehensive YSL Checklist, which shows all 6,661 game cards within the set as well as seven “miscellaneous events” cards from Yankee Stadium’s glorious past that Upper Deck has included.

We’re curious about this one. If you somehow have assembled the entire or close to the entire set, contact us and tell us about it!

From our Off the Record blog:

Talk about something you never hear from anyone within the Yankees organization. Hank Steinbrenner actually said the Yankees will eventually get everything straightened out, even if it means doing so next year.

“We’ll get this fixed,” he said. “If not this year, then next year.”

Wow! No one with a payroll as high as the Yanks should ever say something like that in mid-May. We’ll be watching any upcoming moves by the Yankees to see if they do indeed reflect “next year.”

People need to get a life. When you get to the point when you hate smack talk so much that you have to kill someone, you deserve whatever punishment you receive. Ivonne Hernandez, 43, is about to find out exactly what that punishment is. Hernandez answered some “Yankees suck” chants outside a New Hampshire bar by running Matthew Beaudoin down with her car and killing him.

“She never braked, and she accelerated at a high speed for about 200 feet. She went directly at this group of people,” prosecutor Susan Morrell said of Ivonne Hernandez, who is charged with reckless second-degree murder in the death of Beaudoin, 29.

“She indicated to police that she wanted to scare this group of people. She thought they would get out of the way,” Morrell said.

Well, they didn’t. Arrested on the scene, Hernandez admitted that she was drinking, but refused a breath-alcohol test. The charges include aggravated drunken driving and she has being held without bail.

Professional sports teams continue to replace antiquated stadiums with modern, awe-inspiring facilities, designed to attract more fans, bigger sponsors and better players. Yet, there remain several historical structures that regularly accommodate scores of cheering crowds.

One of the greatest rivalries in all of sports is between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. And two of the most legendary parks in baseball belong to these teams in Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium.

This year, the Bronx Bombers play their final season in Yankee Stadium. The building served as home to players like Ruth, Mantle and DiMaggio and decisive championship moments forever etched in our memories. Like them or hate them, the Yankees’ home is one of the most storied ballparks in America.

So why is Yankee Stadium being torn down to be replaced by a new park? What pressures did the owners succumb to? Or what financial benefit do they see in the move? And, in that case, why are the Red Sox not following with their own new stadium?

There are six main ways baseball teams generate revenue: corporate sponsorships, luxury box sales, general ticket sales, concessions, local television contracts and merchandise.

Let’s compare Fenway Park to the new Yankee Stadium and see which team is mostly likely to have the strongest financial performance in each category.

Corporate Sponsorships: Even

The Red Sox and the Yankees are the most popular teams in baseball and both national and local companies are looking to sponsor with these clubs. Companies will line up to partner with these two teams, regardless of where they play. Revenues are strong for both clubs in this category.

Luxury Box Sales: Yankees

The new Yankee Stadium will contain three times as many luxury boxes as the current venue, far surpassing comparable boxes in Fenway Park. The Yankees are building more boxes at the expense of regular seats because the revenue from each box is larger and more consistent. The boxes will sell out and the Yankees will collect revenue whether or not the ticket-holders show up.

General Ticket Sales: Red Sox

The Red Sox have one of the smallest seating capacities of any MLB stadium, while the Yankees have and will have one of baseball’s larger venues. At first glance, it would appear that this is a win for the Yankees, but it may not be. Seats do not generate revenue; people in those seats account for ticket volume and the amount they pay for those seats drives ticket revenue.

Entering the 2008 season, the Red Sox sold out 388 consecutive games-a trend that does not appear to be ending any time soon. The Bombers do not always sell out. They do fill all the seats during big games and weekends, but typically leave thousands of seats empty during weekday contests.

The Red Sox also have the highest ticket prices in baseball and will be raising tickets an additional 9 percent for the 2008 season, according to the Boston Globe. How can the Red Sox charge so much? It is a matter of supply and demand, or scarcity as CNN Money refers to baseball ticket sales.

A team like the Yankees knows it will not sell out every game and therefore must keep prices lower to encourage those price-sensitive fans to come to a mid-week game. The Yankees are controlled by the supply, meaning that in order to optimize revenue, they can only charge as much as the last person is willing to pay.

The Red Sox, on the contrary, have a surplus demand. With more people willing to pay for every game than seats are available, the Red Sox can continue to raise prices until exactly the same amount of people are willing to pay the premium price as there are seats in the stadium. (This is not entirely true because tickets for sporting events and concerts are kept artificially low to allow more people the opportunity to afford the tickets).

Therefore, what revenues the Yankees generate from high ticket sales, the Red Sox match and will arguably surpass with revenues from higher ticket prices.

Concessions: Yankees

The Red Sox charge more for ticket prices, but a team can only charge so much for a beer and a hot dog before fans say “enough” and do not to eat at the game. Since prices are even, concession sales are then dependant primarily on attendance volume. This benefits the Yankees who have a larger stadium and will have more people to potentially purchase concessions.

Local Media Revenue: Yankees

The Yankees received more than $91 million in local media contracts, including $67 million from the YES Network to broadcast games on television, Forbes.com reports. While the organization will not keep all of that money due to the league’s revenue sharing agreements, they still retain a significant share.

The Bronx Bombers benefit from a larger market, as the New York metropolitan region is by far, the most populous in the country. The Yankees also have a higher net worth than the Red Sox and can demand larger contracts. While the Yankees and Red Sox have roughly equal numbers of national fans, the fact that more people live in the New York area benefits the Yankees.

Merchandise Sales: Red Sox

Unfortunately, no census is taken of all Yankees fans and Red Sox fans. ESPN reports that since winning the first of two World Series championships in the past four years, Red Sox merchandise sales have skyrocketed. Sales from Sox and Yankees gear account for more than half of all MLB merchandise revenue. USA Today reports, that when on the road, attendance at the opposing ballparks is about 1,300 fans more when the Red Sox are in town than the Yankees.

There are several other reasons why I give the edge to the Red Sox. First, international sales should be up for the Sox. The New York squad has better name recognition, but the Sox have won the Series more recently and played a pair of games in Japan to begin the season. Second, the Red Sox are not involved in the steroid controversy. Roger Clemens’ jerseys are not flying off the shelves this spring.

The Verdict?

Both teams have a distinct business strategy and both are positioned to perform very well.

The Red Sox, by not building a new stadium and leveraging Fenway’s small seating capacity to produce more ticket revenue, are positioned to yield higher profits and retain more of their earnings.

The Yankees are growing their revenues, but also are incurring costs of higher player salaries and financing a new stadium. They have positioned themselves to generate higher overall revenue to supplement their costs. Each strategy compliments the team’s business model.

Regardless of where they play, the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry will continue, escalating with the advent of October. Yankees fans will learn to love their new stadium and Red Sox fans will continue to fill every seat of every game at Fenway Park. A baseball stadium is, after all, is more than a home-it is the soul of a team and its fans.