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Rest and relaxation:
"Anybody actually wondering why Texas is ranked above Alabama needs simply look at the same schedule that you might use to bolster your argument: no voter in their right mind is going to risk putting Bama over Texas when the Tide will probably be quelled at either Ole Miss, LSU, or for sure against Florida in a title game." -- AustinBrando

The one-point season
"OU has consistently choked on the big stage in recent years. The only saving grace is in the fact Stoops has been able to get OU into these big games. However, that means nothing if we only deliver a disappointing egg every time we get to the big game." -- espnb12s

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• Vote: How will the Dodgers-Giants series play out in San Francisco?

Baseball sticks by our side all summer long, suffering with us through the heat and humidity, serving up background noise for backyard barbeques. And what do we do when Labor Day arrives? Send it packing for the trophy spouse that is football. We're bad people.

USC-Ohio State and the first NFL Sunday are the weekend headliners, but baseball isn't going away without a fight. Clinging to a two-game lead in the NL West, the Dodgers visit the rival Giants, while the Rockies get the woeful Padres. And fighting for the wild-card, both the Rangers and Red Sox face potential spoilers with winning records in the Mariners and Rays, respectively.

All of which raises an excellent question, as posed by commenter ElGrizzly. If you're a Rockies fan, are you rooting for the Dodgers to sweep and give Colorado acres of breathing room for the wild card, or are you rooting for the Giants to sweep and put the division title up for grabs? Where's Monty Hall when you need him?

• Dodgers still No. 4 in this week's SN Power Rankings | Submit your rankings
• Chat: Jerry Crasnick talks about pennant races and more, 12 ET.

• Rankings: Where do the wild-card contenders rank overall in MLB?

So has anyone seen our divisional races in baseball? We seem to have misplaced them; we swear they here a minute ago. Aside from the AL Central, which is shaping up as less of a sprint and more of a stumble to the finish line, the new week begins with every division leader in possession of at least a 4.5 game cushion. A month ago, only two teams could claim that honor. And a year ago, two races were within a game on Aug. 17.

We can only assume it's the Tigers people have in mind when more than 70 percent of SportsNation predicts at least one current division leader will fall because the rest of the landscape looks about as eye-catching as a Kansas highway in the middle of an overcast night (in other words, dull). Thank goodness for the wild card.

At the outset of a three-game series between the Rangers and Red Sox in Texas, voters predicted the Red Sox would lead the wild-card race after the weekend. Oops. But never a body to be deterred, SportsNation still thinks the Red Sox will end up in the playoffs.

• Rockies lead NL wild-card race; SportsNation still prefers Giants.
• Vote: Add your take to the hot issues of the day in MLB.
• Groups: Top of the Chop | Texas Rangers | PHILADELPHIA SPORTS

• Vote: How will the action unfold this weekend?

Hey, remember the Phillies? Reigning World Series champs? Leading the NL East? Made a blockbuster move at the trade deadline to acquire Cliff Lee and added a possible future Hall of Famer in Pedro Martinez? It seems like just yesterday the Phillies were in the national spotlight. All right, in point of fact, it was yesterday they were in the national spotlight. But given the new quarterback signing on with the town's football team, the Phillies are suddenly the younger sibling in the old home of Brotherly Love. But they also face matchups this weekend that are of far more consequence than anything the Eagles will face for almost another month.

It's not exactly a schedule loaded with gems, but the weekend does offer three noteworthy showdowns with the Phillies visiting the Braves, the Red Sox visiting the Rangers, and the Rockies visiting the Marlins.

SportsNation has been consistent in saying the Phillies aren't in danger in the NL East, but a sweep for the Braves would pull Bobby Cox's team within two games. Meanwhile, the Marlins could make up ground in two races if they handle the wild-card front-runner.

The Red Sox have enjoyed SportsNation's support for the AL wild card, if not so much the AL East, but they will cede their playoff position for now without a pair of wins on the road.

• Phillies and Red Sox at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively, in SportsNation's Power Rankings.
• SportsNation divided when it comes to which weekend series is biggest.
• And voters aren't much more decisive when it comes to Rangers or Red Sox in Texas.
• Chats: Jayson Stark at 1 p.m. ET | Keith Law at 2 p.m. ET
• Groups: Top of the Chop | Texas Rangers | PHILADELPHIA SPORTS

• Rankings: Which teams occupy the top spots in SportsNation's Power Rankings?

"Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand in a hurry." -- Ron Burgundy

Nobody on the Yankees killed a guy, or threw a trident, during a four-game weekend set against the Red Sox, but behind SportsNation's AL MVP pick the Bronx Bombers did their best in a sweep to extinguish whatever remaining life their rivals had left in the division.

After Thursday's loss, we looked at how SportsNation's faith in the Red Sox had faded over the past two months, but that was in the context of winning the AL East. But when the Mariners are closer to you in the playoff race than you are to the Yankees, it's time to start worrying about just making the playoffs.

• Only 52 percent of SportsNation predicts the Red Sox will make the postseason.
• Voters split as to whether Rangers or Rays are the main wild-card competition.

But the Red Sox weren't the only contender floundering over the weekend. The Marlins made the NL East a race again by sweeping three from the Phillies (not that the Phillies were alone, considering 87 percent of SportsNation discounted the Marlins last week).

And the Dodgers, who once held a seemingly insurmountable lead in the NL West, head to San Francisco having lost three of four to the Braves and with their lead down to 5.5 games over the Giants and Rockies.

• A month into the season, only 22 percent of voters expected an NL West fight.
• Giants now slight favorite to earn the NL wild card over Cubs and Rockies.
• Vote: Weigh in with your take on the issues of the day in MLB.
• Chat: Buster Olney talks about all the pennant races at 1 p.m. ET.
• Groups: Florida Marlins Rock | National league | Dodgers Fan Club

• Vote: How do you see the baseball landscape?

There is, of course, baseball being played outside the Bronx this weekend. For instance, the Pawtucket Red Sox square off against the Norfolk Tides, and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees -- fresh off taking three of four from Pawtucket -- face the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs. And people say there are no good nicknames anymore.

Sorry, we got a little caught up in the Sox-Yankees quagmire for a second. What we meant is that there are plenty of perfectly compelling MLB series taking place this weekend without the participation of either Terry Francona or Joe Girardi. Not surprisingly, exactly which of those series matters most depends on where you live, but the Rangers and Angels hold a slight edge on the rest of the field nationwide.

Almost a month ago, SportsNation tabbed the Rangers as the second-best bet to overtake a division leader, behind only those inescapable Yankees. And just this week, the team from Texas ranked No. 7 overall in SportsNation's MLB Power Rankings. But at 4.5 games behind the Angels in the AL West, a bad weekend in Anaheim would be costly.

• Tigers still lead Central but SportsNation picking White Sox to win in the end.
• 67 percent say a healthy Jake Peavy would give White Sox pitching edge on Tigers.
• Another shoe to drop? Half of SportsNation expects a major August waiver deal.
• Beyond the Nation: Detroit Free Press' Michael Rosenberg on the AL Central race.
• Groups: Texas Rangers | Tiger Den | THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS GROUP

• Rankings: Which teams made the best buys on pitching aces?

SportsNation isn't buying Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi's July 28 trade deadline (apparently, neither is he), but voters are still basically split 50-50 when it comes to the probability of any deal at all involving Roy Halladay. And if neither Halladay nor Indians ace Cliff Lee files a change-of-address form before August, there likely won't be any additions this year to Jerry Crasnick's list of the most noteworthy trades involving aces since 2000.

It's difficult to establish a firm grading process for these deals. The Diamondbacks didn't benefit in the short term when they traded for Curt Schilling in the middle of the 2000 season, but they won the World Series the next season with him. And it's not like they ever really missed Travis Lee, Vicente Padilla or Omar Daal. The Brewers didn't win it all with CC Sabathia last season, but they got a summer's worth of pennant race, and quite possibly a playoff berth, because of the big guy. That's a good deal, right?

In the end, it's probably safe to say that if you make a trade and no longer have a franchise in a few years (hello, Montreal!), you probably weren't the winner in the deal. Beyond that, it's a matter of debate. And that's what we live for.

• Most fans say they'd rather keep their prospects than add a pitcher.
• But if Victor Martinez was really offered, Sox should have traded Clay Buchholz.
• Massachusetts dissents, but Adam LaRoche doesn't qualify as a big trade.
• Rangers wouldn't be favorites with Halladay, but they'd be in the mix.
• On the other hand, Phillies would be heavy favorite with Halladay.

We should be careful what we wish for. Running through National League reviews and predictions, we lamented the lack of sports on the day after the All-Star Game. But how could we be so foolish as to think Brett Favre wouldn't sniff out the opportunity and announce that he is definitely, positively, beyond a shadow of a doubt ... going to tell the Vikings whether or not he's coming back ... at some point between now and the start of the team's training camp. Whew, glad we've got that on the record.

Games not involving Favre's mind resume on baseball diamonds Thursday, but we're taking a look back at the American League before we get there. And compared to the projected runaways in the NL, the division races on this side of the ledger look like they could keep us entertained well into the fall.

American League Team MVP
Red Sox: Jason Bay
Yankees: Mark Teixeira
Angels: Torii Hunter
Tigers: Miguel Cabrera
Rangers: Ian Kinsler
Rays: Evan Longoria
Mariners: Ichiro
White Sox: Jermaine Dye
Twins: Joe Mauer
Blue Jays: Roy Halladay
Orioles: Adam Jones
Athletics: Matt Holliday
Royals: Mark Teahan (Offensive MVP)
Indians: Grady Sizemore (Least Valuable Player)

• Who will lead the AL in home runs, batting average, wins, steals and RBIs?
• 56 percent: Red Sox will win the AL East.
• 39 percent: Tigers will win the AL Central.
• 54 percent: Angels will win the AL West.
• Midseason reviews: AL West | AL Central | AL East | Cy Young | MVP

• Rank all 30 teams at midseason.

As the saying goes, the more things change, the more the Cubs struggle to find .500. At least, that's how we learned it. And by "we," we mean anyone born since 1909.

With the baseball season pausing for its official midpoint at the All-Star Game and its less official one in the firing of the Nationals manager, consider how SportsNation sized up the field after the first week of the season.

1. Florida Marlins
2. St. Louis Cardinals
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Atlanta Braves
5. Toronto Blue Jays

At least the Nationals were properly slotted at No. 30. Congrats on getting that gig, Jim Riggleman. Now the Cubs, Marlins and Braves are fighting for wild-card relevancy, hoping a division leader stumbles, and the Blue Jays are listening to offers for Roy Halladay.

• A Mariners fan, blogger Dawgman0387 gets a little excited about the team's winning record at the break and starts throwing out terms like "World Series run." But hey, with a top three like Felix Hernandez, Erik Bedard and Jarrod Washburn, maybe he's on to something.
• Things aren't quite as rosy for the Reds. SportsNation blogger xubugg pleads for more "patients" at the plate. We're guessing that's supposed to be "patience," but when it comes to Dusty Baker's lineup experiments, you never know.
• We're all a little worse off having an All-Star Game without "Kung Fu Panda," but a Giants blogger upset that the so-nicknamed Pablo Sandoval won't be in St. Louis takes out his frutrations on the frauds that he feels are the Philadelphia Phillies.