Because Mid-Atlantic Bias leads the sports world in breaking news delivery, allow me to inform you of the Adam Dunn trade. As recently as 2 minutes ago, it was announced that the Cincinnati Reds had traded slugger/strikeout artist Adam Dunn to the Arizona Diamondbacks for 3 prospects, including former highly touted prospect Dallas Buck (a pitcher currently rehabbing from Tommy John Surgery). We now return you to your irregularly scheduled blog.

Call this the precursor to the return of Mid-Atlantic Bias. I have today off. Then I work the next three days. Friday begins unemployment version 2.0 for me. So this is to announce that Mid-Atlantic Bias has returned. As I did last time I posted, here’s what we’ve missed:

Deanna, er, Brett Favre is a New York Jet: I hope he fails miserably, but as long as Aaron Rodgers does well in Green Bay, I don’t care what Favre does. Brett Favre, to this point, has single-handedly ruined the career of Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers should be full of hate. He should be vindictive. He’s neither. I can’t help but root for the kid to succeed.

The Olympics got under way: Last night’s relay was one of those “Once-in-a-Lifetime” sports moments. I’m so happy I saw it as it happened. It was completely improbable. Impossible even. It was so good, it doesn’t deserve to be dissected in my blog. I’ll leave it at this: The picture of Michael Phelps screaming unto the heavens is now the background of my computer, supplanting the image of the TD Banknorth Garden after the Celtics clinched the NBA Title.

The NFL Preseason is under way:

Good riddance to The Manny Ramirez: That’s it. Good Riddance.

And the 2008 Major League Baseball Season continues, which brings us to this:

Your semi-regular playoff update:

AL:
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Chicago White Sox
LA Angels vs. Boston Red Sox

NL:
Chicago Cubs vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
Milwaukee Brewers vs. Philadelphia Phillies

So, some changes there. Let’s talk about each race:

AL East:
-As much as I want them to, I cannot picture the Rays winning the division. They’re currently 4 1/2 games up on the Red Sox, who continue to barely tread water. I kept saying that the Yankees were going to win this division, but I was wrong. Losing their ace (Joba) after losing their, well, ace (Chien-Ming Wang) has handcuffed this team. Sidney Ponson is a starting pitcher for the Yankees? Really? I’m calling them dead until the start of next season, when they’ll have added Manny Ramirez and Carlton Charles Sabathia. As for the Sox and Rays, I see Boston winning the division down the stretch. This Carl Crawford injury has to hurt the Rays. Right?

AL Central:
-This is the most boring division race that is still a race. I could care less whether the White Sox or Twins win the division. The Twins are in better shape to win the division because of the injury Saturday to White Sox pitcher Jose Contreras. Call me crazy, but I’m not counting the Detroit Tigers out of this race until the beginning of September. They’re 8.5 back currently. If someone in their starting rotation steps up, I think they can win this division still…somehow. Until that happens though, I guess we have to give it to the Twins.

AL West:
-The only way the Angels lose this division lead….there is no way. It’s over.

NL East:
-Three teams can win the NL East. None of them are the Washington Nationals. You currently have 3 teams separated by 2 1/2 games. The Phillies are clearly the best team in this division offensively. It’s their pitching that I’m uncertain about. I’m counting the Mets out early. The injuries to John Maine and Billy Wagner are too much at this point in the season to overcome and the Mets are just not as electric offensively. They’d be smart to overpay for Manny Ramirez in the offseason. Really. They need some offense from the corner outfield spots. Right now, I think the Marlins are the best team in this division on paper. Their rotation is solid (now that Anibal Sanchez and Josh Johnson (one of the truly most underrated pitchers in baseball) are back healthy). Offensively, they can score runs. The questions are in the bullpen and their defense. I’m not counting the Fish out. For now though, because of Philly’s ability to score 10 runs a game if they need to, I’ll take them by a nose.

NL Central:
-I’ve developed a love of the Chicago Cubs, thanks to having WGN on the DirecTV. I get to watch a few games a week and realize that THIS is the best team in baseball, not the Angels. Every baseball writer and talking head has crowned the Angels the World Series Champion. Well call me crazy, but baseball’s two best teams are in this division. And they’re both playoff and NLCS bound. The only 1-2 pitching combo that scares me in the NL more than the Brewers and Cubs is the Diamondbacks. And as you’re about to read, I don’t think they’re making it to the playoffs.

NL West:
-This is the Dodgers division to win. Manny is hitting some stupid number since he’s come over. Their pitching is good enough to win. They have a veteran manager. And the Diamondbacks cannot score a run (we’ll see if Free-Swinging Adam Dunn changes that). My prediction of the Giants to win the NL West was stupid. They’re a year or two away. The Dodgers have done what they need to to win. Now they just have to, well, win.

AL Wild Card:
If we choose the wild card based on my division champions (Red Sox, Twins, Angels) that leaves us with the Rays, Tigers, White Sox, and Rangers. And even though I don’t really think the Rays can turn themselves around this quickly, they’re clearly the class of that group. Though as I’ve been saying, don’t count out Texas just yet.

NL Wild Card:
The Brewers. That is all.

Rather than do the long-winded explanation thing for the MLB Awards, I’ll just list them with (if necessary) a brief explanation:

AL MVP: Well, there goes my statement about no long-winded explanations. In fact, lets come back to this in a moment…

NL MVP: Albert Pujols. Though we may need to expand our minds a bit about the idea of Manny Ramirez being the NL MVP if he keeps up this pace and the Dodgers win the West. But for now, Pujols.

AL Rookie of the Year: Evan Longoria. A nod to Nick Blackburn and Armando Galarraga of the Twins and Tigers as well for their solid rookie campaigns thus far. Just not good enough to pass Longoria.

NL Rookie of the Year: Geovany Soto. Let’s also give a shoutout to Jair Jurrjens and John Lannan who are having nice years for a bad team and an atrocious team (look past Lannan’s W-L record). Not ROY worthy, but a nod to both nonetheless.

AL CY Young: Okay, here’s the AL MVP debate. I think that Francisco Rodriguez has been the MVP of the American League, but not the Cy Young award winner, if that makes any sense. I don’t value closers as highly as some, but I think that as a player, knowing you have a hammer in your bullpen, you have a certain degree of comfort, which allows you to play better. You don’t need to press for more runs if you’re up by only 1 and you’re the Angels. You know that K-Rod is getting that save. It’s more mental than anything. And don’t worry sabremetric people, mental makes up a lot of the game. See, the next time a relative dies or you didn’t get a good night’s sleep, go out and try to play at your highest level in any sport. Anyway, K-Rod’s value is seen there and with no one else having a great year for a club that is truly in contention (apologies to Ian Kinsler and Josh Hamilton and the Texas Rangers) I give K-Rod the MVP, but not the Cy Young. Why, you ask? Because K-Rod hasn’t been the best pitcher. Cliff Lee has been. Look past the fact that it’s Cliff Lee. If Josh Beckett’s stats were as follows: 23 GS, 16-2, 22 BB, 128 K (that’s a 5.82 K/BB ratio), 2.45 ERA, 1.08 WHIP we’d all be going crazy and annointing him Lord God Almighty. Because it’s Cliff Lee pitching for a last place team, we just shrug. Ready folks? This year, Cliff Lee has been the best pitcher in Major League Baseball. Sorry, stats don’t lie. Real ones at least.

NL Cy Young: Still Tim Lincecum. Beats out the surging Brandon Webb by a hair. Edinson Volquez, where have you gone?

AL Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon.

NL Manager of the Year: Fredi Gonzalez.

That’s a whole lot of baseball. What you won’t get on Friday is any baseball, unless Prince Fielder eats a teammate, Roy Halladay gets traded to the Yankees, Bronson Arroyo breaks another slugger’s pinky finger, or Joe Torre gets less ugly.

What you will get on Friday is the beginning of what I think I’ll call my “Stupid, Mega College Football 2008 Preview.” I’ve never been more excited about a college football season as I am about this one. For the first time in my life, you have a reigning Heisman Champion returning (as a junior no less). You have soon-to-be star freshman, like Alabama WR Julio Jones. You have two of the best LB of the last decade in James Laurenitis and Rey Maualuga. The USC/Ohio State September 13 matchup. Florida and Georgia possibly meeting as undefeated teams in Jacksonville in November. And you have a team from the Big 12 that I think will win the National Championship. And that’s just the Football Bowl Subdivision. I haven’t even mentioned Appalachian State, Wofford, UNH, Montana, Northern Iowa, North Dakota State, Richmond, and James Madison.

Here’s what I think will happen: Friday: Big 6 conference breakdown (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big 10, SEC, Pac-10). Monday: Bowl Projections. Tuesday: Player Awards. Wednesday: FCS extravaganza. That’s all tentative based on how insane I really am. Until then…