At the end of play on August 12, the Giants sat 5 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West, and on the outside looking in for a wild card spot. Since then, they’ve won 16 games and lost seven, closed the gap on the Dodgers to 2 1/2 games (prior to Wednesday’s action), and taken charge of the race for home-field advantage in the wild card game.

The Royals lead the American League Central by one game over the Tigers after Detroit defeated the Indians Thursday night, 11-4 in 11 innings. The teams are even in wins with 77; the Tigers have two additional losses. The Royals are 19-19 in blowout games and 20-22 in one run games. For the Tigers, those numbers are 23-18 (blowouts) and 20-18 (one run games).

When deciding who will represent them in contract negotiations, professional baseball players can choose from hundreds of certified agents. There are big shops like Boras Corporation, Excel Sports Management (Casey Close) and Wasserman Media Group (Arn Tellum), and smaller agencies like Frye McCann, Sosnick Cobbe and Jet Sports Management.

Newly-elected MLB commissioner Rob Manfred throws out the first pitch at the Little League World Series on Wednesday. Last week, Major League Baseball’s 30 owners elected Rob Manfred as the new commissioner of baseball. Manfred will succeed Bud Selig, who will retire in January. Manfred has worked at MLB since 1998, first as executive vice president of labor relations and, most recently, as chief operating officer.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard arguments today on the existence and scope of Major League Baseball’s exemption from federal antitrust law. The arguments arose in the city of San Jose’s federal antitrust lawsuit against MLB over the league’s failure to allow the Oakland Athletics to build a new ballpark in, and move to, San Jose.

A federal judge in New York ruled on Friday that Major League Baseball will face trial for violations of federal antitrust laws by stemming the exclusive broadcast territories for each of its 30 teams. Several regional sports networks and cable and satellite companies that benefit from the exclusive territories will also face trial on antitrust charges.

Last week, we reported on the ongoing bankruptcy saga involving Comcast SportsNet Houston, the joint venture created and owned by Comcast Sports Group, the Houston Astros and the Houston Rockets. More than a year after its launch, CSN Houston hadn’t reached carriage fee deals with any cable or satellite company in the Houston area, other than Comcast.

A fight between the Orioles and Nationals over MASN’s television rights fees has been brewing for years. MASN (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network) was created as a form of financial compensation to the Orioles when MLB moved the Expos from Montreal to Washington, D.C. to become the Nationals. MASN is majority owned by the Orioles but has exclusive rights to broadcast Orioles and Nationals games.

In his speech at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony a few weeks back, Greg Maddux talked about the most important lesson he learned from his high school pitching coach. "You throw hard enough," Maddux quoted his coach as saying, "but as you face better hitters, you're going to need more than just velocity to get hitters out.

The Oakland Athletics have the best record in baseball at 66-41, the largest run differential at plus-162 and, at 3.32, the lowest ERA among starters in the American League. On Thursday, the A's traded from a position of strength to improve their rotation, as they eye a third consecutive postseason appearance.

Bob Melvin stares intently and watches Josh Donaldson take batting practice. The other Oakland A's players joke around as they wait their turn in the cage. A's owner Lew Wolff is there, and chats up Ken Korach, the team's radio play-by-play broadcaster. But Bob Melvin stands quietly behind a net, halfway up the third base line, and stares.

A bit more than a week ago, a Denver television station broke the story of a Colorado Rockies fan who received a surprisingly terse email from team owner Dick Monfort after the fan submitted a comment card following the Rockies game on July 4. Michael Ferguson traveled several hours with his family of five, paid nearly $300 for tickets for the Independence Day game and watched the Rockies lose 9-0 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Sports Business Journal published an articleon Monday sounding the alarm about the Los Angeles Dodgers’ plummeting local TV ratings. Last season, the Dodgers averaged 226,000 households per game telecast. This season, the average is 40,000 households. Of course the Dodgers’ ratings have plummeted.

On a cold, foggy night on Aug. 29, 1966, The Beatles played their last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Eleven songs, lasting a bit more than an hour, and then, the end. The end of the concert and the end of The Beatles. This August, Paul McCartney will perform at Candlestick. It will likely be a cold, foggy night because that's what happens in August in San Francisco.

Major League Baseball’s signing period for international prospects kicked off on Wednesday and will continue until June 15, 2015. Teams may sign players residing outside the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico who have or will turn 16 by September 1 of this year. Just a few years ago, teams were allowed to spend as much as they wanted to develop and sign international prospects.

For years, the baseball world has been waiting for Commissioner Bud Selig to say something definitive about a new home for the Oakland Athletics. On Wednesday, he finally did. The reaction was anything but definitive. The A’s have been negotiating a lease extension with the Oakland-Alameda County Joint Powers Authority, the entity that operates the Oakland Coliseum complex.