Mike McCann's Field of Fotos

The Blue Jays commemorate their 40th season in the majors with this special patch on their left sleeves. Featuring the club's namesake bird and the Canadian national symbol, the maple leaf, it's a classy addition to their uniform, Slugger Edwin Encarnacion serves as our model.

Yesterday morning's most talked-about story was the Mets signing Tim Tebow to a minor league contract. Now, envision the onetime Jets backup in white, blue and orange... there's no green in Flushing except the grass. Currently, backup infielder Matt Reynolds wears 15 for the Mets. But next March in spring training, who knows? Seriously, while he has a wide range of athletic skills, do you reasonably expect Tebow to succeed in baseball after being away from the game for over a decade? A workout shows potential, but not much more. Plus, Tim's now 29, the age when such crucial skills as the quick burst of speed and eye-hand coordination slowly begin to fade. If Tebow had followed Bo Jackson's path and comitted to baseball, even a year after college, I might not be as skeptical. But approaching age 30, without the day-in, day-out repetition one receives as a minor leaguer, this is going to be an uphill battle against stifling odds. Keep in mind, Michael Jordan , arguably...

It's not quite the way Joe Girardi would have planned it last spring, but Wednesday night the Yankees blanked the Blue Jays on a combined shutout from Bryan Mitchell, Luis Severino and Tyler Clippard. After missing the first five months of the season recovering from a broken toe, Mitchell worked the first five innings and kept the potent Toronto bats on ice. Severino followed with three dynamic innings of relief. Funny how things have played out this season for the second year righthander, who rose from Double-A Trenton to the majors in 2015, only to fail as a starter the first two months of the season. After injuries and trades thinned out his bullpen, Joe Girardi almost seemed to be grasping for straws. And up stepped Severino, who has been outstanding in middle inning relief ever since returning from Scranton. I know, everyone says he's supposed to be a starting pitcher. But right now, he's filling a key need -- with the team battling for Wild Card. Now the f...

Didi Gregorius (above: from August 12th) belted an 8th inning RBI triple and then scored on Starlin Castro's sacrifice fly, as the Yankees came from behind to grab a 5-4 lead on the Blue Jays last night. But that's just part of the story from the Bronx. After a walk to Brian McCann (who was then lifted for pinch runner Eric Young Jr.), Chase Headley (seen here on July 23rd)  homered to right field, to provide the Yankees some insurance runs. And they'd need them -- all of them! Working his third game in a row, closer Dellin Betances was far from his best. The closer threw 40 pitches, walking three, gave up a pair of hits and a pair of runs. Joe Girardi had no choice but to replace him with Blake Parker. The unheraled reliever -- in just his 8th game as a Yankee -- struck out Kevin Pillar and then retired Justin Smoak on a booming fly to left field that Brett Gardner leaped for and held onto to preserve a 7 - 6 Yankee victory. But the Yankees weren't alone in the l...

Back on May 15th , I got a chance to see several of the top Phillies prospects, when their Reading club played at Trenton. Several names I already knew, such as Roman Quinn. But this was my first time watching Dylan Cozens . The lefty power hitter caught my eye with a 2-for-4 afternoon. And over the course of this season, he's drawn a lot of attention, as he set a new franchise record for home runs (which reached 40 by the end of the regular season on Monday). Add on 125 RBIs in 134 games -- which erases Reading's old mark, set by Greg Luzinski, who certainly made his mark in Philadelphia -- and Cozens certainly belongs in the conversation about Phuture Phillies. There's still more work to be done before he makes it to Citizens Bank Park. 186 strikeouts might sound like early Mike Schmidt or Reggie Jackson to some -- but also reek of Drew Stubbs or Jack Cust. And you have to raise an eyebrow at least part-way, since Cozens had never displayed power like this in four pr...

For the rubber game of their big weekend series with the 1st place Nationals, the Mets turned to Seth Lugo. And the little known righthander. who spent most of the year with Triple-A Las Vegas, turned in seven very effective innings. His only mistake was surrendering a 2nd inning home run to Danny Espinosa, as the Mets defeated Washington 5 - 1, and not only gained ground on Washington, but remained just a game behind the Cardinals for the second NL Wild Card. Back at the beginning of the season, this was the kind of game you would have expected Matt Harvey to throw. But he's injured and out for the year. Same for Zach Wheeler, who didn't make it back from Tommy John Surgery. It wasn't Steven Matz, who has both a sore shoulder and a bone spur in elbow. And it wasn't Jacob de Grom, who's been slowed by forearm stiffness and will likely sit it out until the middle of September. Lugo never did anything in the minors to identify himself as a future ace. He'd ...

PNC Park in Pittsburgh absolutely sparkles in the sunshine. These photos are from July 10th, when the Pirates hosted the Cubs. You can't beat the way the skyline provides the perfect backdrop to the ballpark. There isn't another ballpark taking better advantage of its location.  The buildings, the bridges, the brightness of the day. Ideal photo-ops!