Today is the Major League Baseball trading deadline, which addresses the question, for all intents and purposes, how the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox shore up their rosters for the stretch run by plucking overpaid players from underachieving teams in the last year of their contract. End result: Boston vs. New York in the ALCS.

By the way, the Yankees have the highest team payroll at $199 million and the Red Sox have the second-highest at $120 million. The Oakland Athletics are 21st (out of 30) in team salary with $62.5 million. The Florida Marlins bring up the rear spending less than $15 million on their team's players. And that is why they suck. (Actually, they don't; they are only 8 games under .500.)