After the historical emergence of two stellar rookies in 2012, the surprising Mike Trout and the much-anticipated Bryce Harper, it would be normal to expect 2013, in comparison, to be something of a letdown in terms of rookie stars. Happily, that hasn’t been the case.

This season has produced 6 rookies, 3 pitchers and 3 position players, each achieving more than 3 WAR. That’s about a normal number for recent years. What’s notable, though, is that 4 of those 6 rookies (and one other) have made the top 3 for their franchise’s best rookie WAR.

More on this year’s rookie crop and each franchise’s best all-time rookies after the jump.

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Dodgers 7, @D-backs 6 — L.A. overcame the Snakes’ 6-run 3rd inning and celebrated their NL West clincher, the first of the races to be formally settled. Hanley Ramirez drove in 4 with two HRs, tying the game in the 7th on a 2-strike hanger from Chaz Roe, and A.J. Ellis clocked the first pitch of the 8th for the deciding run.

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On nights like this, it’s great to be a baseball fan with nothing at risk — even if I can’t keep up with everything.

@Rays 4, Rangers 3 (12 inn.) — In the fourth straight stanza of high drama, Jose Lobaton singled to start the home 12th, pinch-runner Sam Fuld moved up on a bunt, and he dashed home on Desmond Jennings’s line single into right, stealing a win that the Rangers had seemed sure to book.

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Indians 5, @Royals 3 — Or, the night the lights went out on K.C.’s playoff hopes. Cleveland pulled even in the 7th with 2 runs, keyed on Michael Bourn’s triple after a hit batsman by Kelvin Herrera, and pulled ahead in the 8th when Asdrubal Cabrera doubled after Carlos Santana drew a leadoff walk from Wade Davis. Bourn tacked on a HR on the 9th, the first run off Luke Hochevar in 11 games, and the Tribe held on to stay a half-game off the wild-card pace, knocking the Royals 3.5 games back. Kansas City left 10 men on base.

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One of the most frustrating experiences for any pitcher has to be the well-pitched loss. You know the type I’m talking about. It’s the kind of game that occurs when both pitchers are dealing and the smallest breakthrough; a soft single up the middle with a runner on 2nd or a botched grounder by an infielder for instance, can determine the outcome. Unfortunately in those circumstances, somebody has to take a tough luck loss, even if that day’s pitcher struck out 15 while only allowing one hit. Well, without further adieu, I present to you the tough luck losers of 2013:

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We’re back with another season of the OOTP/HHS Baseball League. Some big news:

• Big League Debuts: Andy HHS, RJ Jackson (both with the Mariners)
• Players in AA: Bryan O’Connor, Dalton Mack, Hal Ensrud (Hartvig), Duke Sims, Brandon Robitaille, CJ Miller
• Suspended: Brandon Robitaille (7 days, for arguing balls and strikes)
• Traded: Nick Pain (from Pittsburgh to Oakland)
• New Player: Dan McCloskey, who left us for football, has been replaced by Charles Simone.

Complete notes:

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With just two weeks left in the season, Mike Trout will repeat as AL WAR champion and Andrew McCutchen, last year’s NL WAR runner-up, looks like the senior circuit’s champ. In second place are Josh Donaldson in the AL and Carlos Gomez in the NL.

Come again, you say? You’re forgiven if those two runners-up weren’t the names you were expecting to hear. Both of these players are new to baseball’s leader boards. After the jump, more on the new kids on the WAR block.

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Padres 2, @Pirates 0 — Andrew Cashner went the route and faced the minimum 27 batters, a franchise first, and his one-hitter briefly knocked the Pirates off their perch.

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Last season, Omar Vizquel retired after a 24-year major league career and many notable achievements. But, probably one you weren’t aware of is this – Vizquel is the only player to bat against both Jerry Reuss and Yu Darvish.

The search for such morsels of obscurity can be aided by consulting the Oracle of Baseball, one of the tools available on B-R in its “Frivolities” section. The tool lets you find linkages across baseball history from one player to another, based on common teammates. Thus, if you were to ask the Oracle to link Deacon White with Buster Posey, you could get an answer like:

Deacon White	played with	Frank Scheibeck	for the 1888 Detroit Wolverines	  
Frank Scheibeck	played with	Charley O'Leary	for the 1906 Detroit Tigers	  
Charley O'Leary	played with	Bruce Campbell	for the 1934 St. Louis Browns	  
Bruce Campbell	played with	Lou Boudreau	for the 1938 Cleveland Indians	  
Lou Boudreau	played with	Minnie Minoso	for the 1949 Cleveland Indians	  
Minnie Minoso	played with	Rich Gossage	for the 1976 Chicago White Sox	  
Rich Gossage	played with	Randy Johnson	for the 1994 Seattle Mariners	  
Randy Johnson	played with	Buster Posey	for the 2009 San Francisco Giants

This quiz is something like playing the Baseball Oracle. With a few wrinkles. Audience participation is required. Lots of answers (at least twenty-one) for you to shout out as you find them.

Thanks to our readers for identifying twenty-four correct answers to the quiz, and congratulations to RJ for finding the most correct answers. Answers are after the jump.

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@Twins 6, Rays 4 — Josmil Pinto planted a 3-run bomb on Joel Peralta in the 8th, capping Minnesota’s 4-run rally (all after 2 were out), as well as a general bullpen failure that brought Tampa closer to the pack.

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