There are real live baseball games being played today.

This of course makes it is a good day. The Jays are up against the Pirates at 1:05, and there is coverage on the radio. If you have mlb.tv, they start their spring training coverage today with the Yanks-Phillies at 1:05 and the Red Sox against Boston College at 7:05.

Also here's a hilarious JPA story over at The Classical.

One of my two favourite books arrived at my door this week in the form of the 2012 edition of the Baseball America Prospect Handbook.  This year's handbook has added a couple of new wrinkles in evaluating each team's top 30 minor league prospects.

You've probably heard the terrible news from the world of popular music (though if you're younger than, say, 40, it might not have registered much). The great Davy Jones, lead singer of The Monkees, passed away today (TMZ has the story here.). This has caused an avalanche of Social Mediots of a Certain Age to tearfully post mournful remembories of the pint-sized lead singer and prom date of one Marcia Brady.

But did you know ... baseball had its own Davy Jones?

Ken Rosenthal is tweeting that MLB has expanded the playoffs from eight to ten teams, starting in the 2012 season. The official announcement will occur tomorrow. Any further details will be noted as they become available.

Happy Leap Day! I promised I'd get these up by the end of the month. Glad I had that extra day. 27 Bauxites entered the 2011 Record Prediction Contest - the most ever! Click through to find out who's got a crystal ball and who just has a crystal skull.

You know, those 1992-93 Blue Jays were pretty good -- and rarer than I first thought or expected.

Not sure what made me think to do this, but if I've counted right, there have only been 13 occasions when a franchise won (at least) two consecutive World Series championships and only seven franchises overall have accomplished the feat. The Yankees have done it four times to lead the way (of course) while the A's (in two different cities) have pulled off the feat three times.

I was just about to post a thread exactly like this myself, as I've had the MLB Network on in th background all day. but I see in another thread that valued Bauxite JustinD has already beaten me to it. Over to you,. Justin ...

"Don't know where else to post this, but thought this might spark some baseball talk. Been watching the MLB Network and they're doing a Top 10 Right Now segment where they break down the Top 10 at each position. So far, from what I've seen ...

In the past 12 years the Jays have been, well, kind of trapped. 6 years of 3rd place, 1 in 2nd, 1 in 5th, and now 4 straight years of 4th place. During this time attendance has been as mediocre as the team. But when do those fans come out? What does it take to get a crowd? Would it be smart for the Jays to spend millions on stars to push them over 90 wins, push for a move to the AL Central (easier competition) or (financially) is it best to stick as is with the Yankees & Red Sox and perpetual 3rd/4th place finishes.

The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Rick VandenHurk to a non-guaranteed split major league deal.  Fellow righty Alan Farina, reocvering from Tommy John surgery, has been put on the 60-Day Disabled List to make room.

Mother Nature ruined the action on the field in Rochester, New York in late August but a chance encounter with a World Series hero from 1992 made sure Mother Nature wouldn't ruin the day off the field.

Jose Bautista joined The Fan 590 in Toronto with Brady and Lang to discuss handling the off-season attention as a superstar player, his off-season workout routine, playing right field exclusively this season, wanting the Toronto Blue Jays to acquire another bat to give him some protection in the lineup, and the Tampa Bay Rays being picked as the early favorite to win the American League East.

Abbreviated transcript || Podcast (Bautista interview starts the show)

I thought this was a great interview, and not just for the Toronto content. In this interview Dirk talks about the tough time he had in Toronto with half of the Jays roster. He is currently working on his third book which will cover his time in Toronto and he is very mad at some Blue Jays. The interview suggests the stress caused Dirk to self medicate to some extent and get into a very difficult personal situation. It's worth the read.

Vegas win totals are beginning to pop up and the Jays are at their highest total in recent memory, 81.5 wins... which of course puts them in 4th in the division and still a whopping 11.5 games behind the Yankees and 6 games behind the Red Sox/Rays.

Anders, Thomas and I reconvened to talk about the 2012 schedule, the AL West, and the 2009 draft. Listen here.

Today's POTD looks at a former Jay with Canadian roots and a lefty looking to land a spot in Toronto in 2012.