Pennant races are great and all. Wild races, too - all four of them. But we have those every year. We've got five weeks of baseball left, and here are five best things to watch down the stretch of the 2012 MLB season.

Can Mike Trout Win The MVP?
If the season ended today, Trout would probably be the choice for American League MVP, over Miguel Cabrera and Josh Hamilton, but the veterans are gaining on the rookie. Cabrera just crept past Trout in Slugging Percentage, and isn't far back now in Batting Average (Trout at .337, Cabrera .324). Hamilton's 35 Home Runs and 111 RBIs also jump off the stat sheet. There's little doubt that Hamilton and Cabrera will hit over the season's final month, but we don't know if Trout might fade. 

In the end, Cabrera and Trout both play for teams playing sniper in a pennant chase.=, and the most important numbers in the MVP race might be found in the standings, not the stat sheet.

Can The Nationals Win Without Stephen Strasburg?
The Washington Nationals are so serious about their half-wit idea to shut down Stephen Strasburg for the pennant run and the postseason, they have a 50-page presentation to back up their lunacy. (Why they didn't just sit him down in April and May is another question for another day.) 

But the Nationals four other starters - Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmerman, Edwin Jackson and Ross Detwiler - have all been lights out this year. As crazy as it sounds, the Nationals might not need Strasburg. The Nationals have the best record in baseball, and a schedule back-loaded with home games. It's not hard to imagine the Nats running away with the NL East and making a deep postseason run, even without Stephen Strasburg.

Will The Pirates, Orioles Or Athletics Actually Make The Playoffs?
 The Orioles haven't been in the postseason since 1997. The Pirates, 1992. The Oakland Athletics fielded a minor league team this year. But all three are square in the middle of the playoff race. My guess? One of the three, at most, will actually finish the deal. Not to be a kill-joy, but Oakland has a schedule back-loaded with road games, I still don't trust the Orioles starting pitching (but boy, can they hit), and the Pirates look like they're fading. I see Pittsburgh as having the best shot, however.

Can Roger Clemens still get big league hitters out?
This Roger Clemens comeback thing is probably going to happen, you guys, and as I wrote this morning, we should all embrace it. If Roger does actually pitch in the big leagues in Houston this season, it'll be great sport spectacle. The Astros will probably have to throw him in a September game against a non-contending team, to avoid fair competition issues, but it'll be must-see stuff. 50 years old and out of MLB for five years? And he still wants to put himself on a mound against the best in the world? Whether he pitches well or gets his ass rocked, it'll be a fun experiment, and good theater.

What will become of the LA Dodgers & The 250-Million Dollar Babies?
The Los Angeles Dodgers have fallen out of the sky to become the most exciting thing in sports. A new baseball superpower! Built in July! New Dodgers ownership put out a memo to baseball: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. And they've come in drove. A Joe Blanton from Philadelphia. A disgruntled Hanley Ramirez from Miami. And then the coup de grâce four-piece castoff deal with Boston.

Everyone in baseball is saying the Dodgers are crazy. But you know what? I bet you it'll work. Could they have gotten better value for their money in the offseason? I'm not so sure. Depends on whether the real Josh Beckett shows up, or the apathetic imposter. Depends on whether Carl Crawford is for real ready to play next year. Between Beckett, Crawford, Ramirez and Adriand Gonzalez, the Dodgers may have just acquired four superstars, to go with the three they already had. They bought low, even if the price was high. If the performances and production can match the talent, the Dodgers could dominate.

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