Top 5 MLB stories of 2012

Because its season spans 162 games, its playoffs feature a month of frenetic, day-after-day drama and its offseason traverses a topsy-turvy mishmash of signings and trades, baseball finds itself chock full of story lines at the end of every year, enough to fill a list 10 times the size of this.

So apologies are due to the outfield-fly rule. And to the playoff benching of the game's highest-paid player who during his free time proceeded to hit on a couple of women in the stands. Plus the coulda-been batting champion whose agent concocted a number of fake websites as part of an elaborate attempt at covering up his use of synthetic testosterone.

Before the ugliness of the Steroid Era arrives yet again with the January revelation of the Hall of Fame vote, it's time to celebrate and appreciate another year of a sport studded with intrigue, amusement and, in the grand tradition of baseball, spirited debate. – By Jeff Passan

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2. The rise and fall of powerhouses – The inverse fortunes of the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers found a flashpoint Aug. 24, when they pulled off the stunner of all stunning deals. Gone from Boston were Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett, more than $250 million remaining on their contracts, for what amounted to salary relief. The Red Sox, cratering under Bobby Valentine amid a mutiny against him, were hitting the reset ... more
2. The rise and fall of powerhouses – The inverse fortunes of the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers found a flashpoint Aug. 24, when they pulled off the stunner of all stunning deals. Gone from Boston were Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett, more than $250 million remaining on their contracts, for what amounted to salary relief. The Red Sox, cratering under Bobby Valentine amid a mutiny against him, were hitting the reset button. And the Dodgers, emboldened by more than $6 billion in local television money coming, were beginning to flex the muscle they'd expose again and again, most notably with a $147 million deal for Zack Greinke. Los Angeles, less than two years out of bankruptcy, is baseball's new powerhouse, gobbling up big contracts like Pac-Man does fruit. Boston is rebuilding, starting anew in the strongest AL East yet. Two franchises. One deal. Countless implications yet to come. less