For Pitchers, National League Really Is an Easier Out  —  The quip has become a chorus.  —  In debating whether Barry Zito will earn his $126 million from the San Francisco Giants after posting a combined 3.85 earned run average with the Oakland Athletics the last two seasons, doubters say, "But he is going to the National League."

Jays no longer playing second fiddle to Yanks, Sox  —  For the last five seasons, the Toronto Blue Jays have been fighting what sometimes feels like a losing battle.  —  Locked into a division with baseball's two biggest super powers, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, the Blue Jays have felt overwhelmed and undermanned.

Pirates' new owner embraces life in the open  —  Nutting's bold personality in board rooms, passion for the outdoors bely a reclusive image brought by years of silence about baseball  —  By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  —  By all accounts, the personality of Barney Dreyfuss …

Writers Scrutinize Big Mac and Themselves  —  In an article that ran Wednesday — the day after he and his fellow baseball writers emphatically rejected Mark McGwire's candidacy for the Hall of Fame — the Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Stephen Brunt recalled a news conference …