these are a few of my favorite things: baseball players

Today marks the first day of MLB playoffs...which could very well be my favorite time of year, especially when the Cardinals are playing. Since living in Kentucky, this time of year evokes a slight homesickness in me, only because baseball is not appreciated as much here...everyone's already moved on to college football.

This year, almost all of my favorite major league players made the playoffs. Now, while I LOVE the Cardinals and usually anyone who plays for them (there are a few exceptions), this list would be boring if it was made up of players from one team. But these are my top three players to watch:

Magglio Ordonez--I was cheering for the Tigers to make the playoffs this year because of him. I first started watching Magglio when he played for the White Sox (one of my favorite AL teams, though I consider the NL to be a much superior league--not because of talent or record, but because of the DH). Plus, he just has a cool name.

Todd Helton--my dad and I would often compete in fantasy baseball together when I lived at home. Todd Helton was my prized possession for the required "rookie pick" on our team (my dad picked Mark Kotsay--also a good player, but he didn't earn as many points as Helton). And Helton's only gotten better since then.

Albert Pujols--of course, I couldn't NOT put him on the list. There is no better current baseball player than him (I'm not bias...you can ask anyone this question, and his name will be mentioned). But beyond baseball, this quote from his website sums up why I love him so much: "If you asked me about the pinnacle of 2006, you would probably be surprised to learn that winning the World Series or winning my first Gold Glove at first base was not the highlight moment of the season for me. My personal favorite moment during that season was seeing two of my friends and teammates come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That was the peak of my year!"