It’s been a great year for baseball. The pennant races are heating up and there are some new teams and surprises in the middle of the hunt.

Obviously the Tampa Bay Rays have been baseball’s biggest story and why not? They’ve finally shown the potential that has been talked about for years and they’ve done it without superstars that normally dominate the AL East. The pitching has led much of the renaissance with Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza holding together the rotation. Although he has battled injuries Troy Percival, who struggled mightily in Detroit, has been solid as the closer. The only part that could add to the story of the Rays would be Rocco Baldelli returning and making an impact. That, however, is unlikely but there was a nice piece about Baldelli on espn.com describing his struggles this season.

The Rays are refreshing from the annual Red Sox-Yankees race. As much fun as a Red Sox-Yankees series provides it has lacked in the last two years — partly due to the Yankees declining and largely due to the animosities between the clubs subsiding.

The best story of baseball, at least right now, is the race between the Cubs and Brewers in the NL Central. This emerging rivalry is great for what many consider one of the weaker divisions of baseball. That no longer holds true as Lou Pinella has guided the Cubs to a three-game lead over the Brewers.

For the Brewers, the series has given the team a rival — something it hasn’t had since joining the NL Central in 1997. It’s always nice to see different teams involved in a pennant race and the Brewers and Rays are providing that this season.

The trade deadline comes Thursday and the Brewers and Cubs pulled off two of the biggest deals thus far. With Milwaukee landing CC Sabathia the Brewers have a solid 1-2 punch with him and Ben Sheets that might contend against the Cubs. Chicago has taken the first two games of the four-game set this week in a series that will only get more intense. Hopefully the battle for the NL Central crown will be on the line the rest of the way because the Cubs and Brewers will square off for a three-game set in the last series of the season.

After a thrilling 6-5 come-from-behind Chicago win Monday night, the big duel came Tuesday night with Sheets going against Carlos Zambrano. The Cubs starter was amped for the game, throwing eight innings of shutout ball and breaking a bat over his knee after popping out. Sheets was touched for six runs in 5 1/3 innings. Watching Zambrano pitch like he did Tuesday was fun. He is one of the most animated pitchers of the game, but also very, very dominant.

Meanwhile, another first-place Chicago team was taking on the hometown Twins Tuesday night.

On Tuesday the Twins closed to a half game back with a 6-4 comeback win, highlighted by a two-out, two-run double by Justin Morneau. Two-out hitting was a calling card for Minnesota when it made a run two years ago, so it’s certainly a good sign that Morneau is at it again.

It’s difficult to say what will become of the Twins down the stretch, but if they keep it close they might sneak into the playoffs.

The White Sox have been known to choke down the stretch, and the Central Division will probably be decided in the final weeks.

The Angels just got ridiculously good by trading for Mark Teixeira, and some have already pegged them as the favorite for the World Series. Los Angeles gave up first baseman Casey Kotchman and a pair of prospects and the Angels already own an 11 1/2 game lead over Texas.

Oh, how nice it would be to go out and land a big player at the trade deadline while your club is in the middle of a pennant race.