uspw_6536620After giving his future as manager of the Colorado Rockies some thought over the past 48 hours, Jim Tracy decided to resign from his post, the team announced on Sunday.

On Friday, Tracy had met with the team's new director of major-league operations, Bill Geivett, to discuss the vision each man had for the direction of the club heading into 2013. After having those discussions, it's apparent Tracy agreed with the vast majority of Rockies fans who view the situation as a sinking ship coming off their third consecutive disappointing season and a franchise-worst 64-98 record.

Despite that awful finish, Tracy ends his run in Colorado with a respectable 294-308 record. Of course most of those victories were attained in 2009 when he took over for fired manager Clint Hurdle on May 28. From that point on, Tracy helped lead Colorado to a remarkable 74-42 finish. That was good enough to clinch the wild card and earned Tracy the National League Manager of the Year award, but in the grand scheme of things the run may have proven to be a worst-case scenario for Colorado as it solidified Tracy's status and the status of a front office that may have been on the way out.

Ian Desmond and Michael Morse celebrate Tyler Moore's big hit. (AP)

Score and situation: The Washington Nationals stole Game 1 from the defending World Champion St. Louis Cardinals with a dramatic 3-2 win at Busch Stadium.

Leading lads: Pinch-hitter Tyler Moore came through with a two-run single off Marc Rzepczynski in the eighth, which proved to be the game-winner for the Nationals. Their bullpen was also instrumental in the victory as Ryan Mattheus escaped a bases loaded, nobody out jam in the seventh on just two pitches. The second resulted in an around-the-horn double play off the bat of Yadier Molina.

Head hangers: It was a rough afternoon for the middle of the Cardinals order. Matt Holliday, Allen Craig and Yadier Molina combined to go 0 for 11 with one run scored and two walks. Shortstop Pete Kozma committed a critical error starting the eighth which opened the door for Washington. Kozma also popped out with the tying run in scoring position in the bottom half.

(Getty Images)Keeping focused and staying motivated for 162 games can be a very challenging task for even the best of major-league teams. That wasn't a problem for the Cincinnati Reds during their division championship season in 2012, however, or at least it wasn't a problem after they failed to outright win the Ohio Cup from their cross-state rival Cleveland Indians in June.

The Reds entered that series having already swept Cleveland back in Cincinnati earlier in the season. All they had to do was steal one game at Progressive Field to win the season series. Just one victory and the Ohio Cup was theirs. But they couldn't do it, and according to outfielder Ryan Ludwick and several of his teammates, those results were not only disappointing, but unacceptable as well.

From MLB.com:

"We were 3-0 in Cincinnati. Each day we came to the ballpark in Cleveland, we were trying to get the Ohio Cup," Reds left fielder Ryan Ludwick explained on Friday. "Day 1, we didn't get it. Day 2, we didn't get it. And Day 3, we had three chances and we didn't get the cup. There were some people upset we didn't get the cup, me being one of them.

"A couple of us came up with the idea of having a cup for every series."

That's right, to counteract their disappointment and hopefully provide motivation and inspiration for future series, the Reds created their own reward in the form of a two-foot high, Stanley Cup style trophy known most of the time as "The Cup."

(Getty Images)Score and situation: The Cincinnati Reds jumped out to a 1-0 series lead with a resilient 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.

Leading lads: With Johnny Cueto lost early to back spasms, scheduled Game 3 starter Mat Latos volunteered to take the ball and turned in a fantastic four-inning relief outing, holding the Giants to a Buster Posey solo homer. Sam LeCure wasn't too bad either, tossing an inning and two-thirds scoreless to bridge the gap to Latos. Offensively, Brandon Phillips launched a two-run homer to open the scoring in the third and added an RBI single in the ninth.

Head hangers: Matt Cain was on the receiving end of those two home runs and saw his postseason streak of innings without an earned run allowed end at 23 and two-thirds. The top three hitters in San Francisco's order — Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro and Pablo Sandoval — went a combined 2 for 14. 

(AP)The opportunity was there for Josh Hamilton.

In the very first inning, he was gift-wrapped a first and third situation that could have put himself and the Texas Rangers back on track to another extended postseason run.

That crucial at-bat didn't last long, though, because after just one pitch the bases were clear. No, not because Hamilton had cracked a three-run homer off Joe Saunders, but rather the all-star outfielder had rolled into another feeble 4-6-3 double play that killed a rally.

That was just the beginning of a night that could not have gone any worse or been less productive for Hamilton or his Rangers, whose season ended with a disappointing 5-1 loss to the Orioles.

That's by no means an exaggeration, either. One pitch, two outs his first time up. His second at-bat was a three-pitch strikeout. The third was a one-pitch ground out to the pitcher. He then finished the evening — and likely his Rangers' tenure — with another three-pitch strikeout representing the tying run in the eighth. That one drew the loudest boos of the entire game from a very ornery 46,931 at the Ballpark in Arlington.

(Getty Images)Score and situation: In the first ever wild-card play-in game, the St. Louis Cardinals advanced to the NL Division Series with a wild 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field.

Leading lads: Kyle Lohse rewarded Mike Matheny's faith with a strong five and two-third innings. The only two runs he allowed came on David Ross' controversial second inning home run after home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg awarded a late timeout, wiping away a strikeout. Offensively, Allen Craig stepped up again with a big RBI double in the fourth. Also, Matt Holliday continues to be a strong man, as evidenced by his sixth inning home run.

[Related: Terrible call mars first wild-card game]

Head hangers: In his final game, Chipper Jones went 1 for 5 and committed a throwing error on a would be double play ball that opened the door for the Cardinals three-run fourth inning rally. In the seventh, Dan Uggla's bobble and throwaway led directly to two more runs. Rookie shortstop Andrelton Simmons also committed an error in that frame. Earlier, Simmons' failed safety squeeze attempt killed a Braves rally after he was ruled out for interference.

For the first time ever, four wild-card teams will battle it out in the brand new one-game, sudden-death format on Friday that sends the loser packing and the winner into a League Division Series against the top seed.

With the St. Louis Cardinals playing the Atlanta Braves and the Baltimore Orioles taking on the Texas Rangers, it's almost guaranteed to be a wild day. Chances are a hero or two will emerge that currently flies under the radar with casual fans. Call them sleepers. Call them unheralded role players. In some cases maybe even late bloomers. Call them whatever you like, they will step forward today and become household names by tomorrow.

Here are four players who could step up big on the big stage. Perhaps it will be one of them, perhaps it'll be somebody deeper down the bench. We'll have to watch to find out.

(AZ Central Sports)In news we could see coming for the past couple of months, the Arizona Diamondbacks officially relieved indefinitely suspended play-by-play man Daron Sutton and color analyst Mark Grace of their announcing duties on Thursday after both finished the 2012 season on the sidelines.

Though the announcement was expected by many, particularly in Sutton's case, there remained a lot of unanswered questions surrounding the circumstances of his suspension and overall status leading up to his dismissal today. When it was first announced on June 28, there was speculation ranging all the way from personal matters to philosophical differences to Sutton's choice of attire in the television booth. The team dismissed the dress code rumors pretty quickly, but it wasn't until CEO Derrick Hall's statements on Thursday morning that any definitive light was shed on the situation.

From the Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro:

Until Thursday, the team had been cryptic about its reasons for suspending Sutton. Hall said Sutton was not too negative on the air nor did he have any run-ins with the law.

"It's things that have happened over the years," Hall said, when asked to elaborate on what he meant by "philosophical differences."

"The collaboration here of our personnel, dealing with Daron and us trying to go in a direction that was different than he wanted to go as a broadcaster. It's no knock on him. It's style differences and differences of philosophies, as I mentioned. Daron's going to be a good broadcaster for years to come, I certainly hope."