Pettitte, the MLB all-time leader in playoff wins, is expected to officially announce his retirement at a news conference at Yankee Stadium on Friday.

Many saw this coming, especially after the Yankees were disappointedly eliminated from the 2010 MLB Playoffs against the Texas Rangers.

No pitcher in Major League Baseball history has more playoff wins than Pettitte, who has 19. The next closest is John Smoltz with 15, followed by Tom Glavine with 14 and Roger Clemens with 12.

ESPN reported Thursday that Pettitte phoned Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner to tell him of his decision.

Pettitte will turn 39 on June 15 and has made hints about retiring for several seasons, but only starting talking seriously about it last season.

The Yankees seemed to be holding out hope that, as he’s done in the past, Pettitte would reconsider as spring training drew closer. And that hope became more urgent when the Yankees failed to sign Cliff Lee as a free agent this winter.

Hart lead after round 1 with 13 followed by Ramirez with 9, Ortiz with 8 and Cabrera with 7. Since bet on baseball star, Miguel was the last batter in the initial session he got a brief reprieve, with Ortiz beginning the action in the second part. “Big Papi” then proceeded to bang out 13 more bombs for a total of 21. He was matched by Ramirez who also ended up with 21, setting up a classic final of big man against small man.

The third segment proved to be anticlimactic as Ortiz put 11 baseballs into orbit, while Ramirez only managed 5.

Still the contest provided some spectacular moments to the annual all star affair as most of the sluggers managed to hit tape measure shots, with a few of them landing on the tarp in center field. This is one area that has been reached by only a few individuals each season. The scoreboard was also flashing the total distance each ball traveled, adding to the overall excitement of the affair.

You can find different odds from different casinos, but the defending World Series champion New York Yankees are the favorite from the casinos to win it all again, due to how good they were last year and their acquisition of outfielder Curtis Granderson, formerly of the Detroit Tigers. The current odds for the Yankees are 7/2, which means that you would win seven dollars for every two dollars that you bet.

The defending National League champions Philadelphia Phillies are also a heavy favorite. They lost pitching ace Cliff Lee (now with the Seattle Mariners) and replaced him in their rotation with former Cy Young winner and two-time twenty game winner Roy Halladay, formerly of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Phillies odds of winning the World Series are currently at 6/1.

The always competitive Boston Red Sox are right behind the Phillies with 7/1 odds. They won 95 games last year and the Wild Card, but still finished 8 games behind the Yankees and were swept in the playoffs by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. They made several roster changes and feel they have upgraded their defense at third base (Adrian Beltre), shortstop (Marco Scutaro) and centerfield (Mike Cameron). They also signed workhouse pitcher John Lackey from the Angels and made him their number 3 starter in an already impressive rotation.

Last season, they traded All Star first baseman Mark Teixeira to New York. This season they have lost third baseman Chone Figgins to the Seattle Mariners, right fielder Vladimir Guerrero to their rivals the Texas Rangers, and starting pitcher John Lackey to the Boston Red Sox. In spite of these losses, the Angels keep finding their way to the top.

When a well-oiled team is as reliable as the Angels are, they need very little tweaking during the off-season. Their most significant acquisition was the signing of designated hitter and 2009 World Series MVP Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui. The veteran slugger could be the last piece of the puzzle that the Angels have needed to get them back to the World Series.

With the absence of Chone Figgins, the leadoff role will fall to shortstop Erick Aybar. If he can get comfortable early then the Angels batters should be off to the start of a huge season. The Angels were the only team in Major League baseball to hit no Grand Slams last season. With the powerful lineup that they have this season, that should change.

Look for big things from the Angels this year. Once again, the AL West is theirs for the taking. Bodog.com is currently placing the baseball betting odds at 15/1 on the Angels winning the World Series this year.