Baseball

Here we have the Kansas City Royals' 2014 starting rotation: James Shields, Jason Vargas, Yordano Ventura, Jeremy Guthrie and Bruce Chen. It's not particularly pretty, but I'll go to battle with it. Kansas City has a great chance to end a 29-year playoff drought this year and those five, for better or worse, are a crucial part of that chance.

In the long term, however, much more is in flux.

The St. Louis Cardinals have always reveled in the underdog role.

They were the underdog against the Texas Rangers in the 2011 World Series. They were the underdog against the Los Angeles Dodgers in last year's playoffs. They’ve been the underdog against just about everyone in past Octobers.

Except for this year.

For young, emerging superstars, contracts and earning power often become a combination of risk, reward and timing. For Mike Trout, the stars aligned in the form of a $144.5 million contract extension from the Los Angeles Angels, setting the once-in-a-generation all-around baseball genius up for now and later.

Nobody likes to lose, even in spring training.

Sure, the games and the statistics don't technically count, and those who put too much stock into what goes on during the preseason typically find themselves disappointed during the regular season.

But that doesn't mean that we should completely discount the spring, which gives us the answers to some of the questions that we had heading into the exhibition season and presents us with winners and losers, both on the field and off of it.

The Detroit Tigers signed two-time MVP Miguel Cabrera on Thursday to the highest payout in MLB history per Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.

There has never been a book that chronicled the entire history of a baseball park by the year. That is, not until now. Author Sam Pathy spent the last 25 years of his life researching for Wrigley Field Year by Year, spending between 10,000 and 12,000 hours on it. His passion for the project matches the passion that so many devoted Cubs fans have for the magical ballpark. 

While 2015 and the return of Matt Harvey will likely be the realistic time to start discussing playoff odds for the New York Mets, this team has plenty of exciting individuals that should keep fans watching throughout the season.

Through the rest of this slideshow, I have made five bold predictions about the Mets 2014 season. Some of these predictions you might agree with, while others you may find absurd, but that is what makes them bold predictions.

The Kansas City Royals acquired the services of Omar Infante through free agency this offseason.  It was a clear move to improve a clear weak spot in the team's offense.  It may not have been a solid move toward consistency at the position.

The St. Louis Cardinals have a reputation for getting the most out of their players, especially rookies.

From the time Weeghman Park, the park that would eventually become Wrigley Field, opened and the time the Cubs played their first game there, two full years would pass. Even though Weeghman Park opened on April 23, 1914, it housed the Chicago Federals of the Federal League; the Cubs didn't play a game there until April 20, 1916. The unlikely story of how the Cubs became housed in what is now viewed as a baseball and national landmark is the subject of this book by The Sporting News writer Sean Deveney.