Baseball

Stephen Strasburg dominated hitters for five months in 2012. If he has his way, he'll have a chance to do it for six or seven months in 2013.

As spring training begins to wind down, each organization continues to make rounds of cuts, as they option many of their roster hopefuls to either a specific minor league level or simply re-assign them to minor league camp.

For many of these players, it seems as though it will be only a matter of time until they either return to or reach the major leagues for the first time

The Toronto Blue Jays have some of the biggest question marks in regard to positional battles. With such an influx of talent, many opening day jobs are up for grabs. But with such a vast amount of assets, it will be tough to sit a very skilled player. As my father would always say, "It is a good problem to have".

So who gets the nod?

Winning a division is simple.

On paper.

If it was just on paper, the Detroit Tigers could hoist their third consecutive American League Central Division Championship trophy right now.

But that's why they play 162 games over seven grueling months, and fight so hard to be successful.

Every team needs a blueprint to carving out their championship plan, and the Tigers have been pretty good at following their own blueprint the last two seasons.

Looking to complete an undefeated run through the 2013 World Baseball Classic and make history, the Dominican Republic will have its sights set on a perfect 8-0 when it faces Puerto Rico in the WBC finale on Tuesday night.

The D.R. has already beaten the Puerto Ricans twice, including a 2-0 victory on March 16 that helped push the Dominicans into the semifinals.

In front of what's likely to be a sellout crowd at AT&T Park at 8 p.m. ET, the baseball world will see a new champion crowned in the WBC.

After spending the last two years trying to get Brandon Belt to change his hitting mechanics, the San Francisco Giants want another one of their top prospects to rework his stance according to Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area. Baggarly wrote,

Coming into spring training, the A's had five potential starters battling for playing time at second base in 2013.  Surely the A's could find a starter in a pool of players consisting of Jemile Weeks, Scott Sizemore, Jed Lowrie, Adam Rosales and even Andy Parrino.

Yet the A's find themselves just more than two weeks from opening day and nobody has emerged from the crowd.  

The Cincinnati Reds are considering moving last year’s closer Aroldis Chapman to the starting rotation this season. With less than three weeks left in spring training, the team hasn’t yet made a decision, but that didn’t stop the pitcher from telling the team he wants to close.

On paper, the Los Angeles Dodgers look great.  When you look at their current roster, it looks menacing and capable of winning the National League West.  But let's be honest: The team has plenty of question marks going into the 2013 season, and player injuries are at the top of that list.

Thanks to six innings from southpaw Wandy Rodriguez and a home run from Carlos Santana, the Dominicans were able to pull off a 2-0 victory against Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and earn a trip to San Francisco.

The game was destined to be a close one from the get-go. A pitcher's duel was in full swing until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Santana cranked a homer to right field off of Puerto Rico's Orlando Roman.