Best Slideshows - League

Major League Baseball is a funny game, it's not like the NBA where guys can just play offense and win games.  Baseball requires a franchise to have dominant pitching that will shutdown the opposing offense players.  

A top of the line pitcher is one who'll take the rubber under his control and dictate what happens next through out the course of a game.

Sadly, there aren't quite as many of these guys out there as you would think.

So who are the top 10 franchise pitchers?

Buster Posey and the San Francisco Giants will head into the year looking to repeat as World Champions.

Before baseball season can start though, the NCAA Tournament will have to declare a winner. So why not make a mix of the two sports? After all, the best part of March Madness is watching the bracket come out for the first time on Selection Sunday.

If MLB were to adopt a ranking and selection process, here's how the bracket would look for the 2011 season.

The 2011 MLB season is just around the corner, and teams are starting to move into combat mode with spring training winding down and so are the top 10 performers of this year's spring.

Spring training is when players want to set their name in stone.  With a top performance in just a couple of games, a manager or GM could decide, "This is our guy to start the season at this position."

Besides a few household names known by the average fan, we have seen a surprising spring by a fair share of players.

The minor leagues have as much talent in 2011 as ever. The system is overflowing with No. 1 starting talent (Matt Moore, Jeremy Hellickson, Zach Britton), 30-plus homer hitters (Mike Moustakas, Jesus Montero) and future batting champions (Lonnie Chisenhall, Freddie Freeman).

And those are just the guys who are playing at Double-A or higher.

We're just a couple short weeks away from meaningful baseball.

All the offseason moves, the talk from experts and promise of young prospects will come to a head and we'll once again be reminded of why we not only love this game, but hate when it isn't around.

The most compelling for me is Opening Day. I love it. I make the jaunt to Seattle every year to watch my Mariners embark on another campaign, even though I know the outcome may not make me do back flips.

On a national level, though, there are so many intriguing stories.

"Just give me 25 guys on the last year of their contracts; I’ll win a pennant every year"

-Sparky Anderson

A contract year seems to always bring out the best in players. From being a good teammate inside the clubhouse to playing well on the field, nothing seems to motivate, and focus, players like a contract year. 

Nowadays, with massive amounts of money on the line, and with teams willing to pay big bucks for a player with only a season or two of proven success, players on their contract year have a lot on the line.

Today, baseball fans view the American League as the tougher league, due to its usage of the designated hitter.  Within the American League, the Eastern division is regarded as the most talented and toughest division to play in.  It has been this way for a long time.  

So, when you have a division with such a notoriety, there had to have been a plethora of amazing players to give it that notoriety.  That is what I will be examining today; the greatest of those amazing players that gave (or are still giving) the AL East the reputation it has today.  

Spring training is upon us, and for baseball nuts like me, it's time to start scouting for fantasy baseball.  Whether you like the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees or even a random team like the Arizona Diamondbacks, there's no denying that fantasy baseball is tons of fun!  Soon, the trash-talking will be flying high in the draft room and new rivalries will be forged.

A few days ago, we covered the top rookies in the National League during the 2010 season that will be looking to avoid the dreaded sophomore jinx for 2011. History clearly tells us that at least one or possibly more will inevitably fall through the cracks and flame out a la Mark Fidrych or Joe Charboneau.

Adam Wainwright is the next victim for Tommy John surgery. With this said, pitchers are the likely victim of this surgery. 

Not to mention, great pitchers seem to be the victims, like Kerry Wood, Stephen Strasburg and Chris Carpenter.

This UCL injury will not stop with Wainwright. There will be many pitchers to come that suffer from this torn ligament and there will be many pitchers that face other injuries as well.

The body was just not built to throw the ball 90-plus miles per hour over a long time period.