MLB

The 2016 MLB season is set to begin on Sunday, April 3, with a tripleheader of games that concludes with a World Series rematch between the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals on Sunday Night Baseball.

In the meantime, teams are wrapping up their spring schedules and putting the finishing touches on their Opening Day rosters. For the most part, however, we know how all 30 clubs will stack up heading into the year.

We've been told for years that spring training stats don't matter, that buying into the hype they produce only leads to disappointment once the regular season gets underway. More often than not, that tends to be the case.

Yet there are always a handful of players that prove that theory wrong, and we've honed in on five of the spring's biggest stars—four position players and a pitcher, listed in no particular order—that are poised to do just that.

There's an old—and erroneous—cliche about the Chinese symbol for "crisis" being the same as the one for "opportunity."

In the case of Chris Sale, the Chicago White Sox and any prospect-rich contenders seeking an ace via trade, it might end up being true.

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Rymer Liriano suffered a gruesome injury Sunday when taking a pitch to the face in an exhibition game in Phoenix against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Continue for updates.

If you're not a fan of bat-flipping, don't tell that to David Ortiz.

The Boston Red Sox slugger has been known to flip his bat after hitting a home run throughout his 20-year career, and he is not a fan of the chatter that occurs when talking about showmanship at the plate.

Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf released a statement Sunday in what looks to be the end of the ongoing Adam and Drake LaRoche saga.

Reinsdorf said he met with Adam LaRoche and other White Sox personnel and added that employees of the team will be refraining from speaking publicly on the matter again, per Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune: