NL East

Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco is approaching two noteworthy milestones in 2011 but he is not the only one. Let's take a look at some of the milestones members of the Philadelphia Phillies are closing in on this upcoming baseball season. Slideshow adapted from this original post on Second String Blog.

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The countdown to one of the most anticipated seasons in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies began this past week when pitchers and catchers reported to Clearwater.  There hasn't been this much excitement surrounding the Phillies in a very long time, if ever, and for good reason.

The 2011 baseball season is right around the corner, and people are beginning to make their predictions.  Predictions are fun to do, but they mean very little.  The San Francisco Giants won the World Series last season, and very little people had the Giants winning it all.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Jimmy Rollins is an enigma.

Since the first day they arrived in town, the Washington Nationals promised that restocking the team's depleted farm system would be their top priority.

And since that first draft back in 2005, the team has been stocking their farm system with talented young pitchers. Then general manager Jim Bowden said that was the way to do it.

Do not take this the wrong way, I still do believe the Phillies will win the NL East. But I also have a feeling it won't be as easy as everyone thinks. 

Remember last season? In the preseason the Phillies were picked to easily win the division and make it to the World Series. But what actually happened was much different. They were second in the division behind the Braves for most of the season and only took first place in September. 

Here are the Depth Charts for the National League East this season.

Atlanta Braves

Starting Lineup

LF- Martin Prado

RF- Jason Heyward

3B- Chipper Jones- His 18^th season in MLB; 10 hits shy of 2,500

If you've not yet heard the speculation about the Ryan Howard for Albert Pujols trade, then you probably do not follow the Phillies or the Cardinals. 

Whether or not there is any validity to this rumor is anyone's guess, and most Phillies fans out there love the idea, but should they? 

Yes, Pujols is the premiere hitter in baseball. 

Yes, he is a right-handed bat; the right-handed bat the Phils, and pretty much every other team in baseball, so highly covets. 

As the NFL season draws to a close and national interest in the NBA continues to plummet on an annual basis, most avid sports fans will begin to direct their attention to baseball and the 2011 MLB season.

Yes! It's finally that time of year, with pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training earlier this week. 

Baseball spring training means new preseason favorites and predictions for the upcoming 2011 MLB Season.

Many baseball pundits, experts and so-called experts will be publishing their predictions for the 2011 season if they haven't already.

If the good Lord picked one weather day to represent spring training for every baseball team spread out over Florida and Arizona, he would have chosen today.

With clear blue skies and temperatures hovering around 80 degrees, the Washington Nationals picked up the pace on the fourth day of workouts for pitchers and catchers.

Yesterday’s big story was no doubt Stephen Strasburg's pain free throwing session.