Pat Burrell

The Giants did not expect to start their trek to a repeat title like this.

The Giants hit a road block on Thursday's opening day at Dodger Stadium, kicking the ball around in the sixth inning.

Miguel Tejada botched a throw to second with a runner at first with one out, followed by a rare Posey throwing error with the bases loaded. Just nanoseconds before, Posey made a great save on a pitch by Lincecum in the dirt.

Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell—after the 2010 season, we feel like we know these guys.

We saw them hit. We watched them orchestrate a dramatic transformation of the Giants clubhouse with their veteran leadership. We know their sense of humor, and we rattle off tales of their college days together with autobiographical familiarity, as if we had tagged along for the shenanigans too.

By God, we even learned their underwear preferences over the course of the 2010 season.

It's not a bad problem to have, but Bruce Bochy has admitted it, the San Francisco Giants have a competition for the starting spot in left field.

This is something the Giants haven't experienced in some time, what with Barry Bonds being the left fielder in the past.

But the Giants should be happy with this. Bonds is gone and they have three viable contenders to start in left field with each bringing their own unique pros and cons to the lineup.

For the sake of the argument, I am going to eliminate the Brandon Belt possibility from the equation.

For 15 years, Giants managers were blessed with one of the easiest lineup decisions in history—putting Barry Bonds in left field. And for 15 years, it was a position that didn't need to concern fans or coaches—if you had a five-year-old making the lineups for the San Francisco Giants, they would, without fail, know who to put in left field. 

Then they had Fred Lewis, Randy Winn, Eugenio Velez, John Bowker, and Brian Horwitz. That's right, those guys.

With Major League Baseball's spring training just around the corner, most teams are about done with their offseason shopping.

But for most clubs, that's just the first step—even once everyone has signed, there are still big decisions to be made about who will play and where.

Here's a look at each team's biggest position battle heading into Spring Training.

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Jayson Werth became a fan favorite in his four seasons with the Phillies, be it because of his great production on the field, his blue-collar attitude and hard work, or his beard.

Werth his 95 home runs, batted in 300 runs, and stole 60 bases. He was the power right-handed bat that balanced a lefty-dominated middle of the lineup. He also was very good defensively, both with his fielding and his arm.

He was very productive for the Phillies. So productive, in fact, he became too pricey to keep.

Down two games to none in the World Series, the Texas Rangers desperately needed some home cookin’, and more importantly needed a win in Game 3. The guy they relied on for a big performance was Colby Lewis and like in his three postseason games prior, Lewis delivered.

This year's free-agent class is fairly weak overall. This is true of the available outfielders as well. There is a lot of good talent at the top of the class, but from there, it declines fairly quickly.

With many teams looking to fill a hole in their outfield, you can expect a few bidding wars to occur over some of these players.

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The 2010 World Series will commence on Wednesday evening from San Francisco.  It can last as long as nine days or as few as five.  It should be interesting to see how this unlikely World Series will play out.  

Pitching match-ups will be at the forefront, but this slideshow will attempt to go even deeper. I will examine all things that need mentioning and present fun facts for each game.  

Here are some major league reasons to watch this 2010 World Series between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants.  

Much has been said and written about the Giants lackluster offense.

The team batted .257 in 2010, finishing sixteenth while the Rangers hit .276 and finished first.

On the other hand, both teams did hit 162 Home runs finishing tied for tenth.

But pushing aside generalized offensive statistics, something strange happened during the course of the year that only keen eyes were privy to.

The Giants cut up opposing teams' aces.