Preview/Prediction

With spring training almost over and the regular season about to begin, there's only one thing left to do: put on our prognostication hats one more time and issue an ultimate set of predictions for every team's final win-loss record in 2014.

The Cleveland Indians shocked the baseball world a year ago.

While the Cubs don't have a whole lot of decisions to make this spring, there are still a couple of spring position battles that have played out over the course of the last month. Even though there's a small sample size for most players, the numbers for each player speak for themselves. How well they've passed the "eye test" and how their numbers stack up against each other is how each player will be judged. 

Spring training is coming to a close and position battles are to be won or lost.

With the 2014 MLB season nearly upon us, the Boston Red Sox find themselves in an enviable position of defending their third World Series title in the last 10 years.

Whereas the 2014 American League MVP race will likely be between Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera again, the NL MVP race should be more wide open again. Andrew McCutchen will be in it, as will Yadier Molina, Buster Posey, Joey Votto and Bryce Harper. Just to name a few.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have high hopes for the 2014 season, after missing the playoffs in each of the past two years. Following back-to-back .500 seasons the D’Backs underwent an aggressive offseason makeover in an attempt to compete with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants in what’s expected to be a very competitive NL West race.

Before we go any further, let me state for the record, on March 8, that I am not declaring that I think the New York Yankees will be world champions in 2014. Not yet, anyway. But it's never too early to start examining the possibilities.

Spring training is important, but you cannot always judge regular-season success based on how people perform in this month of exhibitions. For example, some guys do great all spring but never seem to stick on a major league team.

On the flip side, some of the best players in baseball aren’t very good at spring training for some reason. They struggle but then get it together in time for the games that really count.

With Derek Jeter's final Opening Day game—an April 1 matchup against the Houston Astros—quickly approaching, the New York Yankees captain is just four hits away from passing Hall of Famer Paul Molitor for

• Derek Jeter
• MLB
• Preview/Prediction
• Records & Milestones