Preview/Prediction

In the past week the Pittsburgh Pirates have extended outfielder Andrew McCutchen and the San Diego Padres have extended outfielder Cameron Maybin.

This is not your granddaddy’s Major Leagues. The sport that is forever transfixed by tradition is changing things up, and it’s going to be mightily magical.

There will be one wild card spot added to each league, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Sure, there are some that hate the new format, but I say give it a chance, because there is a great deal to like here.

With the 2012 season nearing, many fantasy baseball owners are trying to pick up on any clues as to which young, late-round picks have the potential to breakout this season.

Fantasy owners know very well that championships are not won in the early rounds of a fantasy baseball draft. It is about how owners can find the diamonds in the rough that nobody is talking about in the mid-to-late rounds of the draft.

This slideshow will point out a young stud at each position that has the potential for a breakout season, and can lead your fantasy team to a championship.

The 2012 New York Mets still have a lot of question marks going into the upcoming season. While Jason Bay's hitting, David Wright's trade possibility and the health of Johan Santana are going to be three big topics of discussion throughout the entire season, no other Met is as big of an X-factor to the team's potential success than Mike Pelfrey.

The Chicago White Sox went all in in 2011.

They busted.

When that happens, those who had losing hands are supposed to walk away from the table. Of the people principally responsible for the collapse, though, only two—manager Ozzie Guillen, hitting coach Greg Walker and pitcher Mark Buehrle—actually exited.

In 2011, the Arizona Diamondbacks had their big breakout year. Their right-fielder also had his big breakout year in 2011 and looks poised to build on the season in which he finished 4th in the NL MVP voting. Justin Upton has finally put together the season that Diamondback fans have been waiting for since he was called up to the majors at the ripe age of 19. The 2012 season seems to be shaping into the "perfect storm" for the Dbacks superstar.

Baseball perfection is one of the most exciting, rare and unpredictable feats in all of sports. Yet here I am trying to predict who will hurl the next ultimate gem.

The last time we saw one, Roy Halladay pulled it off in a 1-0 victory over the then Florida Marlins in May of 2010. The fact that Halladay has done it so recently makes him an automatic candidate to pull it again, never mind the postseason no-no he threw that same year.

The past five seasons have been unkind to the Oakland Athletics. The team has been stuck in no man’s land as getting just 80 wins has proven to be a difficult task. Oakland has missed the playoffs for five straight years. Their best season in that stretch came in 2010 when the team finished at .500 with 81 wins.

Heading into the 2012 season there are very few reasons to be excited if you’re an Orioles fan. But to be clear, there are still things to be excited about. 

Lineup

The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are tied for first place in the American League East heading into their series-finale on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. (ET) at historic Fenway Park.

Boston holds a significant 9-2 advantage over New York in the season series, including a 10-4 home victory on Saturday afternoon.