Preview/Prediction

Ahh, the sweet smell of April.

The only time of year where Indians and Mariners fans have the same amount of hope as Yankees and Phillies fans. That is because April is a time for a fresh start and a new beginning. One hundred and two years without a World Championship for the Cubs and 18 straight losing seasons for the Pirates mean nothing right now, because every team has a chance.

But right now, only one series through the season, I am predicting the 8 teams that I believe are postseason bound.

Some are obvious and some will surprise a lot of people. 

Although the Red Sox began the 2011 season with an embarrassing three-game sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers, the Sox still have plenty of time to validate the media’s enormous expectations and secure a playoff spot.

However, in order to emerge victorious from a competitive American League East, the Sox must step back from the spotlight and focus on winning each individual game.

Mother Nature likes to play tricks on you, especially when you live in Colorado.

One day after the Colorado Rockies took the field to unseasonably high temperatures for Denver in April, they were forced to put their Opening Week series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks on ice. Literally.

Freezing temperatures and driving snow and rain forced the Rockies to postpone their rubber match with the Diamondbacks on Sunday, sending many expecting a game home frustrated. 

Man, has it been sweet to be a Baltimore Orioles fan these past four days.

I grew out a goatee in honor of the O's facial hair policy being changed for the start of the season, and now, I'm afraid to shave it off tomorrow like I originally planned on doing.

They've been on such a roll, I can't recall a time when I had more fun rooting for this team, save the last two months of the 2010 season.

I love this. Tomorrow's off day is going to kill me.

He's been their Opening Day starter nine times in 10 years.

He's given them double-digit wins and 200-plus innings over 10 straight seasons.

He's pitched a perfect game and a no-hitter in his tenure. He went 16-8 with a 3.12 earned run average helping the team to a 2005 World Series championship.

Come on, he's a senior member of Redneck Row!

At age 32, he's still got plenty left in the tank.

But he's given up 200-plus hits nine years in a row.

Chicago Cubs’ shortstop Starlin Castro is 8-for-13 (.615) with four runs and one RBI through three games this season, and already has the fantasy baseball community buzzing over his potential.

Castro’s 2011 spring totals turned some heads last month, as he displayed surprising power: 66 at-bats, 14 runs, nine XBH (four HRs), 15 RBI, two steals, .348/.386/.621.

For the Minnesota Twins, 2011 is a brand new season. So far it's looking too much like how 2010 finished. 

The Twins finished off the regular season by losing three of four games against the Toronto Blue Jays. In that series, the Blue Jays hit 10 home runs and outscored the Twins 25 to 11.

Fast forward to Opening Day 2011—same two teams, different venue, same result.

After a disappointing 2010 season in which many players had downs seasons, the Los Angeles Dodgers hope to make to make it back to the playoffs in 2011.

Coming off a 2009 season in which Los Angeles won 95 games and swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round of the playoffs, the Dodgers had extremely high expectations last season. After all, many Dodger players were still in their mid-20s and had improved year after year, so the assumption was that the team could only get better.

Some could argue that the Texas Rangers had a devastating offseason. That wouldn’t be too far from the truth.

The loss of key personnel (Cliff Lee), as well as losing guys to injury in spring training (Tommy Hunter), and the mix-up in the outfield—Nelson Cruz dropping the first fly ball because of Julio Borbon bumping into him in the home opener—the Rangers have a long season ahead of them.

Two games into this long 162-game season, however, the Rangers have had some great things happen already.

Ever since the Phillies signed Cliff Lee back in December, fans immediately began to come up with nicknames: "R2C2," "The Phab Phour," "The Four Aces," you name it.

As fans reflected on this signing more, many began to wonder whether it was worth utilizing the bullpen often, aside from the closer (Brad Lidge) and the setup men (Ryan Madson and Jose Contreras).

Originally, the question leaned towards the answer "no."