Preview/Prediction

What is a sleeper? 

Ask your league mates, and you'll probably get a different answer from each of them.

To me, a sleeper is a player, no matter the pedigree, that I think is set to far outproduce expectations due to a relatively low ADP. 

With rare exceptions, these players won't go for more than $5 in any auction.  

Fantasy baseball is a game of profits and losses, sound investments and colossal mistakes. 

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The Chicago Cubs have spent the past few years treading water in the middle of Major League Baseball.  They haven't been going on tears, but they also haven't been at the bottom of the league.

Although this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it is something that is very frustrating for Cubs fans who want to get some sort of identity out of a team that refuses to give itself one.

While John Lackey and Josh Beckett are important to the starting rotation, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia may be the most critical player on the entire 2011 Boston Red Sox team.

Saltalamacchia was a top prospect rising through the Atlanta Braves minor league system, and he was in the line of young catchers who had potential to become superstars.

It's often said that baseball, with its 162-game schedule, is "a sprint, not a marathon." You have to put together a full body of work, so records on May 1 are often ignored.

Every year, a handful of teams that weren't expected to contend begin the season with a blazing start. The media furor begins, and somebody's crowned the next Cinderella story of baseball.

**This and other articles are also featured on Archway Number Nine**

The beginning of the Philadelphia Phillies' most anticipated season to date starts tomorrow afternoon in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at Citizens Bank Park at 1:05 p.m. EDT when Roy Halladay starts for the Phillies against their former "ace" Brett Myers, who will be starting for the Houston Astros to begin a three-game series.

This season is undoubtedly one that all Phillies fans are looking forward to, and one that they hopefully will never forget for all the right reasons.

Cameron Diaz and Alex Rodriguez have been dating for a while now. Apparently they're getting comfortable enough with each other to start mixing business and pleasure.

There have been reports that Diaz is developing a baseball-themed romantic comedy in which A-Rod will act alongside her.

This should come as no surprise to New Yorkers, who are used to seeing A-Rod attempting to hog the spotlight.

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It has been almost four years since the Indians last finished a season with record of .500 or better. The last time, in fact, was 2007, when the Indians won the AL Central with a record or 96-66. Since that time it has been all down hill for the Tribe,  81 victories in 2008, 65 in 2009, and 69 in 2010. Had it not been for a hot 7-3 finish the Tribe would have finished in the AL Central basement for the second consecutive season.

Bad news for Tribe fans: this season may not be much better than any of those.

The bleak and dreary days are over. The cheery holiday well-wishers, festive New Year celebrations, and visions of frozen landscapes are behind us now. At least, out west.

They've given way to overflowing stadiums of roaring fans, thunderous ovations for late-game heroics, and fields of lush green grass.

Spring Training, too, has come and gone. Like the blustery winter before it, the exhibition season has melted away to reveal an exciting new year in our nation's oldest pastime. 

Baseball is here, in all its glory. 

All 30 teams set out with the same goal, but in the end, only one team can achieve it.

Which begs the question; which team will it be?

The revamped Red Sox or the pitching-rich Phillies? Or will the Yankees pounce from the weeds to win a 28th Title? Will the Rangers avenge their loss in the Series last year, or will the Giants repeat?

How it all plays out is anyone's guess. I've taken a shot in the dark and tried to forecast what happens this October.

Before I get to my predictions for the postseason, I'll fill you in to how I see the pennant race playing out.