Preview/Prediction

When the Phillies added former Astros' ace Roy Oswalt at the trade deadline last season, many believed the deal would tilt the National League's balance of power in favor of Philadelphia.

Oswalt proceeded to pitch quite well; unfortunately for the Phillies and their faithful, the San Francisco Giants went on an improbable and impressive run to a World Series title behind their outstanding rotation and standout closer Brian Wilson.

The "9 Innings Blog" will be bringing you previews of every Major League Baseball team for the next 30 days. This is in accordance with our 30 teams in 30 days series. Today, we bring you the 2011 preview for the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies are looking to get back to playoffs and are ready to become a serious threat for the World Series crown.

Spring training is under way, and we can now take a much more in-depth look at what the regular season holds in store.

Last season, we were fortunate enough to watch dominating pitching take over the landscape of Major League Baseball; and this season looks to be the same.

With ample amounts of solid arms in last year's playoffs, run production (believe it or not) was few and far between for some ball clubs.

However, for a vast majority of teams without such talent on the mound, last season was a forgettable one.

Every year, a handful of MLB players get really, really lucky.

A few extra seeing-eye ground balls get through the infield, and a hitter best suited to benchwarming looks like a legitimate big-league starter. A good-not-great pitcher benefits from an unusually skilled backing defense and suddenly finds his name popping up in the same sentence as "Cy Young."

One of the greatest innovations of sabermetrics is the ability to measure and isolate the element of luck in players' performances (at least, to some extent).

The 2010 season ended on sour notes for Ozzie Guillen's Chicago White Sox. After battling into mid-September for the division title, they fell out of contention when the Minnesota Twins thumped them in a three-game sweep that month. Bobby Jenks and Guillen had a nasty falling-out, and Guillen only narrowly kept his job after a highly-publicized quasi-feud with GM Kenny Williams.

The New York Mets will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of their 1986 World Series title later this year.

You know what that means, Mets fans: It's time for another championship.

While it seems the other four teams in the National League East all improved this offseason, the Mets were content with the status quo. The new ownership will rely on consistent production from the team's top players in order to get back to the postseason.

Just 24 days until Opening Day Indians fans.

In 24 days, we will finally begin our journey into another season of Cleveland Indians baseball.

Sure, expectations may be questionable by some, but who is to say the Tribe can't make some noise in the AL Central in 2011? In order to exceed expectations though, some players will need to step up when called upon and deliver in anyway they can during the 162 game marathon.

One hundred and fifty million five hundred thousand dollars. That's an obscene amount of money. With that kind of cash, you could open thirty of your own Dunkin' Donuts franchises, buy the high school I attended, acquire all of the Honus Wagner rookie cards that may be left on Earth, and a Fenway Frank.

Or, if you're like the Red Sox, you craft a multi-year commitment to two pitchers that went a combined 20-17 with an ERA above five last year.

Click here to enter the 2011 Fantasy Baseball Team Name Contest

For the past decade, Major League Baseball has witnessed a level of parity usually reserved for the NFL. From 2001 to 2010, the MLB crowned nine different World Series champions, and National League squads like the Florida Marlins and San Francisco Giants went from division cellar-dwellers to rulers of the roost.