Preview/Prediction

Ever since the Washington Nationals signed number one overall pick Stephen Strasburg in August 2009 with a record $15.1 million rookie contract, the hype machine has been on full power. 

Strasburg has been compared to everyone from Randy Johnson to Nolan Ryan, thanks to his blazing 102 MPH fastball and a 7-2 record in the minors with a 1.30 ERA. He has been praised as being the savior of Washington and every MLB fan (including myself) has been anxiously awaiting his debut.

Stephen Strasburg will make his MLB debut at 7:05 ET Tuesday in perhaps the most exciting Washington, D.C. event to take place since the Obama inauguration. 

Although it will not break any glass ceilings, Strasburg's debut will mark the beginning of a potentially groundbreaking movement for the D.C. sports scene. 

Acknowledging the inflow of young talent into D.C. in Strasburg, Bryce Harper, and John Wall, one might suggest D.C., like New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles, could become one of the top U.S. sports cities in the not-too-terribly-distant future.

Congratulations and welcome to the 3,287th column, article, blog post, essay, profile, feature, kindergarten-free write, and poem you’ll read about Stephen Strasburg this week.

NEW YORK: How must teams feel coming to play the Mets at Citi Field? It's become a house of horrors for opposing teams, as only nine games have resulted in a Mets loss in their home.

Asking the Mets players, none of them can come up with a legitimate reason why they can't take their act on the road.

Manager Jerry Manuel, though, thinks the road wins will eventually come.

"If we continue to win in the fashion we're winning in, eventually we're going to take this on the road," he said after Sunday's sweep over the Marlins.

The Red Sox have made some interesting and perhaps somewhat predictable draft selections so far in the fledgling 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

The Chicago Cubs hold the 16^th selection in the 2010 MLB draft, which starts today.

So which player will they pick? Well, that depends on which players the teams take before them, obviously.

All day long, I'll be updating the 2010 MLB draft via running article/blog.

Hopefully, they'll be some good news coming out later today clarifying what's going to go down after the Nationals pop Bryce Harper at number one.

And come 7 p.m., I'll be there with instant analysis of each of the picks from the first-round.

Also, I'm no expert, but if you have any questions, let 'em fly!

Monday is the first day of Major League Baseball's three-day First-Year Player Draft.

There are 50 rounds stretched out over those three days and, from the somewhat limited research that I was able to do, it seems that five or six players, on average, from any given team's draft class will eventually reach the big leagues.

Of course, that doesn't take into account that teams typically only sign a little less than 30 of their picks every year. Most teams will probably draft one future major leaguer (maybe even two) that they won't sign.

The MLB First Year Player Draft is a beast unlike any other compared to the drafts in the other major pro sports.

You won’t see the New York Jets or the Chicago Bulls drafting any player without the intent of seeing that guy play right away as a rookie.

Yet in baseball, teams are drafting guys who they know they won’t see for at least a year or two, and usually a lot longer than that.

As the Chicago Cubs—though still premature—close in on their first losing season season since 2006, one thing may be able to relinquish an utterly disappointing season.

Currently, numerous mock-draft web sites have the Cubs taking yet another pitching prospect, ranging from Alex Wimmers and Asher Wojciechowski, to Stetson Allie and Drew Pomeranz.

As seen with Chicago pitcher-prospects Jeff Samardizija and Jay Jackson, developement of young pitchers can be time consuming, and possibly result in career minor league pitchers.