Rankings/List

Opening Day is just over a week away, and it is time to look at what this season holds for the Kansas City Royals.

With many new players being added to the team over the past year, many will be looking for players that have been on the team in the past to step up their game and take charge this season.

The following is my guide to five players that will be very crucial to the club's success in 2011.

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In auctions, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera and Joey Votto are all going to cost you a pretty penny.

Pujols has averaged a price tag of $58.2 throughout the Yahoo! universe, while Cabrera and Votto have found themselves on either side of $50. 

The following are a group of players who pack a solid and consistent power punch in the middle of their respective lineups: Adrian Gonzalez, Ryan Howard, Marx Teixeira and Prince Fielder.

Depending on the auction, these four go anywhere from the low $40 range, to as high as $50.

As Opening Day draws nearer, major league rosters are beginning to take  definite shape. Clubs have evaluated the talent within their systems, and have made the easy decisions. Hopeful youngsters have been told that they need at least one more year to mature, and aging vets hoping for one last shot have been sent home. Now is the time for the tough choices: who is the last player to get cut?

We’ve all heard of Roger Clemens and Manny Ramirez and their “alleged” flirtation with performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). We know about Andy Pettitte (just seems like an inordinate amount of t’s in his name), and his admitted drug abuse in order to get a leg up on the competition in Major League Baseball.

Alex Rodriguez has been called “A-Roid” more times in a season than there are pennies in his ridiculously bloated contract. PEDs were, and probably will continue to be, a big problem in the big leagues.

Most baseball predictions are relatively straightforward. Sure, you can argue over whether Joey Votto will be better than Albert Pujols or who will win the AL East, but as long as the focus is on just one outcome, it's at least easy to understand the train of thought.

That's why, when one person decides to power rank all 30 MLB teams, things inevitably go awry.

There's a general consensus about how the top and the bottom should look, but in between the two extremes, things can get pretty screwy. One man's top-three team is in another man's bottom five.

Hockey is known for fighting. Baseball is seen as more of a pastoral sport, played on a sunny afternoon in June. For a game with such similarities to cricket, that is perhaps not such a surprising thing. But the major leagues have seen their fair share of brawls over the years.

Disco Demolition Night and 10-cent Beer Night were not included, since they were more riots than brawls, and even if you counted the former as a fight, it was between the players and fans, rather than the two teams.

Each year spring training shows a glimpse into the season ahead, but also a glimpse into the future.  We get to see the heroes of today shake off the rust of winter, but we also get to see the heroes of tomorrow take their hacks and show us what's to come.

With these guys, it can be hard to get too excited, because a lot can happen in professional baseball, and best case scenario we're not seeing these guys for at least another year.

All we can really do is, as Dick Vitale might say, "remember the name."  Baby.

I wish the season would start already. 

To give you an idea of how desperate I have been for baseball; pre-season baseball has been the highlight of my month.  I have watched countless recaps of pre-season games, and now I am aching for the regular season.

Many people believe that the season ends after the final pitch of the World Series, however I, and many other baseball fanatics alike, know that the season continues even after the World Champions are crowned.  

Opening Day is right around the corner for Major League Baseball.

While many teams are eager to take the field and start playing games for real, some are still scrambling to fill roster spots vacated by players destined for the disabled list at the start of the season.

While it’s inevitable that players get injured, it’s especially disheartening when it occurs during spring training, when teams are giddy about their prospects.

Experts have already doled out their preseason favorites based on current rosters.

The Philadelphia Phillies have put together one of the best starting rotations on paper that MLB has seen in years.  Cole Hamels is listed as the number four starter in the rotation, but he has the talent to be a number one pitcher on most teams.  Here is a look back at the other great number four starters in MLB history.

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