Roy Halladay

I had the pleasure and privilege of attending all three games this weekend for the Phillies. The atmosphere was absolutely electric and the weather did not stop more than 45,000 "phanatical" fans from showing up at each game and proving once again that the stigma of the Philadelphia fan that booed Santa more than 50 years ago is indeed history.

If the Philadelphia Phillies' first game of the 2011 was a microcosm of how we expect the 2011 season to play out—shut-down starting pitching, clumsy bullpen and just enough offense to win the day—then the second game of the season was a true demonstration of this team's potential.  

Opening Day in Major League Baseball marks the start of new life. 

Winter is turning into spring, "cold" is changing to "warm", and baseball is coming out of hibernation.

The early stages of the season can tell us a lot about a team: strengths, weaknesses and if they have the potential to make a run at the postseason.

Game No. 1 of 162 has been played for each team, and we take a look at what we learned about each team on Opening Weekend 2011. 

Another baseball season has gotten underway with a smattering of baseball games on Thursday, and once again spring is here...figuratively, if not literally.

Baseball, of course, is driven by statistics more than any other sport, and the game is filled with wonderful statistical milestones that set apart the mortals from the immortals.

The 2011 season promises to see many players crossing significant career milestones, with Derek Jeter crossing that holiest of holy marks, the 3,000-hit barrier.

Let's have a look at 20 significant milestones that we may see in 2011.

Well, now that most of our NCAA brackets resemble the Libyan Air Force, we can move onto something that can provide some much needed optimism: fantasy baseball. What would the start of the season be without a rankings list?

There may not be a team in baseball with more passionate fans than the Philadelphia Phillies. For all of the years of losing through the early 1970's, late 1980's and early 1990's, they have seen many years of success as well.

The 2010 baseball season was the closest we have come to "The Year of the Pitcher" since 1968, when it was custom to win more than 20 games, and batting averages just barely slid into the .200's.

In 2010, it was crazy how many no-hitters and perfect games were thrown.

We, as fans, are blessed to be witnessing such talents on the mound these days.

Not just talent, but young talent.

I'm talking guys like Tim Lincecum, Felix Hernandez, Ubaldo Jimenez, David Price, etc. The list goes on and on.

With Opening Day nearly a week away, the Philadelphia Phillies pitching staff is still the top topic of preseason predictions. On paper, the Phils should easily pitch their way to the World Series, but so many things can happen over the course of the season that nothing is certain.

Roy Oswalt's frightening experience on the hill on Wednesday proved that seasons can be altered in the swing of a bat.

This is the final installment if a seven-part series predicting the records of each team, and now the playoffs.  The teams that make the postseason in this installment are based off of previous ones.

Now that the 2011 season is closer than ever, and Opening Day is only eight days away, we writers are giving our preseason predictions, and these are mine.  Through careful analysis of records, schedules, transactions, and more I have compiled my postseason picks.

Now, it’s time to break them down.

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.