Fan News

Matt Kemp is set to make his first start of the spring today in Glendale, Arizona.  

And though he's already had five spring at-bats with no hits, Kemp is focused on having a monster year in 2013 for the Dodgers.  

The Texas Rangers made themselves into a baseball monument with back-to-back trips to the World Series in 2010 and 2011. But over the last few months, the monument has been slowly chipped away.

So much so, in fact, that it now feels like only the face remains. And now that may be going too.

Yes, now. The Rangers lost their superstar when Josh Hamilton left town, but his departure didn't leave the franchise without a face. 

The Bruce Rondon era for the Detroit Tigers is on hold.

In order for MLB teams to be World Series contenders, they need significant contributions from every single player on their 25-man rosters.

Baseball is a team sport that demands that each player do what they can to ensure the success of their team. A bench player drawing a walk as a pinch-hitter in the late innings of a tight game can be just as important to a team as the slugger that wallops a three-run home run.

For the first time in what feels like 100 years, the American League East is as wide open as any division in baseball. 

Instead of the usual talk about the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, there is very real, very legitimate buzz surrounding the Toronto Blue Jays for the first time since the franchise won back-to-back World Series in 1992 and 1993. 

Baseball is trying to globalize itself and to some extent, it's working. The third World Baseball Classic will hear the cry of "jugar a la pelota!" or maybe "bal spelen!" this week in another attempt to globalize the game with mixed results.

The Puerto Rican squad will try to improve on their fifth place 2009 World Baseball Classic showing when they take the field at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan on Friday. The 2013 squad will have a mix of stars as well as prospects that could be making their major league debuts soon.

Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay has been one of the majors' best pitchers in the past decade. Unfortunately, his 2012 season mirrored the Phils' '12 campaign as the team dropped from 102 wins in 2011 to 81 last year. Halladay struggled with an 11-8 record and an ERA of 4.49 (his 11 wins were the fewest since he had eight in 2004; his ERA was the second worst of his career).

Although the World Baseball Classic does not have the hype surrounding it in 2013 that it has had in the past, it is still an event that garners tremendous national pride.

With Major League Baseball's spring training well in progress, we can look ahead to the 2013 season with a bit of a clearer picture. Teams and players are slowly rounding into form, looking to get their regular seasons off to the right start.

The new divisional alignment will see teams facing opponents they're not used to seeing on numerous occasions, meaning some tricky games could pop up and shake up divisional races. For teams that are in the thick of the title hunt, that'll mean they need their players to step up.