Spring training is more than halfway in the books, and the final roster spots for the Opening Day of 2011 are still being determined by the Rays' staff.

Most of the open spots are in the bullpen, where several pitchers are still in the hunt for a spot on the roster, come April 1st. There are at least three spots up for grabs, with Adam Russell no longer a sure thing and J.P. Howell on the mend for the first month.

America's favorite pastime is almost here. Can you feel it? They can in Miami. 

I'm going to give you 10 reasons why you should watch the Florida Marlins this season.

Not only will they give the Phils a run for their money, but they could be a legitimate contender for the World Series title. Here we go!

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When the San Francisco Giants took Ryan Scoma in the 36th round of the 2009 amateur draft, the perpetual underdog from the Bay Area faced yet another uphill climb.

Baseball isn't quite the National Football League or the National Basketball Association where you can start looking for that job in sales or coaching if you don't get snapped up early.

But even the pearl doesn't make an extensive habit of rewarding those kids drafted in the waning rounds of its seemingly interminable entry event.

America's favorite past-time evolved into the first major professional sports league in the United States—Major League Baseball.

The MLB was founded in 1869, and now has 30 teams, one of them in Canada.

The nicknames of these teams helped create the names of sports teams ever since. For those of you curious baseball fans and history buffs, here are the origins of each MLB team nickname.

Note: If you are also interested in NCAA, NFL, NBA, and NHL nicknames, check out my profile for the articles.

Shortstop is a perennial black hole in fantasy baseball.

If you are not lucky enough to have one of the Top Five picks, then you will miss out on Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki in most leagues. These two are certifiable fantasy studs and they play shortstop on top of that. After these two players go, the position thins out and becomes an uncertain abyss.

Heading into 2011, one player is generating more anticipation than any other. 

It's not Stephen Strasburg, as he's still six months away from being fully healthy. 

It's not Bryce Harper; he likely won't even sniff the big leagues this season.

It's Danny Espinosa, the rookie second baseman who burst on the scene for the last few weeks of the 2010 season.

Replacing a legend is no easy task. Just ask Chris "Izzy" Cole, Mark Wahlberg's character in Rock Star, who failed to live up to the hype Bobby Beers set forth as the front man of Steel Dragon.

Same story, different day. I swear, this sounds like a familiar plotline. A corpulent, Hispanic starting pitcher takes the mound for the Cubs, gives up multiple moonshots in his first inning of work, calls out a corner infielder for making some negligible error, and a "scuffle" breaks out in the Cubs dugout.

Coming off an up-and-down 2010 campaign, the Chicago White Sox are reloaded, "all in" and taking aim at the American League Central title and beyond.

The signing of Adam Dunn put a powerful left-handed bat in the lineup that the Sox so desperately missed last year, and the re-signings of Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski told fans that this team means business.

Still, there are several questions looming over the fields at Camelback Ranch in Glendale. Here's a look at what the White Sox need to accomplish before April.

With the 26th overall selection in the 2009 MLB amateur draft, the Milwaukee Brewers picked up one of the most promising young hurlers in the nation, Eric Arnett.

Arnett, who had a horrendous start to his 2010 campaign in the Arizona League, looks to become one of Milwaukee's premier starting pitchers in the near future.

But the question is, will it happen?