Click here to enter the 2011 Fantasy Baseball Team Name Contest.



Here’s an early look at the 2011 NL-only starting pitcher rankings.

1.  Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies:  Halladay led the MLB in wins (21), ranked third in WHIP (1.04), fourth in ERA (2.44) and tied for fifth in strikeouts (219). He’s the complete package.

Spring Training is in full force now, and we now have some insight into the teams of the MLB.

This piece is second in a series of seven, each predicting the records of teams in each division and then predicting the entire postseason (the schedule for which can be found on the last slide).

The NFL took a firm shake of the magic eight ball on Friday and gave just about every waiting fan a valid answer after tossing it aside: There will be no season in 2011.

What a shock, what a surprise.  

Not really.

We expected it to happen, that picture was painted long ago.  From the undetermined outcome of last week, to the past 24 hours of humming and haring, an answer was coming, one way or another.

The Tampa Bay Rays have prided themselves in having strong pitching in the past few years, from Scott Kazmir, to Matt Garza to David Price.

Price, Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis, James Shields and Jeremy Hellickson, the entire rotation for 2011, were all drafted by the Rays. Now that's called a stockpile of talented arms. But there's more on the way.

It happens to someone every year on fantasy baseball draft day.

Player X starts to fall below his average draft position. He keeps sliding down the round and into your lap. You shake your head in disbelief. Player X fell this far? I’m about to select the steal of the draft! You already hear league mates moan with disgust as you snipe away such a good draft day value.

It's been a horrific spring training so far for Daisuke (Dice-K) Matsuzaka. 

He's pitched just one clean inning in nine chances this spring. Matsuzaka was hit hard again on Thursday by the Florida Marlins, giving up five hits, five earned runs and two walks in 3.2 innings. 

In his three spring training starts, he's allowed 11 earned runs on 12 hits, five base on balls and three home runs in 8.2 innings. 

If you have to pick a top pitcher heading into the 2011 MLB Draft, Gerrit Cole would be your go-to guy.

The Yankees farm system has been thrust into the limelight in 2011. 

This spring has been an opportunity for some of their up-and-coming stars to showcase their talents in front of their major league counterparts. 

While Yankee fans would love to see them crack the Opening Day roster, some time marinating in the minors would only benefit their development. Rushing a player to the next level can sometimes set them back physically or even mentally. 

The American League West looks like it will be a very interesting division this season.

The Rangers made it all the way to the World Series last year, only to come up short and lose to the San Francisco Giants. One of the main reasons that the Rangers made it that far was because of the midseason acquisition of Cliff Lee. 

With Cliff Lee leaving the Rangers, the American League West is now up for grabs.

9 Innings Blog will be bringing you previews of every Major League Baseball team for the next 30 days. This is in accordance with our 30 teams in 30 days series. Today, we are bringing you the 2011 preview for the Florida Marlins. The Marlins have a very young team and are looking to try and reclaim some kind of prominence in the East this season.