Baseball

For as wonderful as the World Series was, the three-and-a-half months that immediately followed were just as mesmerizing. 

Armed with new front offices, and/or money and/or a directive to get instantly better before spring training, several clubs aggressively went about this last offseason with a makeover in mind.

Matt Harvey is back. That's good news for the New York Mets as they try to put together their first winning season since 2008. More than that, though, it's good news for baseball.

We are now just a week from the start of the 2015 MLB season, but there is still a lot of work to do as teams make their final and, generally, most difficult decisions to trim their rosters down to 25 players.

That roster crunch always makes for at least a few surprises.

Whether it's an unexpected non-roster invitee forcing his way onto a team, a deserving player winding up on the outside looking in, a late-spring trade or the outright release of an established veteran, a lot can happen before teams pack up and head north.

It's not always easy to be optimistic for 2015 when your team finished the previous season with the worst record in MLB.

However, the Arizona Diamondbacks are not a typical last-place-caliber team. With most of the team returning strong, along with several key offseason acquisitions, anything less than an improvement from 2014 would be a disappointment.

Here are three reasons why the D-Backs should be optimistic as the 2015 season rapidly approaches.

The crack of the bat, the pop of the ball meeting leather and roster cuts—they're all an indelible part of spring.

While the first two elicit nostalgia, the last one is an undeniable bummer. Writing for Fox Sports, former major league hurler C.J. Nitkowski describes the agony of the annual ritual:

Watch out, American League. Albert Pujols is coming for you.

That's what he and the Los Angeles Angels would have everyone believe, anyway. And as far as threats go, this one appears credible.

Seattle Mariners relief pitcher David Rollins has been suspended for 80 games by Major League Baseball for violating the league's drug policy.  

MLB Communications confirmed the ban, which will cover essentially the entire first half of the 2015 regular season:

Buster Olney of ESPN provided some insight into the situation:

Former Minnesota Twins first baseman Kent Hrbek has a restaurant named after him at Target Field, and with the season approaching, Hrbek's Pub is using different items to attract visitors to the bar located behind home plate in the downtown stadium

As spring training nears a close for MLB teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers can start to focus their attention on Opening Day.

Besides a completely new front office, half of the infield and about 40 percent of the starting rotation will feature new faces, ones the Dodgers have entrusted to carry the team back to the top of the National League West and beyond.

The Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues are winding down. The 2015 Major League Baseball season approaches. We said baseball! Can you taste it?

Yet with less than two weeks remaining in the exhibition slate, some of the spring's most hotly contested position battles linger, unresolved. And there's no guarantee they'll be resolved once the games count; a few could stay fluid well into the regular season.

Still, someone's going to get the Opening Day nod at all nine positions for all 30 teams. It's simple math, people.