MLB

When Ichiro Suzuki entered the league back in '01 he was far from unknown, underappreciated, or underrated. In fact if anything for a guy who had never played a MLB game, there might have been a better argument he was overrated.

Since then Ichiro has slowly but steadily fallen out of the spotlight and has become virtually untalked about all around baseball.

My question is, why?

As if the advent of the 2010 MLB season wasn’t stressful enough, the Houston Astros were dealt with a major blow today.

Lance Berkman is scheduled to have surgery on his left knee Saturday, and while his projected recovery time is said to be only two weeks, a month or longer is more likely, leaving the Houston Astros season in dyer straights.

No player on the Brewers' roster had more of a breakout season in 2009 than Casey McGehee.

He went from a completely unknown commodity in spring training to finishing fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting.

McGehee finished the year with a .301 average, 16 home runs, and 66 RBI while playing in only 116 games. In fact, he only started two games in the first six weeks of the season. Prior to May 19, he had only 16 at-bats.

On May 19, McGehee started for the injured Rickie Weeks at second base, and his remarkable season began.

Yet again, the AL Central will be the most competitive division in baseball.

The White Sox, Twins, and Tigers could be the team making the playoffs here. Hell, the Indians could make a run as well.

Because of this, you aren't going to see a team win 100 games. However, you will see some great baseball. 

Chicago White Sox

Check out these photos. This is actually a year old, but a couple of blogs have been posting these pictures this week so I thought I’d do the same. The guy who built this is a lego artist Sean Kenney . It is really impressive, especially if you are a big kid like me.

Check it out:

Call him what you will, for Jose Reyes goes by many names.

Jose the Nuisance: A pest in the eyes of the Phillies, Marlins, and beyond.  It seems that teams don't like to see Jose be Jose on the field or in the dugout and hold some sort of grudge against the New York Mets when their teams meet on the field.  Is it jealousy, envy?  We're not sure, but he sure isn't Armando Benitez's favorite player.

When Richard Henry "Dick" Pole was sacked from his post as the Cincinnati Reds' pitching coach and Bryan Price was brought in to replace him, it easily ranked as the team's biggest offseason move—well, maybe besides that signing of some 6'4" lefty kid from Cuba. 

It's a fine trait to be loyal.  But Reds' manager Dusty Baker has proven more than a few times of being loyal to a fault. 

As most have us Mets fans know by now, Jose Reyes is expected to be on the disabled list for an overactive thyroid when the season begins, but now it appears, according to the team, Reyes will be replaced with 20-year-old Ruben Tejada, who played in Double-A last year, this according to the New York Daily News . 

Tejada batted .289 last season and hit five homers in 488 at-bats in the minors but claims he'll be ready to play in the bigs.

I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but somewhere along the line I began enjoying Major League Baseball's offseason more than the regular season itself.  Something about being a Mets fan from November through March is encouraging.  At the start of every season the Mets are "the team to beat"...and then all of a sudden the season starts. 

Mets fans are constantly given a false sense of optimism and are cursed with an old New York tradition of "waiting 'til next year."

Baseball is a game of numbers and here are a few that influenced the Dodgers and Hiroki Kuroda last season: 117.1 innings pitched, 20 games started, 12 HR allowed and a 40.50 postseason ERA.

Many insiders and fans alike criticize the Dodgers for the lack of offseason pick-ups after another loss to the Phillies in the NLCS.

The fact is, the Dodgers made it to the NLCS again, and believe they have what it takes to make it there and beyond this upcoming season.