Opinion

With Opening Day rapidly approaching, the New York Yankees find themselves looking to win their 28th World Series—by far the most of any MLB franchise.

How realistic a goal is that? Well, that's what I'm here to help you figure out.

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.

So long as no one asks any current or former Cincinnati Reds about anything related to hitting philosophy, the time is ripe to realign our focus back to the game. It's almost time for real baseball, and there are a few observations we can make on what will soon be the 2015 roster.

Without dissecting everyone's performance in faux baseball, let's discuss some of the universal takeaways from camp. The following is a short list of five things we learned about the Reds in Goodyear:

Spring training declarations are a difficult beast to tackle. Putting too much weight in March statistics would be misguided, as Jake Fox and his 10 Grapefruit League home runs in 2011 remind us. "Jake Who?" you ask? Precisely. 

At the same time, this is the first extended look at the 30 MLB clubs, and in some cases managers are determining roster spots based on performance. So these games aren't entirely meaningless; they just have to be viewed through the proper lens. 

Most people wouldn't identify the San Diego Padres as a rival of the Los Angeles Dodgers, despite their proximity in Southern California.  

Not long ago, second base for the New York Yankees was as stable, consistent and productive as any position on any team in Major League Baseball. These days, it's anything but.

Anthony Rendon's knee injury isn't serious, they said. He's only being held out of spring training action as a precaution, they said.

Well, now they're singing a different tune. And for a Washington Nationals club that has eyes on being perhaps the elite team in Major League Baseball in 2015, that's a bummer.

The Detroit Tigers have now completed more than half of their 2015 spring training schedule. It has been a largely unsuccessful March for Detroit if you only consider its record (7-14). However, wins and losses mean precious little during this stage of the year.

What matters most is players getting in their reps and optimizing their preparation for a minimum six-month-long season.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — While Kris Bryant pummels baseball after baseball into oblivion in the Cactus League, whipping the when-will-he-debut debate into a frenzy from Arizona to the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago, he's not the only phenom dropping jaws this spring.

With just two weeks left until the end of spring training and the start of the 2015 season, Toronto Blue Jays prospect Roberto Osuna has made a strong case to make the Blue Jays’ Opening Day roster.