Teams start season on April 1st with Washington Nationals they pre-season favourites.
As the MLB begins, team managers and general managers prepare their squads for a long and physically demanding season.
With a team designed be rotated on an almost nightly basis, teams will carry anywhere up to 10 pitchers on their team, in order to reduce the workload of their starters to a minimum.
Baseball is one of the toughest sports in order to build a well-rounded and sustainable team. As a season wears on, injuries and tiredness take a severe toll on a team, and it is key to a managers job to be able to manage his roster in a way that those variables will not play a big role in a team’s post season hopes.
The team that will be looking to go all the way this year is the Washington Nationals. Behind manager Davey Johnson, the team has a strong squad, built behind the power arm of Stephen Strasburg at pitcher, and teenage sensation Bryce Harper at in the outfield, the team is in a very good place to push on for a World Series run.
The San Francisco Giants are the current champions, and having signed catcher Buster Posey to a long-term deal that will see the AL MVP earn over $150m to stay with the Giants.
While genuine contenders will not start to appear until after the All-Star break at the end of July, the Nationals and Giants will definitely be two teams, that will be pushing hard for another run at a World Series.
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