Ted Williams once said, to paraphrase, that “baseball is the only sport where a man can succeed three out of 10 times and be a great player.” Easier said than done, and if you don’t believe me I have two years of junior varsity baseball stats to discuss with you.

Baseball season is only a week away, and with it comes a sigh of relief for sports fans who picked Georgetown in their Final Four. (again.) It’s shaping up to be another exciting baseball season around the country, so here are the top five stories I’ll be looking at when the Rangers and Astros square off on Sunday Night.

1.      The Toronto Blue Jays.

It seems almost unnatural that one of the larger stories of this MLB offseason has to do with baseball’s only Canadian team, but Toronto’s team made some serious moves this winter. No team had quite as extensive as a makeover as the Blue Jays, and those moves have most people thinking this team can win it all. Vegas odds have the Jays with the best chances of winning the October Classic, listing them at 7-1.

General Manager Alex Anthopoulos pulled of the heist of the year, turning only one legitamate prospect, catcher Alex d’Arnaud into SS Jose Reyes, OF Melky Cabrera and pitchers Mark Burhle, Josh Johnson and R.A. Dickey. The lineup is now potent with the addition of Cabrera to a lineup that already had power hitters like Bret Lawrie and Jose Bautista. This team has the talent to compete, but the AL East is no cakewalk. A deep post-season run isn’t out of the question, though.

2.      The Washington Nationals.

Wow, this team is good. And the rich only get richer. One of the best teams in baseball last year, the Nats spent this offseason plugging the few holes their roster had.

They needed a CF; they got Denard Span, an underrated player who has spent most of a great career so far going unnoticed in Minnesota. They needed a back-of-the-rotation guy; they got Dan Haren, a pitcher who would probably be a third starter on any other roster. They needed some bullpen strength; they got All-Star closer Rafael Soriano. Let’s not forget about Cy-Young caliber pitcher Steven Strasburg, 2012 NL Rookie of the Year Bryce Harper and All-Star position players like 3B Ryan Zimmerman and LF Jayson Werth. This team is good. This team is great.

3.      Mike Trout vs. Miguel Cabrera Round II

The story line that really wasn’t last year. The Angel’s uber-phenom Mike Trout finished 2^nd to Detroit Tigers 3B in MVP voting last year, sparking one of baseball’s fiercest, albeit nerdiest, debates. Mike Trout was the shining beacon of all those that track baseball using it’s “new school method”- using deep analytics and statistical analysis to decipher who was better than who.

Cabrera, who just happened to be baseball’s first Triple Crown winner since 1967, was generally supported by those who employed the “old school” version of baseball fandom, concentrating more on the aspects of his game that couldn’t be mathematically decoded. Regardless of your stance, the extreme talent of both cannot be overlooked, as both make their teams title contenders.

4.      Terry Francona in Cleveland.

When was the last time you read about the Cleveland Indians? I certainly can’t remember that last time I sat down and found myself interested with anything remotely close to the city of Cleveland. Quite frankly I didn’t even realize they were still a city, I could have sworn they packed it up when LeBron left. But the Indians finally started to climb up towards mediocrity with some unheralded moves this offseason, the first of which started with the hiring of Manager Terry Francona.

I had the pleasure of watching him manage the Red Sox for seven years. All he did in his Sox tenure was stage the greatest comeback in the history of post-season sports, vanquish a 98-year curse and turn the Red Sox from loveable losers to champions. (And to think it only took 1 year of Bobby V to go back to being losers, and even worse, not even loveable. Go Bobby V!) Francona can manage as well as anyone in the game, and the additions of OF’s Nick Swisher and Michael Bourne should help this team start heading in the right direction.

5.      Inflated Numbers.

I always enjoy listening to people refer to the 90’s as the “Steroid Era” of baseball, as if present day is anything different. Use of Performance-Enhancing Drugs- referred to as PED’s- is not only still prevalent today, but it’s still running rampant.

Last year writers across the country praised the work-ethic of San Francisco OF Melky Cabrera, a lifetime .250 hitter who all of a sudden was hitting 100 points higher. A statistical change of that magnitude doesn’t happen in baseball, and it came to no surprise that he was later suspended 50 games for testing positive. NL MVP Ryan Braun basically tested positive, getting away on a technicality that involved improper care of urine samples.

This summer a report came out listing even more players to a clinic in Miami that supplies PED’s. Hell, it wouldn’t be a baseball offseason without someone coming out and saying they sold PED’s to Alex Rodriguez, and even that happened! It’s an epidemic, and until MLB creates stronger regulations, it’s not going anywhere.

My Season Picks:

NL West-  L.A. Dodgers

NL Central- Cincinnati Reds

NL East- Washington Nationals

Wild Card Teams: St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves

AL West- Not the Astros

AL Central- Detroit Tigers

AL East- Tampa Bay Rays

AL Wild Card Teams: Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays