The Grapefruit and Cactus leagues are (thankfully) underway, but as much as this development is a wonderful harbinger of spring, I’m having trouble getting myself too worked up about the standings. Having said that, some congrats are due to those Grapefruit League-leading Baltimore Orioles and Cactus League-leading Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals. Maybe that Zack Greinke deal was a win-win after all.
And perhaps I’m just feeling sour and prickly about not being in Florida or Arizona right now. It also seems that whenever one of those spring training games is televised, I always seem to be tied up.
So, on to the regular season, and a look at some individual milestones that may be reached this year. One of the many charms of baseball is that it is uniquely a game of individual numbers, and quite a few players are poised to hit some of those numbers this year.
In this article, I have favored the round numbers—i.e., 500 home runs or 3,000 hits—over the ranking, although both the career and active leaders in all featured categories have been provided.
Without any further adieu, let’s step up to the plate and enjoy this trip around the bases.