With baseball right around the corner, it is time to look at some offseason moves and preview what the MLB might look like this year. There have been many moves this offseason to set up this upcoming season. Between the manager changes, rule changes and top prospects, everyone should be excited for this year. 

The league filters players in and out every year, but the great ones stay. Some stars broke out last year, and you may not have seen the pure talent in them. One of those stars is Fernando Tatis Jr., the starting shortstop for the San Diego Padres. It seemed like he was in the news every week. He seems to be a staple for the game for as long as his career goes. Tatis Jr. will inspire millions of players growing up watching him just as Derek Jeter inspired kids to play the game. 

The moves this offseason have been some of the biggest in years. We had the NL Cy Young winner, Trevor Bauer, go into free agency and top players up for trade. One of the first big booms of the offseason was the two trades that the Padres made for top-flight pitchers. The first trade they made was to the World Series runner-ups, Tampa Bay Rays. The Padres got Rays pitcher Blake Snell for practically nothing. Snell was coming off an incredible postseason campaign, where it was the first time we saw Snell at top performance since his Cy Young caliber season two years ago. The Padres then made another deal to the Chicago Cubs by sending them three prospects for pitcher Yu Darvish. Darvish was also coming off one of his best seasons in years, placing second in the Cy Young race. 

Following that, we saw the Francisco Lindor saga begin. Lindor, one of the best shortstops in baseball, was unhappy in Cleveland and was sent to the New York Mets for five players. All of the prospects are serviceable MLB players, but of course not Lindor caliber. After Lindor, we saw the Rockies trade third baseman Nolan Arenado to the St. Louis Cardinals for two prospects. They also sent $50 million to the Cardinals to pay for Arenado’s lucrative contract. 

After all of that happened, we were still waiting upon Bauer’s decision after his Cy Young season. Bauer was open to play for any team that would give him the most money and best opportunity to win. He ended up going to the World Series Champions Los Angeles Dodgers. The rich got richer. Bauer’s reasoning for it all was that they gave him the best chance to win and that their fans were some of the best in the league. 

Despite all of these moves and players, there are still games to be played, and it is exciting to see what the league has to offer its fans. No matter what, at this point in the season, any team has a chance to win the World Series.