5 bullet-point rumblings before Opening Day 2012

Seattle - In seven days, baseball fans can finally stop paying attention to meaningless games featuring players with jersey numbers in between 60 and 90.

Spring is in full swing, and spring training is almost over.

I'm in rival AL West territory at the moment, typing this blog from my hotel room at the Red Lion in Seattle. SocialTech 2012, a social media/marketing conference, brought me to Washington this weekend. First time to visit the Emerald City. It rained every day I was here, to no one's surprise, but I was impressed with the abundance of fresh/quality food I tasted on this trip (more on that later).

For now, here are five bullet-point rumblings as we prepare for Opening Day 2012:

Top 5 Rangers storylines I anticipate for 2012

Sometimes, the heartbreak of coming within one strike (twice) of winning the World Series overshadows the incredible run the Texas Rangers have put together the past two seasons.

The Rangers - a team that before 2010 had never won a postseason series - enter Spring Training as the two-time defending American League champions. They return every key player, minus starting pitcher C.J. Wilson, to a team that went 96-66 last season, the best regular season in franchise history. In 2010, Texas went 90-72 before making a World Series run.

Yu-Phoria: Darvish Dazzles in Debut

It's funny to think how much anticipation surrounded a rather meaningless spring training baseball game on Wednesday.

Such was the case for the first MLB appearance of Yu Darvish, whom the Rangers signed over the offseason for six years and $60 million (on top of a $51.7 million negotiating fee).



Survey said? So far, so good.