At the start of the 2019 MLB season 2 players are really standing out, the first player I will be talking about is Cody Bellinger. Entering the final day of April, Cody Bellinger has had one of the best starts in baseball history. With his 14th home run on Sunday off of Pittsburgh’s Trevor Williams, Bellinger tied Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez for the most home runs hit before May 1. On Monday, Bellinger became the first player in MLB history to have 37 RBI before May 1, with his RBI single off of San Francisco’s Tony Watson. He also now is the sole record holder for two more early season records, most hits (44) and most total bases (96) before May 1. Bellinger is on pace to win NL MVP of the 2019 baseball season batting .434/.508/.906 with a 267 OPS, all of which rank first in MLB. But another player is making a run for Bellingers MVP candidacy is Christian Yelich from the Milwaukee Brewers. Christian Yelich also tied the record with his 14th homer, a solo shot off Met’s Noah Syndergaard on Saturday. The home run put Yelich in some rare company he’s just the sixth MLB player to rake in four home runs over the first four games of the season, joining the likes of Trevor Story, Chris Davis, Nelson Cruz, Mark McGwire, and Willie Mays. No defending MVP had pulled off the feat so far neither had any player in Brewer’s history. Christian Yelich has been nothing short of spectacular to start the season, and really going back to the end of last season too. He is swinging such a hot home run bat that he is on a historic pace early in the season. With these 2 studs putting on a show game in and out its gonna be tough to see which player will end up winning the NL MVP.

This week Friday, April 25th, major league’s baseball #1 prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is making his major league debut with the Toronto Blue Jays. In the minor leagues Guerrero is hitting .331 with 44 home runs in the minor leagues.

This week veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar was traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the San Francisco Giants. Pillar with a career batting average of .259 will help the Giants out a ton in the lineup and especially on defense where he was named Wilson’s Defensive player of the year.

On March 12, 2019 the Cleveland Browns and the New York Giants had a trade involving star Odell Beckham Jr. Last Season Odell had over 1,000 receiving yards and only fumbled twice all season. This star will make a big impact on the Cleveland Browns organization and the NFL itself.

In the early weeks of college baseball there have been some expected teams to stay at the top and there are some teams that have made big jumps in the rankings. One team that really stands out in the rankings is No.12 Ole Miss. Ole Miss this year has a record of 12-3. Ole Miss is really getting the help of big switch-hitting outfielder Thomas Dillard, Dillard hitting .434/.559/.906 with 7 home runs this season. Another team that’s very impressive in the first couple months of play is Louisiana State University. After bouncing back from a sweep against Texas, Louisiana State University had won the next series against California. A team that has taken a big jump back in the College Baseball Rankings are the North Carolina Tarheels. The Tarheels are 11-4 on the season and are 0-3 in ACC play.  And a team that has solidified themselves as a top 5 ranked team in college baseball are the UCLA Bruins. The Bruins this year are 11-3 on the season, bouncing back from the loss against Michigan took a win against Oklahoma State. And at the top of the ranking and one of the best college baseball programs to ever exist are the Vanderbilt Commodores. Commodores led by winning coach Tim Corbin a veteran and not new to the scene of top of the college baseball rankings. Some stars on the Commodores lineup to look for is freshmen Kumar Rocker, a PG  All-American last year has solidified himself as one of the best arms in college baseball. Another pitcher to look for is star reliever Tyler Brown who went 3 innings with 6 strikeouts against Illinois State Redbirds. The Commodores ended up winning that series against the Redbirds in a 2-1 series win. With these rankings the college world series will be very fun to watch this summer with hopes of seeing Vanderbilt, UCLA, and other top ranked teams.

As of Wednesday March 6, Steven Wright the pitcher for the Boston Red Sox had been tested positive for human growth hormone. Wright was an All-Star back in 2016 and last year spent most of his time in the bullpen going 3-1 with a 2.88 ERA in 20 games. Because of this suspension  Wright will not be able to play in any postseason games this year and will lose about half his salary of $1,375,000.

A huge story in MLB free agency has come to everyone’s attention as 2015 National League MVP and former Washington Nationals super star Bryce Harper has signed a 330 million dollar, 13 year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.  Bryce Harper racked up a .279 batting average and 184 home runs in 7 years as a National. Bryce Harper busted onto the scene in 2012, where he had 22 home runs and won the 2012 Rookie of the Year award. Bryce Harper was a young phenom in the MLB. Harper helped the Nationals win 4 division titles in 7 years. Whereas before the Nationals only won 1 division title in the history of their franchise. In 2015 Bryce Harper was named the National League MVP with a staggering .330 batting average and 42 home runs. Recently Harper won the 2018 Home Run Derby. He is considered by most baseball analysts as a franchise player and was highly perused by many teams. The teams that were interested in landing him were the Dodgers, Cubs, Phillies, Angels, Yankees, and of course the Nationals. But the team that Bryce Harper was really interested in were the Phillies. The Phillies saw Bryce Harper as a player that they could not only build a franchise around, but they could win championships with. The Phillies went just under .500 with 80 wins and 82 losses in the 2018 season. They hope to have somewhat of a turn around considering they just signed one of the best players in the MLB. Sources are now saying the Phillies are going to go after highly talented Houston Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel and one of the best closing pitchers in the game, Craig Kimbrel. The Phillies has also signed former Cy Young winner and World Series champion Jake Arrieta last off season. They are looking to add more core players in the upcoming years. The Philadelphia Phillies will be a menace in the MLB in the years to come.

On Tuesday, February 19th the biggest free-agent contract in american sports went down in the MLB. Manny Machado had officially signed with the San Diego Padres for a 10 year 300 million dollar deal. Machado is a generational type player, at only 26 years old he already had 4 all-star games under his belt and is a 2 time gold glove winner at 3rd base.

Free-Agent from the Arizona Diamondbacks has reportedly signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The center fielder AJ Pollock will get a 55 million dollar deal for 4 years and can option out by his 3rd year.

As the offseason rolls on there are plenty of big free agent names still looking for a new team to sign with and one is the 6 time all star Bryce Harper. He has been playing with the Nationals his whole career so far and is looking for a new team so spread his talents. One team set out to get Harper are the Los Angeles Dodgers, there looking for a short term outfielder with high average salary. But as of right now it would be very unlikely for Harper to end up going there and turn down 300 million dollar deal contract with the former team the Nationals. Another team that shows a lot of interest in Bryce Harper is the Chicago Cubs, in getting Harper it would be a benefit in helping them get back to the world series once again, and also getting rid of Heyward and freeing up some space and money to pay towards Harper. This could be a very big move this offseason for the Cubs if they want to make another run at the world series again. Another team that has a lot of interest and potential to get are the Cleveland Indians. This past season the Cleveland Indians were more than likely the most forgotten about team in the AL this past season. To bounce back they could essentially need a power hitting outfielder. With already having studs such as Francisco Lindor and Edwin Encarnacion in the infield they could use an upgrade for the 2019 season. So as trade and free agent rumors continue to heat up there are a lot of different outcomes that could come of the 6 time all star Bryce Harper who has lots of potential and could bring lots of excitement to the field with also raw talent and hype.