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The sound of gloves popping can be heard across Arizona and Florida. That’s right, pitchers and catchers have started to report to their respective camps in preparation for the 2024 season. The were the first team to begin their spring training work, with two days before the . The followed suit on Sunday and the rest of the clubs are kicking things off on either Wednesday or Thursday. The position players won’t be too far behind and then the action in the will get underway. The Dodgers and Padres are scheduled to play this year’s first spring training game on Feb. 22. So as baseball makes its return, here are five storylines to follow throughout spring training and into the new season: Shohei Ohtani and the loaded Dodgers was the story of the offseason and is set up to be the story of the 2024 campaign as well. After six seasons with the , Ohtani signed with the crosstown Dodgers on a . And the structure of Ohtani’s contract, which contains a , helped allow the Dodgers to to their already loaded roster. After securing the ‘s signature, the Dodgers acquired Rays ace Tyler Glasnow and . Los Angeles then further strengthened its rotation by signing top free agent pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was part of Japan’s 2023 title-winning team with Ohtani, to a . And one-time All-Star outfielder Teoscar Hernández joined Los Angeles on a as well. While Ohtani won’t take the mound in 2024 as he recovers from elbow surgery, the baseball world should finally get to see him in a playoff setting. The Dodgers are riding one of the in MLB history at 11 straight and it would be a massive disappointment if that run came to an end this season. But will all of this talent be enough to push the Dodgers to their first title in a full season since 1988? International stars debut in MLB The 25-year-old Yamamoto, who sported a 1.82 ERA over seven seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), isn’t the only international star joining MLB in 2024, either. The signed Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee to a . Lee, 25, was the 2022 KBO MVP after hitting .349/.421/.575 with 23 home runs, 113 RBI and a .996 OPS. The , meanwhile, , inking him to a four-year, $53 million deal. The 30-year-old southpaw boasted a 3.18 ERA over eight NPB seasons. Juan Soto and revamped Yankees While the Dodgers dominated the offseason headlines, the were also aggressive in upgrading their roster. After missing the postseason for the first time since 2016, the Bronx Bombers made several splash moves/. The biggest of which was a with the that brought four-time Silver Slugger winner Juan Soto to the Big Apple. New York’s lineup will now feature two of the game’s most feared hitters in Soto and 2022 AL MVP Aaron Judge. Soto has sported an on-base percentage above .400 in each of his six MLB seasons, while Judge has done so in each of the last two seasons. The Yankees added even more offense to their outfield via a with the , acquiring Alex Verdugo. And New York bolstered its rotation behind by signing Marcus Stroman to a . The AL East sure looks like the best division in baseball this year with the Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays all boasting playoff-caliber clubs. Rangers gear up for title defense The 2023 season was a historic one for the . In their first postseason appearance since 2016, Texas won its first seven playoff games, six of which were on the road, en route to a 2-0 ALCS lead over the defending champion Houston Astros. After then dropping three straight, the Rangers rebounded to win Games 6 and 7 in Houston to reach the . Texas would go on to finally , defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games. Entering 2024, there’s a different type of history in front of the Rangers. Bruce Bochy’s club will now look to become the first repeat champion since the Yankees won three straight titles from 1998-2000. While the Rangers lost some key pieces from their championship team like Mitch Garver, the club still has enough to make another run. The Rangers return a strong core of Adolis García, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jonah Heim and Josh Jung, and they’ll have as an everyday player from the jump this season. Texas will just need to hold down the fort on the pitching front, as Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle won’t join the rotation until midseason as they recover from injuries. When does Jackson Holliday debut with Orioles? The Orioles selected Jackson Holliday with the first overall pick in the 2022 draft, and the 20-year-old middle infielder enters the 2024 season as the consensus top prospect in baseball. Holliday, the son of former seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday, reached as high as the Triple-A level during his first full season in the minors last year. He hit .323/.442/.449 with 12 homers and 75 RBIs overall, with a slash line of .267/.396/.400 across 18 Triple-A appearances. It seems like a matter of when, not if, Holliday gets a call to the bigs this season. But can he crack the reigning AL East ch...
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