With his rapid strikeout rate, Rangers right-hander Yu Darvish put name alongside all-time greats in his second Major League season in 2013.

Adding Doug Fister to a mix that includes Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann and Gio Gonzalez gives the Nationals four guys who have ranked in the top 20 in ballpark-adjusted ERA over the past three seasons.

Former Seattle Mariners star was ecstatic following the Seahawks’ 43-8 rout of the Denver Broncos in Sunday’s Super Bowl. “I’m so thankful that this happened,” he said. “We needed a winner so bad. So many people stepped forward. To bring a championship back to this city is incredible.”

We’re less than two months away from Opening Day, when hope will spring anew at a ballpark near you. Are you ready to swap sweater weather for fitted hats and baseball stats? If so, we have just what you need: MLB.com’s Player Preview.

Now it is officially our turn again with the expiration of the game clock at Super Bowl XLVIII. We move back to a world where there is no clock, and we present to you 10 ways you can get ready for the return of the National Pastime

Now that baseball’s procession of winter wheeling and dealing is coming to an end, here’s a curbside look at the route this year’s offseason parade of activity took toward the upcoming 2014 season.

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina stepped onto the field at Stadium Nueva Esparta on Sunday night and was immediately swarmed by hundreds of media members behind home plate. Fans in attendance began to yell his name.

Newly signed Baltimore pitcher Alfredo Aceves and his older brother Jonathan Aceves, the starting catcher for Mexico’s Naranjeros de Hermosillo, teamed up on Saturday night to shut down Cuba’s offense in a 9-4 victory in the first game of the Caribbean Series.

Oliver Perez struggled in his first appearance of the Caribbean Series, giving up three runs in the ninth inning of Mexico’s 6-3 victory over Puerto Rico. Perez, who is a free agent, said he is looking for the right deal before he commits.

Joel Pineiro, who has not pitched in the big leagues since 2011 with the Angels, is on the comeback trail and is scheduled to start Tuesday for Puerto Rico’s Indios de Mayaguez against Cuba’s Villa Clara team. Tuesday’s outing might be Pineiro’s last chance to impress a big league team and earn a Spring Training invitation.

With Dan Duquette stating the Orioles still have “some more work to do this offseason,” Baltimore has been linked to some of the top free-agent starting pitchers on the Hot Stove market, including A.J. Burnett, Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez and Bronson Arroyo.

The 2014 Houston Winter Invitational began Saturday with Arkansas-Monticello cruising past Arkansas Tech in the opener of the four-day event at Minute Maid Park. Winona State prevailed in Game 2, with starting outfielder Joseph Kubera getting the win.

Members of Cuba’s baseball delegation made history at this year’s Caribbean Series before a pitch was thrown in Saturday’s night game between Mexico’s Naranjeros de Hermosillo and Cuba’s Villa Clara. The country had last participated in the annual tournament in 1960.

Jim Crane, majority owner of the Astros, seemed eager for Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan to come aboard and help Houston in what likely would be an advisory role. “We’d love to have him. We think he’d be a great addition to the organization,” Crane said.

On the campus of Manual Arts High School, near the University of Southern California, memories of a young Paul Blair came flooding back Saturday in a memorial service filled with stirring music and messages of love and admiration.

Manny Acta, the former Nationals and Indians manager, is acting as the first-year GM of the Dominican Republic’s Tigres del Licey before heading to Spring Training as part of ESPN’s TV crew.

Astros owner Jim Crane, who pitched for the University of Central Missouri in the 1970s wearing No. 24, was given a framed replica of a Mules jersey from the school on Saturday, and moments later Crane threw out the ceremonial first pitch.