Baseball Calendar

May 14-15 - Owners' meeting, Milwaukee.

June 5-6 - Amateur draft, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

July 15 - All-Star game, New York.

July 27 - Hall of Fame inductions, Cooperstown, N.Y.

July 31 - Last day to trade a player without securing waivers.

Sept. 1 - Active rosters expand to 40 players.

October/November - Free agent filing period, first 15 days after World Series ends.

Nov. 3-6 - General managers' meetings, Dana Point, Calif.

Dec. 1 - Last day for teams to offer salary arbitration to their former players who became free agents.

Dec. 7 - Last day for free agents offered salary arbitration to accept the offers.

Dec. 8-11 - Winter meetings, Las Vegas.

Dec. 12 - Last day for teams to offer 2009 contracts to unsigned players.

The point in every baseball season

This is the point in every baseball season at which things begin to feel real. In the coming days, we'll see fewer guys wearing No. 75 on the mound. We'll see starting pitchers face four, even five innings worth of batters. We'll see veteran hitters play through the excruciating injuries -- sore earlobes, scratched cleats -- that have been cause for days off in spring training's early weeks. And, somewhere along the line, we'll start saying things like, "You know, if Zach Duke could just give the Pirates 15 wins, this team could very well win the division."

At times like this, it's useful to think about money. Not payrolls -- your own money. Because there's no better way to sort through the delusions of spring baseball and find teams that really might contend than by asking the simple question: "Would you bet on that?"

Now, I'm not condoning gambling, and I'm certainly not suggesting you hop on the next flight to Vegas and put the mortgage on any of these numbers. But I would say that the best way to pick darkhorse championship possibilities is by looking at the upcoming season's World Series odds and seeing which teams you think might be worth dropping a sawbuck on. Give it a shot (I pulled these odds off the Internet, by the way):

Rank. Team Odds
1. Boston Red Sox 7/2
2. New York Mets 4/1
3. New York Yankees 5/1
3. Detroit Tigers 5/1
5. Cleveland Indians 10/1
5. Los Angeles Angels 10/1
7. Chicago Cubs 12/1
8. Philadelphia Phillies 20/1
9. Arizona Diamondbacks 22/1
10. Chicago White Sox 25/1
10. Colorado Rockies 25/1
10. Los Angeles Dodgers 25/1
10. San Diego Padres 25/1
10. Seattle Mariners 25/1
15. Milwaukee Brewers 30/1
15. Atlanta Braves 30/1
15. Toronto Blue Jays 30/1
18. Minnesota Twins 40/1
18. St Louis Cardinals 40/1
20. Cincinnati Reds 50/1
21. Houston Astros 60/1
22. Oakland Athletics 65/1
23. Texas Rangers 100/1
23. San Francisco Giants 100/1
25. Baltimore Orioles 150/1
25. Florida Marlins 150/1
25. Tampa Bay Rays 150/1
28. Kansas City Royals 200/1
28. Pittsburgh Pirates 200/1
28. Washington Nationals 200/1

Obviously, teams like the Red Sox and Mets are the favorites, but picking the favorites is easy and hardly worth the 10 bucks. Try to find some teams that are undervalued, that can give the best return. I've got three in mind ...

Arizona. With or without Randy Johnson, this team has an imposing rotation. There isn't a better 1-2 punch in baseball than Brandon Webb and Dan Haren, and with those guys at the top of the playoff rotation, Arizona would be brutal to face in October. Getting to the playoffs might be a problem, though. The bullpen has been reshuffled, with Jose Valverde gone to Houston and Brandon Lyon taking over closing duties. The offense was plain bad last year, as their .321 on-base percentage ranked last in the N.L., and the West is a very tough division. But at 22/1, I'll take 'em.

Toronto. If you're going to pick the Blue Jays to even reach the postseason, you're essentially saying that the team can beat out either the Yankees or Red Sox in the East, the Indians or Tigers in the Central and the Mariners or Angels in the West. They can. They've got to stay healthy to do so, though, and that is a tall order for a team counting on David Eckstein, Scott Rolen and soon-to-be 40-year-old Frank Thomas. But if Alex Rios continues to ascend and Vernon Wells comes back after an awful year, the team's offense could finally catch up to its strength -- the little-known pitching staff, which was second in the A.L. last year with a 4.00 ERA. Youngsters Dustin McGowan, Shaun Marcum and Jesse Litsch give the team depth behind Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett, and the bullpen is stocked with great arms. The Jays at 30/1 sounds good to me.

San Francisco. What? The Giants? Well, yeah. There isn't much chance they'll actually win the World Series, but that's why they call them longshots. The Giants are listed at 100/1 and when you get a load of their decaying lineup, you can see why. But there are good vibes in post-Barry Bonds camp these days, and I expect that this team will play over its head for a while. They need to make the trade for Joe Crede at third, and they'll need a bounce-back year from Ray Durham. It'd be nice if they could inject some youth with outfielder Nate Schierholtz and infielder Kevin Frandsen, too. But the strength is the team's top-notch young pitchers -- even with Noah Lowry out for the first month -- who could put the Giants in a better position than most think.

Darkest days in the history of baseball

Sept. 29, 1920 - In an account published in The New York Times, Chicago White Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte says that he and several teammates agreed to throw the 1919 World Series in exchange for cash, in a scheme hatched by a pair of professional gamblers. The eight players indicted in the "Black Sox" scandal were found innocent in court, but banned for life by baseball's first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

June 12, 1981 - Major league players go on strike. A total of 712 games are cancelled before both sides reached agreement July 31 on a contract that would run through 1984.

Dec. 15, 1983 - Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspends Steve Howe, a star relief pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, for one year for cocaine use. Howe, who was suspended seven times by the end of his career, came to symbolize the rampant cocaine problem that plagued baseball in the 1980s.

Feb. 28, 1986 - Joaquin Andujar, Dale Berra, Enos Cabell, Keith Hernandez, Al Holland, Lee Lacy, Jeff Leonard, Dave Parker, Lonnie Smith, Lary Sorensen and Claudell Washington are all suspended for drug use, based on testimony from the 1985 trial of caterer Curtis Strong, who was convicted of selling cocaine to players. The suspensions - some for 60 days, others for a year - allowed the players to stay in the game if they donated to drug-prevention programs, performed community service and, in some cases, submitted to random drug testing.

Aug. 24, 1989 - Cincinnati Reds manager and former star player Pete Rose, baseball's career hit leader, is banned from the sport for life for betting on his own team. Rose steadfastly denies the gambling allegations until 2004, when he comes clean in his autobiography.

May 7, 1992 - Trainer Curtis Wenzlaff is arrested for steroids distribution. Wenzlaff later publicly admits helping Jose Canseco and 20 to 30 other major leaguers obtain steroids, but refuses to discuss another former client, Mark McGwire.

Aug. 12, 1994 - Players walk off the job in a protracted strike that results in the cancellation of the remainder of the season, including the 1994 World Series.

Aug. 22, 1998 - A jar of androstenedione is discovered in McGwire's locker, just as he and Sammy Sosa are chasing Roger Maris' single-season home run mark of 61. McGwire admits using the drug and goes on to hit a record 70 home runs. The precursor to steroids is not yet illegal in Major League Baseball.

May 28, 2002 - Ken Caminiti is quoted by Sports Illustrated as saying he used steroids during his MVP season in 1996 with the San Diego Padres, when he hit a career-high .326 with 40 home runs and 130 RBIs. He estimates half the players in the big leagues were using them.

Dec. 2, 2004 - The San Francisco Chronicle reports New York Yankee Jason Giambi testified to a federal grand jury on Dec. 11, 2003, that he had used steroids for at least three seasons and had injected himself with human growth hormone in 2003.

Feb. 6, 2005 - The New York Daily News reports Canseco says in his book, "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big" that he injected McGwire with steroids and introduced several other sluggers to the drugs.

March 17, 2005 - At a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee, McGwire evades questions about steroid use as he testifies alongside Canseco, Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, who denies having used steroids. Lawmakers scold Commissioner Bud Selig and union leader Donald Fehr, saying baseball's penalties are too lenient. Some congressmen say legislation could be necessary.

Aug. 7, 2007 - San Francisco Giant Barry Bonds hits his 756th career home run to break baseball's all-time record, held by Hank Aaron for more than three decades. Bonds' accomplishment is tainted by allegations that he had used performance-enhancing drugs for years.

Nov. 15, 2007 - Bonds is indicted on five felony counts of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying when he testified he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs. If convicted, legal experts say Bonds could spend up to 2 1/2 years in prison.

Dec. 7, 2007 - Bonds pleads not guilty to four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice.

Dec. 13, 2007 - A report prepared by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell details a troubling drug culture in baseball, and names 86 current and former players linked to performance-enhancing substances. Included are Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Miguel Tejada, Andy Pettitte and Eric Gagne.