Will the Phillies offense be enough?

This year’s abbreviated MLB spring training season of only three weeks isn't all that bad because the start of "real" games is approaching quickly. April 7 is Opening Day and something to look forward to.

Last week I talked about Kyle Schwarber coming over to the Phillies organization from the Boston Red Sox, and since then, they have also signed outfielder Nick Castellanos from the Cincinnati Reds. This seems to be an effort to try to compete with the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets. I hope this strategy works to make the division race close this season.

So far, the first two rounds of March Madness on the men’s college basketball side of the tournament has been quite exciting with a bunch of close games. There was one big upset between the small college, Saint Peter’s University of New Jersey beating the Kentucky Wildcat, who were a No. 2 seed. This completely screwed up my bracket because I had Kentucky going to the Final Four. But that's what makes this entire event so much fun to follow. I hope all the games this weekend are equally as entertaining.

There was some surprising news in tennis this past week with the No. 1 female player in the world, Ashleigh Barty, announcing her retirement for the second time at the age of 25. She did this after winning this year‘s Australian Open tournament. This was quite a shock, and I hope she reconsiders and decides to come back. I also saw that Rafael Nadal will be out for 4 to 6 weeks because of injuries to both of his knees. That will be a tough recovery and I will be anxious to see how that plays out. I hope he gets to play in the French Open at least one more time before he retires.