A season without labor strife? What's a baseball fan to do? SI.com's John Donovan examines some of what we can look forward to in 2003.

Sammy Sosa  AP Slammin' Sammy Sosa is a swing away from his 500th career home run. But the Cubs' star isn't the only one aiming for baseball immortality. Three others are likely to reach the 500 plateau. Texas' Rafael Palmeiro (10 away), L.A.'s Fred McGriff (22) and Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr. (32) all are after 500, something only 17 sluggers ever have done. Winning 300 games is just about as rare. Only 20 pitchers have done that. The Yankees' Rogers Clemens needs seven more, to become No. 21. Clemens and Arizona's Randy Johnson both could join Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers to strike out 4,000 batters in a career, too. Clemens is 91 away, Johnson 254.

Francisco Rodriguez Jeff Gross/Getty Take a bunch of good but not great players, teach them the importance of making every at-bat count, let them have some fun by being aggressive on the base paths, insist on solid defense, sprinkle in some very good seasons by some almost great players, find a phenom for the bullpen and an ace for the rotation and a gutsy rookie starter. What do you have? Last year's Anaheim Angels, the World Series champs. They are the shining example for smaller-revenue clubs everywhere. Everyone wants to be this year's Angels. But can everything go right again for Anaheim? The team has been kept virtually intact. But, man, it's hard enough just getting out of the American League West.

Players Division     Jim Thome Ezra Shaw/Getty The Braves lost a couple of pitching stalwarts, with lefty Tom Glavine jumping to the Mets (for a fistful of dollars) and righty Kevin Millwood being traded to the Phillies (who had to pay him a fistful, too). Longtime Texas catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez couldn’t seem to catch on anywhere, finally settling on Florida as the place to restore his rep. Longtime Florida catcher Charles Johnson will start again in the thin air of Colorado. Slugger Jim Thome bid a tearful goodbye to Cleveland and left for Philadelphia (and a fistful), while sweet-swinging Cliff Floyd, the well-traveled one, is now with the Mets -- at least for a while. Ray Durham (ex-A) will be the new leadoff man in San Francisco, where Edgardo Alfonzo (ex-Met) now will hit behind Barry Bonds. The Giants lost David Bell to Philly and pitcher Russ Ortiz to Atlanta. That's just some of the switching around that's taken place. Maybe the most interesting move of the offseason? Craig Biggio is still in Houston -- but don't look for him at second base. He'll be roaming center field, making room for Jeff Kent, who left his heart in San Francisco but filled his fists with dollars by signing with the Astros. Managers Division Get out your scorecard … Dusty Baker went from managing a World Series team (the Giants) to managing one that just dreams about it (the Cubs). Near septuagenarian Felipe Alou takes over in San Francisco. There are rookie managers in Milwaukee (Ned Yost), Detroit (Alan Trammell), Cleveland (Eric Wedge), Oakland (Ken Macha) and Seattle (Bob Melvin), while ex-A's skipper Art Howe jumped to the Mets, ex-Mariners skipper Lou Piniella bolted for his Tampa Bay home and Buck Showalter, once the manager for the Yankees and Diamondbacks, moved out of the broadcast booth and back onto the field with Texas. Thank goodness for Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre.

Barry Bonds Jed Jacobsohn/Getty He's done everything else. Can the five-time MVP hit .400? Last season he became the oldest batting champ in history when he hit .370. Can he do 30 ticks better? Well, he might if he can get some pitches to hit. Bonds set a major-league record for the second straight season in 2002 when he was walked 198 times, 68 of them intentionally (yeah, like the other 130 were accidental). Still, even if he can't get to .400 he's liable to do something almost as impressive. With 48 home runs, Bonds will pass his godfather, the great Willie Mays, for third on the all-time homer list. Mays has 660. There's a question as to how Bonds will hit this season without one-time MVP Jeff Kent in the lineup. Our sage advice: Never question Barry Bonds.

Mark Teixeira Rick Stewart/Getty We have a few favorites, topped by ex-Georgia Tech star Mark Teixeira, who will get a chance to play this season for the Rangers, probably at third or as a fill-in at first while Rafael Palmeiro is DHing. Teixeira has power from both sides, he hits for average … and he seems to be a really nice kid. The Yankees have their two big-name newcomers, Hideki Matsui and Jose Contreras. Matsui was a slugger in Japan but looks to be more of a line drive hitter over here. Contreras joins a stacked pitching staff. Other newcomers to watch: Anaheim World Series heroes John Lackey (who starts Opening Day) and reliever Francisco Rodriguez; Tampa Bay outfielder Rocco Baldelli; Arizona first baseman Lyle Overbay; San Diego outfielder Xavier Nady; L.A. second baseman Joe Thurston; and Cubs slugger Hee Seop Choi. The best-looking of all the newcomers, though, may be a beauty on the bank of the Ohio River. The Great American Ball Park -- named after an insurance company, sadly -- will open this season, sadly, with the same old Reds.

Kevin Brown  AP Between the two of them, Kevin Brown and Darren Dreifort started exactly 10 games last season -- and that's not really fair because Dreifort didn't pitch at all. But if spring is any indication -- and we all know it's not -- they are healthy again and raring to go. Their presence would be a huge boost for the Dodgers in the competitive National League West. Elsewhere, the Big Hurt, Frank Thomas, has been backsliding and whining for a couple of years now (though he had 92 RBIs last season). If the Chicago White Sox are to unseat the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central, Thomas will have to return to the form that made him the '93 and '94 American League MVP and the 2000 Comeback Player of the Year (.328, 43 homers and 143 RBIs that year). Comeback team? Can the Mariners, winners of 116 games in 2001 but left out of the playoffs with 93 wins in '02, make it back to the postseason? That AL West is a bear.

Pete Rose Brian Bahr/Getty Mention Pete Rose's name and the e-mails start flowing. Ask whether he should be in the Hall of Fame and you're asking for a visit from your friendly neighborhood e-mail administrator. It's turned into a classic debate pitting the Pete fans against the baseball hardliners. And Rose's possible reinstatement to the game is only one of the prickly off-field questions baseball faces this season. Others: A proposed ban on ephedrine, the weight loss supplement fingered in the spring training death of Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler. What to do with the Montreal Expos, who will play 22 games in Puerto Rico this season but could be bound for Portland, Ore., Washington D.C. or northern Virginia in '04. And, with all the uncertainty in their future, what will the Expos do with free agent-to-be Vladimir Guerrero?

Alfonso Soriano Stephen Dunn/Getty The American League East, as always, starts with the Yankees. And with a payroll that may top $200 million, that's where the East may end, too. The Red Sox, with Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and a closer by committee plan, may make a run. But the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry seems pretty one-sided these days. The improved White Sox and deeper, savvier Twins will slug it out in the AL Central, while the AL West again will be some sort of combination of Anaheim, Seattle and Oakland. Maybe the most improved division is the National League East, where the Phillies went wild in the offseason trying to keep up with the Braves while the Braves went through a huge housecleaning. The Braves won the division by 19 games last season. The Phils, Mets, Marlins and Expos will make it a lot closer this season. St. Louis, with maybe the best everyday lineup in the game, has a challenger in Houston now that new slugger Jeff Kent is in the fold, while Cincinnati could make it a three-team race, especially if Ken Griffey Jr. is healthy and returns to his slugging self. Arizona's Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson still make the D'backs the favorite in the West, but the improved Dodgers, and Bonds' Giants, could easily win, too.