As the Major League Baseball spring training season begins in the South, the top teams from around the league are still looking for last minute advantages over division rivals. 

The Kansas City Royals, Chicago Cubs and New York Mets have all proven they can contend for a title, yet a turbulent offseason has seriously altered the future of each team.

 The Kansas City Royals, coming off an incredible 4-1 series rout of the New York Mets in the World Series, have already secured parts of their dominant roster. The Royals are looking for a third-straight trip to the Fall Classic and have started their bid by re-signing 2015 Most Valuable Player of the World Series, catcher Salvador Perez, to a five-year deal. 

The Royals have been in tough shape otherwise, losing star first baseman Ben Zobrist to the rising Chicago Cubs. 

All-Star pitcher Johnny Cueto also departed from the team to join the stacked potential rival San Fransisco Giants. The Royals looked to replace him with former Met pitcher Dillon Gee, but filling Cueto’s shoes will be no easy task. Cueto had one of the worst postseason starts in MLB history, allowing eight runs while collecting only six outs against the Toronto Blue Jays. Despite the horror of the game, Cueto held a promising future, posting a 2.62 earned run average only months before while on the Cincinnati Reds. 

On the losing side of the field, the Mets held on to sensational outfielder Yoenis Cespedes in a surprising offseason deal. Cespedes will bolster a faltering offensive lineup for the Mets and shoulder the load left by former Met and incoming Washington National second baseman Daniel Murphy. 

Former Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Neil Walker will also carry Murphy’s workload as he fills in at the second base position. The Mets will have a lot of potential to live up to with their young but sharp pitching rotation. Ultimately, the Mets will need to create a consistent offense, something that has nagged the Mets organization since the 2007 season. 

The once-pitiful Cubs, swept by the Mets in the National League Conference Championship, knew their future hung by the threads of Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Jake Arietta’s jersey. With that in mind,the Cubs exerted all their effort in re-signing Arietta and succeeded with a short one-year deal. The Cubs looked to secure their formidable rotation, which earned them fourth place in the league with a 3.36 ERA, a smidge above the touted Mets rotation. 

Offensively, the Cubs ratcheted up their offense by acquiring outfielder Jason Heyward and first baseman Ben Zobrist. With a .244 batting average, .001 points above the last-place San Diego Padres, the Cubs seem to have propelled their offense past that of the Mets and into a possible World Series opportunity. Heyward had a career year last season with the St. Louis Cardinals, posting an impressive career-high .293 batting average. 

With the plates shifting, these three teams seem the most likely contenders for the coveted October trophy. 

Yet, with the Giants wreaking havoc in the free-agency field and the Arizona Diamondbacks sneaking into the contender’s party, the MLB fan base will have an exciting season to look forward. In an all-out frenzy, the ’Backs stole elite pitcher Zach Grienke from the Los Angeles Dodgers to bolster their top-slugging offense. This may be the season the Houston Astros finally get their bid for a championship, or it may be one in which the Yankees retake their throne atop the MLB. Undeniably, the MLB will see the rise of the small city startups or see them crushed under the foot of big city dynasties. Either way, it will be a season for the ages.