The Futility List is all about that… futility. Sure, many another website will give you a nice and clean MLB team power rankings, listing the league from top to bottom, but I say those teams at the end need love too. So, we’ll start our list at the bottom! It’s not all about the breast… err, best team, you know!

Let’s put the face down and the bottoms up… wait, I’m mixing metaphors again… and let’s get to the first edition of THE FUTILITY LIST!

1. Washington Nationals (0-6)- If baseball were a bar, the Nats would be the guy in the corner with a drink in hand, standing alone, and sweating. Profusely.

2. New York Yankees (3-3) – Going .500 combined against the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals, two teams not expected to do much this season except watch the “real” franchises above them, is not a good way to get out of the gate. So with the expectation factor in mind, this ranking is about as right as two ugly lesbians being a couple.

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In their final tune-up before starting the regular season on Monday at the Baltimore Orioles’ Camden Yards, the New York Yankees layeth the smacketh down on the Chicago Cubs, beating the Windy City NL team 10-1. Mark Teixeira continued to rake at the plate, going 2-for-3 including two homeruns and driving in four runs. Markenstein ends his first Yankees spring training, hitting .433 with five villagers over the fence and 15 RBIs. Thus far, Teixeira is rewarding the Yankees with his hitting, but can he do it when everything counts during the regular season, and to “earn” your pinstripes, the postseason? Time will obviously tell (what a cliche), but right now, who can complain about the Yankees giving him all that money and all those years? He’s been worth it thus far.

Derek Jeter also hit a three-run homer, reminding us not to forget about him, even though he’s basically a living legend and overexposed at your local Modell’s. It seems that the leadoff spot is suiting him just fine. Andy Pettitte went four innings, giving up six hits and one walk, striking out two, and allowing one run to cross the plate. AJ Burnett pitched four more innings for the Yanks, dealing for four innings, giving up only two hits and one walk, while striking out six and giving up zero runs.

The Yankees end the spring with a 10-game winning streak, finishing with a record of 24-10 and finishing in first place in the Grapefruit League. The Bombers led the Grapefruit league in runs scored (207) and was also best in runs allowed (133). However, when you consider the Cactus League teams, the Yankees only finish in ninth in the runs scored category, but still best overall in runs allowed.

The start of the season on Monday can’t happen fast enough.

The first game at the new Yankee Stadium took place in a wet climate, filled with a palpable excitement, and that fresh new stadium smell. The Chicago Cubs may have had the first player to ever get a hit at the new ballpark in Aaron Miles, but they didn’t have enough to stop the first Yankee to ever get a hit, Derek Jeter, and the power strokes of Robinson Cano (two-run homer in the second inning), Hideki Matsui (two-run dinger in the third), and Cody Ransom (three-run blast in the fourth) as the New York Yankees went on to win 7-4.

Reggie Jackson threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Yankees, which seemed appropriate as Jackson was the first high-priced Yankee that was either loved or hate because of the money surrounding him, but also the undeniable talent. Sound familiar?

In any case, Yankee starter Chien-Ming Wang looked off and is still in the middle of getting back to form as he pitched five innings, gave up four runs on six hits, and struck out three versus walking two. This was Wang’s first win of spring training, but the Yankees’ ninth consecutive W. They are 23-10 overall this spring. The Yankees look to continue their winning streak with another exhibition game at the Stadium versus the very same Cubs on Saturday.

Don’t forget to look at the poll on the right sidebar and click on how many wins you think the Yankees will end up with this season. Also, join the Facebook group page, as well as follow us on Twitter!

… and you get nothing but a CHEESY picture with a HACKY slogan… hahaha! Seriously, it’s better than getting an error message or something else that didn’t allow you to access the blog the last couple of days, right? By the way, apologies for that, but it was something that simply had to be done across the FanSided network to make it better down the line.

Unfortunately, it didn’t allow me to put up any new content and preview tonight’s first game ever at the new Yankee Stadium against the Chicago Cubs, BUT, I’ll be sure to write up a game recap. At this point, the Cubs are beating the Yankees 3-0 in the bottom of the second with my choice for comeback Yankee of the year, Robinson Cano on deck. So, anyway… back to the game. Recap to come later tonight.

Thanks for your patience with the blog’s bugs the past couple of days. I heart you… I do that with complete strangers I’ve never met.