With Opening Day fast approaching, ESPN The Magazine’s MLB Preview Issue, on newsstands Friday, March 21, offers a wide array of content to help get fans ready for the season.

This year’s MLB Preview includes a cover story with Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw. The Mag’s Buster Olney spends time with the ace pitcher to discuss why he turned down last year’s offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers for a $300 million lifetime contract. We learn what drives Kershaw to pitch at this level – and it has nothing to do with external factors, money or otherwise.

The issue will be featured on Baseball Tonight: ESPN The Magazine MLB Preview Show airing Thursday, March 20, at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN. The show will include features on Clayton Kershaw, Wrigley Field, Andrew McCutchen, MLB Confidential, team previews and a discussion on team chemistry

MLB Preview Issue Features:

MLB confidential

The Mag provides another no-holds-barred Q&A with more than 100 big leaguers, covering home plate collisions, game teammates, overrated players, A-Rod, PEDs, and more.

Theo’s prospects

When he arrived in Chicago in 2011, Theo Epstein inherited an organization almost bereft of talent and embarked on a plan to build a strong talent base through the draft, just as the Red Sox had. If the Cubs’ future success rests on a steady stream of talent, how is the future looking now, two years—and 197 losses—into Epstein’s tenure? By Tim Keown

Mike Jirschele

Mike Jirschele spent 37 years as a player and coach in the Royals farm system.  Every offseason, he goes back to work at a furniture store in Wisconsin. This year, for the first time, he has been called up, and will debut this season as a general assignment coach in Kansas City. By Chris Jones

Additional Highlights:

• College Basketball: With March Madness upon us, The Mag provides a stats-oriented look at the trends fans will notice this Tournament – shooting is up, teams are playing more zone, the midrange jumper is alive and well – thanks to the rule changes at the start of the season.
• MLB: In his latest “Numbers” column The Mag’s Peter Keating focuses on the payroll disparity between the richest and poorest teams, or the idea that you get what you buy.
• NHL: Shot-blocking has become hockey’s version of baseball’s pitch count. Is it an effective strategy or an entertainment-suffocating tactic? The Mag breaks down the art of hurling oneself in front of 100-mph slap shots.

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