The first month of baseball is always an exciting time, but this past April might have been one of the most memorable and unpredictable Aprils of all-time. We saw White Sox pitcher Philip Humber throw the 21^st perfect game in Major League history. Both Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen and Detroit outfielder Delmon Young were suspended by the league for off-field incidents. One of the greatest catchers of all-time, Ivan Rodriguez, announced his retirement from baseball. And the league standings are full of surprises in every division. Here are the top three things that we can take away from this eventful first month of baseball:

1. Preseason rankings are overrated. As we saw last season, when almost everyone handed the Red Sox the World Series title before spring training even began (and how did that end?), it is almost impossible to predict which teams will do well throughout the season. Granted, it has only been the first of six months, but it is always interesting to see how some teams that were predicted to be champion contenders can stumble out of the gate. The Red Sox are in the basement of the American League East and Bobby Valentine has created enemies in Beantown with derogatory remarks about fan favorite third baseman, Kevin Youkilis. The Indians, not the mighty Detroit Tigers, currently sit in first place in the AL Central. And the Angels, who some predicted to win the World Series this year, are currently 8-15 and are a staggering nine games behind Texas in the standings.

The National League has been just as entertaining thus far. The NL East was predicted to be one of the toughest divisions in baseball and, though they were expected to be much improved, the usually woeful Nationals find themselves on top of the standings. Likewise, the Dodgers, who barely finished above .500 last year, are off to a great 16-7 start and have the second best record in all of baseball.  Will these standings remain throughout the year? Probably not. But April does make for a lot of fun “What if?” scenarios.

2. Megadeals and huge offseason acquisitions do not always pan out. This past offseason, Albert Pujols signed a mammoth ten-year, $240 million contract with Anaheim that includes performance incentives and other perks. What has Pujols done so far this year for the Angels? He is currently batting .217 with no homers and four RBIs. For a man who has hit between 32-49 home runs every season throughout his 11-year career, and has collected more than 100 RBI in ten of those 11 seasons, those numbers are just unacceptable. And, oh yeah, Pujols also has a lifetime .327 batting average. Did Anaheim overpay him? Only time will tell. The Angels first baseman is not the only player adjusting slowly to his new team.

Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder has gotten off to a sluggish start after signing a nine-year, $214 million contract with Detroit this past offseason. To date, the big slugger has hit only three homers to go along with 11 RBI.  It’s too soon for Tiger fans to worry about their star acquisition, but this type of production throughout the season won’t cut it.

Finally, on a lesser note, Miami’s Jose Reyes has so far not lived up to his six-year, $106 million deal. The speedy shortstop is batting .220 thus far (as compared with .337  in 2011) and has stolen only four bases, while being caught three times. To put that in perspective, Reyes stole 39 bases last year and was caught seven times. Even though these three players have definitely proven themselves in the past, it is always a risk when a team commits to a megadeal with any player.

3. Texas is Hungry for a World Series Title. The only thing worse than going to the World Series and losing two consecutive years would be another repeat performance. It certainly looks, as of now, that Texas is will be back in the Fall Classic again, but this time they will likely achieve a different outcome. Texas’ value dropped this offseason with the loss of pitcher C.J. Wilson to the Angels. There were more questions when superstar outfielder and recovering addict, Josh Hamilton, suffered a one-episode relapse one month before spring training. Hamilton has been nothing but stellar however, and the Rangers have answered all the critics.

The risky acquisition of Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish has worked out extremely well and he has virtually replaced Wilson. Darvish is 4-0 with a 2.18 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 33 innings of work thus far. Colby Lewis has also been stellar, and is 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA. Hamilton is batting .395 (second in the AL) with nine homers and 25 RBIs (firsts in the AL). Second baseman Ian Kinsler, third baseman Adrian Beltre, and catcher Mike Napoli have also gotten off to hot starts for Texas. Put that all together and that makes the Rangers one of the premier teams in Major League Baseball.

The 2012 season is but one month old, and it has been a very entertaining and memorable ride so far. Anything can happen as the season progresses — a favorite saying that puts it best. That’s why they play the games!