Following the first week of Major League Baseball, it is clear the excitement of the game remains intact, despite the dark clouds overhead.
Throughout the entire offseason, most of the MLB talk consisted of the online pharmacy distributing HGH to various players – one of them allegedly Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. – and the infamous “witch hunt” being run by George Mitchell.
The only baseball talk that seemed to be out there was the same as it always is: Yankees and Red Sox. The A-Rod and Jeter relationship and Dice-K’s mythological “gyroball” was all anyone heard about. Being a Yankee fan, the news relates to my interest; but for anyone else, I can imagine it becomes a bore.
So what I bring to you are some select-questions that I will take action myself to answer.
Exactly how bad the National’s will be this year? They’re going to be bad. In fact, I said they would be worse than the 1962 Mets that went 40-120. The prediction looks pretty good at the moment, as they went 1-6 in the first week of the season
Are the Toronto Blue Jays a better team than either the Yankees or Red Sox? The truth is, they may be better than both. Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi looks to have built his strongest team to date. Without the off-the-field related incidents with Shea Hillenbrand distracting the team or manager John Gibbons any longer, the Jays can set their focus primarily on the game of baseball. With veteran players like Vernon Wells, Reed Johnson, B.J. Ryan and Roy Halladay having been on the team for at least the past two years, the talent and team chemistry is unquestionably there. The addition of Frank Thomas in the offseason looks to have already made a significant impact and could prove to be one of the bigger pick-ups of the season, giving them a potential playoff berth they have missed since 1993.
Will Minnesota Twins, Oakland A’s, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals or L.A. Dodgers repeat as division champions? No. In my opinion, I don’t think any of these teams repeat their performances as division champs. The only team I have coming out on top of their division that did so in 2006 is the Yankees. Yeah, call me a homer, I don’t care, but I made these picks before the season started and I plan to stick to them, no matter how much I may be proven wrong (in the first five games for the Yankees, not one starting pitcher lasted longer than 5 innings.) For the record, I am taking the Detroit Tigers, L.A. Angels, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers and the Padres winning their respective divisions.
Who will take the Wild Card spots? I had a tough time thinking this one out. Many people forget that the Tigers were a Wild Card team last year because they won 95 games, but they were. The Twins won the division with 96 W’s. In the preseason I picked Texas and the Phillies. If I were to pick now however, I think I would take the Jays and Mets. I explained how I feel about the Jays already, but the Mets look to have a solid team if their pitching can avoid injuries. Before I didn’t think they would avoid those injuries; but now after only the first week of the season, I am starting to question my initial thoughts. I think it’s because I picked up Tom Glavine, John Maine and Orlando Hernandez on my fantasy baseball team last week.
World Series picks? Yankees over Atlanta in six. I know, it’s a homer pick. If I were to take away my homerism, I would have to take Detroit over Atlanta in seven. This of course, is considering that any Detroit pitcher whom fields a ground ball refuses to throw it to any of the bases in an attempt to get a base runner out. Seriously, its better give the hitter a single than to have an E-1 and allow the runner to advance two extra bases on a terrible throw.
Who will win the most sausage races this year? Alright, so I couldn’t pass this one up. I’m taking the Brat.
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