Giants Advance to NLCS, Bobby Cox Bids Farewell; NLCS Preview

This National League Division Series between the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves was a whirlwind of emotion—every single game was decided by one run, and every game could have gone either way. The series featured outstanding pitching, mind-boggling horrific defense, and frustrating offense. The series also featured the end of one of the most brilliant managerial careers in all of baseball, the final game of Bobby Cox.

As last night’s game ended with a ground out and a throw to first, sending the Giants into celebration, Cox looked up briefly before walking briskly into the clubhouse. The Atlanta fans chanted his name and he came out, removed his hat, and waved to the fans. The Giants stopped their celebrating and saluted Bobby Cox, who acknowledged them back with a tip of his cap. It was then that it hit me, just how emotional this series was. Each game was stressful and down to the wire, and I wanted badly to be happy, but I could not help but tear up as Cox walked into the dugout, and off of the field for the final time in his 51 year baseball career, the last 19 years of which was spent with one single team, the Atlanta Braves.

Bobby Cox said goodbye to managing after spending the last 19 seasons with the Braves.

I watched Cox’s teary eyed press conference and could not help but feel sad. I never liked the Braves, but he was managing there since before I was born. I cannot imagine baseball without Bobby Cox in the dugout. As he gave his final post-game press conference, he stopped mid-sentence and tried to hold back the tears. After pausing for a few seconds, he said, “A grown man shouldn’t do this”, before collecting his thoughts and continuing on.

In Bochy’s press conference, he referred to Cox as a “genius” and someone who he always admired. Cox returned the compliment by stating that if he had to lose to someone in the playoffs, he did not mind that it was to Bruce Bochy.

To Bobby Cox, I congratulate you on an amazing career, and hope that you will stick around in some capacity in Major League Baseball. It is suspected that he will be returning to the Braves as a consultant for the next few years.

On to the Giants, they now have to end their celebrating and look to the NLCS, a series they have not played in since they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals en route to the 2002 World Series. Deep down, I want to believe that anything is possible, and that the Giants have a chance, but after looking at the rotation and lineup of the Philadelphia Phillies, I do not think it is possible–my gut tells me the Phillies will be the 2010 World Series Champions.

The Giants will hang with them in pitching. The first three games of this series will feature incredible match-ups between Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay, Matt Cain and Roy Oswalt, and Jonathon Sanchez and Cole Hamels.

Halladay tossed a no-hitter in his only playoff appearance this year, and the first of his career, while Lincecum struck out 14 in a complete game shutout in his first playoff appearance. Matt Cain was solid but could not defeat the Braves in game two, while Oswalt was the only pitcher to allow a run (four) against the Cincinnati Reds lineup. Sanchez himself threw a no-hitter last year, while Hamels was the MVP of the Phillies when the won the World Series two years ago.

For fourth starters, the Giants have Madison Bumgarner, who won last night’s game to send the Giants to the NLCS. The Phillies, meanwhile, could use Joe Blanton. It is expected that the teams will only go with four starters, as Lincecum and Halladay will pitch on short rest late in the series if they have to.

When it comes to bullpens, both teams are very even, but I would give the edge to the Phillies as they have more experience. They also did not surrender a run in three games against the Reds. They have lefty specialist J.C Romero, long-reliever Jose Contreras, and also Chad Durbin, Ryan Madson, and closer Brad Lidge. The Giants have a lefty specialist of their own in Javier Lopez, flamethrower Santiago Casilla, and adrenaline junky closer Brian Wilson. Sergio Romo, who usually finds himself in the eight inning, had a nightmare series but ended up getting credit for the win in game three.

For the Giants to even have a chance in this series, they need to find some hitting. The Giants went 2-0 without Pablo Sandoval in the lineup, after he was replaced by Mike Fontenot. Sandoval had a horrific series at the plate with absolutely no discipline and a high susceptibility of grounding into double plays. Another Giants power hitter, Juan Uribe, found himself swinging the bat like a woodsman trying to chop down a tree. The two went a combined two for 20, and Uribe also needs to take a seat. He can be replaced by Edgar Renteria, who is a clutch hitter with a short swing, plays better defense, and is also two for two in pinch-hitting appearances in the NLDS.

Cody Ross has come up with clutch hits for the Giants, driving in game-winning runs in two NLDS games.

Giants catcher Buster Posey also had a big series, going 6 for 16, while Burrell and Huff struggled, even though Burrell did hit a three-run homer in game two. The real hero so far in the post season has been late-August waiver pickup Cody Ross. The right-fielder has gone four for 14 with a homer and three RBI’s. He drove in the only run in game one, and drove in the two go-ahead runs to win game four. He also has decent speed and a good arm in the outfield.

The Phillies, meanwhile, have no shortage of power in their lineup as any player at any given time can crank one out of the yard. Though the Giants hit more HR’s in the NLDS than the Phillies did, the threat in Philadelphia is still greater, and will have a larger effect on the pitching staff. They have multiple threats with Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Raul Ibanez, Jayson Werth, and Shane Victorino. Even if their numbers were down in the regular season, that still doesn’t mean that they can’t wake up in this series.

I’m still not going to make a prediction in this series, just like I did not make on last time. The edge is going to the Phillies, but with the Giants pitching and some timely hitting, anything is possible. All I know is, everyone will be watching Saturday afternoon for game one’s marquee pitching matchup between last year’s Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, and this year’s award favorite Roy Halladay. This has the potential to be the greatest post-season pitching matchup in at least the last ten years.

Race Heating up for NL Rookie of the Year

In June, the candidates for rookie of the year in the National League numbered more than what they do today. Jason Heyward was an immediate sensation upon hitting a homerun in his first Major League at-bat and was tearing up the league for the Atlanta Braves. Other players such as David Freese and Starlin Castro were also proving to be pleasant rookie surprises, and Castro of the Chicago Cubs, even lead the NL in batting average for a brief time. Phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg was also ready to win the Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year without even throwing a pitch.

With all those players, the name Buster Posey was not even a thought, as he had just been called up at the end of May.

Jason Heyward electrified the NL early in the season.

But now, three months later, the list of who could possibly win the award is much different. Strasburg made his debut and injured himself, missing the rest of this season and possibly next year as well. David Freese was also injured and is done for the year. Castro, meanwhile, has cooled off but is still hitting at a lofty .317.

Jason Heyward is still putting together a solid campaign, as he has 16 homeruns and 65 RBI’s while batting .281.

There is a name that deserves consideration, though, and that is Giants’ catcher Buster Posey, who was called up in late May, and has been a stalwart ever since. Posey began this season hitting in 13 out of his first 14 games. He only hit one homerun in June, but then clobbered seven in July. In that same month, he also fell one game short of the franchise record for a hit streak, when he hit in 21 consecutive games, just shy of the record set by Willie Mays.

Buster Posey has instantly become a fan favorite in San Francisco.

His line of stats on the year is currently 11 homeruns and 55 RBI’s along with a bloated .328 batting average. In 33 fewer games than Heyward, he has only five less homeruns, 10 less RBI’s and is batting 20 points higher. He also only has 18 less hits. Posey even has a higher slugging percentage than Heyward.

Posey has done all of this while playing a physically demanding position as catcher, and even learning to play first base. He has shown great versatility in that respect, playing 30 games at first and 52 at catcher.

Jaime Garcia has been one of the best rookie pitchers this season.

Though he is my favorite to win the NL Rookie of the Year, Jaime Garcia, a pitcher on the St. Louis Cardinals, also deserves a mention. He is 13-6 with a 2.35 ERA and has made a quality start in 18 out of 26 games. He has never given up more than five runs in a game, and has done that only once.

There are a lot of great candidates for the award this year, a list that has shrunken due to injuries and reality in the last few months. At this current time, I would give the nod to Posey with Heyward at a close second. Garcia would be in third place and Castro would be in fourth.

Watered Down Baseball: What Happened to My Game?

On May 1, 1920, the Major Leagues would witness the longest game in the history of the sport. The Brooklyn Robins battled the Boston Braves in a game that would eventually end in a 1-1 tie, due to the fact that it was getting dark out, and stadiums were not built with lights at the time.

The two starting pitchers are names that are not really recognizable now, and they are Leon Cadore and Joe Oeschger. The amount of innings to be played that night fell just short of the equivalent of three games, at twenty-six innings. What is even more remarkable is that both starting pitchers finished the game. That’s right! Twenty-six innings pitched by each one of them, and surely they did it proudly, trying to earn their team a win.

Nowadays in baseball, if a pitcher goes six innings we give him a medal, but back then, pitchers were actually expected to finish the game that they started.

This is a feat known as pitching a complete game, a stat that is a rarity today, except for the likes of Roy Halladay, who was probably born in the wrong time frame. People make such a big deal about him because he eats up innings and has led the majors in complete games year after year. But had he played even just thirty years ago, baseball fans and analysts would be saying, “So what?”

This is not a knock on Halladay, more like the highest of compliments. It is truly a shame that this sport does not have more of him. But the fact of the matter is, this league we all love and watch now is watered down baseball, ruined by the owners and general managers by dolling out huge sums of cash to the players, and ruined by the managers for not playing real baseball.

What do we consider a solid season by a starting pitcher in present time? Maybe two hundred innings and ten to fifteen wins. If any pitcher consistently puts up those numbers, they will earn a major contract, be on the all-star team, and be looked at as a top pitcher. But fifty years ago and beyond, those stats were nothing major.

A pitcher today is considered a freak if he goes above and beyond those numbers. So what’s wrong with this situation is that we award them for doing something that was considered normal in the early days of baseball.

Let’s take a look at Christy Mathewson, one of the first inductees into the Baseball Hall-of-Fame. In the 1908 season, he threw thirty-four complete games, while amassing 390.2 innings, all while winning thirty-seven games. Quite remarkable, don’t you think?

Want to know what is even more shocking than that? His arm did not fall of during the season. And Mathewson was not alone; in 1903 his set his career high with thirty-seven complete games and was not even the league leader.

That is what the major problem is, managers being too overly protective of their pitchers. Today if a pitcher goes six innings, we pat him on the back saying he did the best he could, and then the men in charge of baseball had to worsen the matter by awarding him a stat; that ridiculous piece of new-age garbage known as the “quality start”.

A quality start is categorized as if a player pitches six or more innings and gives up three runs or less (which makes the ERA 4.50, not a great number in itself), he is awarded that. So now already the pitcher has in his mind that once he gets to the sixth, he can come out of the game. Fifty years ago if a pitcher wanted to come out that early in the game, either he had to be dying or his wife was giving birth.

But this problem did not just evolve on its own, in fact, it all started when closers became a mainstay in baseball.

Saves had always been a stat, but they were rarely used because teams really did not have much of a bullpen back then. As a manager you had your five starters (sometimes teams opted to go with only a four man rotation) and maybe two or three pitchers to have in case of emergency. If those relievers were not available, then you just used a starter to come in and finish the game.

Take a look at pitching stats from the early days of baseball. You will see that most pitchers have saves, but none hardly ever have more than ten. That is because these pitchers were workhorses, and saves were meaningless to them. Getting back to Mathewson, in 1908, he started forty-four games as the team’s ace. But he would also make twelve relief appearances and earn five saves.

Most likely those saves were the kind earned when one pitches the final three innings of a game and the team wins, a situation hardly seen in baseball today.

The Oakland Athletics are really the team to blame, as they started the whole movement of a pitcher pitching solely to close out the game, and that is where the term closer came from. It all started with Rollie Fingers and then Dennis Eckersely, and by the time the latter replaced the former, a league wide hysteria had caught on.

All of a sudden managers realized that they did not need their starters pitching every inning. Originally it was not that bad. Closers were there to pitch two, maybe three innings. But then managers got another idea into their heads; the set-up man.

If one situational reliever was not enough, they now had one for the eighth inning, and some even had another one for the seventh. Shortly, “lefty specialists” would become a mainstay in every bullpen, in addition to the above lunacy.

Closers were not all that bad, and in fact, I was fine with them until a few years ago when I realized just how over-hyped they are. Just listen to what people say:

“Not just anyone can be a closer.”

“It takes a special pitcher to close out a game.”

“You need to have a certain mindset to work the ninth inning.”

It has gotten so bad in recent years that closers have started to believe them. They have to have a special song when they run on the field, grow crazy facial hair to be intimidating, and come up with some manipulated version of the sign of the cross to jump around and do upon getting the final out.

When people argue that it takes a special person to be a closer, what about all the “star” closers that get injured every season and some journeyman nobody comes in and pitches lights out?

Take Dustin Hermanson for example, a middle of the pack starter and a below average reliever. After he left San Francisco in 2004 to join the Chicago White Sox, this sub par pitcher became the team’s closer and was lights out, saving thirty-seven games with an ERA of 2.04. The next season? He appeared in six games before being demoted to the minors, where he has never returned from.

Then there is Ryan Franklin, who bounced from the majors to the minors for his entire career, and last season becomes the most feared closer in the game. He even had to grow a crazy goatee to try to scare people. And what happened when the playoffs rolled around? How elite was he then?

The final example of this counter argument saying that anybody can close comes with David Aardsma of the Seattle Mariners. This was a player who played on four different teams in four years, and a guy who could not hit a cow if he was standing on the milking stool. Yet last season, he saves thirty-eight games and this season he finds himself owned by 86% of all fantasy baseball managers.

All of this hype for one inning wonders, and they only pitch one inning because they want to come into the ninth with a nice fresh, clean slate to pitch on. All this build up of closers only being able to pitch one inning has made them mentally unstable to come in during the eighth inning. How many times do we see elite closers come in early with men on base, only two allow them all to score before getting the outs?

And why does a save only have to come in the ninth inning? Tell me, what is more valuable; a closer coming in with nobody on base in the ninth inning and getting three outs, or a reliever coming into the seventh inning with the bases loaded and getting the outs he needed?

Why can’t the save be awarded to the pitcher who actually “saves” the game? It could be a discretionary stat, decided by the official league scorers. But then again, that would not be fair to the closer, because he is getting paid the big bucks to pitch his one, glorious inning.

So now the middle relief pitchers got upset, and Major League Baseball had to instill the biggest travesty this sport has ever seen, with a little stat known as the “hold”.

According to this fantastic stat, if a pitcher enters the game with a lead and exits with the lead, he is awarded the stat. These are two scenarios that can lead to a hold. Please tell me what is wrong with them:

1. Pitcher A enters the game with a 10-0 lead and retires three batters. His team wins the game and he is awarded a hold.

2. Pitcher B enters the game with a 10-0 lead and gives up nine runs. His team holds on for the win and is awarded a hold.

How on earth can baseball award a pitcher for a poor performance? It is because everything has to be individualized, and everyone must have a stat. There have been instances where a pitcher has come into a game, walked a batter, and left being awarded a hold. A pitcher not even recording an out and getting a positive stat?

Managers are even losing games or putting them at risk because of over-reliance on their bullpen. Take yesterday afternoon, for example. The Athletics were leading the Giants 1-0 after eighth innings. Gio Gonzales had pitched all eighth innings, allowing only two hits and one walk. He only had ninety-five pitches, but was lifted in favor of closer Andrew Bailey, who in his one inning would throw thirty pitches and allow two baserunners.

Although the A’s still won the game, how come Gonzales could not finish it out? Was it because he was approaching 100 pitches?

This is the new thing now, pitch counts. When I first started watching baseball in the late 90′s, I don’t remember them being mentioned. Now the hysteria has even gotten so bad as the YES Network now has a pitch count display on the main scoreboard, so that every second in the game you know where your pitcher is.

I don’t see this as counting up pitches, I see it as counting down to how much longer a pitcher has left to go. At the hundred pitch mark, apparently, a pitcher’s arm will just fall off. It is taboo to allow someone to throw much more than than that. Why, I ask? Why?

Take the New York Yankees and last season’s embarrassing treatment of Joba Chamberlain.

Starter, reliever, starter, reliever.

It got so bad that it seemed like almost every month they were changing him around. Then it got worse and they created the “Joba Rules”, which monitored his pitch counts and innings totals. Eighty pitches, and he was done. Getting close to the innings limit? Skip his starts every few weeks and only allow him go four when he does. (Thank God for bullpens!)

Chamberlain is now the set-up man for Mariano Rivera, the spot he should have been in all along. But it is safe to say that the Yankees ruined what was their most promising pitching prospect since perhaps Mariano himself.

Not only that, but he was built like a brick you-know-what. At 6-2, 230 pounds, Chamberlain was not some frail little stick. Let him pitch, or will his arm just fall off? Why couldn’t they let him mirror Tim Lincecum who is big enough to be confused with the bat boy? All he has been able to do in two seasons pitching without a leash is win two Cy Young awards.

He came up from the minors gunning it at 99-101 MPH. Now he is lucky if his hardest fluctuates between 94-96. He struggled as a starter last season, and he is struggling now, with an ERA of 4.50. (But that’s okay, cause he has nine holds)

So I ask, what happened to this great game? Starters no longer pitch to help the team win, but they pitch to earn wins themselves. Closers do not pitch to seal the win for their team, they pitch to earn a save. And now relievers do not pitch to help out the team, but to get a hold.

All of this individualized, and all of it for the stats. There is no longer any winning for the team, just winning for personal stats. It will only get worse, and in years to come I wonder how many more  will be invented so we can give another mediocre pitcher his own stat.

The way this game has dipped in recent years is embarrassing. What happened to durability in players? In the 1900′s when players were overweight chunks of fat whose only off-season exercise consisted of raising a beer glass to their mouths, they never got injured. Now players have personal trainers and a staff of team doctors and there are more injuries now than ever before. This really is cause for another article, but it adds to how watered down this sport has become.

Give me back the real baseball players we once had.

Give me back my game.

Twenty Inning Mets-Cardinals Game Reminiscent of July 4, 1985

On the night of July 4, 1985, the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves played just another ordinary regular season game. Fans entered the stadium or turned on the broadcast at home expecting to see just another ball game. Boy, they could not have been farther from the truth of what was about to happen.

When the game headed into extra innings tied at eight a piece, fans were expecting quick end for either side, mainly since Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta was known as the “Launch Pad”. The tenth inning was underway, but nothing was happening.

Finally, three innings later, the Mets took a 10-8 lead with a Howard Johnson two-run blast. In the bottom of the 13th, Mets reliever Tom Gorman would allow a leadoff single, then retire the next two batters. The Braves were down to their final out, but tied the game at 10-10 with a Terry Harper two-run homer that knocked off the foul pole.

The game then went four more scoreless innings, and lead up to an epic 17th inning.

It was now July 5th.

Because Major League Baseball did not have a curfew at the time, this was now the latest played game on record. And so the Mets went on to take an 11-10 lead, on an error by Braves relief pitcher Rick Camp. But that was not before Darryl Strawberry and manager Davey Johnson were ejected by umpire Terry Tata for arguing balls and strikes. It was then when Tata uttered the now famous line, “At three o’clock in the morning, there are no bad calls.”

So now the game went to the bottom of the 17th, and with two outs for the Braves, all hope was lost. It was now 3:30 am and with no pinch hitters left, the Braves sent their relief pitcher Rick Camp up to the plate. Camp, who had not batted since the previous year, was a 1 for 41 lifetime hitter.

The Mets were about to win the game. There was no way this hapless relief pitcher could even get on base. Tom Gorman, who was now pitching in his sixth inning of work, had the same mindset. He got up on Camp two strikes to none, and reared back to throw the final pitch of the ballgame. It was here that Camp would get his name sealed in the annals of baseball lore.

Camp swung as hard as he could, made contact, and the ball flew out of the park as if it was a slugger who had belted it.

As the ball flew over the wall and Camp rounded the bases, the Mets outfielder who watched the ball leave the yard dropped the glove out of his hands, fell to his knees, and put his head in his hands out of pure disbelief.

This would be the most glorious moment in this relief pitcher’s career, but it would lead to his downfall as he could not get his head back in a pitching mind frame for the 18th inning. He would allow five runs and the Mets took a 16-11 lead.

Now the game was over. It could be put in the books and the players could go on with their lives. Well, sort of.

The Braves would rally yet again, albeit not enough to tie, but give the Mets another scare. The Braves got a man on base via a fielding error and then with two outs, tacked on two walks to load the bases, followed by two singles. It was now 16-13.

Lo and behold, it would all come down to Rick Camp again, the hero of the previous inning. The scenario was the same; down to his final strike. However, the humor of the baseball Gods would not be with him this time, and he would strike out swinging to end the game.

The game that started at 7:05 pm on July 4th ended at 3:55 am on July 5th.

Because of the preplanned fireworks celebration for Independence Day, the stadium went on with it, and at roughly 4:05 am, began to shoot off the rockets, sending downtown Atlanta residents into a panic. The police station operators were swamped with phone calls of people thinking the city was being bombed.

Although the Mets-Cardinals game lacked the flair, intensity and excitement as the Mets-Braves game from twenty-five years earlier, one could not help but think of this wild and wacky game when the Cardinals tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the 19th off a Yadier Molina RBI single.

This was an extremely boring game, and I only started to watch on and off since the 10th inning, but it is something that will be special in baseball for at least this season, because it is not every day we get to have an epic game on our hands.

The fact that it stayed 0-0 for 18 innings only makes it more mind-boggling.

I hope everyone enjoyed it, and caught themselves a nice piece of MLB history in the making.

MLB Hottest Players: Edition #1

Through roughly ten games in the 2010 Major League Baseball season, we have already seen some crazy games; there was Ubaldo Jimenez’s no-hitter tonight, the first in Colorado Rockies team history, and as I write this, the Mets and Cardinals are in the bottom of the 18th inning.

Alex Rodriguez hit his first homerun of the season today, showing how hitters have gotten off to slow start so far. But below are the five players who have been on a tear since game one. I did not just pick the five statistically best players, but I scoured around a little bit. They are also in no particular order.

Albert Pujols

The reigning MVP and league’s best hitter got off on the right foot with two homeruns on opening day. He has since hit three, coming in two games. His batting average stands on .359 and he is tied for the league lead in RBI’s with 15. Can never go wrong with this guy, and he will continue to own pitchers the rest of the way.

Vernon Wells

It’s about time that the league’s biggest contractual flop got things going early on in the season. He is tied for the league lead in homeruns with six, and if the Jays hope to trade him, like they do every season since they signed him, they need him to keep producing at this pace.

Alex Gonzales

Who would have thought that a player that Yahoo Fantasy ranked 1079 would make this list? The veteran journeyman shortstop has been absolutely tearing it up for the surprise Jays, batting .340 with four homeruns and eight RBI. I would expect that he will cool off though, and make all fantasy team owners who picked him up (raising his total to 50%) think that they were drinking the night they added him.

Tim Lincecum

The two-time reigning NL Cy Young winner is picking up right where he left off, with a 3-0 record and a mind-numbing 0.90 ERA. He also has twenty-four strikeouts in twenty innings and has a changeup that Brian McCann, after Lincecum’s victory over the Braves a few days ago, remarked, “You can’t hit it.” I expect him to keep up this winning pace, although his ERA will go up eventually.

Roy Halladay

My second favorite pitcher in the league continues to show why he simply is the best. He continues to eat up innings and after toying with American League lineups for years, he has cut through National League ones like a hot knife through butter. He is currently 3-0 with an ERA of 1.12 and already has the first of many complete games under his belt.

Honorable Mention: Jerry Manuel

Let’s just say he’s on the hot seat.

This article is also featured on Phillies Phever.

Opening Day Baseball Gives All Teams a Chance to Start Anew

First off, I would just like to wish everybody a very happy, secular, non-denominational day of spring, painted egg collecting. But for most of us, the most special part of this day, is the first night of baseball in America.

Tonight at 8pm, or probably 9pm because of ESPN’s commercials, the New York Yankees will take on the Boston Red Sox in what will be the first day of baseball for the 2010 season. As die-hard a hockey fan as I am, nothing feels like opening day baseball, especially when the fate of your team is unknown.

How will your favorite team perform; will they surprise and win? Or will they disappoint and lose? Will players have career years? Or will players go on year long slumps? Those are all questions we must ask ourselves before our team’s starting pitcher delivers that first pitch.

One thing is certain, though, all teams have a chance to begin fresh, to put the problems and heartbreak of seasons’ past out of the way and focus on winning it all this year.

This year should be very interesting; the New York Yankees are my pick to win the World Series on a repeat. Meanwhile the San Francisco Giants finished with a very exciting, and league best spring training record– they will be a fun team to watch this season. The Phillies and Red Sox will continue to be as solid as they always are, the Braves will challenge for their division, and the Pirates and Royals will continue to swelter in mediocrity.

And how about those New York Mets? Half the team is on the disabled list before the season has even begun. What should they do first? Concede the season and open up a hospital wing at Bellevue, or sign the Mexican national team to an entry level contract and change the team to Los Mets?

Everywhere you look, there are teams that will challenge for their respective divisions. The morally acceptable, and downright futile absurdity known as “baseball parity” is finally rearing it’s ugly head.

The Rays will compete for the AL East. The Twins, Tigers, and White Six will go down to the wire, as always, in the AL Central. And Texas should be some trouble for the perennial winning Los Angeles of the State of California at Anaheim Angels in the AL West.

Meanwhile, in the NL West, it should come down to the Dodgers and Giants, both of whom will be in the playoffs. But the Padres will make things interesting if Adrian Gonzales can hit 60 homeruns, and the Rockies, who will start the season 20-72, will win the final 70 games of the season. In the NL Central, the Cardinals will power past everyone in their way, and the Phillies should take the NL East, because Braves are not strong enough, the Mets will be in full body casts by June, and the Nationals…well, they’re the Nationals.

Where does your team stand? What are your predictions for this season? Only have a few hours to go before the season is officially underway. I’m looking forward to tonight’s game, although I do not care who wins, because it’s baseball. And who can beat Joe Morgan and Jon Miller, the two best voices in the game?

Good luck to everyone out there, that your favorite team will remain competitive, and that this season will be exciting for us all!

This article is also be be featured on Phillies Phever, a new blog I will be writing for, with fellow sports fanatic Chris DiFrancesco.