America's favorite past time reigns again
Spring is just around the corner, and baseball has returned.
The new season kicked off this week on ESPN with the Washington Nationals hosting the Atlanta Braves at the new Nationals Park in Washington. That first game — and its unexpected outcome — was a sign of things to come. For instance, the Nationals, who’ve been the laughing stock of the National League the past two year’s defeated the Braves 3-to-1 in the ninth inning. Atlanta has been predicted by many to win the National League East this season. The Nationals then defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 11-to-6 yesterday. So one of the most unlikely teams to start the season with two wins has come out in front.
Another team that got the opportunity of saying “not so fast” was the Kansas City Royals who just defeated the Detroit Tigers earlier this week. Some argue that the Tigers have put together the best offensive lineup in Major League history this season. Some are already wondering if that’s because of the loss to the Royals, which were tied for the third worst record in the Major Leagues last year with a record of 69-93.
Despite their early season upsets, the Royals and Nationals don’t stand much of a chance making it to the post-season. However, here are the possible division and wild-card winners for this season:
American League
East- As always, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees are the two probable teams that will win the division. Last year the Red Sox won the east, and ended up going on the win the World Series. However, this combined with a lot of other off-season incidents has made the Yankees very hungry and I believe that they’ll take the east. First off, they are seeing a new face on the bench as Joe Girardi has taken over the manager position from Joe Torre who’s moved on to coach the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Alex Rodriguez also signed a contract that will keep him with the Yankees until he’s 42 if he chooses. The defending AL MVP’s contract has a lot of incentives which many believe will push him to have a phenomenal season. Another person with incentives is right fielder Bobby Abreu who’s in the last year of his contract. Many speculate that Abreu will have one of his best years because of this. Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy all had great seasons in Triple-A last year for Scranton-Wilkes Barre and give the Yankees great youth at the pitching position for the firsttime in years.
Central-Although the Detroit Tigers looked ugly in their first game losing to the Kansas City Royals look for them to take the central. Their high-octane offense has some speculating that they’ll put up more than 1,000 runs this year, which would be a historic first. Their opening day offensive lineup saw Gary Sheffield hitting third, Magglio Ordonez fourth and Miguel Cabrera fifth- now that’s scary! What’s even scarier is that they’ll have their ace Justin Verlander on the mound every four days throwing 98 mile an hour gas to batters. Verlander threw a one-hitter last season for the Tigers. There’s no break in the Tiger’s rotation either as they have Dontrelle Willis, Jeremy Bonderman and several other hard throwers to compliment Verlander.
West- The Anaheim Angels look poised to take the west this year especially with the addition of former Minnesota Twins center fielder Torii Hunter. The Angels also return Vladimir Guererro, Garret Anderson and speedy third basemen Chone Figgins. The Angels also have some great pitchers, but the problem is half of them are currently on the DL. Jered Weaver, Jon Garland and Ervin Santana are healthy however and should be able to carry the Angels in the meantime.
AL wildcard- The Boston Red Sox should win the wildcard, right? Not so fast bean town. The Minnesota Twins have been busy in the off-season dealing away former Rochester Red Wings Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for outfielders Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young. Young made an instant impact for the Twins in their first game of the season hitting fifth, going 2-for-4 and scoring a run. Gomez also had a spectacular game going 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. These acquisitions combined with several pitching options make the Twins a threat to make the playoffs. Do the names Nick Blackburn or Kevin Slowey ring a bell? Probably not, but they absolutely dazzled in Triple-A Rochester last year for the hometown Red Wings. Blackburn started the season 9-and-1 for the Wings and Slowey also had a spectacular season. You may know Scott Baker. Baker also started the season in Rochester last year before going up and doing very well. He had a no-hitter going for the Twins through seven and two-thirds innings in one game last season before it got broken up.
National League
East- It will be a dog-fight between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets, but the Mets should be able to come out on top with a great offense and decent pitching. Yes I know Pedro Martinez is now hurt with a hamstring problem. However isn’t that a blessing in disguise for a team whose second best pitcher can only throw 86 mile an hour fast balls?It would be one thing if Martinez threw 86 and he was a ground ball pitcher, but he’s not. The former cy-young winner has always relied on his heat to strike batters out. Besides, they will have Johan Santana who’s hands down one of the best pitchers in the game.
Central- The Chicago Cubs won the wild card last year as they were unable to beat out the Milwaukee Brewers who nearly collapsed at the end of the season but still managed to take the division. This year however is Chicago’s year. Kerry Wood is back as their closer and every offensive player is healthy. That includes Alfonso Soriano who missed 27 games last season and still hit 33 homeruns.
West- Everyone seems to think the Colorado Rockies are going to run away with the division now- not so. If it wasn’t for their amazing win streak at the end of last season they wouldn’t have even made the playoffs, and they won’t this year. Instead look for the Los Angeles Dodgers to march to the post-season with little contest. Off to a great start by winning their first two games, the Dodgers have a new skipper on the bench in Joe Torre who won Four World Series with the Yankees. The Dodgers also acquired former Braves all-star centerfielder Andrew Jones. Many argue that Jones is at the end of his career because of sub-par season the last two years, but how can any 30 year-old be at the end of his career when that seems to be every players prime? Derek Lowe, Esteban Loaiza and Brad Penny will all pitch as starters for the Dodgers making the team a possible deadly three-headed monster from the mound.
NL wildcard- The Atlanta Braves should be able to take the wild card in a race that seems its close every year. A lot of offensive fire power with players like Chipper Jones, Mark Teixeira, Brian McCann and Kelly Johnson make the Braves a force to be reckoned with in the playoffs despite their inability to win the east. Tim Hudson also returns for the Braves as their ace.
