It's the beginning of February and soon teams will be reporting to spring training. While I enjoy basketball and football, baseball is my passion. I have my favorite teams, but I enjoy baseball in general. I could watch just about any game that's on tv. I don't care if it's the Royals against the Twins, or the Pirates against the Padres. If there is a baseball game on tv, I'm good. I am interested to see how things play out this season. There have been a few teams that have made some noise, and other teams that have laid low. Most of the excitement came from the National League and the majority of that came from the NL Central.
The NL Central is probably going to be the toughest division. But, what else is new. The biggest surprise of last season was the Reds winning the division. They have not made any blockbuster deals, choosing to stay with most of the team that won the division from last year along with the Cardinals who came up a few games short of the wild card last season. The Brewers and Cubs have made the most noise, hoping to compete with the Reds and Cardinals this season. I think the face of the division will remain the same this season. The only realistic change I see happening is maybe the Reds and Cardinals swapping positions at the top. The Cardinals are the Yankees of the National League. Reguardless of what happens in the off season you can always count on them being in contention for the Central division title. The Reds have chosen to make few changes and keep the team chemisty they developed last season. This may seem like a bad move, after the Brewers and Cubs went after a few key players hoping to change the face of the division. But there is a lot to be said for team chemistry. It's going to take more than a few good pitchers to overcome 2 better teams. The NL Central will come down to the Reds and Birds again.
The NL East had their share of headlines this off season. The most blockbuster signing belongs to the Phillies landing Cliff Lee. The Nationals added a few free agents, but management dating back to their Expos days in Montreal have a history of not caring or spending money. So I don't forsee much change to the NL East either. I don't think landing Cliff Lee will change the Phillies as much as everyone says. I believe it will be a close race between the Braves and the Phillies.
The NL West is probably the weakest link in the National League. Yes, I realize the World Series champions came from that division, but with the good teams getting better I don't see a repeat happening. I believe the Padres will win the west this season.
I don't see much change in the landscape of the Americal League either. Probably the biggest shocker of the off season was the Yankees getting outbid on a few key free agents. I was happy to see this. Hopefully that trend continues into the season and years to come. While it was nice to see them get turned down for a change, I don't think it's going to change much. It will be a toss up between the Yankees, Red Sox, and the Rays who just added a few big names to their roster.
The AL Central probably saw the most change with the White Sox adding several key players to an already talented roster. The Royals proved to the league that they are a farm team to the league's bigger teams. They had the league's best pitcher and traded him away to the Brewers. They have the most top prospects of any team in the league. All they do is develop these players for the bigger market teams. You can watch the playoffs every season and find several players playing that were developed by the Royals organization. If they would keep just a few of these players they would be in contention year in and year out. But the Royals passed away with their owner, Ewing Kauffman. Dayton Moore has good intentions, but with an owner that could care less because he can't make a profit from the Royals, the only way they will ever achieve anything is if they have several of these prospects develop at the same time and that's not likely to happen. I would love to see good things happen for the Royals, but realisticly it looks like another season in the basement. The Central Division will come down to the White Sox and the Twins as normal and I think the White Sox off season acquisitions will give them the extra boost to take the division.
The AL West saw a different champion last year as the Rangers came from years of mediocrity to take the division away from the Angels. The Angels made a few acquisitions of their own hoping to reclaim the division title and bring it back to Anaheim. Between this and the Rangers loosing the bidding war over Cliff Lee, it should even up the division race. The Angels will be back in it, there's no doubt, so it depends on how the Rangers deal with loosing their Ace. That's going to be a tough one to call.
So, in general I don't see a lot of change in the over all picture of the Major Leagues. A few teams might swap places, but in the grand scheme of things I think the same teams will compete for their divisions. Starting with the NL East, I think the acquisition of Cliff Lee will give them the extra boost they need and will edge out the Braves in a close race. I think the Central will come down to the Reds and Cardinals. I also believe whoever finishes second in this division will take the wild card in the National League. I see the Giants having a world series hangover and the Padres capitalizing on it.
On the American League side I think the Yankees loosing the bidding wars won't have a drastic effect on the Yankees and their winning ways, but I think it will have enough of an effect to cost them a playoff birth. I think the East will be between the Red Sox and the Rays. The White Sox will take the Central pretty easily. The West is going to be the hardest to call. I think the experience of the Angels will play to their advantage allowing them to edge the Rangers and the A's to reclaim the West. What I'm curious to see is how the Wild Card will play out. Will the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays beat each other up enough to allow the Twins to take the Wild Card? I think the bottom of the East is better than the bottom of the Central. That and only 2 teams instead of 3 in the east, I think that's what will happen.
While the playoffs may have most of the same faces, I think the World Series will have 2 new, yet older faces. I think the World Series will see two teams from the recent past. I believe the White Sox and Phillies will compete in one of the most memorable world series in recent history.
I am excited for the season to get started. Opening Day can't come soon enough for me. I'm interested to see what kind of curve ball we will be thrown this year. Can the Nationals and Royals overcome their bad history to become competitve? Will the big acquisitions do more harm than good? My predictions may be all wrong. Whatever happens, I'm happy, as long as there is baseball to watch. Let's "Play Ball"!!!
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