Sports!!

Ok, the Red Sox just opened up the season of baseball against Oakland in Japan. Dice-K had a nice homecoming but a rough outing. The Sox and A’s split the series in a season that should be full of the usual along with some surprises. In the AL, I am really interested to see how the Tigers’ powerful lineup does after Maggie’s awesome season last year and the addition of Miguel Cabrera. I also wonder if the D-train will get back on track this year too. The Indians will be in the mix too in that division after coming up just short of making the World Series last year. In order to go farther, their other SPs need to step it up just a little more. The Angels will be rotating about a million guys in their outfield this year, but as long as their rotation is solid, they’ll be a contender. The Mariners did add Eric Bedard to their rotation, but I don’t if he and King Felix can carry them. The Angels are the trendy pick to win and represent the AL this year. If thats true, they’ll have to deal with the biggest rivalry in baseball, the Yankees and Red Sox. Both these teams have, as always, stacked lineups and both have some questions concerning their rotations. The Yankees are finally young at pitcher, but somewhat unproven. They have the potential though to become some really good pitchers over the next couple of years. The Red Sox have their two main starters from last year, Schilling and Beckett, on the DL right now, so they’ll be looking to Dice-K, Wakefield and Lester to really carry that pitching staff for the first few weks.
Over in the NL, the biggest news is Santana chose the other New York team, the Mets. The had that disappointing finish last year, allowing the Phillies to win the division. The Phillies won’t be laying down this year. Howard, Rollins, and Utley want to retain that NL East crown and go even farther into the playoffs. Unfortunately, they ran into the red-hot Rockies in the playoffs last year and there wasn’t anything they could do. You can’t forget about the Braves either. Smoltz is still going strong, Glavine still has some stuff left in the tank, Hudson will be a quality starter and if Hampton is finally healthy, they’ll have one of the best pitching staffs in the bigs, which helped them to so many division titles in the 90s. But with the Mets and Phillies in the same division, they’ll be lucky to get the wildcard. Since I am a big fan of them, I want to say they will, but the sportsperson in me says they’ll be just short. Whomever does get the wildcard, it will come from that division though, not the NL West like it did last year. The Rockies had an unbelievable streak there to end the season, but I don’t know if we’ll see that again, or even see them win the division. I think their division has the most question marks. The Padres had the pitching last year, but fell just short. That offense really needs to get going. The Diamondbacks have some great pitching this year too, especially with the addition of Dan Haren. But they need some more offense too. The Rockies are young, have the offense, but play in a hitters park. Its really a tossup on who will win this divsion, especially when you add the Dodgers with Joe Torre as their manager. Then you have the Cubbies of the NL Central. They won it last year in a division where it seemed like the Cubs and Brewers didn’t want the division crown. This year the Cubs look a little tougher. Neither made huge upgrades, but it will probably come down to them again. You can’t forget about the Cardinals either, but they seem to have a lot of questions at pitching and their offense is only going to be as good as Pujols. But now for my predictions.

AL West
1. Angels
2. Mariners
3. Rangers
4. A’s

AL Central
1. Tigers
2. Indians
3. Twins
4. White Sox
5. Royals

AL East
1. Yankees
2. Red Sox
3. Blue Jays
4. Rays
5. Orioles

Divisional Round
Yankees over Angels
Tigers over Red Sox

Championship Round
Tigers over Yankees

NL East
1. Phillies
2. Mets
3. Braves
4. Nationals
5. Marlins

NL Central
1. Cubs
2. Brewers
3. Cardinals
4. Reds
5. Astros
6. Pirates

NL West
1. Diamondbacks
2. Rockies
3. Padres
4. Dodgers
5. Giants

Divisional Round
Cubs over Diamondbacks
Phillies over Mets

Championship Round
Cubs over Phillies

World Series
Tigers over Cubs

Tags: MLB by admin
2 Comments »

I have been really excited for baseball this year. But I can’t explain why. Maybe its because I am apart of 3 fantasy leagues. I just can’t figure it out though. The first game will be March 25th and I think this is going to be one of the best seasons of baseball. I just hope the whole steriods stuff doesn’t overshadow this season. And I really hope half the story lines aren’t about the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Yeah, its a great rivalry, but sometimes its way overdone. We’ll see though. I think the Braves will be challenging for the wild card spot, the Mets might choke again, even with one of the best pitchers of the game. The Tigers had a lot of expectations they didn’t live up to last year, but with Miguel Cabrera and the D-train, they should be right back in it all, with the Indians nipping at their heels. The Cubs are a popular pick right now for a title, since it has been 100 years now for them. One World Series a century is better than some teams I guess. The Red Sox will be tough and Manny will, well, be Manny. Lots of exciting things coming up this year and I can’t wait. I will post predicitions for the season

Tags: MLB by admin
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Just a quick post about the tourney. I will have a bracket out and my picks on this site as soon as the official bracket has been made. I think there are a lot of quality teams out there. My gut feeling at the beginning of the year was UNC and they are playing like a champion right now, especially after holding Duke without a point in the last 6 min of the game last Saturday. UCLA, Texas, Tennessee, and, though I hate to admit it, Memphis are the top teams right now. While I am talking about the top teams, let me rant about Memphis for a second. First, off they play in the C-USA conference, one of the weakest out there. Yeah, they were the last undefeated team, but give me some quality opponents that they played. Sure, they lost to TN, but TN is in a somewhat weak conference of the SEC. And they lost to Vandy a couple of nights later! The Big East, ACC, and Pac-10, respectively, are probably they best this year. How many teams did they play from those conferences? If they had to play in one of those conferences, they would only be a few games above .500 and that may be a little generous. They are #2 in the AP and #3 in the ESPN/USA Today polls. Personally I think they should be down around 5 or 6. These are your current Top 10 in the AP: UNC, Memphis, UCLA, Tennessee, Kansas, Texas, Duke, Wisconsin, Georgetown, and Xavier. And UNC wasn’t even unanimous! I think the top should be like this: UNC, UCLA, Kansas, Texas, Duke, Memphis, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Georgetown, and Drake (who’s 16!!). Honestly, I’m not sure what some people are thinking when they vote, but I wish I had a vote. I guess it doesn’t really matter soon though as the tourney will decide the champ. I can’t wait…I really can’t. I really think its going be exciting, a little unpredictable and loads of fun.

Tags: NCAA by admin
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