February 1

With the end of football nearing, I am more excited every day for spring training.  "Hot Stove" on MLB Network is an everyday show I must watch.  The news around the league never seems boring to me, especially team transactions.  I do recommend MLB Network to anyone who has some interest in pro ball.

With that intro I would like to vent on some of my thoughts on teams this year, however far fetched the prediction.  The playoff teams this year in the National league should be as follows: West: Rockies, Central: Reds, East: Phillies, Wild Card: Braves.  Somehow I don't the Giants putting together enough runs even with that great rotation to make it back to the post season.  The Rockies have a good rotation and their new franchise players (Tulo and C Gon) are going to carry that team to the post season.  The Reds again will be a strong offensive team as well as having good pitching from the starting rotation to the bullpen.  I do think Edinson Volquez will pitch well, but he did make a BIG mistake in rolling the dice with a 1 yr contract this year.  The Phillies obviously have one of the most unbelievable rotations (at least on paper), but no matter the numbers they should win the east easily this year.  The rookie Dominic Brown will have some pressure on him to put up some good numbers so Philly can forget about Werth's departure.  The wild card will be a better Braves in my opinion.  I this Chipper will be healthy again and I like Fredi Gonzalez taking that team over.

The American league should be a little more complicated.  West: Rangers, Central: Twins, East: Boston, Wild Card: Tigers/Rays.  The changes that have been made in the AL are proof as to how much hard it is to succeed in the AL.  The Rangers will win the west and I see the offense for the Rangers being even better than last year.  The World Series was evidence that if even a small hole is exposed, that can ruin your offensive/defensive weakness.  That weakness was Vlad (Right field).  Now that the Rangers have two DHs (Young and Napoli) they can not only plug the necessary guys into the field positions but also play the numbers against pitchers better.  The Twins again will be just as strong especially with Morneau returning to the lineup.  They virtually lost no one and those they lost have quickly been forgotten.  Boston's offseason transactions are the flashy and bold but we will see how effective they really are.  I am not confident in Big Papi as DH either.  Nevertheless, Boston will win the East and should dominate the Yanks in every series this year.  The wild card is going to be tricky with the moves that so many teams made.  The Tigers look like a good team and we'll see how well they really play together.  The Rays lost significant players, particularly pitchers, but they could still have great performances from the young arms.  The Orioles are making moves to bring a restoration of decency to that organization.  I think they will make an impact now that Buck is running them.

Regardless of how premature my ideas are I think this will be an interesting year to say the least.  Hopefully my Rangers make it back to the World Series and do what they should've done, finish the job.  Go Rangers!