Thread: Baseball '08

That's right, my friends. It's been over three weeks since the Super Bowl, which means that serious sport hasn't been played since October. Visions of cacti and grapefruit dance through my dreams. The hot stove league is all burned out, even though Roberts-to-Wrigleyville still won't die. And, finally, we're hearing reports from the camps: who's hot and who's not, whose arm works and whose doesn't, and now, we are only twoscore hours away from the first exhibition games being played.

In short, hope lingers on the horizon; politics be damned! Barack Obama can't hold a candle to the shining light that is spring! We are less than five weeks away from that glorious day of days, that by all rights out to be a national holiday, Opening Day, where the playing field is level at 0-0 (except for the Nationals and Braves, who will suffer a Sunday Night snoozefest perpetuated by Joe Morgan and the increasingly startling incompetence of ESPN).

Will the winter of the Mets' discontent be made summer by this son of York?

Will the Tampa Bay <strike>Devil</strike> Rays finally break .500?

Will the Chicago Cubs recapture the Spirit of &#39;08, and reclaim their heritage as ursuline colossi?

Will the Cleveland Indians be able to fend off the insurgent Detroits?

Will anyone show up for a White Sox game?

And now, in tribute to a timeless tradition, I present to you my predictions for this year&#39;s winners, and humbly beg for yours.

NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL East: New York Mets
NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks
NL Wild Card: Philadelphia Phillies

AL Central: Detroit Tigers
AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL West: Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles
AL Wild Card: Cleveland Indians

NLDS: Chicago Cubs, New York Mets
NLCS: New York Mets

ALDS: Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox
ALCS: Boston Red Sox

World Series: Boston Red Sox

NL MVP: David Wright
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera

NL Cy Young: Johan Santana
AL Cy Young: Josh Beckett

NL Manager of the Year: Ned Yost (Milwaukee)
AL Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon (Tampa Bay)

And, I leave you with this gem of an answer from today&#39;s Rob Neyer chat:

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Caleb (GCSU): Okay, I&#39;m sitting in my Intro to Mass Communications class, and the guy behind me is wondering if you think his Cardinals have a shot at the playoffs.
Rob Neyer: (12:44 PM ET) Sure. If the Cubs&#39; and Brewers&#39; planes collide. In May.[/b]

If George Will were growing up in Urbana, Illinois today, he&#39;d have been a liberal.