Opening Day

Today is a semi national holiday, Opening Day for the MLB. While there were games in Japan and a few last night today is when most teams start. This should be an interesting season. Here's a few teams I'll be keeping an eye on besides the Cubs.

Tampa Bay Rays (Should be the Devil Rays, but whatever)
This team is like a who's who of current and former prospects. It should be interesting to watch there outfield, Crawford, Upton, Gomes and their infield Pena and Iwamura among others. I also think Shields and Garza are interesting pitchers. Of course they have no shot as always with the Red Sox and Yankees on top.


Toronto Blue Jays
Another AL East team who has no chance, but. I've been a fan of the Blue Jays the past couple years. They seem to have put some decent pieces together on offense (Rios, Wells) and some pitching (Halladay, Burnett). I've always somewhat been a fan of Wells and Overbay. Halladay just eats up innings and their bullpen of Accardo and Ryan (if he comes back healthy) should be good. I also think McGowan and Marcum have some potential at the end of the order.

Seattle Mariners
Surpisingly, last year they finished 88-74 good enough for 2nd in the West. They definitely have a veteran hitting crew; Sexson, Ichiro, Beltre, Ibanez, Vidro, Wilkerson, Cairo. They have Bedard and Felix Hernandez 1-2 and a couple vets, Batista, Washburn, and Silva there too. J.J Putz is solid as a closer as well. This team actually has a shot if all goes well. That's why it would be interesting to see a bunch of older guys, who are past there prime, do some damage.

Colorado Rockies/Arizona Diamondbacks
I lump these two teams together, because they seemingly came out of nowhere to win last season. They are both very young and apparently talented. The Rockies have a bunch of young talent; Holliday, Hawpe, Atkins, Tulowitski, but face questions in their pitching staff. Meanwhile the Diamondbacks have decent rotation (Webb, Haren, Davis) with some young hitters (Chris Young, Justin Upton, Conor Jackson, Stephen Drew, and Mark Reynolds). It should be interesting to see if last year repeats itself, or if there will be a team sophomore slump. Not to mention the fact that the Dodgers are getting better as well.


Here are my predictions for the year in terms of standings.

AL East

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

AL Central

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

AL West

1. Angels
2. Mariners
3. Rangers
4. A's

NL East

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

NL Central

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

NL West

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

AL Playoff Teams: Red Sox, Tigers, Indians, and Angels

NL Playoff Teams: Mets, Phillies, Cubs, Dodgers

Not too many surprises there. I would go further, but I don't want to jinx any teams so I'll leave it at the playoff teams.