by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (4-1-13)
DAN:
Its opening day. Woo!!! The Yankees and the rest of the league are back. I kid. I kid. I'm really not that much of a biased baseball fan. Its just that the Yankees are infinitely more fun to watch because they are both my team and the New York Yankees. Let the games begin!We broke down the AL East a few weeks ago in detail, nailed down this years Orioles and Pirates, the teams who both overachieve but one maintains it and makes the playoffs while the other peters out after the All Star break. What's left? You know what's coming...
AL MVP = ?
NL MVP = ?
Rookie of the Year = ?
I'll stop there as the impossible gets exceedingly impossible. But in all honesty, what's exciting you about the season? What's going to end up a boring news story? Are we in for a predictable year or one that takes the game to a new level?
TODD:
Remember when Stewie Griffin found out he was going to Disney World? That's me when I realized Opening Day was at hand. Woo!Guessing the MVP and ROY winners is kind of a pointless exercise though. What happened when we tried to pick the March Madness Final Four teams months ago? You picked Texas, who didn't even make the NIT, let alone the big one. Although your Syracuse pick to win it all does have validity.
What isn't pointless is naming what we should be excited for and pay attention to these first few weeks of the season. Such as: how does the Yankees lineup turn out; does the newly acquired Brennan Boesch make the team; will Granderson and Teixeira be ahead of schedule; how will Jeter and Rivera look... oh, oh, I misread what you wrote. We are ditching the biases for this post? My bad.
Here's what we should be on the edge of our seats about in each division:
NL East - Will the Braves have the greatest outfield unit since 2000? Will the Mets have the worst since 1900?
NL Central - Are the Reds a juggernaut ready to vanquish all other National League foes? When will the Cubs start going all Dodgers on us and spend big?
NL West - What type of season can Colorado's offense give us if Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki can stay healthy?
AL East - it's been discussed
AL Central - Are people ready to move on from the Royals if their young hitters don't start off well?
AL West - Did the Astros actually move yet? Really, this already happened? Why has no one said anything? Oh, and Mike Trout.
DAN:
My completely baseless Final Four picks from January aren't that bad... Waiting... Waiting... Fine. Predictions sure to go wrong can be left to Mike and Mike for the start of the MLB season. But I'm not promising a complete ditch of Yankees bias. That's too far.The main storyline keeping me on the edge of my seat, besides all of the Yankees questions you mentioned (damn its hard to set them aside) is who will be worse, the Mets or Red Sox. Both teams are setting themselves up for complete failure. The Red Sox even went as far as to issue a media plea to their fans in order to rectify the ever growing gap between fan expectations and the overall suckiness of the team on the field. I LOVE this! Who's going to suck worse? That's what I'm excited for this season!
Running down the divisions, let me answer your edge of the seat questions and pose one more:
NL East - The Braves will definitely field a tremendous team, but you knew I'd say this. I picked them to win it all this year. As for the Mets, they won't be as bad as an early 1900s squad, mainly because steroids now exist. What's exciting me about the division? If the Marlins, who literally sold off their entire team in the off season, finish with a better record than the Mets, who still manage to have a ridiculous payroll even with such a poor lineup, can we finally end this stupid money buys success debate? Ownership is the key to success. Money spent poorly (the Mets) will prove to be no different than collecting money (the Marlins).
NL Central - I think the Reds will be good, but great is highly questionable. As for the Cubs, they won't start spending until the curse of the billy goat is lifted. Or the curse of that guy who caught the foul ball and 'ruined' their above average season, Bartman. So never. This division kind of waddles in obscurity and that's how I like it.
NL West - Can the Dodgers live up to the unwarranted expectations the LA fans now have for them? Can they stay above .500 with Hanley Ramirez out for two months?
AL Central - Since when did anyone jump on the Royals bandwagon? I'm intrigued to see whether Justin Verlander can maintain the ridiculous pitching dominance he's had of late. Pitching is so up and down, but not him. Interesting?
AL West - Mike freaking Trout. Also, I did not realize the Astros moved either. What was the point of this? Do the Astros have anyone good?
You can now discuss the Yankees or Fantasy Baseball. I'll allow it.
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