| |
|
Baltimore Orioles | Opening Game: March 31 vs. Tampa Bay, 3:05 PM ET
|
|
Baltimore once was known for good baseball and terrific crab cakes. Now it's known for bad baseball and terrific crab cakes. The Orioles have produced 10 consecutive losing seasons and are poised to push it to 11 in 2008. Thanks to years of mismanagement, this franchise that once was a model now is in the gutter. New president/general manager/contractor/architect Andy MacPhail has made some smart early moves, but the O's will remain zeroes for the foreseeable future.
|
| Orioles Season Preview |
|
Boston Red Sox | Opening Game: March 25 @ Oakland (in Japan), Won 6-5
|
|
Don't underestimate the degree of difficulty for Boston in simply getting its season off the ground. Over two weeks, the Red Sox are playing exhibition and regular-season games in three different countries: The United States, Japan and Canada. Four countries if you count California. The Sox went from Florida to Japan, then fly to California for exhibition games in Los Angeles and regular-season games in Oakland and then go to Toronto before finally opening in Boston on April 8.
|
| Red Sox Season Preview |
|
Tampa Bay Rays | Opening Game: March 31, @ Baltimore, 3:05 PM ET
|
|
They have dropped the "Devil" and changed their uniforms. They also exorcised Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes in a strong attempt to change the clubhouse culture. The franchise has finished out of last place in the AL East only once in 10 years (fourth in 2004), but it should make it twice this summer. There are some legitimately good young players here that should push the Rays toward contention within the next few seasons. No, this is not a misprint.
|
| Rays Season Preview |
|
Toronto Blue Jays | Opening Game: March 31, @ New York Yankees, 1:05 PM ET
|
|
Burning question is, will a club-record $93 million payroll produce yet another third-place finish? There is enough talent here to push Toronto into first or second place in the AL East. But there are enough questions here following last summer's incredible run of injuries that even second place could be more difficult to navigate than Yonge St. in an ice storm.
|
| Blue Jays Season Preview |
|
New York Yankees | Opening Game: March 31 vs. Toronto, 1:05 PM ET
|
|
Back to the Future was a fun movie and all, but the real thing in the Bronx with Hank Steinbrenner popping off like his old man once did promises delightful entertainment all summer. Among Hank's Greatest Hits: Wondering whether Alex Rodriguez wants to go into the Hall of Fame as a Toledo Mud Hen after A-Rod opted out of his contract last fall, and telling the New York Times magazine that Red Sox Nation is just an ESPN creation. Go, Hank, go!
|
| Yankees Season Preview |
|
Chicago White Sox | Opening Game: March 31, @ Cleveland, 3:05 PM ET
|
|
A.J. Pierzynski and Paul Konerko each told me in Arizona that this was the best spring camp since they came to Chicago. Hitting coach Greg Walker said the same thing, and manager Ozzie Guillen said it was dramatically more positive than last spring's camp. General manager Kenny Williams said he has a good feeling about this team. So, where does that leave the White Sox? The schedule soon will tell us, but all this leaves me eager to see how they take it into the season.
|
| White Sox Season Preview |
|
Cleveland Indians | Opening Game: March 31, vs. Chicago White Sox, 3:05 PM ET
|
|
When we last saw the Indians, they couldn't close the deal against Boston in last October's American League Championship Series. It was a rough stretch -- the Indians were one win away from their first Series since 1997 and having a chance to win their first since 1948, Paul Byrd was nailed for human growth hormone before Game 7 ... ugh. So here they are again, at the base of the mountain, ready to roll the boulder back up with largely the same team intact.
|
| Indians Season Preview |
|
Detroit Tigers | Opening Game: March 31 vs. Kansas City, 1:05 PM ET
|
|
This always has been one of America's great baseball towns, and what a job GM Dave Dombrowski and crew have done of reawakening it. After acquiring Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis this winter, the Tigers are close to selling out the entire season at Comerica Park. Considering how Michigan has the worst unemployment rate in the country largely because of the lagging auto industry, I'd say Tigers fans are doing their best to match the club's investment.
|
| Tigers Season Preview |
|
Kansas City Royals | Opening Game: March 31 @ Detroit, 1:05 PM ET
|
|
The refrain I heard most often in touring camps this spring, at least in AL camps, went something like this: "... and Kansas City is going to be a lot better than people think." If I had $1 for every time I heard that, I'd be typing this on a Caribbean beach right now. The Royals have the beginnings of something under GM Dayton Moore and new manager Trey Hillman. Now, the trick is to keep the train on the tracks.
|
| Royals Season Preview |
|
Minnesota Twins | Opening Game: March 31 vs. Los Angeles Angels, 10:05 PM ET
|
|
Like Oakland, the Twins are entering a transition year with Torii Hunter, Johan Santana and Carlos Silva gone. You don't lose a trio like that and not take a hit. The comparison with Oakland ends there, however. While the A's are entering a rebuilding phase, the Twins' is closer to retooling. Signing closer Joe Nathan to an extension on March 24 was only the latest indication.
|
| Twins Season Preview |
|
Los Angeles Angels | Opening Game: March 31, @ Minnesota, 10:05 PM ET
|
|
Difficult to recall that at one point this winter, the Los Angeles Angels of Our Lady of Lost Causes in Terms of Acquiring Another Impact Bat had too much starting pitching. It's a rough spring when two pitchers who combined for 37 victories last season -- John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar -- are lost to the opening day disabled list. Still, there is enough here for Angel Stadium to be more fun than neighboring Disneyland for the entirety of the summer.
|
| Angels Season Preview |
|
Oakland Athletics | Opening Game: March 25, vs. Boston (in Japan), Lost 5-6
|
|
Wanna know the worst thing about Oakland heading into another rebuilding phase? The prospect of hearing old American writer Gertrude Stein quoted over and over -- she's the one who said of Oakland, "There's no there there." Of course, she also said, "I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences," so who can trust her? If we've learned anything over these past several seasons, it should be this: Never underestimate the Athletics under president and general manager Billy Beane.
|
| Athletics Season Preview |
|
Seattle Mariners | Opening Game: March 31, vs. Texas 6:40 PM ET
|
|
I really think this will be a terrific baseball summer in the Emerald City. The Mariners righted the ship last year in finishing only six games behind the Angels in the AL West, and if not for a late-season swoon in which they lost 15 of 17 games, they could have been October-bound. The pitching is better, I think some key lineup pieces will be better and, hands down, having John McLaren in the manager's chair instead of Mike Hargrove is a better way to start the season.
|
| Mariners Season Preview |
|
Texas Rangers | Opening Game: March 31, @ Seattle, 6:40 PM ET
|
|
The Rangers should start drilling for pitchers like they drill for oil in Texas. It can't hurt. This unofficially is the 541st consecutive season the Rangers will begin in Arlington short of arms. The day I was in their camp this season, Sidney Ponson was preparing to make his first appearance of the spring. Sidney Ponson! And he was stunned that his weigh-in earlier in the day revealed he was five pounds higher than he wanted to be. Maybe new president Nolan Ryan can sprinkle holy water on the joint and come up with something.
|
| Rangers Season Preview |
|
| Headlines |
