The Sports Don's Sunday Musings: Volume VI - A Special Baseball Exclusive Edition

People can jump up and down and scream their admiration for the first day of the NCAA Tournament, Sunday of the Masters or the NFL Draft, but Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season has been and forever will be my favorite day of the year. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain why. You either get it or you don’t. I’ll spare you the clichés. After months of hot stove talk, six weeks of spring training, the World Baseball Classic and hours of blog writing previewing each team in every division (which you can read here), the regular season has finally arrived, and I couldn’t be happier.

In the latest posting of The Sports Don’s Sunday Musings, I present the remainder of my thoughts on the upcoming baseball season.

1. In my preseason previews of the American League, I selected Boston, Minnesota and Los Angeles as the victors of their respective divisions thus leaving little suspense in that area. The wildcard is where the mystery lies. Much consideration was given to Cleveland and Texas because of their potent offenses and Tampa Bay as a result of last year’s success and an additional year of maturation. Although, following extensive research and number crunching it’s been decided New York spent much too much money to miss the playoffs. The impact of the Yankees' acquisitions has been debated at length so I won’t deliberate again because you know who the players are, and they make New York darn good (especially when the Yanks have the opportunity to feast on the likes of Toronto and Baltimore in the East). As for the postseason, assuming the healthy return of John Smoltz from injury, the Red Sox' pitching is just too, too good. A starting rotation of Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Dice-K and Smoltz possesses a career 27-9 postseason record. It’s an understatement to say the group delivers when it counts. The Twins and Angels do not have the lineups, and New York will undoubtedly choke. Don’t think CC Sabathia (2-3, 7.92 ERA career in the playoffs) will change that recent trend. AL Wild Card: New York Yankees; AL Champion: Boston Red Sox

2. In the National League, the wildcard situation is a bit more complicated – I’ve been spending the last week and a half avoiding this decision. Presuming New York, Chicago and Los Angeles finish atop their divisions, Arizona, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Philadelphia (not in that order) are the serious contenders for that coveted fourth postseason spot. I realize I also listed four teams as potential wildcard winners in the AL, but I don’t think anyone will truly give the Yankees a race and they’ll take the wildcard by eight or more games. The Reds because of their pitching, and the Cardinals because of Albert Pujols and the possible resurgence of Chris Carpenter will make a run, but in the end they’ll be the final two teams to fall short. It comes down to the D-Backs and Phillies, and, I’m going with...Philadelphia (I just went back and forth for the last 30 minutes). Although the Phillies made the playoffs last season because the Mets collapsed, they did so with Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins dealing with independent issues, and they ended up winning the World Series. On paper, the team appears too talented to not play its way into October where it will lose in the first round and watch from home as New York defeats the Cubs in seven games in the NLCS. In a rematch of the 1986 Series, the Red Sox will get their revenge because of their aforementioned stellar pitching front to back. NL Wild Card: Philadelphia Phillies; NL Champion: New York Mets; World Series Champion: Boston Red Sox

3. MVPS: Josh Hamilton and David Wright. The young phenoms have taken different paths to greatness, but at the end of the ’09 season, their numbers will be very similar. Hamilton and Wright are both young enough that they haven’t reached their ceilings, and they will both finish with 35 plus home runs, 130 plus RBI and batting averages well over .300. It wouldn’t be a shocker if both spent the season in the running for the Major’s first triple crown winner in hitting since Carl Yastrzemski. While Wright will lead his team to the playoffs as either the NL East victor or via the wildcard, Hamilton and his Texas Rangers will be on the outside looking in unless the Rangers’ staff turns out to be a lot better than the entire world predicts. Hamilton’s numbers will be just too spectacular to ignore. Other potential AL winners: Mark Teixeira, Justin Morneau, Alex Rodriguez, Grady Sizemore and Jason Bay. Other potential NL winners: Manny Ramirez, Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Braun and Chase Utley.

4. Cy Youngs: Jon Lester and Johan Santana. Lester dominated at home (11-1, 2.49 ERA) and against the AL East (9-2, 2.48) in 2008, and he even increased his strikeouts in the second half of the year. The young lefty is poised for greatness, and if he can improve on the road, a 21-6 record with an ERA around 3.00 is completely feasible especially since the Red Sox have a great bullpen that shouldn’t give away many of his wins. As for Santana, his numbers last season, 16-7 with a 2.78 ERA, were almost good enough to win his first Cy Young in the NL after already winning two while in the AL with the Twins. The Mets vastly improved their bullpen which should provide for a higher win total and therefore a better chance at the honor. Boston and New York are definite contenders for division titles and possible World Series champions, and their best pitchers will be awarded come voting. Other potential AL winners: Roy Halladay, Josh Beckett, Zack Greinke and CC Sabathia. Other potential NL winners: Tim Lincecum, Brandon Webb, Dan Haren and Chad Billingsley.

5. Various predictions for the 2009 baseball season: Tampa Bays’ David Price and Baltimore’s Matt Wieters will spend too much time in AAA to win the Rookie of the Year in the AL thus giving Toronto slugger Travis Snider the upper hand ... Jason Motte or Cameron Maybin will win the award in the NL ... Chris Carpenter will revert to his Cy Young form in St. Louis ... when he returns from injury, Alex Rodriguez will put up the best numbers of his career, and he’ll do it while looking like a jerk ... Oakland will trade Matt Holliday at the deadline ... the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants will surprise people ... the Orioles will finish as the worst team in the AL and San Diego will finish as the worst in the NL ... Cliff Lee will pitch nothing like he did last year ... the Rangers lineup will be awesome, and their pitching will be equally as bad ... the Angels will win 13 less games than they did last year but still win the AL West ... Travis Hafner will make people wonder if he was on steroids a few years ago ... Ryan Howard will lead the majors in home runs and strikeouts ... Mike Hampton won’t pitch a full season in Houston because of inevitable injury ... current manager Joe Girardi will do something to make the Yankees wish they still had Joe Torre ... Jarrod Saltalamacchia will finally break out ... Julio Lugo will throw a temper tantrum in Boston when he returns from injury and isn’t handed the starting job because Jed Lowrie is playing better than he ever will ... Jake Peavy will be traded ... Stephen Drew will put up superior numbers than his brother, J.D. ... Gary Sheffield will hit his 500th home run in his first five at bats ... Dice-K will make Boston fans want to rip their hair out when he’s pitching, but he’ll continue to get away with his nibbling because he's awesome when he goes after a hitter ... Pedro Martinez will sign somewhere and make a positive impact ... Manny will be worth every dime.

If you disagree with my opinion, would like to share your own or want to tell me this is the most intelligent post you've ever read, email TheSportsDon@gmail.com.