Opening Day is full of limitless possibilities for baseball fans. Right now, you’re thinking, “If everyone can stay healthy, if all our veterans can maintain their level of play, if our top free agent acquisition performs as advertised, if our top pitching prospect develops on schedule, if we can get just the right batting order, if our closer recovers from Tommy John surgery, then we just might have a shot at a pennant.” But you can take heart in one certainty: Your team is zero games out of first place … for now, anyway.
Our MLB preview looks at each team’s ifs, shoulds and might bes that are going to make the next seven months so much fun.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AL East
 The Yankees will rely on young, promising pitchers like Joba Chamberlain |
Contenders: With all of their key players returning, the Boston Red Sox have a good shot repeating as champs. Josh Beckett (20-7, 3.27) and Jonathan Papelbon (37 saves, 1.85) head up an outstanding pitching staff that will benefit from young starters Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. Jacoby Ellsbury could beat Coco Crisp for the starting job in center field. … New manager Joe Girardi takes over for the New York Yankees, and he’ll have a powerful lineup that will have DH Jason Giambi and LF/DH Hideki Matsui returning to health. The Yanks will lean heavily on the arms of three young but talented pitchers in Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy.
Pretenders: The Toronto Blue Jays gained two former Cardinals on the left side of their infield with SS David Eckstein and 3B Scott Rolen. Eckstein will bat in the leadoff spot, Vernon Wells will bat cleanup, and the rest of the lineup is in flux. Closer B.J. Ryan hopes to be back from Tommy John surgery by opening day. Can the Jays finally escape the injury bug?
Maybe Next Year: The Tampa Bay Rays have dropped the Devil from their name, but can they exorcise the demons of nine last-place finishes in 10 seasons? Top prospect Evan Longoria takes over at third base, sending Akinori Iwamura to second base. New SS Jason Bartlett gives the Rays some stability at the position, while Cliff Floyd adds a veteran presence in right field and as DH. Veteran Troy Percival enters as the new closer. … Having traded away SS Miguel Tejada and No. 1 pitcher Erik Bedard (2B Brian Roberts could also be gone before the season begins), the Baltimore Orioles are in the midst of a full-blown rebuilding process.
AL Central
 A blockbuster trade brought Dontrelle Willlis to Detroit’s already deep rotation |
Contenders: The Detroit Tigers had the biggest offseason in baseball, adding 3B Miguel Cabrera (.320, 34, 119) and starting pitcher Dontrelle Willis in a blockbuster deal with Florida, and picking up SS Edgar Renteria from Atlanta. With the best lineup and one of the deepest rotations in baseball, only injuries or the weight of their lofty expectations could derail the Tigers’ World Series train. … After winning 96 games and the AL Central, and having come to within a game of the World Series, the Cleveland Indians didn’t see much need to tinker with their roster. The Tribe hopes AL Cy Young Award winner C.C. Sabathia (19-7, 3.21) and Fausto Carmona (19-8, 3.06) can repeat their ’07 campaigns without being overworked, and that DH Travis Hafner (.266, 24, 100) rebounds from a down year (for him, anyway) at the plate.
Pretenders: Can the Minnesota Twins overcome the big offseason losses of Johan Santana, Torii Hunter, Jason Bartlett and Carlos Silva? Will starting pitcher Francisco Liriano regain the form he had before missing all of last season due to Tommy John surgery? The Twins are too young at too many positions to be a serious threat to the Tigers or Indians. … After missing out on a big offseason signing, the Chicago White Sox added CF Nick Swisher to boost the offense, while 1B Paul Konerko, RF Jermaine Dye and C A.J. Pierzynski look to rebound from their batting slumps. New relievers Scott Linebrink and Octavio Dotel bring a veteran presence to the battered bullpen.
Maybe Next Year: After spending the last five seasons managing in Japan, new Kansas City Royals skipper Trey Hillman has to turn around a team that has had 12 losing seasons in the last 13 and has four straight last-place finishes. The Royals signed outfielder Jose Guillen to give them much-needed power in the middle of the lineup.
AL West
Contenders: The Los Angeles Angels won the CF Torii Hunter sweepstakes, but could that lead to too many Angels in the outfield? Hunter will definitely get his playing time, but that leaves Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson and Gary Matthews Jr. to vie for real estate. Then again, an overabundance of talent usually isn’t high on the list of trouble spots. Jon Garland adds oomph to the starting rotation, giving the Halos a great shot to repeat as division champs and make a deeper run into the playoffs. … After years of faltering, the Seattle Mariners bounced back nicely last season, and they’re pinning their hopes this season on better starting pitching. High-priced former Oriole SP Erik Bedard should fill the ace role, and Carlos Silva knows his way around the strike zone. If 1B Richie Sexson can bounce back from a horrendous season in which he flirted with the Mendoza line, runs shouldn’t be a problem.
Pretenders: Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan is on the payroll, but unfortunately the closest he’ll come to the mound for the Texas Rangers is the team president’s luxury box. On the field, the team will have to recover from the lethal combination of bad starting pitching and relatively weak hitting. Kevin Millwood must stop stealing the team’s money and become an ace while RF Marlon Byrd continues his resurgence. New acquisition Milton Bradley should help, but he’ll be limited to DH duty while recovering from an ump-administered ACL injury.
Maybe Next Year: Billy Ball finally appears ready for a reset, as the Oakland A’s are in clear rebuilding mode. They let go of their best players (e.g. Dan Haren, Nick Swisher, Mark Kotsay) and have little to show for it right now. 1B/DH Mike Sweeney doesn’t appear to be in for better times after years of slumming it in Kansas City.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
NL East
Contenders: The New York Mets didn’t spend $137.5 million on SP Johan Santana to finish in second place again. Adding Santana and a healthy Pedro Martinez to a rotation that already features Oliver Perez, John Maine and Orlando Hernandez — and one that should get plenty of run support from the likes of Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado — makes the Mets the team to beat in the East. … The Atlanta Braves said goodbye to CF Andruw Jones and SS Edgar Renteria in the offseason but welcomed back SP Tom Glavine. While Bobby Cox’s team will miss Jones’ defense in center, last season’s big deadline addition, 1B Mark Teixeira, will make up for his absence in the lineup. Glavine and the rest of the rotation should benefit from the installation of the potentially dominant Rafael Soriano as the team’s closer. … The return of former closer (and all-around nice guy) Brett Myers to the rotation should help the Philadelphia Phillies, but an injury to his replacement Brad Lidge leaves the bullpen in disarray. Still, we wouldn’t count out any team that has Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in their lineup and SP Cole Hamels at their disposal.
Pretenders: An offseason wrist injury to 3B Ryan Zimmerman is only one of many concerns facing the Washington Nationals this season. Others include SP John Patterson’s own injury issues, the entire lineup outside of Zimmerman and 1B Dmitri Young, and the presence of a very scary Elijah Dukes in the clubhouse.
Maybe Next Year: Did we say next year? Better make that in a few years. The Florida Marlins are a long, long way from competing. At least SS Hanley Ramirez will give the 400 fans who attend home games something to watch.
NL Central
 Last year, the Brewers’ Prince Fielder became the youngest player ever to hit 50 HRs in a season |
Contenders: Last season, despite an uncharacteristic lack of power from sluggers Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee, the Chicago Cubs came from 8.5 games back on June 3 to win the Central division by two games, thanks in large part to a pitching staff that ranked second in the NL. Unless the team is able to acquire 2B Brian Roberts from the Orioles, Japanese RF Kosuke Fukudome is the only major addition — though youngsters Geovany Soto and Felix Pie could provide a boost. … Now that former triple-cheeseburger spokes-kid Prince Fielder has gone vegetarian, cows and chickens in the Midwest can breathe a sigh of relief. The same can’t be said for pitchers facing a powerful Milwaukee Brewers lineup led by Fielder, 2007 Rookie of the Year Ryan Braun and Corey Hart. Pitching and defense prevented the Brew Crew from holding off the Cubs last year, and while adding CF Mike Cameron and shifting Braun and Bill Hall to left field and third base, respectively, should improve the latter, a preseason injury to SP Yovani Gallardo raises concerns about the former.
Pretenders: CF Jay Bruce and 1B Joey Votto are as good as any pair of prospects in baseball — but because they play for the Cincinnati Reds’ new veteran-enamored manager Dusty Baker, they probably won’t see the field often enough to prove it. It’s a moot point, since the Reds’ lack of starting pitching beyond Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo will prevent them from contending anyway. … The Houston Astros have a fearsome foursome of Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence in their lineup, but beyond SP Roy Oswalt, their rotation makes the Reds’ look like the ’69 Orioles’. … Hey, it’s another NL Central team with suspect pitching: the St. Louis Cardinals! Adam Wainwright is a solid No. 1 starter, but the rest of the rotation is a mess. Anthony Reyes took a major step backward last season, and Chris Carpenter can’t come back soon enough from Tommy John surgery. We’re looking forward to seeing what outfield prospect Colby Rasmus adds to a lineup that will hit its share of home runs with Albert Pujols, Troy Glaus, Rick Ankiel and Chris Duncan around.
Maybe Next Year: We love the duo of Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny at the front end of the rotation. The rest of the Pittsburgh Pirates? Not so much.
NL West
 He fell just short of NL Rookie of the Year honors, but Troy Tulowitzki helped the Rockies get their first NL championship |
Contenders: The Colorado Rockies look to repeat their improbable run to the World Series, and they’ll have much of their core roster coming back to help do it, including Todd Helton, Matt Holliday and shoulda-been Rookie of the Year Troy Tulowitzki. Luis Vizcaino will have to fill some holes in the bullpen if the team is to prove last season wasn’t a fluke. … The Arizona Diamondbacks bulked up their starting rotation, which already was formidable, adding former A’s hurler Dan Haren. And then there’s Randy Johnson, who as of presstime had yet to sustain his annual season-ending injury. While offense was a problem last year (despite posting the NL’s best record, the team batting average was .250) another year of experience should help the likes of Orlando Hudson and Conor Jackson be more productive. … It’ll be hard to find a team as motivated this year as the San Diego Padres, who missed the postseason in brutal fashion after ace Trevor Hoffman blew two consecutive saves, including one in the 13th inning of a tiebreaker game. But as long as Hoffman can recoup, the pieces are there for another playoff run. Jim Edmonds and Tadahito Iguchi bring in reliable firepower, while Jake Peavy, Greg Maddux and who knows, maybe even Mark Prior, will dominate from the mound.
Pretenders: Manager Joe Torre isn’t the only acquisition made by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are looking to finally solve the postseason mystery (they’re 1-12 since winning it all in 1988). They also brought in CF Andruw Jones, who hopes to rebound from a subpar season, and SP Hiroki Kuroda to complement a solid rotation that includes Brad Penny and Derek Lowe. Torre’s biggest task will be helping the team avoid long, costly slumps that have plagued them in seasons past.
Maybe Next Year: While many will cheer the beginning of the post-Barry Bonds era for the San Francisco Giants, it won’t be pretty. If ace Barry Zito can begin to justify his big contract, maybe that’ll soften the blow. Maybe.
PREDICTIONS
Predicted Order of Finish:
AL EAST
New York Yankees*
Boston Red Sox*
Toronto Blue Jays
Tampa Bay Rays
Baltimore Orioles
AL CENTRAL
Detroit Tigers*
Cleveland Indians
Chicago White Sox
Minnesota Twins
Kansas City Royals
AL WEST
Los Angeles Angels*
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers
Oakland A’s
NL EAST
New York Mets*
Atlanta Braves
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
Florida Marlins
NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs*
Milwaukee Brewers
Cincinnati Reds
St. Louis Cardinals
Houston Astros
Pittsburgh Pirates
NL WEST
San Diego Padres*
Arizona Diamondbacks*
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants
* denotes playoff teams
Postseason Predictions
AL CHAMPION: Detroit Tigers
NL CHAMPION: New York Mets
WORLD SERIES CHAMPION: Detroit Tigers
Awards Predictions
AL CY YOUNG: Josh Beckett
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jacoby Ellsbury
NL CY YOUNG: Johan Santana
NL MVP: David Wright
NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Colby Rasmus
