Play Ball!

Today is opening day! Once again everything is right with the world. Every team believes they can win it all, hope and optimism abounds! Today is the day where I will make my predictions for the Beloved (White Sox) and the Chicago Cubs.

First off the Cubs: The National League Central is a suckfest. The only real competition in this division will be the Brewers and this will depend on how their starting pitching holds up. Houston and St. Louis are shells of their former selves and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati just blow. The Cubs improved just enough to win this division with the addition of K-Fuk. However there are a lot of holes here too. First off the starting rotation I still think there are holes after Zambrano and Lilly. I've seen Dempster pitch twice this spring and I thought he did well enough but let's see how that translates to major league hitters. Rich Hill could have won more games last year if he had more run support. Marquis is strong in the beginning of the season but then goes back to sucking in the heart of the season. The bullpen will be strong with Howry, Wuertz and Marmol. Wood will have need to prove he can pitch back to back days in order to instill confidence he can be a top notch closer or move over for the heir apparent Marmol. Offensively you have no real lead off hitter to set the table for the heart of the order which will probably looks something like Lee, Ramirez, Fukodome and possibly Soriano. Also the middle infield raises a few questions with Theriot and DeRosa defensively; will they be good enough? Prediction: Win NL Central

Now to the White Sox: The American League Central is the toughest league in baseball. Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Minnesota is a murders row of a schedule. This starting rotation scares me to death! Buehrle and Vasquez I like, Contreras scares me to death, Floyd and Danks are unproven. Man I wish Garland was still here all he did was win eighteen game for you the last couple of years. I am confortable with Dye and Swisher in the outfield however is Swisher playing left or center? If he is in left is Gerry Owens in center? In the infield you have Paul Konerko at first which is fine with me, Juan Uribe at second which isn't bad. We won a World Series with him at short stop and Joe Crede at third. Now is Crede here to stay thus pushing Josh Fields out of the picture? Or is he being showcased? I remember when Crede pushed Robin Ventura out of the picture and Sox fans were upset now the same is happening only this time with Crede being pushed instead of pushing. I like Joe Crede and he was a member of the World Series team but I am worried about the health of his back and his contract demands after this year. Can this team bounce back in this division? We sat back while Detroit added Willis and Cabrera; do we have enough? Man I am having a hard time with this prediction, my heart says they win it but only because I want to go to a World Series celebration in October but my head says third place.