Anyone else excited about the opening of Baseball Season?

[maveric]

First regular season game is Sunday. The Padres play the Giants at Petco Park on Monday.

How does your local/favorite team look this year?

AL favorite:
The Red Sox need to get their pitching going or Toronto will run away with the east.They have the offense, but in that division they need pitching.
NL favorite:
The "Pads" have beefed up their offense with a few of senior players in Mike Piazza, Mike Cameron and Vinny Castilla. If "Leadfoot" Ryan Klesko and local guy, Brian Giles stay healthy, San Diego will take the NL West in a more dominating manner than they did last year.(Only two games over .500)
Jake Peavey is one of the best pitchers in baseball. Led the NL in strikeouts last year and led the majors in ERA the year before. Sadly, he's the only dominating starter on the staff. Trevor Hoffmann is still "automatic" out of the pen. 43 more saves (which he recorded last season), and he's the Major's alltime saves leader.

Going out on a limb here but I predict a Padres - Angels World Series in 06.

[texas1928]

1. Yeah

:sarcasm:

[bigwillq]

2. I can't wait!

:bounce:

[maveric]

4. Who's your team bigwillq?

And how are they looking to you?

[bigwillq]

9. Yankees fan here!

:bounce:


They should do alright. Their pitching is still a mess but they have the best lineup in basbeball.
They might win a lot of 11-10 games!

[NJ Democrats]

13. Yes, Go YANKEES!!!

Woot!!!
They will Win the Al East, with the best lineup in baseball. Their pitching will do well if RJ and the Moose stay healthy.
I think they will win the WS though.

[bigwillq]

14. WOO HOO!

LET'S GO YANKEES! :bounce:
Yeah, if the pitchers stay healthy they will be contenders all the way.

[maveric]

17. Toronto is a force to be reckoned with this year.

They signed Troy Glaus and he's good for 40-45 HRs, if he can stay off the DL.

[NJ Democrats]

19. Yes, they will

finish 2nd ahead of Boston, and will compete for the Wild Card.

[bigwillq]

28. I think so too.

They came on strong last year. I think they are a contender.

[deadparrot]

3. I'm counting down the days.

I'm a Cards fan. Of course, they're usually up there with the favorites, but I'm always paranoid that we'll tank.

I wish we had a bit more in the way of relief...and second base appears to be a bit of a problem. Hopefully, it's just preseason jitters, and once the season gets into swing, things will settle down.

But we're getting a brand-spanking-new ballpark this year, which is gonna be a lot of fun.
http://community.webshots.com/album/548852838FHWNfp

[GOPisEvil]

6. Whoooo! Another Cards fan!

:bounce:

I want to try to make it up to see the new ballpark.

[deadparrot]

8. We've got tickets to maybe 5 or 6 games.

My mom and brother are going to what is *technically* the first game, with the Cardinals' minor-league teams playing each other, so the ground crew can get some experience in a game situation. I'm really jealous...I saw the groundbreaking, and have been watching it go up for 2.5 years now. It'll be fun to finally walk inside. But yeah, it's gonna be strange to see the Old Courthouse in left-center field. :D

[GOPisEvil]

10. I have an uncle with season tickets.

If push comes to shove, I can probably ask nicely. :D

The hard part is finding the time off from work and the money to travel.

[maveric]

7. Ive always liked the Cardinals. They're probbly the classiest organization

in the Major Leagues. This is coming from a die-hard Red Sox fan that had St Louis and Bob Gibson beat my Sox in the 67 series.

[deadparrot]

11. Yeah, I think we do a pretty good job about picking up good guys,

and not clubhouse 'cancers.' There are always exceptions, of course, but most of them do a lot in the community and seem like generally nice, stand-up guys.

Your Sox did a number on us in 2004, though. You guys played great, but it definitely wasn't the best week of my life (combined with the election). :hi:

[LSdemocrat]

5. Hell yes

Hoping that this year the Cards manage to win it all

[Initech]

12. I've had my opening day tickets for two weeks now!

:woohoo:

[mac56]

15. Oh, yeah. I'm jazzed. I'm stoked. I'm psyched.

But I gotta disagree with your detective work. The Halos and the Pads will be in the thick of it, no doubt. But I'm predicting that the White Sox will repeat. Tough medicine to swallow, as I'm a lifelong Twins fan.

And the surprise team of the season? The Tampa Bay D-Rays. Mark my words.

[AztecGringo]

16. HUH?

When I was a kid, I lived and died baseball. But then, there were enduring identities to teams. What with free agency, coupled with the arrogance of the players, I am much more interested in college sports now. Who'd have thunk it???

[mac56]

21. Teams still have enduring identities.

The Yankees still suck, f'rinstance.

[xmas74]

18. I get excited every year but I don't hold my breath for my teams.

I was raised w/ the Brewers but was also raised to respect the Cubs, no matter what.

[mac56]

20. Back when the Brewers were in the AL.

Back when they mattered.

:evilgrin:

[xmas74]

22. Actually, you do have a point.

I had to watch every televised game when they were still in the AL.

They still matter to me but I don't take days off just to watch a game on tv like I did when they were in the AL.

[mac56]

23. They were often in it when they were in the AL.

I know, because they used to pound on my Twins quite often.

Since moving to the NL and into Miller Park, they quite suck.

[xmas74]

24. They haven't done as well

but there is much hope for a good season this year.

The forums are going wild right now w/ speculation for the next few years. For my own sanity I hope some of the posters are correct.

[maveric]

25. Why dont they put the Brewers back in the AL, evening up the leauges?

Since there are FOUR teams in the AL West and SIX teams in the NL Central.(Makes no sense to me)
14 teams in the AL and 16 in the NL? Whats up with that? Put KC in the AL West amd the Brew Crew in the AL Central thus having FIVE teams in each division.
Does that make sense?

[mac56]

27. For one reason, and one reason only.

Bud Selig is the Antichrist.

[xmas74]

29. I had moved to the KC area at the time and I remember twhen

this happened. Originally it was KC that they wanted to move to the NL, not Milwaukee. I don't remember the details anymore but somehow KC, who hasn't done shit since winning the I-70 series, managed to get out of it and they stuck Milwaukee there instead.

I remember the b*tching and moaning of the sports reporters in KC and the sighs of relief when Milwaukee got it instead. My entire family was rather upset w/ the decision in general.

[maveric]

31. Selig has to go!

He's the lackey for the owners.
We need another Bowie Kuhn as commish.

[mac56]

32. We'll never have that again.

A. Bartlett Giamatti was the last one.

[Maestro]

26. Yes!

Batter up!

[JohnKleeb]

30. Yeah I am

but I got a feeling its gonna be a long summer. The East is gonna be all about the Yankees, Red Sox, and Jays this year, meanwhile another year goes by without the playoffs for the orioles will go by and Angelos again will say they'll get better but then they won't and within a few years Perlozzo will be another in the Peter J. Angelos fired managers club. I can't adapt to teh Nationals, I just can't. I think the Pads got a better chance than I thought but my prediction is the Angels and the Cardinals in the series.