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Happy New Year

Sunday afternoon while driving from Florida to Georgia, I received a text message from a baseball mind that I highly respect wishing me a happy opening night. As always, I tried to come up with a clever response and eventually it hit me...Happy New Year.

Baseball is back and stadiums across the country are full of optimism and excitement as we work our way through the first series of 2010. Just like the millions of people that celebrate New Years eve, people are excited to see a new season because the slate is clean and there is a chance to start anew and maybe, just maybe, win a World Series. Hope is spreading across baseball fans(even in Washington) today and that is a reason to celebrate spring!

Some brief predictions are:
  • The Tampa Bay Rays will return to the playoffs this season, meaning that one of the Yankees or Red Sox will not. While the Rays are not flashy, they are solid across the diamond and are developing offensively on a daily basis. The addition of Rafael Soriano will allow all of their other pitchers to move back to their 2008 roles, which will give them the strongest bullpen in the AL East. Because of the bullpen depth, I do expect the Rays to give the Red Sox and Yankees all they can handle and then some.
  • Jason Heyward will impact the NL East, but won't hit more than 30 homers.
  • Adrian Gonzalez will be a member of the Boston Red Sox by July 31st.
  • Collective bargaining will be discussed much of the year with a focus on changes to the revenue sharing system or potential salary cap/salary minimum requirements.
  • One of the Pittsburgh Pirates or Cincinnati Reds will finish the season ahead of the Chicago Cubs.

Who knows what is in store this season on the field, but the new year is here, a time for hope and excitement! Enjoy the 2010 baseball season!

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