FSI Baseball Preview '07

It's been far too long since my last post, so I figured I'd dive head first into the upcoming baseball season with the first-ever Fondy Sports Insider Baseball Preview.

Why should this preview stand out from any other? No reason. But I do have HDTV and am watching a Mets-Braves preseason game and the picture is so good, I can see into Bobby Cox's soul.

ANYWAYS, without further ado, here are the teams, players and storylines to watch as the season unfolds.

WORLD SERIES PREDICTION: I don't mess around when it comes to predictions. I get the big one out of the way first. I should forewarn you that I have worse record of picking champions than Sports Illustrated; my recent Super Bowl prediction was the Dolphins over the Redskins. So when I pick the Red Sox to beat the Dodgers, maybe it's not a good thing for fans of those two teams. But Boston's pitching staff, if it remains healthy, is tops in the game and the Dodgers have boatloads of young talent.

DIVISION WINNERS: AL East (Yankees), AL Central (Twins), AL West (Angels), AL Wild Card (Red Sox); NL East (Phillies), NL Central (Brewers), NL West (Dodgers), NL Wild Card (Padres).

DID YOU JUST PREDICT THE BREWERS TO WIN THE NL CENTRAL: Yes, I did. When you look at it, they should have won the division last year. The Cardinals won the division with 83 wins, and if Sheets and Tomo Ohka remained healthy, the Brewers easily could have reached that number. I'm guessing it'll take 85-87 wins to get it done this year, and if the Crew can avoid the massive injuries that beseiged it in '06, that is a reachable number.

AWARD WINNERS: NL MVP (Ryan Howard); NL Cy Young (Carlos Zambrano); AL MVP (Alex Rodriguez); AL Cy Young (Dice-K).

TEAM THAT EVERYONE WILL GET WAY TO EXCITED ABOUT IN JUNE, ONLY TO WATCH THAT TEAM GO ON AN EXTENDED LOSING STREAK AND FINISH BELOW .500: Kansas City Royals. This team is just set up for a big run early only to flame out majestically as the season goes on partly because they won't add talent in the middle of the season and because they have a bunch of guys that aren't used to playing full-time now faced with the challenge of a long, grueling season. Alex Gordon is a bona fide superstar and while they overpaid for Gil Meche, he should provide stability to the rotation. But they don't have the depth to carry it the full season.

THE REASON THE YANKEES DON'T GO TO THE WORLD SERIES: Pitching. The rotation is a mess, especially with Chein-Ming Wang on the DL to open the season. If they can outbid the Red Sox and Astros to get Roger Clemens, they may have a shot in the playoffs. Otherwise, a hot pitching staff, say the Twins, could take care of the Yankees in a short playoff series.

TEAM THAT WILL DISAPPOINT EVERYONE, INCLUDING THEIR MOTHERS: Rangers. This team has underacheived for years, and now that they want Sammy Sosa to bat cleanup, the failure will continue.