baseball, week 1

Tim: How bout those Tigers? And will those Brewers ever stop winning (they both just did). Still, between them they are 10-2, and Cleveland is hot as well (5-1). I can't wait for these to all collapse completely. I just like making these posts so I can say "How bout those Tigers! They sure are hot!" because it will be the only time all year I get to, so I must strike while the iron's hot.

More baseball rehash will come soon, this is the opening of many to be edited.

Mike: This is precisely why Opening Day is the best day of baseball for 90% of the teams. At the end, only one team wins the World Series, and let's face it, the majority of the clubs making the playoffs (Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Cardinals, Braves, etc.) aren't happy just making the playoffs and winning a series or two – there's almost a burden of expectation of winning the whole shebang. It's unfortunate, but once the dog days of August (what a great sports phrase, by the way) come around, at least half of the teams are just playing out an inevitable losing string.

But Opening Day… is it any wonder the season opens in the spring? Unwarranted or not, everyone is hopeful, even if you root for the Cubs and Prior and Wood start yet another season on the disabled list. Sooner, much sooner, than later, those dreaded initials – D and L – rear their ugly heads and start claiming casualties and putting quite the damper on promising springs.

For now, though, a quick check of the standings yields a picture that will no doubt change by the end of the season – Yankees in last place in the AL East, the Mets first in the NL East, the Brewers and clubs jockeying for first in the NL Central, Colorado atop the NL West, along with the aforementioned Tigers and Indians leading the AL Central. About the only division going according to form is the AL West, where most pundits have picked the A's and Angels to maintain a season-long battle for dominance.

My baseball coverage here on out will naturally skew to the Western divisions, and Tim will be covering the East – but I'll be checking in on my boys on the fantasy team from time to time.

Fantasy baseball update – our team won its first head-to-head matchup 11-5, surprisingly dominating the pitching categories (except for the K's/9 category). I have great faith my hitters will come around but I'm hoping my pitching can sustain its momentum. It looks like relief pitching is our Achilles heel so far, with the disappointing Foulke having already lost his closer's role to Papelbon. In fantasy, as in real life, Foulke's getting a quick hook – he's already been dropped and replaced by another pitcher.

Tim: Good point about who's going on the DL so far. I had to chuckle when I saw that Nomar was already out before the season even started — he's probably one of the fastest dropping stars of all time. We were all scratching our heads when he was traded away in '04, but it turns out that it was a good move! Thanks, Theo! And speaking of the Sox, Coco Crisp broke his finger and will be out for about 4 weeks. Good thing the Sox have a sturdy outfield reserve in Adam Stern. The Canadian tore up the WBC and had a few great at-bats the other day.

The rest of the AL East is sizing up to be a good competition for last place and Atlanta will no doubt claim their 23434982nd straight division title when the Mets inevitably choke after making you think they had a chance all year. The Braves are hurting because of the Chippa's injury, but we wish him a speedy recovery and sent him some flowers this morning.

A big HA HA HA to Barry Bonds, I hope he received some old gypsy curse and will get to 710 HRs and then make 1000000 futile attempts at hitting home runs, only to have every single one swatted back by a mysterious force. Here's to gypsy curses!

And last but not least, let's make our predictions on the divisions:

AL East: Boston
AL Central: Detroit!
AL West : Oakland
AL Wild Card: Cleveland

NL East: Atlanta
NL Central: St Louis
NL West: San Diego
NL Wild Card: Chicago Cubs

I went out on a wire on a few of them, but what fun is this if you pick the same teams every year?

Mike:  Okay here are my picks -

• AL East: Yankees (sorry, I don't trust that new infield of Boston's)
• AL Central: White Sox
• AL West: A's
• AL wild card: Angels (Cleveland takes a step back as their pitching is not nearly as strong as last year, esp. w/ Sabathia hurt)

• NL East: Mets
• NL Central: Cardinals
• NL West: Padres
• NL wild card: Braves