Baseball Preview Part II

So the funniest thing happened today. I went down to Starbucks to buy a coffee during my spare, and I bump into Jamie Campbell. If you don't know who he is, he's the guy that will be doing the commentary for Blue Jays game this year for Sportsnet. So we got to chat about baseball season and what we think will happen, so it was fun.

The Jays game today proved that their bullpen is not strong enough. It is evident by having them switch closers 3-4 times last season, and having to put Batista as the closer. He has done a good job so far this season, 2/2, so we'll see what happens. And KAT, John Mcdonald is awesome, he might not be the best SS in the league, but he's an amazing fielder, and he'll help Russ Adams alot in his development.

AL East, the two biggest spenders in the league. The Blue Jays (or the third place team) could easily finish above the .500 mark, and still be around 10 games away from the divison winner. By far this is the toughest division in baseball. Imagine having to face RJ followed by Mussina. Sure, it was not as scary as last year with Pedro and Schilling, but the bats will scare the best pitchers in the league. From top the bottom, the Yankees batters are almost flawless, anyone of them can change the outcome of the ballcome at anytime with one swing of the bat. If they can keep their players healthy (especially their rotation), look for them to be near the 100 win mark again.

How rare is it to see Rivera blow two saves opportunities in a row. Or how about blowing 4 straight against the Sox. Thats just scary. The Boston lineup can be as scary as the Yanks. With the return of Trot Nixon, the Red Sox have a mixed of speed and power in their lineup. Through the addition of Matt Clement and David Wells, they have a solid rotation up front. Even though Wells is pass his prime, and Clement has yet to show how good he can be, there will be questions if they can get the job done with the departure of Pedro. Look for the Red Sox to be competitive and win the wildcard, but one of the teams in the West will be close.

Orioles added the troublesome Sosa to their lineup this year, someone the Cubs couldn't wait to get rid of. Scoring runs won't be a problem for the Os this year, but holding the opposition will be. The Orioles are very weak in the rotation and their bullpen. They will lose many high scoring games because they cannot hold the opposing team. Look for them to finish fourth this year with around 70-75 wins.

The D-Rays. Back down to the basement of AL East again. They have a bunch of young guys this season, but they have too many holes in their pitching staff and their lineup. They have a core group of guys that will be good, Crawford, Huff, Cantu to name a few. But their inexperience and weak supporting cast will prove to be their downfall this season.

So East will be back to normal, with Yanks, Sox, Jays, Os, D-Rays in that order at the end of the season.

Rest of AL coming up, hopefully they'll be shorter.