Spring. When Young Men's Hearts Turn To Baseball

Spring has arrived in Memphis. The temperatures have settled nicely into the upper 60s/low 70s and that causes my attention to turn to my beloved baseball. While much of the country still grapples with temps in the 30s and 40s, players are headed off to spring camp and I'm scouting out the teams and players. This year I have an additional reason to keep tabs on who is expected to do what because this year, for the first time, I have joined a fantasy league. We haven't had the draft yet and I'm already excited for this year.

I've gone on ad nauseum in the past about why I love baseball and about why you're foolish if you don't, so let's get right to my 2011 predictions.


AL East - this division is going to be crazier than normal in 2011 given the upgrades made by the Red Sox and Orioles.
1 - Red Sox
2 - Yankees
3 - Orioles
4 - Rays
5 - Blue Jays

AL Central
1 - Twins
2 - Tigers
3 - White Sox
4 - Indians
5 - Royals

AL West
1 - Rangers (barely)
2 - A's
3 - Angels
4 - Mariners


NL East
1 - Phillies - this year featuring the most accomplished pitching rotation that the sport has seen in at least 40 years.
2 - Braves
3 - Marlins
4 - Nationals
5 - Mets - Ha! Remember when these guys were relevant? Yeah, me neither.

NL Central
1 - Cardinals
2 - Reds - they can't possibly repeat what they did last year
3 - Brewers
4 - Astros
5 - Pirates - I'm going out on a limb with this one
6 - Cubs

NL West
1 - Giants - duh!
2 - Rockies
3 - Padres - Adrian Gonzales is a huge loss
4 - Dodgers

ALCS - Red Sox vs. Twins
NLCS - Phillies vs. Giants (a rematch for the ages!)

World Series - Phillies over Red Sox. And I swear if the Red Sox, who I hate with a passion, lose a world series at the hand of my Phillies then I will never complain about anything again, ever, for as long as I live. I will have reached nirvana. This is one of my long-time sports fantasies.