Today is Opening Day for baseball and once again all is right with the world.

I am going to post my predictions on the org and feel free to do the same. I will bump this thread once again come the end of September.

American League

Central Division
Minnesota
Chicago
Kansas City
Cleveland
Detroit

East Division
New York
Boston (Wildcard team)
Toronto
Baltimore
Tampa Bay

West Division
Oakland
Texas
Seattle
Anaheim

National League

Central Division
Milwaukee*
Houston
St. Louis (Wildcard team)
Chicago
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh

East Division
Atlanta
New York
Philadelphia
Florida
Montreal

West Division
Arizona
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Colorado
San Diego

*Note I have picked the Brewers to finish first every year since about 1983 and one of these years I’m going to be right Anyway, for official purposes you may want to move the Brewers down to fourth ahead of Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Play-Offs
American League
Minnesota beats Boston
Oakland beats New York

ALCS
Oakland beats Minnesota

National League
Arizona beats St. Louis
Atlanta beats Houston

NLCS
Arizona beats Atlanta

World Series
Arizona beats Oakland


MAJOR AWARDS

MVP
American League – Alex Rodriguez
National League – Lance Berkman

Cy Young
American League – Pedro Martinez
National League – Randy Johnson

Rookie of the Year
American League – Brandon Larson
National League – Travis Hafner

Well there we go. Feel Free to add your own predictions or any other other baseball musings that you may have.

lovemachine said:

I'm going with what you said!

I used to be a huge baseball fan...then I started watching football

I'd like to see the Red Sox win but I know it won't happen. They get me rooting for them until the end of the season when they fuck everything up Fenway Park is fun though, I'll probably go to a few games in the summer.

I love opening day so much. There is so much excitement in the air. Every team and every fan believes that this could be the year (Who among us picked the Angels last year?). Every hitter is a .300 hitter and every young kid is a prospect and every veteran has one more great year left in the tank.

There is just something about opening day that is magical. It's as if we can take a collective gasp and pronounce that we made it through the long winter and all is well.


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[This message was edited Mon Mar 31 10:50:36 PST 2003 by lovemachine]

Oakland WILL be in the world series and they WILL win!

There are 7 games on television today :wow: including my beloved Brewers; although I prefer baseball on the radio and can tune in the Brewers and Twins where I live. I pretty much listen to at least a part of ALL the Brewers games.

Also, for $20 I bought the rights to all 30 teams radio broadcasts for all 162 games over the internet. To me this is a tremendous deal and I'm very excited to hear what some of the radio broadcasts sound like in cities I've never been able to hear.


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[This message was edited Mon Mar 31 10:52:21 PST 2003 by lovemachine]

lovemachine said:

Wow, you really are a baseball junkie huh? If the players weren't so cute I probably wouldn't watch at all anymore!

CarrieLee said:

Yeah baseball is great!

I am going to post my favorite poem as I think it's fitting for today:

Casey At The Bat
By Ernest Lawrence Thayer
Taken From the San Francisco Examiner - June 3, 1888

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, "If only Casey could but get a whack at that -
We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat."

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat;
For there seemed but little chance of Casey getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second as did also Jimmy Blake,

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile lit Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt.
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance flashed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped -
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one!" the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore;
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted some one on the stand;
And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said "Strike two!"

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!"
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer has fled from Casey's lip, the teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out

My yankees in the Al&Maybe the Giants in the NL will battle for the Rings.Sleeper team in the AL is The Rangers.in the NL watch out for the Expos.I Love opening day as well.Barry Bonds is my Favorite Player&I Look for Him to Continue to be unstoppable.only 7 Stolen Bases away from 500 for a Career.The Man is UnReal!! I think that the AL West&NL West are the TOughest Divisions in baseball.NL&AL Central are a Joke overall&should be Combined.AL East&NL East Have the Standard Teams in the Yankess&Braves&there is always a tough Runner-Up.I wonder if Dusty baker will rub off on the Cubs? Hoping Pete Rose gets closer to Cooperstown.David Wells&Dereck Jeter have alot to Say.Angels I think was a Feel good Story&I don't think they can Repeat.keep a Eye on the Oakland A's because if they unload another SUperstar what will become of them? The MEts Should be real interesting this year.the Red Sox's: this is the Put up or Shut Up year&if nothing happens I expect some Overhaul next year.

My pixs:

American League

Central Division
Chicago
Minnesota (wild card)

East Division
New York

West Division
Oakland


National League

Central Division
St. Louis
Houston (wild card)

East Division
Montreal

West Division
Arizona

World Series

St. Louis over Minnesota

A very interesting first day of the season.

We had Johnson, Maddox, and Glavine all get shelled and we had Jeter get hurt. Looking forward to what day two has to offer.

The Brewers lost due to their bullpen (which is supposed to be a strength

Oh yeah, for the record I think I'm going to change my national league MVP vote to Albert Pujols (I feel this is still valid as we are only one game into the season).

The Brewers have started the season 0-5 and it's making me phsically ill. I know that they probably won't be contenders, but I want them to win one so bad. They've been in all the games, but they just can't seem to seal the deal.

Is Baseball's "World Series" Open to teams from all over the world, or is it just an American thing? My friend has a baseball game on the X-Box and it was actually pretty fun!

Over here in the UK, we call Baseball "Rounders"

JimmyNothing said:

I've always laughed at the term "World Series" being as only American Major League teams can win it, but hey I read that 26% percent of the players are from foreign countries so...

lovemachine said:

Hey, thanks for that. It was a genuine question, cuz I know that Baseball is big in Japan. I wondered if the American and Japanese teams played one another.

I will continue to update this thread as exciting things happen during the course of the baseball season.

In the last 14 games against Randy Johnson the Brewers were 0-14. Last year alone they were 0-2 and struck out an eye-popping 29 times.

But we just kicked the crap out of him The first time that he has given up 10 earned runs in like a decade.

I think the Brewers may turn a few heads this year. After the 0-6 start (against some real good competition) we have gone 3-1.

Brewers Stink&I think the Beer has gone to there head IMHO.Cecil Cooper,Ben Oglive,Robin Yount,Paul Moliter,Rollie Fingers,etc...where have you gone?? the Brewers don't usually tank until the Start of June kinda early this year Huh? Yanks are unstoppable again&rolling.My Boy Barry Bonds tagging you Guys again.I Know "Leverine&Shirley"was filmed in Milwaukee I didn't know they Pitched for You?? HA!HA! anyway Maddox is getting ripped location is not there so far.losing Glavine&Milwood is gonna cost them IMHO as well.Expos I think can take the NL East.Frank Robinson is the Man as is Felipe Alou&Joe Torre.Lou Pinnela already doing wonders for Tampa bay.

I am gonna get my ass flamed for this but what the hell...GO YANKEES

MostBeautifulGrlNTheWorld said:

You mean Red Sox, of course.

MostBeautifulGrlNTheWorld said:

Yankees gonna Add another Ring to the Store in 03!!

Wow we beat Schilling and Johnson in back to back days.

Sadly this is probably just about the highlite of the last 3 seasons for the Brewers so Ihad to add it to my baseball diary thread.

But it sure is cool.

Did I mention how much major league baseball utterly, totally, completely suxxx?

Supernova said:

Did I mention how much I admire you?..Congratulations on your forthcoming nuptials Yuper!

Lleena said:

Thanks from both of us Lleena. I'll do my best to keep her as happy as possible.

2the9s said:

2the9s said:

As if she would give you the time of day!

Sean Casey of the Cincinatti Reds is your daddy! That's all you need to know!

Diva said:

Who is going to tell Supernova?...Poor girl...

I guess what I said in the other thread was misleading. I'm not getting married anytime soon guys. I honestly don't see it happening within the next 2 years. And it could be 4 years away...but thanks.



And 2the9s certainly has NOTHING to do with it!

ps, Lleena that compliment is blush-inducing.

lovemachine said:

the D-Backs are so Overrated.they are the Marlins without the Break up IMHO.