2014 MLB Preview Part 2 - National League Breakdown

NL East Preview:

The Phillies and Braves have dominated the NL East since the division was formed in 1969, winning 18 of the 20 division titles over the past two decades, but it is not as impressive since they are competing against the Mets and the Marlins every year. The Mets have been to the playoffs just 7 times in 52 seasons since 1962, and in very Mets-like fashion, they somehow managed to blow a 7 game division lead with 17 games to go in 2007, finishing 5-12 over their final stretch of the season. There is also just something about the Mets that makes you feel like they will always let you down, or they will manage to give away all of their money to some guy running a ponzi scheme (the only owner that fell for a worse mistake was Jerry Jones when he drafted Bobby Carpenter in 2007). Meanwhile, the Marlins organization is symbolized by their transition from the 1997 season, when they won their first ever franchise World Series, to the 1998 year, where they traded Moises Alou to the Astros, Gary Sheffield to the Dodgers, Mike Piazza and Al Leiter to the Mets, and Kevin Brown to the Padres and finished with 108 losses. The division this year, however, is not going to be won by any of the preceding teams that were just mentioned, but rather by my pick to play against the Red Sox in the 2014 World Series, the Washington Nationals.

Washington Nationals Preview:

The Nationals have one of the best pitching rotations on paper that we have seen for several years in the big leagues. While sports are obviously not played on paper, or else Villanova would not have beaten Patrick Ewing and Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA Championship Game, the Nats have enough arms to pitch their way to a division title. Stephen Strasburg has been mildly disappointing over his first four years for a pitcher with his talent and his velocity, but he is more than capable of being a CY Young caliber pitcher. Many pitchers who have had Tommy John surgery on their arm, like Strasburg had in 2010 towards the end of his rookie season, have actually come back just as good, if not better, after getting the operation. John Lackey is the most notable example, as the Sox pitcher missed the 2012 season and then came back with his best year since 2009 to help Boston win the World Series (I have to bring it up as much as I can). Another example is John Smoltz, who after getting Tommy John in 2000, set the mark for the most saves in NL history with 55 in 2002 (he shares the record today with Eric Gagne). However, there are some instances where pitchers have not been able to return to their form before the surgery. While Ben Sheets was nearing the end of his career with the Brewers, the operation seemed to have a negative impact on his pitching abilities (after making two straight All-Star games and finishing with the 5th best NL ERA in 2008, Sheets was 4-9 in the year after getting his surgery). It remains to be seen what end of the spectrum Strasburg will fall on, but even though he hasn't looked as good as he did in the early parts of his rookie year, he can still be one of the best pitchers in baseball. Strasburg's fastball can still hit the mid 90's and it allows him to set up his very good changeup and curveball low in the zone for strikeouts, as he led all major league pitchers with a minimum of 150 innings pitched in 2012 in k/9.

The Nats rotation just starts with Strasburg though, as Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez, and Doug Fister give Washington a World Series caliber pitching staff. Zimmermann is the most underrated pitcher in the major leagues, the most underrated pitcher, the most underrated pitcher (if I say it enough times maybe people will start to notice him). In the last three years, only Kershaw, Cliff Lee, and Madison Bumgarner have had a lower ERA than Zimmermann for NL pitchers with at least 90 starts and he was tied for the National League lead in wins last season with Adam Wainwright. Although the Nats are sometimes a little too conservative with his pitch count (brings back memories of Strasburg in 2012), Zimmermann still had 16 starts where he went 7 innings and allowed 2 runs or less in 2013. Gio is another guy that has been just great for the Nats over the past two years. He led the NL in wins, fielding independent pitching, and k/9 in 2012, the third NL pitcher to do so since John Smoltz in 1996 and Jake Peavy in 2007 (both of them won the Cy Young in those respective years). Gio has a curveball with a ton of downward movement, giving him the 4th highest curveball value over the last two years according to fangraphs behind only Kershaw, Wainwright, and Strasburg (ahead of Verlander). The Nationals also became the first team to win a trade with Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski when they picked up Doug Fister this off-season. I know that Detroit got a good young left arm with Robbie Ray, but Fister is just such a consistent pitcher, as his 2.38 ERA in 2011 with the Mariners and Tigers was 4th best in the AL and only Verlander, Sale, Price, Shields, and Felix have had a lower ERA than Fister among AL pitchers with at least 90 pitching appearances over the last three years.

The Nationals run production will be their biggest hurdle in winning their first playoff series since they were still in Montreal in 1981 (the only worst franchise in Canada was the Vancouver Grizzlies). Bryce Harper can hit the ball a country mile (it was reported he hit a 570 foot homer in high school) and at age 21, he is only just getting started. Harper has shown signs over his first two years that he can be a guy to hit 40 home runs with something like a .600 slugging percentage, as he hit at least 20 home runs with better than a .200 isolated power in 2011 and 2012. Bryce is fearless at the plate and he takes some of the biggest cuts on the ball that I have ever seen because of his incredible bat speed. He could be a little more patient and disciplined at the plate (his BB% was under 10 in 2012), but you do have to remember that he is quite mature for somebody that is younger than DeMarcus Cousins. Harper is also one of those guys that is always hustling and taking extra bases or throwing guys out from the outfield in a heads up manner (I feel like I needed to add "in a heads up manner" because Yasiel Puig does the same things on the field except it is almost always in a reckless and risky manner, much like his journey to the United States). As much as Harper may be the closest thing that the major leagues has to a five tool player along with Mike Trout and Carlos Gonzalez, the Nats will need Jayson Werth, Ian Desmond, and Wilson Ramos to continue to hit (they combined for 61 home runs last season), slugger Ryan Zimmerman to stay healthy and drive in 100 runs (he has had a WAR of nearly 4 and a OPS well above .800 each of the last two years), second basemen Anthony Rendon to rise to prominence (he is one of baseball's top prospects), and Adam LaRoche to literally do anything (he hit .237 in 2013 after finishing 2012 with 33 home runs, 100 RBI's, and a 6th place spot in the NL MVP voting). You know baseball contracts are just ridiculous when a guy like Jayson Werth, who is an above average hitter but not much more, is getting paid 18 million dollars a season. At least the Nats can take some solace in the fact that Werth is hitting fairly well and that they did not sign A-Rod to a 275 million dollar deal or that they are not associated with the New York Knicks in any manner (small victories sometimes go a long way).

Atlanta Braves Preview:

Going into this off-season, it looked as if the Braves would have a fairly easy time making the playoffs for the 18th time in the last 24 seasons since 1991, but then players began to fall left and right. For the second time in his career, Kris Medlen needed Tommy John surgery, so the Braves lost a pitcher who was 10-1 in 2012 and had a 3.11 ERA in 2013. Shortly thereafter, Brandon Beachy joined Medlen as pitchers to get their second Tommy John surgery (a club that is unfortunately growing at a very fast rate), costing the Braves another top end starting pitcher for the season and somebody who had a 2.1 WAR in 2012 and has a very solid 3.23 career ERA. These injuries came on top of the fact that the Braves lost the always consistent Tim Hudson to the San Francisco Giants (try to found somebody that seems angrier playing sports than Huddy. Maybe Jake Peavy or Kendrick Perkins). Even with all of your rotation intact, it is very hard to replace a guy that finished 4th in the Cy Young in 2010 and is third in NL wins since 2010 behind only Kershaw (should be a given) and Yovani Gallardo (a little bit surprising), but it becomes nearly impossible to have a solid rotation when you lose your top three starters for the entire season and have B.J. Upton and Dan Uggla on your team. The Braves are now left to rely on Ervin Santana (Phil Jackson as the President of a NBA team is the only thing more frightening than Ervin Santana as a club's top starter). Mike Minor, who will begin the season on the DL, Julio Teheran, Alex Wood, and Gavin Floyd, once he returns from the Tommy John surgery he had last year, will fill out a very questionable Braves starting rotation. After finishing with the league's lowest ERA last year at 3.18, Atlanta could have some trouble this season if their pitching falters and they need Dan Uggla and B.J. Upton to actually do something.

Despite some of their obvious starting pitching problems due to some key injuries, it is undeniable that the Braves have a very good bullpen to help them close out games. Craig Kimbrel does not get enough credit for just how good he is in the 9th inning of games. From a pure aesthetics standpoint, Kimbrel is just beautiful to watch because he can threw gas with his high 90's fastball but he also has one of the best curveballs in all of baseball that has allowed him to have a ridiculous strikeout percentage of better than 38% every year since 2010. Kimbrel has been at the top of the NL in saves for three straight seasons and his 50 saves last year were the 7th most in NL history. Since 2011, Kimbrel has 138 saves and just 15 blown saves, has a 1.48 ERA and a 1.43 FIP, and has finished in the top 10 of the NL Cy Young voting ever year. As a team, the Braves have had a top 3 bullpen ERA every year since 2010 and much should remain the same this season with guys like David Carpenter, Luis Avilan, and Jordan Walden in front of Kimbrel to help Atlanta's rotation.

I've been fearing this all day, but I now have to talk about the Braves very talented but underperforming lineup, which means that everybody is going to have to sit through looking at the heinous numbers of B.J. Upton and Dan Uggla (it is a worse site than Dresden). Atlanta does have Freddie Freeman in the middle of their order to keep some things in order. Aside from possibly Miguel Cabrera and Joey Votto, I'm not sure if there is a first basemen I would take ahead of Freddie Freeman (on second thought, possibly Paul Goldschmidt but I would have to think about that one). He finished 5th in NL MVP voting last season, and deservedly so, because Freeman was 2nd in the NL in RBI's with 109, 3rd in batting average at .319, 6th in on-base percentage at .396, and 7th in on-base plus slugging percentage at .897. Freeman is only getting better as well and his pure left handed swing is one of the smoothest in all of baseball. However, the Braves do have some real concerns up and down their order. Everybody is still waiting on Jason Heyward to take the next step but he does have some ridiculous power, and Justin Upton did hit 27 home runs last year but he might have been spending too much time with his brother because he had his lowest batting average since 2008. The chances that Chris Johnson hits .321 again this season is highly unlikely and Evan Gattis can hit the long ball but not much else. Andrelton Simmons could not get a hit for the entire season but it doesn't matter because he is that good defensively, as his 5.4 defensive WAR was tied with Terry Turner for the best in a single-season in MLB history (he did have the 4th lowest k% in the majors to go along with his amazing play at shortstop that tied a defensive mark that has stood since 1906). Finally, we get to the other Upton (not Kate, not Justin) and Dan Uggla. Despite signing with the Braves in their largest contract in franchise history for more than 15 million dollars, B.J Upton had one of the worst seasons anybody has ever seen. He had a dismal batting average of .184, a dreadful slugging percentage of .289, and a horrid strikeout percentage of 33.9 (all of which were the second worst in the the majors with a minimum of 400 plate appearances). The only person who made more money and did less than Upton last year was Donald Trump. Dan Uggla somehow managed to almost be as bad as Upton. His .179 batting average was tied with Rob Deer in 1991 for the worst in a MLB season since 1900 and his 31.8 k% was the 8th worst in NL history.

Philadelphia Phillies Preview:

The Phillies will likely have the 3rd highest opening day payroll in all of baseball at around 180 million dollars, but they will be quite lucky if they finish above .500 for the first time since they won 102 games in 2011. Their entire roster is just full of guys that are old, are getting paid way too much money, and are not close to what they were in the prime of their career (essentially they are a poor man's version of the Brooklyn Nets). Ryan Howard signed a 5-year, 125 million dollar contract extension with Philadelphia in 2010 to go with the 3-year, 54 million dollar deal he signed the previous year and then decided that he no longer needed to do anything in his career but strikeout at the plate (in fairness to him, Howard has missed so much time with injuries over the past two years. Who can forget when he tore his achilles on the last play of the 2011 NLDS against the Cardinals). It is very hard to put any faith in Howard because he has played sparingly since 2011 and when he has been on the field, he has swung and missed more than the NBA with their short sleeve jerseys. His 33.9k% in 2012 was the 2nd worst in the NL for batters with at least 290 plate appearances and his 30.0 k% in 2013 was the 5th worst amongst NL batters with at least 300 plate appearances. Howard has just not looked the same over the past two years and nothing like the guy from 2006 to 2011 who could pull any ball over the right field fence with relative ease (his 58 home runs in 2006 are only behind Roger Maris and Babe Ruth among non-steroid connected players like Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa for a single-season. It is a shame that every stat now has an asterisk next to it because of the use of performance enhancing drugs. As far as I am concerned, the legitimate and true single-season home run king is still Maris). Meanwhile, Chase Utley is as old as Jeff Bridges and Herb Kohl combined and yet the Phillies actually need him to be the Chase Utley of 2009 in order to actually win some ballgames this season. Utley, who is still getting paid 15 million dollars a season despite being 35, has the kness of Greg Oden and Dwayne Wade, which basically means that he is Oscar Pistoruis without the murder chargers. As if the Phillies couldn't get any older, they will also be starting a very steeply declining Jimmy Rollins at shortstop, who has limited range in the infield, 36 year old Marlon Byrd, and a catcher that is 35 with Carlos Ruiz. We may need emergency services ready at any time for these guys.

It is a rare sight to see in Philadelphia, but the Phillies do at least have a few young bright spots to look forward to watching, so that their fans can know that not all players need a cain to get up every time they hit the ground. Domonic Brown is a guy that the Phillies can build around for the next several years. He showed his natural power last season when he tied for the 4th most NL home runs with 27 including when he hit 16 long balls in a 36 game stretch from May 1 to June 8, and when he had the 6th best National League isolated power and the 9th best slugging percentage at a tad under .500. Like many good but still improving young hitters, Brown can crush fastballs in the zone but he sometimes struggles with off-speed pitches and being patient at the plate (his BB% of 7.2 was tied for 93rd in the MLB and was well behind Joey Votto, who led the league with a very high BB% of 18.6. He also swung at 29.8% of pitches that were outside the strike zone according to fangraphs). Brown had a whiff percentage of 16.36 against sliders and 14.22 against curveballs while his whiff percentage against fastballs was just 8.72. Meanwhile, despite the fact that Ben Revere has still not hit a home run in 4 MLB seasons (he is closing in on Duane Kuiper's record for the most plate appearances to start a career without a home run), he is actually a very solid leadoff hitter. He hit .294 with a .333 on-base percentage in 2012 and followed it up with a similar performance last season hitting .305 and having a .338 on-base percentage. With a lineup that has more old guys than the movie Last Vegas, Brown and Revere are at least some signs of youth.

Here is Ruben Amaro's very flawed logic (what else is new): if we essentially keep the same team that won the World Series in 2008 and made it back again in 2009 and don't make any big moves, we will eventually return to the same spot sooner or later. The Angels tried that model after winning the World Series in 2002 and in two of the next four years they didn't even make the playoffs. While it will probably not help them return to the postseason, the Phillies do have three dominate guys at the top of their rotation. Cliff Lee has not thrown a ball since he was in third grade. He has led the league in the strikeouts to base on balls ratio in three different seasons (only Carl Hubbell, Robin Roberts, Fergie Jenkins, and Roy Halladay have done so more times since 1914) and walks per 9 innings in four different years (Cy Young and Christy Mathewson are the only pitchers to do so more times) and his 10.278 K/BB and 0.763 BB/9 in 2010 were both the second best in a single-season since 1934 (only behind Bret Saberhagen's 1994 year in both categories). Lee goes right after hitters with his off-speed pitches and cutter and since batters have a 17.39 whiff percentage against his curveball and a 15.92 whiff percentage against his change-up, they are constantly down in the count and put into a hole with two strikes. While Cole Hamels may begin the season on the DL, he is another top five left handed pitcher that the Phillies have in their rotation (behind guys like Kershaw, Price, Sale, and possibly Lester). Hamels was tied for the 3rd most percentage of change-ups thrown in 2013 at 24.9 percent of his pitches and it is probably the best change-up in all of baseball along with Felix and James Shields. He has finished in the top 7 of strikeouts/base on balls in 7 straight seasons and in the top 8 in pitching WAR in 4 consecutive years. A.J. Burnett (a guy I forgot before but could go along with Hudson and Peavy for the angriest pitchers in the MLB) has been much better since he left the Yankees in 2011 (he can join the club of current pitchers like Tyler Clippard, Ian Kennedy, and Mark Melancon. No pitcher in the majors threw more curvballs than Burnett last season, but his main off-speed pitch that has a hard break and stays down in the zone allowed him to have the second highest groundball percentage on batted balls in the majors.

New York Mets/Miami Marlins Preview:

You will be hard pressed to find two organizations run any worse than the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins (this does not include the Oakland Raiders and the Florida Panthers because they are practically not even pro sports franchises). Somehow, the Marlins have managed to win two World Series since 1993 and not make the playoffs any of the other 19 years. While 2 championships in 21 years in not at all a bad rate (the Roylas would take 2 playoff appearances in 21 seasons), the fact that the Marlins have had two distinct teams capable of being perennial title contenders and yet they have still had 15 losing seasons shows that the front office, more like their owner actually, has just done a real poor job. It is harder to somehow mess everything up when you actually have some good talent than when you continually lose when you have nothing to work with, which is why the Marlins are the most dysfunctional thing since attempts for democracy in Egypt. I've already talked about how the Marlins just destroyed their entire World Series team from 1997 and then went on to have one of the worst seasons after winning a title in pro sports. Jeffrey Loria then ruined the Marlins for several years when he had the biggest change of heart since Benedict Arnold after he spent a ton of money in 2012 and then got rid of all the team's big contracts a year later. Meanwhile, the Mets 7-year postseason drought is only behind the Marlins for the longest in the National League (tied with the San Diego Padres) and since every player that the Mets brings in suddenly forgets how to play baseball (Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Jason Bay), the streak should continue beyond this year.

In a roster that only the Marlins could pull off, they could have the best two of the best three players in the game that are 24 years or younger (Mike Trout being the other) with Jose Fernandez, a top five right handed pitcher in the game, and Giancarlo Stanton, possibly the best right fielder in baseball, and they will still likely finish with less than 70 wins for the 3rd season in a row. If you ever do happen to watch a full Marlins game, which would be as sad as the end of Toy Story 3, then Fernandez and Stanton would be the sights to see. Fernandez is about as nasty of a pitcher as I have seen over the past two decades. He was in the top five of just about every NL pitching category last season (1st in H/9, 2nd in ERA, 2nd in K/9, 2nd in adjusted pitching wins, 3rd in pitching WAR, 4th in FIP) and he had the best rookie year for a pitcher since Mark Fidrych in 1976, Fernando Valenzuela in 1980, or Dwight Gooden in 1984, and the best rookie year for any player since Ted Williams in 1939, Fred Lynn in 1975, or Ichiro in 2001. After finishing 3rd in the NL Cy Young voting in 2013, Fernandez is only going to get better, which is really quit scary. The Marlins are also fortunate enough to have Giancarlo Stanton patrolling the outfielder and just crushing balls at the plate. There are very few guys in the big leagues who have the pure power of Stanton, as he has the 2nd highest isolated power in the MLB over the last three years and the 2nd most NL home runs since 2011 (behind only Jay Bruce) to go along with the fact that he led the MLB in slugging in 2012. The Marlins do also have some other young players to keep an eye on like Christian Yellich, Marcell Ozuna, Adeiny Hechavarria, and Henderson Alvarez, but they should be watching games in the middle of October once again.

This was the year that Mets fan had circled as the season that they would finally make a jump and win at least 80 games for the first time since 2008, but that estimate seems a little too premature (this should not come as a surprise to anybody that is a rational human being). It is unfortunate that Matt Harvey is going to be out for the entire season due to Tommy John surgery because any time baseball loses a pitcher that became the 3rd guy since 1972 to have a FIP of 2.0 or lower along with Dwight Gooden in 1984 and Pedro in 1999 is just sad for all the fans in the game. They do still have one of the best young pitchers in baseball to watch with Zack Wheeler, who has a pretty good pitching repertoire including a mid 90's fastball and a very nice curveball. Aside from having some real good stuff and being one of the best pitchers under the age of 23 (some real good young pitchers with Jose Fernandez, Julio Teheran, Michael Wacha, Shelby Miller, Gerrit Cole, and Trevor Rosenthal all 23 years or under as well), Wheeler ruined the trade market for years to come, which was why the trade deadline was so boring for everybody last year. After the Giants traded Wheeler for just a half a year of Carlos Beltran (the Mets actually made a good trade, showing that everybody gets lucky: just ask the 1983 NCST Wolfpack or the 2012 Chelsea Blues) every team is looking for a similar trade before making a move because young starting pitchers are just so valuable nowadays. This is why it was so odd to see the Tigers give up Fister for so little because the Mets got Wheeler for not even a full year of Beltran and the Rays got Wil Myers for James Shields. Along with Wheeler, we will also see the debut of the highly anticipated Noah Syndergaard, who was become known around New York for his hard throwing fastball. While a future rotation of Harvey, Wheeler, and Syndergaard does sound pretty nice, in the interim, Mets fans will have to settle for watching Ike Davis, Chris Young, and Curtis Granderson strike out every at-bat.

NL Central Preview:

The St. Louis Cardinals have been the model franchise in the major leagues since they won the World Series in 1982 over the Milwaukee Brewers. Over that time span, the Cardinals have been to the World Series seven different times (aside from the Yankees, no other team has been to the World Series five different times since 1982), have only had 3 losing season in the more than 30 years, and they have been to the postseason 10 of the last 14 seasons since the turn of the century (the Sox have won the most World Series since 2000 - two times beating the Cardinals - but nobody has been as consistent as St. Louis). There is just something about the baseball culture and the way the game is played in St. Louis that has helped them dominate the NL Central, winning 8 of the last 14 division titles and being a Wild Card team three other times, including when they won the World Series in 2011 over the Texas Rangers. The Cards have done things the right way as well through good pitching and fielding behind them and fundamentals at the plate (and not unnecessarily overpaying for Albert Pujols). The Cubs have not won the Fall Classic since they beat the Tigers for the second straight year in 1908 and they haven't even been to the World Series since 1945 when they lost to Detroit in seven games, the Pirates have had one playoff appearance since 1992, the Reds have not won a playoff series since 1995, and the Brewers have won just one postseason series since 1982, so the Cards should be advancing on from the NL Central once again this year.

St. Louis Cardinals Preview:

The Cardinals are the exact opposite of the New York Mets in that everything that the Mets bring in turns into Jason Bay and everything the Cardinals touch turns into gold. Just take the Cards pitching staff for example, which is just full of young, talented arms that other teams fail to ever wind up with in their organization. After losing 2005 NL Cy Young and post-season horse Chris Carpenter in 2012 to retirement and Kyle Lohse the following year to the Brewers, the Cardinals were able to stockpile their rotation with youngsters like Michael Wacha, Shelby Miller, Joe Kelly, and Lance Lynn (Carlos Martinez is going to be there soon enough as well), all of whom are 26 years or younger and should be at the top of baseball's pitching stratosphere for years to come. Anybody that watched Michael Wacha in the postseason last year, where he went 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA and held hitters to a .122 bating average in his first four playoff starts, can tell you that he is going to be the next big thing in the majors. There are few guys in the sow that throw a power changeup like Wacha, whose main off-speed pitch still comes in around the high 80's and has late breaking life to it. In 2013, batters hit just .211 against Wacha's changeup with no home runs, a 34.1 strikeout percentage, and a 66.7 ground ball percentage. Wacha's fastball-changeup combination is already at the top of the game, so if he can develop his curveball and cutter, he will be that much tougher for hitters to face. Shelby Miller is another very highly rated young pitcher for the Cards. In his first full MLB season, Miller had the 6th most win in the National League with 15 and was in the top 10 of the NL in ERA at 3.06. Miller really only has two pitches, a fastball that he threw more than 70 percent of the time in 2013 and a curveball, which would be a little more concerning if his fastball was not such a good pitch that he could locate around the zone. Not only does Joe Kelly have two first names (he can join the club of Chris Paul, Frank Thomas, and Tony Parker), but in just his 2nd MLB season, his ERA was also the 5th best in the NL last year among pitchers with at least 120 innings pitched. Lance Lynn is the final Cards young gun in the starting rotation and he has been in the top 6 in NL wins over the last two years and in the top 9 in NL strikeouts per 9 innings since 2012. Even the Cardinals bullpen is full of really good young pitchers, highlighted by 100 mph throwing 23-year old Trevor Rosenthal, who had a 1.91 FIP in 74 appearances last year and has not allowed a postseason run in 20.1 innings pitched, and Carlos Martinez, another hard-throwing 22-year old right hander that can also mix in a slider during the count.

Often times, when something new and shiny comes in, we forget about the old, consistent player that has been at the top of his game for such a long time (who hasn't heard the alleged story about Isiah Thomas leading a freeze-out of Michael Jordan during the 1985 NBA All-Star Game at the old Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis when he and some other veteran players were reportedly upset about all the sponsorship deals and fanfare that Jordan was receiving as a rookie in the league. In Jordan's defense, he did average 28.2 points per game in the 1984-1985 season - the most by a rookie since Kareem scored 28.8 per game in 1970 with the Bucks - and was 2nd in PER and win shares, so the attention was very much deserved. However, to think that Thomas could get an entire team of guys like Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Bernard King, Sidney Moncrief, and other to not pass the ball to Jordan is a little bit of a stretch. Whether it was or was not a freeze-out, Jordan could not have been happy scoring just 7 points in his first ever All-Star Game, and in very Jordan-like fashion, he got his revenge in the Bulls next game when he scored a franchise rookie record 49 points against Isiah's Pistons). It is a little different situation in St. Louis, but with all of the young arms on the Cards staff like Wacha and Miller (they are representative of the young guys in the NBA in 1985 like Jordan, Hakeem, Barkley, Sam Perkins, Clyde, and Ralph Sampson) you really can't forget about the Cards true ace, a guy that has finished in the top 3 of the NL Cy Young three in the last four years he has pitched, Adam Wainwright (representative of the veterans in he NBA in the mid 1980's like Kareem, Magic, Alex English, George Gervin, Adrian Dantley, Bird, Erving, and Moses). Wainwright has a full compliment of pitches with his sinking fastball, cutter (batters have a career .161 batting average against his cutter) and curveball (he threw the third most curveballs in the majors in 2013). Wainwright is very close with Kershaw for the best curveball in the majors, and few guys have the movement on their pitches that the Cards ace possess on his nasty off-speed stuff. Wainwright's curveball has 8.14 inches of horizontal movement on it, the most in the majors, and since 2007, only Barry Zito and Brett Myers - neither of whom are on a team as of now - have had more downward vertical movement on their curveball than Wainwright, who has averaged 9.14 inches of movement on his breaking ball towards the bottom of the zone since that date).

As if things weren't tough enough, teams will also have to face a Cardinals offense that has been in the top 5 of the majors in runs scored for three straight seasons because of their extreme depth from the top of their order to their bench guys. The Cards have lost a lot of big, power hitters over the past several years including Pujols, Lance Berkman, David Freese, Carlos Beltran, and even Colby Rasmus, but they have been able to better their offense production in recent years by not allowing the opposing pitchers to have an easy out in their lineup. Although the Cards do lack the power in their lineup that they had with some of their bigger name hitters (they ranked 27th in the majors in home runs last year), St. Louis still managed to finish 3rd in runs, 4th in hits, 2nd in doubles, 4th in batting average, and 3rd in on-base percentage last season. The Cards have as consistent and deep of a lineup from the leadoff man to the 8th hitter that I have seen in the National League (even better than the 2013 Miami Marlins). Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Heyward could be the only two leadoff hitters in the majors that I would take over Matt Carpenter. Carpenter, who became the first Card to win the Silver Slugger at second base in the award's history and finished 4th in the 2013 NL MVP race, led the major leagues last season in runs scored (the 8th most runs scored in a season by a second basemen since 1939), hits, and doubles (the 3rd most doubles in a season by a second basemen since 1937) and was 3rd in the NL in offensive WAR, 5th in adjusted batting wins, and 6th in the National League in batting average at .318. He did all this at a position that outside of Cano and Pedroia does not typically provide a lot of offense for teams, and as one of a few players that hits without any batting gloves on his hands (him and Wil Myers are the only ones left standing). Matt Holliday, who could be the best left fielder in baseball (it is close with Carlos Gonzalez), is one of the most underrated players in baseball and will be the center piece of the Cards offense for another year (he has averaged 27 home runs, 103 RBI's, a .314 batting average, and a .931 on-base plus slugging percentage in the last 8 years) and has a perfect stroke for hitting the ball into the large gaps at Busch Stadium. Matt Adams, Allen Craig, and performance enhanced Jhonny "What deterrent is there to steroids when I can get a 53 million dollar contract after getting caught with PED's" Peralta will protect Holiday in the lineup, especially Craig, who is one of just seven players to bat .315 or better in two of the last three seasons with a minimum of 200 plate appearances each year (Miguel Cabrera, Ryan Braun, teammate Yadier Molina, Mike Trout, Adrian Beltre, and Joe Mauer being the others). Even Yadier Molina, a guy that was once exclusively seen as the best defensive catcher in the game (he is still known as that since he has won 6 straight Gold Gloves - 10 away from tying the great defensive third basemen Brooks Robinson's record -  and has the 2nd highest active defensive WAR behind only Adrian Beltre) has been one of the best hitters for St. Louis, as in the last two years he has been in the top 4 in the NL in batting average both seasons.

Pittsburgh Pirates/Cincinnati Reds Preview:

After missing out on 19 consecutive postseasons from 1993 to 2012 and being as irrelevant as ABC family, the Pirates finally made it to October last year, as the city of Pittsburgh rejoiced for the first time since the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2008 and the Penguins took home Lord Stanley the following year. The Pirates will now have to face something entirely new to them, which is actually dealing with success, as they are coming off their best season since they had Jim Leyland as their manager and Barry Bonds won the MVP in his final year in Pittsburgh in 1992. They are like the new girl in school who is getting all the attention or the actor that just made his Hollywood debut in a big movie (will the Pirates turn into Mark Hamill or keep up their high level like Robert Duvall). After the New Orleans Saints finally ended which is now the 3rd longet playoff drought in NFL history by making the playoffs in 1987 for the first time in 21 attempts (they had a dismal record of 86-196-5 from 1967 to 1986), the Saints failed to get a postseason win until 2000 (they were the Peter Billingsley, Jaye Davidson, or Brandon Routh of sports until Drew Brees entered the scene and beat the Colts in the Super Bowl in 2009). However, the Redskins and Steelers followed a much different narrative than the Saints after their prolonged playoff droughts. The Redskins had the longest run in NFL history without making the postseason, as Washington didn't reach the playoffs from 1946 to 1970. However, after they snapped their 25-year postseason drought in 1971, the Skins were one of the NFL's most dominate teams before the past two decades, making 5 Super Bowl appearances (1972, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1991) and winning 3 of them (1982, 1987, 1991) in the 1980's and early 1990's. After the Steelers made the playoffs in 1972 for the first time since back in 1947, they have never looked back, making the playoffs in 26 of the last 42 seasons and winning 6 Super Bowls in the process (1974-1975, 1978-1979, 2005, 2008). The Redskins and Steelers have been the Johnny Depp, Anna Paquin, or Barbra Streisand of pro sports, so we will see if the Pirates become the Saints or the Redskins or Steelers?

Andrew McCutchen had the best season for a Pirates player in 2013 since the days of Barry Bonds when he became the first player in baseball history to have more than 30 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season in 1990, before the steroids kicked in and he got slow and fat (McCutchen's WAR of 7.9 in 2013 has only been topped by Pirate greats Honus Wagner, Barry Bonds, Arky Vaughan, Roberto Clemente, and Ralph Kiner in a single-season for a Pittsburgh player). McCutchen has been in the top 3 in the National League in MVP, offensive WAR and overall WAR, on-base percentage, hits, and adjusted batting runs and wins each of the last two seasons. The Pirates will need him to continue to get on base at a major league high rate this season, especially against left handed pitchers, who he hit a ridiculous .388 against with a 1.130 on-base plus slugging percentage in 2013. McCutchen gets some of the easiest power in baseball, which allows him to hit for contact to all parts of the ballpark knowing that his balls will fly. McCutchen is going to be the constant for the Bucs, so the question with the Pirates lineup will be the pieces around him. Despite the fact that Pedro Alvarez led the NL in strikeouts last season, Pittsburgh could swallow that again if he is at the top of the National League in home runs and home runs per at-bat this season (nothing good comes without sacrifice, hopefully Carmelo will come to understand that, so 180 strikeouts for Alvarez with his home run ability is not something all that bad). The Pirates were 20th in the majors in runs last year and still made the playoffs, so some consistency from Starling Marte, Neil Walker, and Russell Martin should provide enough runs for Pittsburgh with their well above average pitching staff, which had the 3rd lowest ERA in the majors last year. Although their rotation will take a hit after losing A.J. Burnett, a resurgent Francisco Liriano, the solid Wandy Rodriguez and Charlie Morton, a major comeback possibility from Edinson Volquez, and a major leap possibility for Gerrit Cole could help the Pirates allow their fewest runs in a 162 game season since 1984 (granted they did finish last in the division that year). Liriano, who finished 9th in the NL Cy Young, has a really hard cutting slider, which ranked second behind only Yu Darvish according to fangraphs, and batters have just a .169 career batting average against the pitch. Meanwhile, since 1996, Jose Fernandez in 2013 (2.73) and Roy Oswalt in 2001 (2.84) are the only starting pitchers with at least 19 starts to have had a lower FIP in their rookie year than Gerrit Cole. Cole can throw three pitches and his fastball in the high 90's is the reason why he is so highly regarded by scouts.

Ever since the Reds swept the A's in the 1990 World Series behind Barry Larkin, Paul O'Neill, Chris Sabo, Eric Davis and Jose Rijo, they have been the Dallas Cowboys of the MLB, straddling mediocrity like nobody else. They have only had two seasons with more than 91 wins (1999 and 2012), and yet they have only had one season with more than 93 losses (2001) since the days of the Big Red Machine in the 1970's, and their record over the last 23 years is an average 1826-1835. Looking at the Reds very good pitching staff but underwhelming and suspect lineup, Cincinnati could be destined for another season around the .500 mark. I never thought I would live in a world in which Homer Bailey, a pitcher that has never had a season with an ERA or FIP under 3.30, is getting a six-year, 105 million dollar contract. I do, however, understand the rational behind the deal because although Bailey has still not put everything together, he does have good enough stuff to warrant a 17.5 average annual salary. Bailey throws a lot of fastballs and split-fingers, but could rely a little more on his slider and curveball to keep hitters off balance. When Homer stays around the strike zone, he can be really effective, as shown by his no-hitters in 2012 against the Pirates and 2013 against the Giants (Johnny Vander Meer and Jim Maloney are the only other Reds pitchers to have multiple career no-hitters and he is one of just five pitches to have no-hitters in consecutive seasons along with Wareen Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Steve Busby, and Nolan Ryan). Johnny Cueto, who was 4th in the NL Cy Young in 2012 because of his 2.78 ERA and 0.6 HR/9 rate that year, always seems to come up with a big start when the Reds need it most, and he has a really good slider. Mat Latos, whose win-loss percentage has been in the top five of the NL each of the last two years, Mike "Who needs the minor leagues, I am like Bob Feller, Catfish Hunter, and Sandy Koufax" Leake, and the Reds only lefty in the rotation, Tony Cingrani, finish out a rotation that was in the top 6 in the majors in 2013 in ERA, quality starts, strikeouts, and opponents batting average. After losing on-base machine Shin-Shoo Choo to the Rangers and not making any major additions, a Reds lineup that was 19th in slugging percentage and 20th in total bases last year could be in for some more trouble this season. The top of their lineup with the always steady Brandon Phillips (he has hit 18 home runs four straight seasons), the best hitter in baseball since 2010 with Joey Votto, and Jay "I have the most homers in the NL over the last three years" Bruce could be the best 2-3-4 combination

Milwaukee Brewers/Chicago Cubs Preview:

In every ballpark the Milwaukee Brewers play in this season, Ryan Braun will be the subject of very harsh criticism from the fans in attendance, and deservedly so because his actions over the past three years in regards to performance enhancing drugs and the way he has handled the entire situation with steroids has been reprehensible and downright intolerable. There have been few players in sports over the past several decades that have received true venom from fans everywhere they have gone. Obviously, the reaction that LeBron James got after leaving Cleveland for Miami in 2010 will never be seen again, as the year round bash on LeBron tour, especially his return to the city that God hates, had some of the craziest and most hostile atmospheres you will ever see for a basketball game. The only other time I saw crowds more rancorous and unhinged was when Bane blew up the football field in The Dark Knight Rises. Some other very notorious sports villains, like Barry Bonds, Conrad Dobler, Roy Keane, and Bill Laimbeer, would also typically get their fair share of abuse from the fans because of their ability to get under players' skin and sometimes play on the dirtier side of the sport (I'm looking at you Dobler). After getting out of a suspension in 2011 for testosterone because of a clear technicality in the process, Braun only accepted a 65 game PED suspension in 2013 after his team was way out of the playoff picture and as he was battling multiple injuries. To make matters worse, his apology could also not have be any less sincere following his suspension as he said, "I realize now that I have made some mistakes," as if he didn't realize he was ruining the reputation of an innocent man back in 2011 or openly lying to everybody by saying he was not taking steroids for three years. While Andy Pettitte gets too much credit for apologizing and moving on from his PED use (remember that Pettitte did not voluntarily come forward with the steroid information but was caught using the drugs), people respected the fact that he admitted to taking the PED's and was forthright about it, which comes in drastic contrast to all the lying that Braun told people. Braun should be booed in every stadium that he enters for his harrowing behavior, but there is no denying that the guy can hit with the best of them in the big leagues. He can spray the ball around the ballpark and because of his quick hands, he is a very good fastball hitter. Carlos Gomez is a lightning rod and is really good in the center field, which helped him have the 4th best defensive WAR since 1918 and become the second Brewers player along with Robin Yount in 1982 to lead or be tied for the lead in the MLB in WAR. The Brew Crew also have a pitching staff that cold surprise some people in the National League. Yovani Gallardo, Matt Garza, and Kyle Lohse form the top of a rotation that is more than capable of being towards the top 10 of the league in ERA, but it remains to be seen how their bullpen will pitch, as their relievers were in the middle of the league in runs allowed and batting average against last year.

They are still playing baseball in Chicago? The Cubs haven't won a playoff game since the Steve Bartmen incident in game 6 of the NLCS against the Marlins more than 10 years ago (nobody seems to remember that Mark Prior was probably left in the game for too long by Dusty Baker and Alex Gonzalez bobbled a potential inning ending double play), and the misery for Cubs fans, something they have grown all so used to, will likely continue once again this year with their third consecutive season under 70 wins (would be their first time since 1947-1951) and their 5th straight year without being over .500 (would be their first time since 1978-1983). Chicago is in a very tough, grueling position right now, but to go forward, you sometimes have to go backwards, and Theo Epstein has had to clean house and get rid of all the bad contracts and old Cubbies that he inherited from former general manager Jim Hendry. Theo got rid of Alfonso Soriano and saved nearly 7 million dollars over the last two years of his contract in the process, traded Carlos Marmol to the Dodgers and Carlos Zambrano to the Marlins and saved nearly 6 million dollars, traded an elderly Scott Feldman for younger pitchers in Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop, sent Geovany Soto and Ryan Dempster to the Rangers and Paul Maholm to the Braves, got real good prospects Mike Olt, Justin Grimm, and C.J. Edwads in a trade with the Rangers for Matt Garza, and received 2013 All-Star Travis Wood for Sean Marshall in a deal with the Reds where they also saved more than 3 million dollars. The Cubs have completely revamped and changed their lineup and pitching staff over the past two years, but this year will bring another season of a lot of losses and a lot rebuilding. The Cubs have not made the World Series since they lost in 7 games to the Tigers in 1945 (the longest active finals drought aside from the Cubs is held by the Sacramento Kings, who haven't been in the NBA Finals since 1951 when they were the Rochester Royals) and they haven't been MLB Champions since 1908 (the longest active championship drought aside from the Cubs is the Cleveland Indians, who haven't won a World Series since the days of Joe Gordon, Ken Keltner, Lou Boudreau, Bob Lemon, and Bob Feller in 1948), and their World Series drought should last another year.

The Cubs do have a lot of very intriguing, but also sometimes perplexing young players that could materialize into a nice core group a guys a few years down the line. Jed Hoyer loves Anthony Rizzo and for good reason, as he drafted him when he was the assistant general manager in Boston in 2007, traded for him in the Adrian Gonzalez deal with the Red Sox when he was the Padres general manager in 2010, and then got him again in a trade as the GM of the Cubs, this time in 2012 in a deal with the Padres for top prospect Andrew Cashner. Hoyer has taken Rizzo with him to three different organizations in two different trades, showing that some front office guys and players can have a stronger connection than J.R. Smith and unnecessary jump shots. Rizzo was 5th in the National League in extra base hits and doubles last year and was only behind Goldschmidt, Votto, Freeman, Belt, A-Gon, and Allen Craig in NL isolated power for first basemen. Although Rizzo can hit for power with his picturesque left handed swing, he struggles against southpaws because he is such a pull hitter, as he hit just .189 against lefties last season. He can also have some difficulties against the fastball on occasion, but Rizzo will only continue to improve in his 3rd full MLB season. In a league that has very few real good shortstops (Troy Tulowitzki is by far the best at short with Andrelton Simmons glove alone being not far behind), Starlin Castro has the ability to be one of the game's best at the position, but he is as frustrating and puzzling of a player as Nene or Andrei Arshavin. Castro can be a guy who can lead the National League in hits (the 4th Cub since they made their last World Series in 1945 to lead the NL in hits along with Billy Williams in 1970, Derrek Lee in 2005, and Juan Pierre in 2006) and be 6th in batting average like he did in 2011 when he had 207 hits and batted .307. He can also be a player that does not even pay any attention in the infield, be in the top two of the National League in errors committed for four straight years, and have an OPS+ of 71, as he did last season. The Cubs also have some young prospects like Junior Lake and triple-A sensation Javier Baez, who hopefully pays more attention at shortstop than Starlin Castro. The Cubs have not had a team ERA under 3.80 since all the way back in 1992, the year Greg Maddux won his first of four consecutive Cy Young Awards, and they should not be expecting to break the drought this season. Edwin Jackson is the NBA's version of Larry King or Mickey Rooney, as he has been on eight different teams since 2005, and has not had one season with any of them with an ERA under 3.60 (why is he still hot commodity at this point). Jeff Samardzija has a pretty good two-seamer and Travis Wood was the Cubs first All-Star since Ted Lilly in 2009, but the Cubs are the Cubs, and they should expect a lot of losses in 2013 (what else is new).

NL West Preview:

There is a rather large divide between the amount of money that the Dodgers and Giants spend in the NL West and the more conservative approach that the Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Padres take within their organization. The Dodgers have the largest opening day payroll in the big leagues at around 235 million dollars, which means that for the first time since 1998, the Yankees will not be at the top of the majors in total salary for their players. The San Francisco Giants are another team that is not afraid to spend some money, as they are in the top 9 of the MLB in payroll for the 5th consecutive season. However, the San Diego Padres, for example, spend so little money that Zack Greinke, Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, and Carl Crawford for the Dodgers will be making more money in 2014 than their entire roster. Meanwhile, the Rockies have only been in the top half of the major leagues in payroll once since 2005. Obviously, as we have learned over the past several years, money does not automatically buy you success or a championship (the Phillies didn't even make the postseason last year with the 3rd highest payroll while the A's, Pirates, and Rays did with three of the five lowest MLB salaries) and you can certainly have a few good years with a core group of players and quality prospects that have come through your franchise to perform. The Padres made the World Series in 1998, the Rockies did so as well in 2007, and the Diamondbacks won the Fall Classic in 2001 while the Dodgers have not been to a World Series since 1988. However, it is much harder to maintain prolonged success when the spending is just not there. The Padres have made the playoffs only 5 times in 45 seasons and the Rockies have only been there 3 times in 21 years whereas the Dodgers have been in the postseason 14 times in the last 41 years alone. The big spending clubs should be at the top of the NL West once again in 2014.

Los Angeles Dodgers/San Francisco Giants Preview:

It is World Series or bust for the big spending Los Angeles Dodgers this season, an organization that has put together a team worth more than 235 million dollars in salary in hopes of winning their first World Series since they had Orel Hershiser and pinch hitting, no-legged Kirk Gibson in 1988. LA is loaded everywhere you look, from their lineup with guys like Carl Crawford, Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, and Andre Either to their pitching staff of Kershaw, Greinke, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Dan Haren to their bullpen, highlighted by Brian Wilson and Kenley Jansen. At the plate, especially if Matt Kemp can remain healthy, the Dodgers should improve upon their hitting that was 3rd in the NL in batting average and on-base percentage and 4th in hits last year. It is a little concerning that Adrian Gonzalez seems to have lost some of the power that he once had in San Diego with the Padres, especially the pop he had to take the ball the other way (A-Gon did not hit a single opposite field home run last year, after knocking out 10 to left field in his 36 home run, 119 RBI season in 2008). Despite some of his loss in power, A-Gon is still a very complete hitter because he is going to hit 80 percent of the pitches he sees in the strike zone, regardless if they are fastballs or off-speed stuff, and he is going to drive in a lot of runs, as he has a career batting average of .328 with runners in scoring position. A-Gon has hit above .290 every year since 2010 (he has the 11th best batting average over the last 4 years in the MLB), so the bigger question mark is the enigma that is Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez has all the talent in the world to be one of the game's best shortstops with Troy Tulowitzki (remember when he finished 2nd in the MVP in 2009 when he hit .342 with the Marlins), but it is hard to know if you are going to get the Hanley that is passionate, engaged, and willing to do anything to win on a day-to-day basis. Speaking of people who could never surprise you with their antics, Yasiel Puig is another extraordinarily dynamic, but also sometimes alarming guy for LA. We all saw last year that Puig can do literally anything on a baseball field from running around the bases and causing havoc to throwing guys out from deep right field to just hitting some bombs for home runs, but he can also be rather lazy in the outfield and just make some real careless plays at the plate or on the bases. We will see how Don Mattingly decides to handle the fiery Puig, but one thing Mattingly will not have to worry about is Kershaw, Greinke, Ryu, or Haren. In fact, it is not to far fetched to think that Kershaw could one day be in the conversation with Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson, Warren Spahn, Lefty Grove, and Steve Carlton for the best left handed pitcher of all-time. Greinke is not a bad number two at all to go behind Kershaw, as the 2009 Cy Young Award winner has one of the best sliders in all of baseball (batters have a career .159 batting average against his slider). The Blue Crew certainly have more than enough talent to be remembered as the best LA team since the 1955 Dodger squad that had MVP Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Carl Furillo, and Don Newcombe or the 1963 Dodger club that featured Frank Howard, Tommy Davis, Don Drysdale, and Cy Young and MVP (the second pitcher to ever do so) Sandy Koufax. However, it is impossible to guarantee anything, even on a team that is as stacked as the 2014 Dodgers, although you can pretty much guarantee that Donald Sterling will not be attending any games at Chavez Ravine any time soon.

The San Francisco Giants have been following a rather odd pattern over the past several years, but as unique of an occurrence as it may be, weird patterns do happen to arise all the time in pro sports. Last year, the Jets became the first team in NFL history to alternate wins and losses through their first 10 games of the season, a pattern they continued until they lost to the Bills and Ravens in consecutive weeks in November thanks to some very poor displays from Geno Smith. From 2009 to 2012, the team that played the Eagles in Philly's home opener went on to win the Super Bowl (In 2009, the Saints beat the Eagles in week 2 and then beat the Colts in the Super Bowl. The Packers beat the Eagles in week 1 in 2010 and went on to beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl. In 2011, the Giants beat the Eagles in week 3 and won the Super Bowl by beating the undefeated Patriots. The Ravens lost to the Eagles in week 2 in 2012, but playing the Eagles in Philly's home opener still helped them beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl). The Giants have been following a similar pattern that is very difficult to explain. In 2009, despite Tim Lincecum becoming the first pitcher since Pedro Martinez in 1999 and 2000 to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards, the Giants missed out on the postseason because their lineup ranked 26th in the MLB in runs scored. The following year, behind a pitching staff that was the best in the big leagues in ERA and batting average against, San Francisco won their first World Series since back in 1954 when they had Johnny Antonelli, Hoyt Wilhelm, Monte Irvin, and Willie Mays. However, in 2011, the Giants regressed once again and missed out on the playoffs entirely, mainly due to their lineup averaging a paltry 3.52 runs per game, the 2nd fewest in the major leagues and their least runs scored in a full season since they went 62-100 in 1985 (that team did not even have somebody hit 20 home runs). This did not stop the Giants from returning the next season and becoming the first team since the 2007 Red Sox to sweep the World Series and the first franchise since the Yankees from 1998 to 2000 to win at least two titles in a three year stretch. Nonetheless, in 2013, the Giants failed to reach the postseason once again, as they had their most losses in a season and their worst divisional finish in the NL West since 2008. Looking at this trend, it means that the Giants are destined to win the World Series this year because of their miss the postseason and then win it all tendency that they have shown since 2009.

If the Giants are going to win the World Series in 2014 and continue their peculiar pattern, they need their rotation to be towards the top of baseball in every pitching category and not with a team ERA outside of the top 20 like they had last year. It feels like Madison Bumgarner has been around the major leagues forever, maybe because he was so good in the Giants World Series run in 2010 when he was just a rookie, but Bumgarner is only 24 years old and is still improving, especially on his curveball and change-up to compliment his already established fastball and slider. Bumgarner was 3rd in the NL in hits per 9 innings, 5th in ERA and WHIP, and 7th in strikeouts, base on balls per 9 innings, and FIP last season, which was largely due to his ability to locate his fastball and strikeout hitters with his nasty slider. Nearly 40 percent of Bumgarner's pitches in 2013 were sliders, which was the 3rd highest rate behind only Ervin Santana and Yu Darvish in baseball, but when you can get 4 inches of downward vertical movement on your slider (the most in the NL), you might as well keep on throwing the pitch. However, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, and Ryan Vogelsong need to have bounce back seasons for the Giants because they aren't going to the Fall Classic with Cain repeating his worst ever year in the MLB, Tim Lincecum having his 3rd straight season with an ERA above 4.35, and Ryan Vogelsong posting a horrendous 5.73 ERA like he did last year. Of the three, Cain is almost a certainty to have a comeback season because his ERA was just 2.71 over his last 12 starts in 2013 and his ability to command his fastball around the zone is just too good for him to have another poor year. Although the Giants did add the biggest bulldog in all of sports, Tim Hudson, to solidify their rotation, Vogelsong and Lincecum are still pretty big question marks. Vogelsong did suffer a pretty bad hand injury that made him miss much of the season in 2013, but it may be asking a lot of him to return to the pitcher in 2012 who set the Giants single-season record for consecutive quality starts ahead of pitchers like Atlee Hammaker, Gaylord Perry, and Juan Marichal. Meanwhile, Lincecum's dip in velocity on his fastball from 92 to 93 mph all the way down to the high 80's has been a huge cause for concern in San Francisco. Lincecum no longer has the same change of speed on his pitches because his fastball is no longer that much harder than his change-up or slider, which not only allows batters to catch up to his fastball, but also makes his change-up that was once downright unhittable, not as effective anymore. The Giants, however, do have a much improved lineup from the past, one that ranked in the top 10 in batting average, hits, triples, and sacrifice hits for situational hitting in 2013. Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro are more than capable table setters for the Giants big bats of Brandon Belt, Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, and Pablo Sandoval. Posey and Pence are going to be the Giants consistent hitters in the middle of their lineup (Posey is one of only two Giants to ever lead the National League in batting average in a season along with Barry Bonds) while Belt and Sandoval should provide the power, especially Belt, who had the 9th highest NL adjusted OPS+ and the 10th most extra base hits in 2013.

Arizona Diamondbacks Preview/Colorado Rockies/San Diego Padres Preview: 

In 2012 and 2013, the Diamondbacks finished the season at exactly .500 with a record of 81-81 and with a lineup that looks to be pretty solid but nothing special and a pitching staff that does have some concerns, especially after the injury to stud Patrick Corbin, Arizona looks destined for another very average year. The addition of power hitting Mark Trumbo into the middle of a Diamondbacks lineup that was 26th in the majors in home runs last year will give them some much needed pop. Trumbo hit 29 home runs in 2011, 32 in 2012, and 34 in 2013 with the Angels to give him 95 home runs over the past three years, the 7th most in the major leagues. Trumbo is really a straight pull hitter (he has just 6 career home runs to the opposite field) and left field in Chase Field is only about 330 feet from home plate, which should allow him to pull the ball over the fence with all of the big cuts that he takes on pitches. Arizona will also need to get some production from the players around Paul Goldschimdt because Goldschmidt is going to drive in a lot of runs and get on base at a very high rate. Aaron Hill is definitely declining as he is entering his 11th year in the league at the age of 32, but he can still be one of the league's most consistent second basemen that isn't named Cano, Pedroia, or Kinsler, especially if he can stay healthy because he was 3rd in the NL in total bases, 5th in hits, and 8th in the in OPS in his last full season in 2012. Martin Prado and Gerardo Parra are both solid hitters that can hit for average while Arizona will need a bounce back year from Miguel Montero to help Arizona improve from 14th in the MLB in runs scored, 15 in on-base plus slugging percentage, and 18th in slugging percentage, which were all down from the previous season. Luckily for the Diamondbacks, if all else goes wrong, they will always be able to hop on the back of Paul Goldschmidt, who led the NL in home runs, runs batted in, total bases, extra base hits, slugging percentage, adjusted and regular on-base plus slugging percentage, and adjusted batting runs and wins in 2013. Without Patrick Corbin, though, Arizona's pitching staff could be in for some trouble because Wade Miley, Trevor Cahill, Brandon McCarthy, and Bronson Arroyo are all solid inning eaters but are far from top end rotation guys. Arizona did make a very smart move in bringing in Addison Reed, who was 5th in the AL in saves last season with the White Sox, and will help a Diamondbacks bullpen that was tied with the Astros for the most blown saves in baseball in 2013.

There are only a few things scarier than a pitcher throwing at Coors Field: Carmelo Anthony staying with the New York Knicks, James Harden playing defense, and the Chicago Bulls on offense. With the thin air of Coors Field and the high elevation at the ballpark, it is a hitters dream to step to the plate at the stadium because the ball just flies through the dry air in Colorado like nowhere else. In 1999, Coors Field was the site of 303 total home runs, the most ever at a stadium in one season in MLB history. The stadium has been in the bottom 3 of the majors in runs allowed every year except for once since 2001, and it has been the ballpark that has allowed the most runs in the majors six times in the last thirteen years. National League teams had an average ERA of 3.74 in 2013, but at Coors Field, their ERA went all the way up to 4.29 in Denver. In fact, two years ago, the Rockies had an ERA of 4.41 on the road, but a ridiculously high ERA of 5.97 at home (the next lowest ERA for a team in 2012 at their home stadium was the Red Sox, but all the way down at a 4.75 ERA). Coming off a season in which they put together the 2nd fewest quality starts in baseball, Colorado will need to see a significant improvement from Jorge De La Rosa, Tyler Chatwood, and Juan Nicasio. De La Rosa, who went 16-6 with a 3.76 FIP, is the most likely to help Colorado improve their pitching because he can mix in his slider and change-up with his mid 90's fastball. Even with the addition of Brett Anderson, a guy that will provide the Rockies with some left handed pitching, they will need to score a lot of runs in order to stay somewhere around the .500 mark, and they do have Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki to help them with that. Cargo and Tulo are the best 3-4 combo in all of baseball (Chris Davis and Adam Jones or Prince Fielder and Adrain Beltre might disagree with that), and could both be the best at their respective positions in the MLB. As long as Gonzalez and Tulowitzki stay healthy, they are both going to hit at least 25 home runs, bat above .300, and have an OPS around .900, which means that they will need some help from the guys around them in the lineup. The chances that Michael Cuddyer leads the NL in batting average and is 4th in slugging percentage like he did in 2013 is highly unlikely, and Justin Morneau looks nothing like the guy that won the AL MVP in 2006. Coors Field could be the site of a lot of hits and home runs and the Rockies 5th straight season under 85 wins.

The San Diego Padres have had three consecutive seasons with more than 85 losses and they have not been to the postseason since 2005 when they still fell to the St. Louis Cardinals in 4 games in the NLDS. With a team that just does not have the talent of most of the other clubs in the big leagues, the only thing people in San Diego will be looking forward to is another year where the Chargers win anywhere from 7 to 9 games and blow endless amount of opportunities in the 4th quarter. The Padres pitching staff has a lot of unknowns and question marks and pitchers that they are desperately hoping will have a bounce back season in 2014. Like almost every other MLB team that has been affected with the epidemic of elbow and shoulder problems going around baseball, the Pads have already been hit by the injury bug. Cory Luebke (what a great name), who had a 2.92 FIP and a 1.067 WHIP in 2011, will need his second Tommy John Surgery in the last three years, and the Padres gamble on signing Josh Johnson to a one-year deal and hoping he would return to his 2010 form when he led the NL in ERA, ERA+, FIP, and HR/9 also looks to have failed because Johnson may need to get his second career Tommy John Surgery. Even their pitchers that will be out there in 2014 are looking for redemption years or are guys with very little starting pitching experience. Ian Kennedy had a 2.88 ERA, the 6th best WHIP in the NL, the 7th highest strikeouts/base on balls ratio, and a National League leading 21 wins in 2011, but since then, he is a very sub-par 22-22 with a 4.43 ERA, a 4.30 FIP, a 1.345 WHIP, and a 9.1 hits per 9 innings. Tyson Ross and Robbie Erlin are both unproven starters and Andrew Cashner, the highly rated prospect the Padres received in the Anthony Rizzo trade, can hit the high 90's with his blazing fastball and has a pretty good slider, but he needs to improve upon his pitch locations in order to take the next step. As if the Padres starting rotation didn't have enough question marks, their lineup will need a lot of guys to have comeback years in 2014 just so that they can contend for their first winning season since they had Adrian Gonzalez, Mat Latos, and a Heath Bell that could actually pitch without grooving fastballs over the plate in 2010. Carlos Quentin has shown that when he is healthy he can hit in the 25 home run range and Chase Headley became the 2nd Padres player along with Dave Winfield in 1979 to lead the NL in RBI's when he did so in 2012. However, a bating order of players like Yonder Alonson, Jedd Gyorko, Chris Denorfia, Will Venable, and Seth Smith is nothing that opposing pitchers are going to fear.

2014 MLB Preview Part 1 - American League Breakdown

It feels like it has been a long time, almost as long as a typical Red Sox-Yankee game, but the baseball season is finally upon us. Technically, the season has already begun, but there are very few people actually aware of that fact since the Dodgers and Diamondbacks started the MLB year not under the lights at Chavez Ravine or at Chase Field, where the Dodgers players took the longest swim in a pool after winning the NL West since Leonardo DiCaprio in the Titanic (seriously, there was room on that raft for two people), but instead, played ball at four in the morning in Sydney, Australia. While I have nothing wrong with baseball trying to expand its market to a more global platform, don't you think the season should start in the country where most of the games are actually played (don't worry I remembered the Blue Jays, so Toronto fans can be happy about something since the Maple Leafs defense just let up two goals as I wrote this sentence and have now lost 9 straight games in regulation).

Last year was one of the best major league seasons that we have seen in recent history and I'm not just saying that because the Red Sox won their 3rd World Series since 2004. Ok, I am entirely saying that because of the fact that the Red Sox went from chicken and beer in 2011 to 69 wins and their worst season since 1960 (Ted Williams's last year with the team) in 2012 (thank you Bobby Valentine) to the best team in baseball in 2013. Aside from the Sox going from worst to first, we also saw Miguel Cabrera nearly win his second straight triple crown, we were able to watch the greatest closer in the history of baseball in Mariano Rivera say goodbye, we had the privilege of seeing Clayton Kershaw literally never give up a hit, we were lucky enough to watch the emergence of young stars like Yasiel Puig, Jose Fernandez, Michael Wacha, and Xander Bogaerts, and we also witnessed the Houston Astros attempt to play baseball (you know you are having a bad season when you draw a Nielsen rating of 0.0 in your local area during a home game against the Indians or when you finish the season 21-62).

However, aside from the fact that I am already preparing for the Red Sox to repeat as champions for the first time in the major leagues since the Yankees three peat from 1998 to 2000, the 2014 MLB season should be even better than last year in terms of entertainment value. One of the three greatest shortstops in the history of baseball in Derek Jeter is in his final year, Bud Selig is entering his 22nd and final year as the commissioner of the major leagues, we will finally have extensive instant replay in baseball, Albert Pujols is approaching 500 home runs and also a retirement home, the Phillies are hoping that their 180 million dollar opening day payroll can help them finish with more than 73 wins, the Mets are trying to finish above .500 for the first time since 2008, baseball is finally seeing a shift towards younger players like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Manny Machado, A-Rod is nowhere to be found, and the Astros will attempt to play baseball once again (Scott Feldman is their opening day starter; that is all). What else could be better.

AL East Preview:

There has not been a division in sports that has been dominated quite like the AL East outside of the AFC East in football (the Patriots, though, are fortunate enough to be competing against the Bills, who have not finished above .500 since 1999, the Dolphins, who have won one playoff game since Dan Marino and have a locker room that is reminiscent of a team with Gilbert Arenas, and the Jets, whose passing game was only ahead of the Bucs last year. The Jets, Dolphins, and Bills have combined for 2 seasons of 11 or more wins since 2002 and the Patriots have had 9 such years). The Yankees and Red Sox have won the AL East 16 of the last 19 years and 25 of the last 38 seasons, which includes 10 World Series and 16 American League pennants between the clubs.

Boston Red Sox Preview:

With the Red Sox coming off their 8th World Series, they are the front-runners to come out of the AL East and the American League once again this season, and that is widely accepted, not just my Red Sox love bleeding out. After having the 4th worst ERA in all of baseball at 4.70 in 2012, the Sox pitching had a complete turn around last year, finishing 7th in strikeouts with nearly 8 per game and having their most quality starts in a season with 95 since 2002 (a season where Pedro Martinez was 20-4 with a 2.26 ERA and Derek Lowe was 21-8 with a 2.58 ERA and the tandem finished 2-3 in the AL Cy Young race respectively).

The Sox rotation is as good as it has been since the glory years of Pedro in the early 2000's. Jon Lester is going to be the ace of the staff once again this year, not only because he is in a big contract year at the age of 30, but also because his cutter is looking like one of the best in the big leagues once again, especially against left handed hitters, who have a 3.36 strikeout to walk ratio against him. I never thought I would utter this sentence but John Lackey should be another reason why the Sox will have a very good rotation in 2014. After literally being the worst pitcher on the face of the Earth and finishing with a laughable 6.41 ERA in 2011 (Doc Ellis could have done better sober) and missing 2012 with Tommy John Surgery, Lackey not only had a 3.52 ERA during the season in one of the most hitter friendly ballparks in the majors, but he then had a 3.52 ERA in 5 playoff appearances and was the winning pitcher in the clinching game 6 in the World Series. Lackey went from being the most hated man in Boston since Rick Pitino to being the Red Sox's most reliable starter (Farrell trusted Lackey enough to put him in to pitch against the Cardinals in game 4 in his first relief appearance since 2004). There has not been an athlete that fell from grace or into relative obscurity and then revitalized their career quite like John Lackey since maybe Josh Hamilton (before he struck out every other at-bat with the Angels after getting Albert Pujols syndrome), Garrison Hearst, or James Braddock (watch Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe, a movie that tells the story of James Braddock, which I would say is best boxing movie of all-time aside from Raging Bull and Million Dollar Baby).

While Boston will certainly miss Jacoby Ellisbury, a guy that stole 52 bases last year and had a 5.7 WAR, they bring back a majority of their lineup that scored the most runs in the majors since the Red Sox team back in 2011. With the additions of A.J. Pierzynski for Jared Saltalamachhia, who hit just.218 against left handed pitching, and the amazing Xander Bogaerts replacing Stephen Drew, who played some quality defense but batted .111 in the playoffs, the Sox have even more depth in their order to go with their sluggers, David Ortiz and Mike Napoli, in the middle of their lineup.

New York Yankees Preview:

For just the second time in the last 19 years since 1995, the Yankees failed to appear in the postseason, and New York absolutely hates missing out on baseball's biggest stage. You may be thinking that this is a rather conspicuous statement because every team wants to make the playoffs every year, but the Yankees are different. If the Cubs don't make the playoffs, they still have that lovable Chicago spirit and the history of Wrigley Field. If the Pittsburgh Pirates miss out on the postseason, their fans understand that they are a small market team without the resources of bigger clubs. If the Royals are not in the playoffs, their fans do not even react because they do not even remember what it is like to watch a postseason game since they haven't played extra baseball since they won the World Series with George Brett and Bret Saberhagen in 1985. But if the Yankees don't make the playoffs, there is nothing quite like it in sports.

After the Bronx Bombers missed out on the postseason in 2008, they spent 441 million on players the following off-season including 180 million on Mark Teixeira, 161 million on CC Sabathia, and 82.5 million on A.J. Burnett (Burnett could be the only pitcher I know to get 16.5 million per year, go 34-35 with a 4.79 ERA, and not be remembered as a failure because he pitched that great game 2 against the Phillies when the Yanks were done 1-0 in the 2009 World Series and absolutely needed a win).

Similarly, this off-season after missing the playoffs, the Yankees committed 471 million dollars to players, bringing in Masahiro Tanaka (7 years, 155 million, which is questionable for a pitcher to be paid the 5th most ever despite never throwing in the big leagues), Jacoby Ellisbury (153 million over 7 years, which they will regret in four years when he loses his speed since he has only batted above .305 in a full season once in his career), Brian McCann (5 years, 85 million for a guy who hit .226 in his final 55 games last year), and Carlos Beltran (45 million over 3 years, which is not a bad move for a proven postseason hitter that will cancel out Mark Teixeira). While I'm not sure about the years or the money amount on any of those contracts, they will put the Yanks in position to do some definite damage this year. Tanaka looked impressive in spring ball and Michael Pineda is going to be one of the breakout pitchers in 2014. Although he is not the same guy that threw 97-98 mph fastballs in Seattle when his strikeouts per 9 innings was the second best in the AL, he can still hit the mid 90's and he has a pretty good change-up.

The question with the Yankees comes in their infield, as Teixeira and Jeter played a combined 32 games last year and Kelly Johnson and the 36-year old Brian Roberts are not anywhere near top tier second and third baseman.

Baltimore Orioles Preview:

In Baltimore, Buck Showalter may be the biggest genius since Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. How anybody can lead a pitching staff of Chris Tillman, Miguel Gonzalez, Jason Hammel, and Wei-Yin Chen to 85 wins by mixing and matching the bullpen is something else. The Orioles are going to give up a fair amount of runs once again this season, especially since Camden Yards saw the 4th most home runs leave the ballpark in 2013, but they did bring in Ubaldo Jimenez on a 50 million dollar deal from the Indians and they will also have Bud Norris for a full season. Jimenez does not have the same velocity on his fastball that he did when he started the 2010 season 15-1 with the Rockies, but if he keeps his fastball down in the zone, he can still be effective.

At bat, the Orioles could arguably have the best lineup in baseball if Manny Machado can return somewhere near the player he was last year when he hit 51 doubles and had a 6.4 WAR. The middle of their order is just deadly with Chris "I will hit every ball over the fence" Davis, Adam "I can literally hit any pitch" Jones, Nelson "Performance Enhanced" Cruz, Matt "I've hit 20 home runs every year since 2011 but nobody notices me" Wieters, and J.J. "I'm actually a power hitting shortstop" Hardy. Last season, these 5 guys alone had more home runs than 16 other MLB teams including the Yankees, Dodgers, and Cardinals, which helped the Orioles hit a league high 212 home runs on the season. They have some of the most powerful hitters in baseball and despite the fact that I will fight to my grave that PED's impact on players is immeasurable, Cruz and his performance enhanced swing is perfect for Camden Yards and will be great insurance behind Crush Davis.

The main question with the Orioles will be their bullpen, which is so important to any team that has Showalter as its manager. Buck will go to his bullpen early and often, which means that for Baltimore to be successful, they will have to have a solid pen. After going 29-9 in one run games in 2012, helping them make their first trip to the postseason since 1997, the Orioles went 20-31 in such games last year because their bullpen was unreliable and blew the third most saves in baseball with 27. Jim Johnson and his sinker have gone off to Oakland, so it is up to Tommy Hunter to be the steady presence at the back end of O's bullpen.

Tampa Bay Rays Preview:

As if the AL East wasn't tough enough, the Tampa Bay Rays pitching staff is just nasty and the scary part about their rotation is that every guy is under the age of 28, which would mean even more except for the fact that the Rays probably wouldn't even pay for a gum ball machine in their clubhouse. Tampa likely has their best pitching staff since their run of success began in 2008, which is saying something since they have been to the playoffs 4 of the past 6 years and made the World Series back in 2008. David Price looked like a Cy Young pitcher at the end of last year when he finished the season 9-4 with a 2.53 ERA in his last 18 starts, as his cutter and change-up allowed him to not rely so much on his fastball. Matt Moore has the ability to be one of the majors best pitchers as long as he stays in the strike zone. His 4.5 walks per 9 innings was the second worst amongst pitchers that threw at least 150 innings in 2013 and yet he still ended up 17-4 because his stuff is just that good. Alex Cobb went 11-3 with a 2.76 ERA last season and will only improve in his 3rd full season in the big leagues and Chris Archer is one of the game's brightest young pitchers with his ability to hit the mid 90's on the fastball so that he can set up his deadly slider. Aside from maybe the Tigers with Verlander, Scherzer, and Sanchez, the Rays staff is the best in the American League, as no other team has the power arms throughout their rotation like Tampa Bay.

However, as has always been the question with the Rays and their 3rd lowest MLB payroll, their offense will need to be able to score enough runs in order for them to win ballgames. With a healthy MVP type guy in Evan Longoria, a full season of do it all Wil Myers in right field, and the always steady Ben Zobrist playing any position imaginable, the Rays lineup is as balanced and well equipped as it has been in a while.

Tampa has lost in the ALDS 3 of the last 4 years, but this seems like Joe Maddon's best chance to get the Rays their first ever franchise World Series and bring them out of a championship-less category that includes the San Diego Padres (lost in the 1984 World Series to the Tigers and the 1998 World Series to the Yankees), Washington Nationals, Texas Rangers (11th team to lose back-to-back World Series), Houston Astros (lost in the 2005 World Series to the White Sox), Colorado Rockies (lost in the 2007 World Series to the Red Sox), Milwaukee Brewers (lost in the 1982 World Series to the Cardinals when they were still in the AL), and Seattle Mariners. In the NFL, 12 teams have never won a Super Bowl (Bills, Browns, Bengals, Texans, Titans, Jaguars, Chargers, Vikings, Lions, Panthers, Falcons, and Cardinals), in the NBA, 13 teams have never hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy (Raptors, Nets, Pacers, Cavaliers, Bobcats, Magic, Timberwolves, Nuggets, Jazz, Clippers, Suns, Hornets, and Grizzlies), and in the NHL, 11 teams have never won Lord Stanley (Sabres, Panthers, Blue Jackets, Capitals, Blues, Wild, Predators, Jets, Coyotes, Canucks, and Sharks).

Toronto Blue Jays Preview:

Finally, we get to Rob Ford (if only America had more mayors like him, which I am saying only half jokingly because we did have an extortioner in office in Detroit with Kwme Kilpatrick). You have to commend Rob Ford's local baseball team for spending money and at least attempting to improve their club but it is hard to defend a front office that thought trading Travis d'Arnaud and paying around 200 million dollars for one year of Josh Johnson and his dead arm, one year of John Buck and Emilio Bonifacio, six years of Jose Reyes getting injured and not batting over .300, four years of a steady but declining Mark Buehrle at the end of his career, and three years of R.A. Dickey was a good idea.

The Jays do have a pretty solid lineup from top to bottom, especially if Jose Reyes can stay on the field and be the table setter for the team by stealing 30 or 40 bases and scoring 100

Despite Melky being a manifestation of Jose Guillen or Lenny Dystra, Toronto will be able to score runs, but their pitching staff is far and away the worst in the very difficult AL East. In a ballpark that was the site of the 4th most runs in the MLB last season, the Blue Jays are going to struggle with a rotation of the very young 23-year old Drew Hutchison, the often injured Brandon Morrow, Mark Buehrle, and R.A. Dickey, a pitcher that doesn't even know where his knuckleballs are going to end up most of the time. Rob Ford could probably do a better job as the GM of this time (until he was found in his car using Melky's PED's).

AL Central Preview:

The American League Central has typically been the odd division out when it comes to the American League. This may have to do with the fact that the last time the Royals made the playoffs in 1985 Nelson Mandla was in prison, the Berlin Wall was still standing, and Super Mario Bros. was just released, the White Sox are Chicago's other team, the Indians cannot even get fans to their games at Progressive Field (only an average of 43.5 percent of their ballpark was full on a given night, the lowest in the majors despite the fact that they made the playoffs), the Twins are in a small market, and the Tigers are in a more football obsessed city. Before the major leagues went to the two wild card system in 2012, only once in 17 years did the AL Central send two teams to the postseason (Twins and Tigers in 2006) and the division has only had one team ever finish with 100 wins or more (Indians in 1995). Much should be the same this year, as the Tigers are the clear class of the AL Central with little competition from the teams around them except for possibly the Indians.

Detroit Tigers Preview:

Often times after a team makes a big money move and it doesn't work out, they sit around and wait for the contract to expire until they can finally get out of the bad deal. Obviously, with some of baseball's heinous contracts it is impossible to do anything with them because nobody is going to trade for Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Howard, or Jason Werth (except for maybe Alex Anthopolous in Toronto) and have to pay them all the money that is in their deals.

The Tigers were in a similar position this off-season. After signing Prince Fielder to a nine year, 214 million dollar contract in 2011, it was evident that the move was not working out as the Tigers had thought it would with Cabrera and Fielder in the middle of their order. Fielder had career lows in almost every batting category last season and in two full postseasons with Detroit, he had just 1 home run, 3 RBI's, and hit below .200 in 24 games. Also, with Fielder at first base, Cabrera had to play third, which is not his favored position and hurt the Tigers defensively and hampered their best hitter at the plate. Thus, when the Tigers got their chance, they were smart to trade Fielder to the Rangers for one of the three best second basemen in baseball in Ian Kinsler. Kinsler is a guy that gives the Tigers their most legitimate second basemen since Lou Whitaker in the 1980's and 1990's and he will get on base for guys behind him like Cabrera and Victor Martinez. In the last four years, Cano, Matt Carpenter, Pedroia, and Chase Utley are the only second basemen that have a better weighted on-base percentage than Kinsler.

Aside from Kinsler, it is also very important that Victor Martinez stays healthy for the Tigers so that he can protect Miggy and collect any of the 292 million dollars that falls out of his pockets (a very well deserved contract though for Cabrera in all seriousness).

Meanwhile, the Tigers rotation is going to be great once again this year with 2011 Cy Young and MVP Justin Verlander, 2013 Cy Young Max Scherzer, and last year's AL ERA champion Anibal Sanchez (my sleeper pick for the Cy Young this year). Verlander and Scherzer can just throw gas (among many other things) and Sanchez has the best slider in baseball except for Yu Darvish, Zack Greinke, and maybe Madison Bumgarner. The Tigers have a top three pitching staff in the MLB along with the Nationals rotation of Strasburg, Zimmermann, Gio, and Fister and the Dodgers staff of Kershaw, Greinke (highest paid player in baseball this season), Haren, and Hyun-jin Ryu.

Last year the Tigers bullpen was their downfall in the ALCS against the Red Sox because essentially Verlander, Scherzer, or Sanchez went 7 innings and barely let up anything and then Veras or somebody else would blow it late in the game (thinking about it, how did the Red Sox win that series. The Sox had one hit through the first 14 innings of game 1 and 2 and somehow came away from Boston tied 1-1 in the series). Although left hander Drew Smyly is moving into the rotation, the Tigers did bring in the always dependable Joe Nathan to be their closer, who had 43 saves and just 3 blown saves with the Rangers last year in route to the second highest WAR for a relief pitcher behind Koji Uehara.

Kansas City Royals Preview:

I'm calling it now: the Kansas City Royals will be one of the two American League wild card teams this year and will finally make the playoffs for the first time in nearly 30 years (the only thing worse than not making the playoffs since 1985 would be not winning a playoff game since 1993 and going 0-7 in the process including losing a game after leading 38-10 in the 3rd quarter. I guess some things are just in the water in Kansas City). Since the Royals last made the postseason, the Yankees and Braves have each made 17 trips to the playoffs. The Toronto Blue Jays are the only other MLB team with a playoff drought of more than 12 years (they last made the postseason in 1993). The Minnesota Timberwolves have the longest NBA playoff drought at a relatively short 10 seasons, the longest NFL postseason drought is 14 years held by the Buffalo Bills, and the Edmonton Oilers have the longest NHL playoff drought at just a short 7 seasons.

Despite it being hard to believe that a team could actually go nearly three decades without making a single postseason and still have fans, the misery is going to end very shortly for the Royals (I was going to say Kansas City but then I remembered they still have Andy Reid coaching in playoff games where clock management and playing well in the 4th quarter is actually needed). The only positive in not making the playoffs since winning the World Series in 1985 (thank you umpire Don Denkinger) is that you get to stockpile picks in the MLB draft and after years of high picks and compensation selections, the Royals are finally near a playoff team. Eric Hosmer, who the Royals took with the number 3 overall pick in 2008, has gotten better each year in the league, improving so much last year that he won a Gold Glove and was one of two AL first basemen, along with Miguel Cabrera, to bat above .300 and also have more than 15 home runs and 75 RBI's. Hosmer's big and powerful bat goes well with Billy Butler, a first round draft pick in 2004, in the middle of the Royals lineup. Butler is a very underrated player, as he has batted above .288, had a slugging percentage above .411, and finished the season with 78 or more RBI's every year since 2009.

Kansas City also has more complimentary pieces this year than ever before, which will give their lineup great flexibility, especially if their middle of the lineup guys struggle for parts of the season. Norichika Aoi has had an on-base percentage of .355 and .356 in two MLB seasons, which is of the utmost importance for a leadoff hitter. While it has not worked out exactly as planned for Alex Gordon, who was taken 2nd overall in 2005, or Mike Moustakas, who also got picked 2nd overall but this time in the 2007 draft, they have showed signs of why they were considered top prospects. Gordon has won three straight Gold Gloves in left field and his WAR of 12.1 from 2011 to 2012 was the 4th highest in the majors over that stretch, only behind Braun, Cabrera, and Cano. Moustakas has also been really good with his glove, going a Royals record 47 straight games without making an error, and he is destined to have a solid year in his 3rd MLB season.

Meanwhile, with a pitching staff of James Shields, Jason Vargas, Jeremy Guthrie, Bruce Chen, and the rocket throwing Yordano Ventura and a closer in Greg Holland that had the 3rd most saves in 2013 behind Jim Johnson and Craig Kimbrel, the Royals can finally play a meaningful game in October.

Cleveland Indians Preview:

The Indians are going to be a solid team once again this season in the AL Central but so few people in Cleveland will actually know that since Progressive Field has been imitating the attendance level that was present, or more preciseness not present, at Crosley Field during the 1960's before the Reds became the Big Red Machine with Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, and Dave Concepcion. Since 2010, the Tribe have had the lowest attendance in baseball and one of the worst stadium capacities in the game (when you are bringing in less fans than the Marlins, you know something is wrong).

The Indians are destined for a season anywhere from 80 to 85 wins, as there is no team in the major leagues more average than Cleveland (something their basketball team would actually take). They have an an average to above average lineup and a below average to average pitching staff that should put them above .500 for just the 4th time since 2002 but just outside the playoff picture, which would deny them their first back-to-back playoff appearances since they made the postseason every year from 1995 to 1999.

From top to bottom, the Indians have a very solid batting order but nothing that is going to make the Red Sox, Tigers, or Rangers fearful. Last season, Cleveland was 10th in the MLB in home runs with 171, 10th in total base with 2,240, 13th in batting average at .255, and 15th in hits with around 8.6 per game. Nick Swisher is going to hit in the 20-30 home run range with an OPS+ around 120, Jason Kipnis can drive in 80 runs and a have a OPS in the .800's (could be the most widely unknown player to ever make 52.5 million dollars in a contract), Carlos Santana has some power and can have a slugging percentage around .450 and an isolated power of .200, and Asdrubal Cabrera and Yan Gomes are above average hitters for their respective positions of shortstop and catcher. There are few teams with the depth in their lineup of the Indians, who have a solid player at every single position, but most of the other top teams in the AL have a big time hitter in the middle of their lineup, which the Indians lack (Red Sox have Big Papi, Orioles have Chris Davis, Tigers have Cabrera, Rangers have Beltre/Fielder, and Angels have Trout). Since a Hall of Famer like Nap Lajole, Tris Speaker, Earl Averill, or Lou Boudreau is not walking onto the field in Cleveland any time soon, the Indians are not going to score enough runs in order for their questionable pitching staff to bring them to the postseason.

Danny Salazar could turn into something really special for Cleveland, but it may be too early to count on him to be his best for an entire season at just the age of 24. Salazar, though, looked impressive in his few starts last season, throwing a mid 90's fastball and bringing back Luis Tiant rookie year comparisons. Justin Masterson and Zach McAllister are both solid rotation guys, but having to rely on them to be top end starters even 2004 Matt Hasselbeck thinks is wishful thinking (I do love Masterson's slider though and wish my Sox never traded him for Victor Martinez, who never came up with a big hit in Boston). The Indians, who had a MLB low 2 extra innings losses last season, will also need to hope that their bullpen of guys like Marc Rzepczynski, Cody Allen, John Axford, and John Axford's beard will be able to finish out close games.

Minnesota Twins/Chicago White Sox Preview:

Since the Twins and White Sox should be two of the worst three teams in the American League along with the Astros, I am just combining their team previews into one paragraph because the chances of them making the playoffs are as slim as James Harden actually playing some defense in the next five seasons. After winning the AL Central six out of ten years from 2001 to 2010 and finishing with a record above .500 in 9 of those seasons (2007 being the exception), the Twins have had three straight seasons of 96 or more losses for a record of 195-291, their worst stretch since 1998-2000. In fact, their 99 losses in 2011 were the second most in a season since the franchise moved to Minnesota from Washington in 1961, only behind the 1982 year when the Twinkies went 60-102. Meanwhile, after winning the World Series in 2005 for the first time since 1917, the White Sox have not won a playoff series since and their 99 losses last year was their worst season since they went 56-106 all the way back in 1970. The Twins and White Sox should see their recent struggles continue once again this season.

The Twinkies, who finished second to last in the AL in runs and last in the league in earned runs last year, did make some small improvements to their ballclub in the off-season. Joe Mauer, who will be getting paid 23 million dollars a year until 2018 but has played less than 115 games two of the previous three seasons, is only going to play first base this year, which should keep him much healthier for Minnesota. Despite having the second best batting average in the AL and the third best on-base percentage in the league in 2013, Mauer will be looking to regain his power stroke (he hit 28 long balls in 2009 and has hit 33 in the four years since then). The Twins also added veteran Ricky Nolasco (coming off his best season), Phil Hughes (coming off his worst season), and Mike Pelfrey (also coming off his worst season) to their rotation, which is likely going to get hit very hard by teams like the Tigers, Royals, and Indians. Aside from some of the young minor leaguers that may come up during the season (Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Alex Meyer), the only thing for Twins fans to look forward to is Ron Gardenhire becoming the 10th manager to ever win 1,000 games with the same team their entire career (Connie Mack, John McGraw, Walter Alston, Tommy Lasorda, Earl Weaver, Mike Scioscia, Tom Kelly, Danny Murtaugh, and Red Schoendienst being the others).

Meanwhile, the White Sox have something to look forward to every 5th day when the current version of Randy Johnson takes the mound in the form of Chris Sale. Sale is right up there with David Price for the best left handed pitcher in the majors in the non-Clayton Kershaw pitching category. Last season, Sale had a 3.07 ERA (7th in the AL), a 1.073 WHIP (3rd in the AL), 226 strikeouts (3rd in the AL), a 4.913 strikeouts to walk ratio (2nd in the AL), and a 6.9 WAR (2nd in the AL for pitchers), and yet he finished 11-14 (3 less wins than CC Sabathia, who had a 4.78 ERA and 1 less win than Jeremy Hellickson, who had a 5.17 ERA). This is once again a remainder that pitchers can not only be judged based upon wins and losses because Chris Sale is undoubtedly one of the best pitchers in the league. He should, however, have some more run support than last year when the White Sox averaged an AL worst 3.69 runs per game. Jose Abreu, the Cuban defect who the White Sox signed for 6 years and 68 million dollars in the off-season, seems to have some real pop in his bat, as does big time prospect Avisail Garcia, who the White Sox acquired in the Jake Peavy, Jose Iglesias three way trade last season. Finally, Chicago's other team (yes, it's true) will also be entertaining because the Adam Dunn strikeout count is always something to keep tabs on during a season (This will alarm you, but Adam Dunn is likely two seasons away from 500 home runs. If we take the steroid guys out of the equation, which would be Bonds, A-Rod, Sosa, Palmeiro, Palmerio, Palmeiro, and Sheffield, the worst hitter to ever go yard 500 times in his career is likely Reggie Jackson or Eddie Murray. Adam Dunn is not even on the same planet as those guys, so it would be odd to see a career .238 hitter on that historic list).

AL West Preview:

The AL West has been the hardest division to figure out over the past few decades in the American League. The Red Sox and Yankees have had a stronghold over the AL East and the winner of the AL Central has been fairly obvious coming into each season with the Twins dominating the 2000's until the Tigers recent resurgence. However, the AL West has had no such pattern in the teams representing the division in the postseason. We all remember the Seattle Mariners team that went 116-46 in 2001, a record that tied the 1906 Chicago Cubs for the most wins in a season, but the following year, the Mariners did not even reach the postseason. Similarly, in 2002, the Angels made the playoffs as a wild card team from the AL West and won their first World Series in franchise history, but in 2003, the team did not even win 80 games (although the 1998 Marlins are impressed by that). In 2012, the A's had the second lowest payroll in baseball at around 55 million dollars, but they won the west for the first time since 2006 over the Angels and their 154 million dollar roster and the Texas Rangers, the two-time defending AL pennant winners. The A's won the AL west again last year, their first back-to-back division titles since 2002-2003 (moneyball years) despite the fact that Josh Hamilton and his 17.4 million dollar contract nearly equaled what Oakland was giving to Dan Straily, A.J. Griffin, Josh Donaldson, Jarrod Parker, Tommy Milone, Josh Reddick, Brandon Moss, Jed Lowrie, Bartolo Colon, Seth Smith, and Grant Balfour combined (essentially their entire starting rotation and a majority of their positional players). My argument is basically that it is safe to assume that you can assume nothing when it comes to the AL West.

Texas Rangers Preview:

Yu! Yu! Yu! If the Rangers are going to make the playoffs for a 5th straight season (they didn't make the playoffs at all from 1961 until 1996), it will largely be because of Darvish, the most dominant thing out of Japan since Godzilla himself. Texas does have some major holes when it comes to starting pitching depth and the bottom of their order, so they will need a lot out of Yu (Darvish is my 2014 AL Cy Young pick. It can't get must worse for me since my pre-season NL Cy Young prediction last year was Matt Cain, who ended up having a 0.5 WAR and a worse ERA than Jorge De La Rosa - any sentence that goes a worse ERA than insert Rockies pitcher name here is just bad news). Darvish, though, is arguably the best right handed pitcher in the major leagues (King Felix of Seattle, Jose Fernandez, Verlander, Scherzer, or a healthy Stephen Strasburg may contest that claim). He throws a ton of sliders and cutters, which look like his fastball until they dip down in the zone before they reach the plate. No pitcher in baseball had a higher pitch value on their slider than Darvish, whose 27.6 slider pitch rank was well better than Justin Masterson's second best 18.7 slider pitch value. For this reason, Yu is a strikeout machine, as his 277 k's in 2013 were the most in a single-season for a pitcher not named Randy Johnson since Curt Schilling in 1997 (Randy had more strikeouts in 1998-2002, 2004) and his 11.9 strikeouts per nine inning rate was also the highest in a season for a pitcher not named Randy Johnson since Pedro Martinez in 1999 (Johnson had a better SO/9 in 2000-2002). Darvish is one of the few must watch guys in baseball when he takes the mound because his stuff is good enough where any time out he could do something really special like when he took a perfect game into the last batter on opening day last year against the Triple A-Astros or when he struck out 15 batters against the Triple-A Astros in the middle of August.

After Josh Hamilton left the Rangers for the Angels last off-season, Texas just decided that to spite him, they weren't going to have any quality left handed bats in their lineup (or there were just not any left handed hitters available on the market). Their left handed batters hit a paltry .244 in 2013 (in comparison, their right handed bats hit .276). Texas made sure that they addressed one of the biggest concerns in the off-season, making two of the biggest moves in the majors by bringing in Prince Fielder from Detroit and signing Shin-Soo "I've never hit above .310 in my career and have never hit more than 22 home runs in a season but I'm getting paid 130 million dollars" Choo. Despite some of his postseason struggles and his alarming inability to move off first base, Fielder has some unique power that few guys can match in the big leagues. Since 2007, only Miguel Cabrera has more long balls than Fielder, who is averaging more than 36 a year since that date. He will be helped by the short right field wall at Globe Life Park in Arlington, and also Adrian Beltre, the most underrated hitter in baseball hitting behind him (he has hit more than 28 home runs, added at least 92 RBI's, and hit better than a .295 batting average each of the last four years). On the other side of things, any left handed hitter that doesn't hit home runs and gets signed to a big deal just scares me because of what happened with Carl Crawford on my Sox, but Shin-Soo Choo does get on-base like a machine. His .423 on-base percentage was the 4th best in the league last season and Matt Holliday is the only other outfielder to have two seasons with an on-base percentage better than .400 in two different years.

The Rangers main concern right now though is getting healthy, especially on their injured plagued pitching staff. Matt Harrison, Colby Lewis, and Derek Holland will all begin the season on the disabled list (Atlanta and Oakland know how that feels), so Texas will need Tanner Scheppers and Martin Perez to hold down the fort for the beginning of the year until their rotation can get healthy as the season goes along.

Los Angeles Angels Preview:

When the Angels signed Albert Pujols to a 10 year, 254 million dollar contract in 2012 and also signed left hander C.J. Wilson to a 5 year, 77.5 million dollar deal within the same week, there were a lot of people that immediately jumped on the Angels bandwagon. Despite some of the struggles that the team faced in their first year with Pujols and Wilson, things still seemed to look positive when Mike Trout came up from the minors and instantly became one of the best position players in baseball along with guys like Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Andrew McCutchen, Dustin Pedroia, and Robinson Cano. Los Angeles even signed Josh Hamilton, who was coming off a season of 43 home runs, 128 RBI's, and a slugging percentage of .577 in 2012 with the Rangers, to a 5-year, 125 million dollar contract the following off-season to bolster their lineup. After bringing in Hamilton, most people felt that the Angels were destined for a deep run in the playoffs with superstars across the board. So, did I set up this entire little preface so that I could talk about how I did not think LA was going to be one of the best teams in the AL, despite the Pujols and Hamilton signings, because of their poor pitching staff? I would be lying worse than Pete Rose if I said I did not want to gloat about my Charles Xavier like psychic abilities on this prediction (I can't brag too much though because I did pick Maurice-Jones Drew in the first round of a fantasy draft last year). Not only have Pujols and Hamilton both struggled on their new ballclub, but the Angels have had an ERA well over 4.0 the past two seasons (4.02 in 2012 and 4.23 last year, the 7th worst in the league. All the teams in the 2012 postseason had an ERA well under 4.0 and Cleveland's ERA of 3.82 was the worst for a team in the playoffs in 2013, which is a wide gap from the Angels).

Once again this season, I am not sure that the Angels and their 155 million dollar payroll will turn things around and make it to the postseason. There is no doubt that the Halos have offensive fire power throughout the rather deep lineup, as they are right up there with Boston, Detroit, and Texas for the best order in the American League. Even in the worst case scenario where Albert Pujols realizes he no longer has the bat speed to catch up to fastballs and is just waiting out his contract (Steve Nash style) and Josh Hamilton continues to get hurt and breaks every bone in his body (Dodgeball reference sort of), the Angels will still be able to produce a lot of runs. Mike Trout is already the best player in baseball in just his third year in the league and the Mickey Mantle comparisons to the young center fielder are not even hyperbole. He has lead baseball in WAR in each of the last two seasons and his 10.9 WAR in 2012 was the 2nd best by a positional player not linked to steroids since 1976 (Cal Ripken had a 11.5 WAR in 1991). Meanwhile, all Raul Ibanez does is hit, no matter if he is as old as Hugh Hefner. His .281 career batting average against right handed pitching will help an Angels lineup that has a lot of righties with Trout, Pujols, Howie Kendrick, Chris Iannetta, and Chris Cowgill. David Freese, another right handed hitter, should also have a bounce back year after being the biggest World Series hero in 2011 since Joe Carter or Kirby Puckett, batting .293 with 20 long balls in 2012, but then hitting .262 with just 9 home runs last year. If the Angels can just get Brandon Belt or Mike Napoli like production out of Pujols and Alex Rios or Jay Bruce kind of offensive output from Hamilton, the Angels should remain amongst the top 7 in the league in runs scored for the 3rd year in a row.

The thing that really concerns me about this team is their pitching staff, which has been a bigger train wreck the past two years than Tony Romo in any meaningful game. The Angels are already short on arms without any injuries, which is destined to occur over a full 162 game season. More than ever before, the Angels are going to need Jered Weaver to remain healthy and be the ace of their staff. After finishing in the top 5 of the AL Cy Young from 2010 to 2012, Weaver made his fewest starts last year since 2006 as a result of a fractured left elbow. He should be back, however, with his unique delivery and his nasty compilation of off-speed pitches including his slider and change-up that tail away from right handed hitters who have a .229 career batting average against him. Although CJ Wilson is pretty good in those old spice commercials, he has certainly not been worth the 15.5 million that the Angels are paying him each year. Nonetheless, he is a solid pitcher that LA will be able to rely on for around 200 innings (he has pitched at least 200 innings the last four years) and a strikeout per 9 inning rate anywhere from 7 to 9. The back end of the Angels rotation, though, is as big of a question mark as the Cowboys defense (two Cowboys jokes in one paragraph. I somehow need to balance it out because of Dallas's eternal mediocrity). Behind Weaver and Wilson, LA's pitching staff is made up of Garrett Richards, Hector Santiago, and Tyler Skaggs, which doesn't even scare the Astros and will likely be the team's downfall in hopes of reaching the postseason for the first time since 2009.

Oakland Athletics Preview:

The Oakland A's back-to-back 90 win seasons have been one of the best success stories in baseball over the past few decades (behind the 1987 Twins, 1990 Reds, 2003 Marlins, 2007 Rockies, and 2008 Rays in terms of their overall achievements, but still very impressive considering their financial limits). I was even beginning to think that the A's could pull off the biggest surprise since M. Night Shyamalan's twist in The Sixth Sense by making their first World Series since the Rickey Henderson, Bob Welch team that got swept by the Reds in the 1990 World Series. However, just as the baseball gods would have it so that the teams that spend huge amounts of money and make the game more profitable are satisfied, the A's were killed by devastating injury news to their very consistent and important pitching rotation. A.J. Griffin, who had the 6th best WHIP at 1.125 and the 5th best hits per 9 innings rate in the American League last season, is going to spend significant time at the beginning of the season on the disabled list with flexor tendinitis. Meanwhile, Jarrod Parker, who is one of the many pitchers that people don't know from an Oakland staff that finished 4th in opponents batting average last year, is out for the entire 2014 season, needing the way to common Tommy John surgery to fix an arm problem (Parker can join the club of Medlen, Beachy, and Corbin). The A's do have more pitching depth than most teams in the majors, but any club that loses two of its best starters is going to have some issues replacing their arms in the rotation. Oakland is going to have to rely on Sonny Gray, Dan Straily, Tommy Milone, and gasp, Scott Kazmir to pick up the load for some of the injuries that the team has suffered.

The A's are a team that play a lot of close games, which means that they will need a solid bullpen in order to make sure that they can win some games where their starting pitching, or particularly their offense, is just not there. Jim Johnson is slated to be the team's closer after Oakland acquired him from Baltimore in an off-season trade. Last year, Johnson joined Mariano Rivera and Eric Gagne as the only three closers to ever have at least 50 saves in multiple seasons (Rivera did so in 2001 and 2004 and Gagne did it in 2002 and 2005), and yet he looked as bad as somebody can when still registering 50 saves in a  season. His WAR was just a paltry 1.5, behind 12 other closers with at least 13 saves, mainly because he blew a league leading 9 saves, tied for the 4th most in a single-season since 2010. His sinker was hit hard and very often and he was constantly having to get out of jams because his hits per 9 innings went from 7.2 in 2012 all the way up to 9.2 in 2013. If Johnson does struggle, the A's do have a lot of other arms in the bullpen with guys like Luke Gregerson, Sean Doolittle, and Dan Otero, who were all very good last season.

At the plate, Oakland does not have the superstars, the power, or the speed of a team like the Rangers or the Angels, but they do have some good depth and a full lineup capability of being the hero on a particular night. Josh Donaldson, who finished 4th in the AL MVP race despite not making the All-Star game (no love for Oakland players), hit .301 with a .384 on-base percentage (6th in the AL) and added 24 home runs and 93 RBI's to go along with a very high 8.0 WAR, the 2nd best in the AL behind only the God that is Mike Trout. Donaldson, Coco Crisp, and Jed Lowrie should provide consistent hitting for the A's all season, so the overall productivity of their offense will come from three guys that can either hit a lot of home runs or strike out as much as any player that is not named Adam Dunn. Yoenis Cespedes showed to the entire world his freakish natural power when he won the 2013 Home Run Derby and Brandon Moss hit 30 home runs last year (one of only 6 major league first basemen to do so along with Chris Davis, Paul Goldschmidt, Edwin Encarnacion, Mark Trumbo, and Adam Dunn), but both of their K% last year were amongst the worst 9 in all of baseball. Similarly, despite hitting 32 home runs in 2012, Josh Reddick struck out 151 times over the course of the season, the 10th most times in the American League behind the usual suspects like Adam Dunn, Curtis Granderson, Carlos Pena, Josh Hamilton, and Mark Reynolds. If Cespedes, Moss, and Reddick can limit their strikeouts and get on-base a little more often, Oakland could increase their run total and help make up for the losses of Griffin and Parker in the rotation.

Seattle Mariners/Houston Astros Preview:

Out of pure laziness and the fact that we are nearly 9,000 words into this article (take that Les Miserables), I am combining the team previews for the Houston "don't watch this team play baseball if you want to maintain your sanity" Astros and the Seattle "we spent a lot of money this off-season but aren't close to winning anything" Mariners. The Astors have finished with more than 105 losses in three straight seasons, the first team in baseball history to do so (the 1915 and 1916 A's teams both lost more than 105 games, as did the 1941 and 1942 Phillies. Oddly enough, the Athletics did that after reaching four World Series in five years and winning three of them). While the Astros are practically a triple-A ballclub, the Mariners at least went out and spent some money this off-season to try and reach the playoffs for the first team since they won 116 games in 2001. They signed Corey Hart, got Logan Morrison in a trade, signed closer Fernando Rodney, and obviously, spent the big bucks to get Robinson Cano for 240 million dollars. We will see how much 24 million dollars really means to Cano after this season because the Mariners are more than likely going to finish under .500 for the 5th straight year, their longest stretch since a period where they didn't have a winning season from 1977 to 1990.

Looking at the Astors lineup, they actually only have three legitimate major league players that would play on any other team, except for possibly a club like the Marlins or Cubs. Houston traded for the speedy Dexter Fowler so that he could be the team's solid lead-off hitter, and more so as a precaution to make sure that they don't come close to the 1962 Mets for the most losses in a season since 1900.  You know that your team is as bad as the Bucks when their best player has never made an All-Star game and has never had a season with a WAR of at least 3. Jose Altuve is a more than good enough second basemen for a team, as he has gold glove ability and can steal some bases while Jason Castro is also a solid player behind the plate. I was going to include Chris Carter on that very short list of actual MLB players on the Astros but then I remembered that he strikes out at a rate that competes with Adam Dunn and Mark Reynolds (he had the worst K% in the history of baseball at 36.2% last year and the 3rd most strikeouts in a season ever with 212). The Astors have a lot of very young arms in their rotation with guys like Brett Oberholtzer and Jarred Cosart, which means they will likely have some significant growing pains throughout the season.

The biggest move of the baseball off-season, aside from Chris Stewart going to his 7th different MLB team in a trade to the Pirates of course, was Robinson Cano moving on from the Yankees (When was the last time a star like Cano actually said no to the Yankees. When was the last time a star like Dwight Howard left the Lakers? How did the Yankees and Lakers lose out on bringing back their one of their star players in the same year? Andy Pettitte was likely the last big name to leave the Yankees when he signed with his hometown Astros in 2004, but he did eventually return to the Bronx in 2007. The last big time Laker that left the team in free agency was A.C. Green in 1993 when he went to the Suns, and he only ever made one All-Star game). Cano will face some serious difficulties though in Seattle. Safeco Field is not a safe haven for runs, as it ranked dead last in runs scored two years ago, and is continually towards the bottom half of the majors in home runs. He will also not have the same opportunities with guys getting on-base in front of him because Abraham Almonte and Brad Miller don't even make the Lion from Wizard of Oz afraid and Justin Smoak and Kyle Seager are not going to make teams pitch to Cano. The Mariners do have the third best King in the world behind LeBron and Lorenzo de' Medici from Da Vinci's Demons with King Felix (yes, I actually just made a Da Vinci's Demons reference, which is the best show on Starz since their last big show Spartacus), but the rest of their projected rotation of Erasmo Ramirez, James Paxton, Roenis Elias, and Blake Beavan have 25 combined career wins. It could be worse for Seattle; they could be without a NBA team.