PLAY BALL !!!

Welcome to Baseballville!!! Yep, it's that time again my friends. It's Spring Training and I am pumped. I ordered MLB.TV to watch the games on my computer, and I even got the MLB At-Bat 2010 app for my iPhone to listen to the games when I am away from my computer. A special thanks to my awesome wifey for getting my those for my B-Day, so I can help feed my lifelong addiction. I have been watching the Spring Training games and I am so excited to see how this year will unfold. So far, I am very impressed with Stasburg and Chapman's Spring Training pitching performances. They are living up to their reps so far. I know it's early, and even some of you discount Spring Training performances labeling the games as "meaningless." But I love this game so much, that I appreciate all of the efforts from the WBC, Caribbean Series, and Spring Training.

With this posting, I am going to give my faithful readers my bold predictions, and highlight some of my plans for the season. First with my baseball plans. We will be going to AZ in a couple of weeks to check out two Cactus League games. Friars vs. Cubbies and Pads vs. Giants. Should be fun, just like every year that we've gone out there. If you've never been to a Spring Training game, do yourself a favor and go. Get the lawn seats and enjoy the warm sunshine watching some much needed hardball, after a cold baseball-less winter. I promise you that you will have a blast.

My good friend Rob, has season tix at Chavez Ravine, and he has offered an open ended invite for me to go to some games this season, as he generously always done so every year. I already told him that when the Reds or Nats are in town and either Chapman or Stasburg are on the mound, count me in. I saw Chapman pitch in San Diego last year for Team Cuba in the WBC, but he didn't pitch very well against the two-time WBC Champs, Team Japan. I predict that he will do pretty well this season. Time to enjoy a world famous Dodger Dog.

Since the 2010 All-Star Game is at the Big A, this summer, I am going to try to go, as long as the tix aren't outrageously expensive. I will at least try to go to the HR Derby, if anything else. I've never been to an All-Star game, nor a World Series game, both of which I hope to do sometime in my lifetime. We aren't really going on any baseball related vacations this summer, like we have the past 4 years, so I will definitely be using my online subscription to get my fix this year.

As far as my predictions go for the upcoming season, here's what I have come up with:

NL East- Phillies

NL Central- Cubs

NL West- Giants

NL Wild Card- Marlins

AL East- Yankees (of course !!!)

AL Central- Twins

AL West- Mariners

AL Wild Card- Tampa Bay

Initially I was leaning towards the Cardinals and Twins winning their respective divisions, but I'm not too sure with the Cards and Twinkies anymore, because of Pujols and Nathan having arm issues. If they miss the season from having surgery, their teams might not do too well, since they are crucial parts of their respective teams' overall success.

My friends, please keep in mind that historically, I have not been very successful with making pre-season predictions...so don't go running off to Vegas with them! Speaking of Vegas, while I was there a few weeks ago for my buddy's bachelor party, I made a couple of sports book bets on the AL and NL winners. Since I have never bet on sports in Vegas, I thought that I'd give it a shot for fun. I picked the Mariners and the Giants...we'll see what happens.

Last, I am even excited that I will be playing in my usual Fantasy Baseball League- I hope to repeat my success from last year, as Junior's Dynasty looks to actually win it all this year!

Regardless of how my predictions turn out, or how my Fantasy Team does, I am happy that baseball season is finally back. As I look onward to the 2010 season, as with every MLB fan, we all have one thing in common...HOPE for our team to win it all this year- as for me... # 28 here we come!!!