It's Here! It's Here! Baseball Is Back!

With today being Opening Day of the 2013 Major League Baseball season, despite the first game being played last night, it just seems appropriate to take a look at what I expect to see happen this year. A lot has been made of all the parity in the league this year, so it's definitely going to be a hard one to predict. No matter what team you root for, today is an exciting one. Everyone enters the season at 0-0 and has an equal shot at winning it all. Heck, the Astros (whom most pick to be the worst team in the league this year) beat Texas last night. There's something about the crispness of the infield lines and the smell of the freshly-cut grass that makes any and every fan, or ex-player, smile.

Feel free to drop any predictions you have for the season or agree and/or argue mine ... they're obviously merely for fun.

Let's start with the standings and results.

My American League division winners are as follows: Los Angels Angels (West), Detroit Tigers (Central), and Toronto Blue Jays (East).

The Wild Card winners in the AL: Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees.

The National League's division winners: San Francisco Giants (West), Cincinnati Reds (Central), and Washington Nationals (East).

Wild Cards go to: Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers.

I'm not going to dive into a complete playoff scenario, but if I had to bet — which never ends well — I'd say the Tigers beat the Giants. I know everyone is picking Washington, which is exactly why I'm staying away from them myself (despite my love for Bryce Harper and the rest of the team).

Now for the fun part, the individual awards. (Let's be honest, the only two that really matter to anyone are the MVP and Cy Young so that's all I'm going to cover.)

Most Valuable Player: Robinson Cano (NYY) and Bryce Harper (WAS). (My theory: The easy choice is Trout in the American League, but having Pujols and Hamilton hurts his "valuable" status — despite helping the team overall)

Cy Young: Chris Sale (CWS) and Yovani Gallardo (MIL).

Obviously, these choices are a total crapshoot. No one knows how this season is going to play out, especially in one which has so little certainty heading into Opening Day. These are merely (educated) guesses on my behalf. If there is one thing that is certain in 2013, it's going to be one heck of a season. Play Ball!



(EDIT: I had Harper penciled in as my NL MVP before today's games started. Two homers in his first two at-bats?! I'm feeling pretty good about my pick.)