Yeah, I Said It

With baseball's Opening Day officially underway literally as I type this, here are some things I forsee happening over the course of the ongoing MLB season:

1. Stadium attendance will be the worst we've seen in decades. This might seem like stating the obvious, as MLB money men already expect at least a 10% decline in ticket sales, but I predict that that number is wishful thinking. The reasons behind my theory are two-fold: For one, the combination of a dismal economy and team owners trying to recoup lost money by raising ticket prices will blow up in their faces. Tickets for the Orioles' home opener started at 60 bucks...and that was to sit in the nosebleeds. Granted, it's Opening Day and they were facing the Yankees, baseball's hottest draw, but it seems awfully bold to ask for 60 bones to watch a team with no proven commodity that lost 93 games last season. Your average fan can hit up the local sports bar and watch the game in HD and have a closer experience than paying top dollar to sit in what is supposed to be the "cheap seats". Another factor is that most teams, like the Orioles, lack star power. You think Royals fans are going to buy tickets to see CoCo Crisp? Is Nate McLouth really putting butts in seats? No. The fact of the matter is, unless big market teams with All-Star lineups like the Yankees or Red Sox are visiting, there's just no compelling reason to put out the scratch to attend a baseball game which, for someone who loves baseball live, is a bit disheartening.

2. The Yankees will have a solid April without A-Rod, which will lead the New York media to start pumping out "Trade A-Rod" articles. Today's loss to the afforementioned O's notwithstanding, the Yankees know they need to start out hot in the early going to justify the big money they threw out this offseason to pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett as well as slugger Mark Teixeira. After missing the playoffs last year, manager Joe Girardi finds himself on the hot seat and the only way to keep his head off the chopping block would be to jump ahead of the hated Red Sox and the upstart Rays. As for A-Rod, his bad PR 2009 will only get worse if a. the team plays well without him b.he takes longer than needed to come back from a bum hip and/or c. he doesn't start off strong once he does return to the lineup. As the most hated Yankee in the Bronx since Roger Maris, A-Rod is already on thin ice in the Big Apple and he can ill-afford to aggitate a crowd thirsty for controversy and a ring.

3. The term "This year's Rays" will be tossed around by unoriginal TV analysts and broadcasters ad nauseum until at least the All-Star break. Every year, thanks to the emergence of parity in baseball, a team goes from worst to first, causing "experts" who normally spend their down time gushing over the big market teams to orgasm in unison over whomever the small market underdog du jour appears to be. The Kansas City Royals, longtime doormats because of their bad drafting and thrifty spending, have already been mentioned quite a few times as the sexy small market pick amongst columnists, thanks to their young core of up-and-comers like pitcher Zach Grienke, outfielder CoCo Crisp and corner boys Alex Gordon and Mike Jacobs. While the success of the Rays(and the Detroit Tigers a couple years before them) has shown that small-market teams can go the distance past July, don't be surprised if this year's playoffs have a bit more of a big-market feel to them as the declining economy and ticket revenue will cause small market teams to inevitably sell off their goods to their big city counterparts in an attempt to stay in the black. Which leads me to.....

4. The Tigers will continue their snide and go on a Wayne Huzeinga-esque fire sale that will inevitably end with a Miguel Cabrera to Boston mega deal in next year's offseason. The financial woes in the city of Detroit have been well-documented over the past few months and that struggle will inevitably strike the once-beloved Tigers. The Tigers, last year's sexy pick to make the Series thanks to their blockbuster acquisition of Cabrera and pitcher Dontrelle Willis from the Marlins, face the daunting task of competing in not only a tough American League, but a suddenly wide-open Central division with a rotation that is lackluster to say the least. Outfielder Gary Sheffield was the first big money acquisition to get his walking papers, as he was released last week. Soon to be following him out the door will be outfielder Magglio Ordonez, utilityman Brandon Inge, third baseman Carlos Guillen and, although unlikely, Willis(who is owed $22 million over the next two seasons but thanks to control issues will almost certianly fail to find takers.) Cabrera, who the Tigers hoped would be the cornerstone of their resurgence, has battled weight issues and some in the front office might want to save face by moving him sooner rather than paying him later.

5. Marlins' starter Ricky Nolasco will continue his role as the best pitcher you've never heard of. In the final three months of last season, Nolasco had 119 strikeouts to just 13 walks and was one of the key reasons the Marlins had a winning record over division heavyweights Philadelphia and New York over the second half of the season. As the ace to a team busting at the seams with young talent, don't be surprised if Nolasco makes a run at the NL Cy Young this season. In fact, with fellow young starters Josh Johnson, Chris Volstad and Andrew Miller, don't be shocked if the Marlins make a run at the NL East crown. They have enough young stars to be this year's......nope, not gonna do it.

6. The Oakland Athletics will lead the AL West going into the All-Star break. One thing that has stayed consistent has been GM Billy Beane's ability to find solid young pitching and build around a core of lesser known talent. This year, Beane went out and made some aggressive moves in an attempt to win now. Beane made a splash at the winter meetings by acquiring perennial 30-30 threat Matt Holliday and proceeded to protect Holliday by bringing back former AL MVP Jason Giambi and signing underrated shortstop Orlando Cabrera. With the Rangers in desperate need of pitching, the Mariners rebuilding and the Angels without their top two pitchers for the first 5 weeks of the season, it's not unthinkable to think the A's can ride their big bats and young pitching to an early lead in the division.

7. You WILL hear the name Barry Bonds mentioned around the trade deadline. As has been mentioned before, there is expected to be some major moves made at the deadline as teams scramble to stay in the black. The Toronto Blue Jays have already been rumored to be auctioning off outfielders Alex Rios and Vernon Wells in an attempt to save money to keep ace Roy Halladay. However, teams that want to contend but don't want to deal prized prospects for rent-a-players might feel inclined to dial up Major League Baseball's home run czar. Bonds, out of baseball all of last year as he awaited trial for perjury charges along with playing his role of baseball's black sheep to a tee, has not officially retired and could perk up the ears of a team needing his big bat for a stretch run. While Bonds has always been the surly, locker room cancer type, the same could be said for Gary Sheffield, who signed with the Mets days ago after his release from the Tigers.

8. The San Francisco Giants will emerge as the best crappy team to watch. Lost in their lack of name recognition is the fact that the Giants' starting rotation currently has 3 Cy Young winners on it(ace Tim Lincecum, aging Randy Johnson, and overpaid Barry Zito). San Fran's lineup lacks pop but with some solid pitching from its award winning arms and fellow young guns Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez, they could make things interesting in a relatively weak NL West.

9. After acquring Jake Peavy at the deadline, the Cubs will carry on their long-standing tradition of teasing fans with the threat of breaking their World Series drought. The Cubs have already been crowned the sheek pick to represent the NL in the Fall Classic and there's no doubt this team is talented enough already to win the Central going away. However, the Cubs have been legendary for being unable to get over the hump and if the team couldn't win a ring riding young workhorses Kerry Wood and Mark Prior(in their one and only healthy season together), I find it hard to imagine it would happen even with the acquisition of Peavy or any other frontline ace.

10. Of course, what would be a prognostications blog without, well, some prognostications...so here goes, my division winners, award grabbers, and a World Series pick sure to fail:

NL East: Mets-You can't read much into one game, but if the Phillies are without Cole Hamels for any stretch of time this season, they might not have the fortune of another collapse in Queens to save them this time.

NL Central: Cubs-Though the Cards could threaten if Chris Carpenter's healthy.

NL West: Dodgers-Manny will be Manny....for at least 110 games...causing Boston fans to bust a nut with "I told you sos"

NL Wild Card: Cardinals-After turning a season-threatening elbow injury into an MVP season, I believe in Albert Pujols

AL East: Yankees-Because 3/4 of a billion dollars should buy you something worthwhile.

AL Central: Twins-Sorry, I just don't believe in the Indians like everyone else does.

AL West: Angels-As I said before, be on the lookout for the A's.

AL Wild Card: Red Sox-They're aging and beat up but they just have too much talent to not make the postseason

NL MVP: Albert Pujols-See NL Wild Card

AL MVP: Matt Holliday-I know, how can you give a MVP to a guy you don't have in the playoffs? Trust me on this one. Or don't.

NL Cy Young: Ricky Nolasco-Again. Trust me on this one.

AL Cy Young: Francisco Liriano-I think CC will be good, just not Cy Young good and the Twins have always proven to be able to pull an ace from their sleeve

NL Rookie of the Year: Jordan Schafer, Braves-Because I'm a homer.

AL Rookie of the Year: David Price-Because the Rays' playoff hopes ride on his golden arm

World Series: Dodgers over Yankees in 6-Because, deep down, you want to see Torre stick it to New York and Manny win a ring outside of Beantown....or you don't.

--Dave