Baseball thoughts

I just wanted to get something down before the season starts so I could look back in October and shudder. These are some baseball thoughts off the top of my head.

1) The biggest story (again) is going to be the Yankees and Red Sox. This is outside of whether or not they actually are the most interesting story or not. The sports journalism world is centered on the east coast and that's just how it is.
2) The Twins will falter this year. Their pitching will drop off from last year as both Santana and Nathan will be merely good or great instead of inhuman. They'll finish second to the Indians, losing by less than five games.
3) My White Sox will finish third by playing .500 ball. The biggest factor that would change this is going to be starting pitching health. If all five of the projected starters stay healthy, they'll win the division. I'm not expecting that.
4) The A's will fall a bit back to the pack this year. Their pitching will drop off from last year and their offense will be average at best.
5) The Nationals will compete for the NL East, but fall short. The Braves will finally lose the division this year. (This is a standard mistake for pundits and I'm falling into it too.)
6) The Cubs will be .500 at best this year. The long breathless wait for Wood and Prior will wait another year as both of them will have injury plagued years. Once again they'll get far more attention than they deserve. (And yes, I'm bitter.)
7) Bonds will play less than half of the year. He'll break Babe Ruth's HR mark. When people talk about steroid use he'll be defended by sportswriters quick to accuse with racism.
8) My neighbors will wonder why I'm shouting "You can put it on the board...YES!".

And another great season will be had.