2012 MLB Preview: Part IV

This post is being written as the regular season officially gets underway. Seattle takes on Oakland in Japan, starting at 5 AM my time. Seems like I should have checked to see if MLB blocked internet radio broadcasts from Seattle and Oakland before setting my alarm for 4:45. If I were in England I'd be able to listen to the BBC and hear dudes with English accents talking about an American game being played in Japan, which would have been great in a "Death Row Records week on American Idol" kind of way. Oh well, I'll settle for keeping an eye on the GameCast. The division that will have a team alone in first place in about 3 hours, after the jump.


 FOURTH PLACE: Oakland A's. I can understand letting guys like David Dejesus and Hideki Matsui leave via free agency; it's not like they were going to be part of the next good A's team. And I can understand shipping off two of your top three starting pitchers for prospects, assuming you get good value (It looks like they did.) What makes me all o_0 is forking over some significant cake for two players, and they're both center fielders. Why get anybody at all? I guess it doesn't matter; if nobody's got a claim to left field they can play both of them together, as they are this morning. Feh.

THIRD PLACE: Seattle Mariners. I expect the M's to make a mighty leap from 'cover-your-eyes awful' to just 'bad'. They still have Felix "F-Her" Hernandez, which is nice. Then, basically their whole lineup should improve- in part because Dustin Ackley and Jesus Montero are bona fide, and in part because Franklin Gutierrez, Justin Smoak, et al can't be any worse than they were in 2011 unless they're victims of a zombie apocalypse. Then again, they play for the Mariners, so 'zombie apocalypse' isn't totally out of the realm of possibility.

SECOND PLACE: Los Angeles Angels of the Redundant Name The Red Team. As soon as Arte Moreno messed with the whole Anaheim Angels name, they became The Red Team to me. Look, they'll be good. Pujols should have at least one more great year left in him, C.J. Wilson should be one of the best #3 starters in the game, and there's probably enough of a supporting cast to let Mike Scioscia fill out a lineup card. The only problem I have with them is that they play in a division with the Rangers, who are kind of a big deal.

FIRST PLACE: Texas Rangers. This could end up being a straight-up terrible pick, because ZOMG PUJOLS AND ALSO PUJOLS. But you know what, Texas's lineup just looks better, their bullpen's deeper, and they signed Yu Darvish, who I'm pretty sure will be the first half-Iranian, half-Japanese starting pitcher in Rangers history. If they end up meeting the Angels in the playoffs, who knows. But for the next 162, I'll stick with the two-time defending AL champs.