It begins…

The MLB season is upon us once again as the defending champion Red Sox will face off against the A’s in Tokyo today (this morning, whatever). Oakland seriously has it rough in this match up when you consider that Boston will be starting the pride of Japan, Daisuke Matsuzaka who made the trip overseas and left his pregnant wife in North America. There’s also the fact that Oakland went into full out rebuilding mode over the winter and jettisoned some pretty good players like their ace Dan Haren (dealt to the D-Backs) and slugger Nick Swisher (dealt to the White Sox). Don’t expect too much from the A’s this season.

What else should you expect this season? Well just in time for the opening pitch of the 2008 season, here’s Running The Point’s predictions.

AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Detroit Tigers
AL West: Anaheim Angels
AL Wild Card: New York Yankees
NL East: New York Mets
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: San Diego Padres
NL Wild Card: Los Angeles Dodgers
Most improved team: Houston Astros
The “If they could only stay healthy” team: Toronto Blue Jays
Most disappointing team: Colorado Rockies
AL MVP: Manny Ramirez
NL MVP: Jose Reyes
AL Cy Young: Eric Bedard
NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy
Most Homers: Ryan Howard
Barry Bonds will end up with: The Yankees

I’m kind of baffled by the way nobody has suggested Bonds going to the Yankees. They always seem to be hit with injuries and love to grab big name players off the wire midway through campaigns. Is it too much of stretch to see Barry in pinstripes? I don’t believe so. This should be another great season of baseball — even if we have to deal with Roger Clemens stories way too often.