The First Installment of the Best Baseball Blog

Welcome to the best baseball blog.  I’m starting this blog because I want to offer a weekday baseball reading that sums up the previous days’ games, offers news & notes, a fantasy spin, a history section chronicling each teams' history and past World Series winners, a trivia question, and finally a schedule of the day’s games and starting pitchers where I’ll pick my winners.   

This will be a quick synopsis of all the MLB happenings in one place.  So if someone throughout your day asks if you saw the Angels game last night, even if you didn’t see it, reading my blog will alert you that Mike Trout hit 2 HRs and Jeff Weaver tossed a shutout.  I’ll give a very brief summary of each game and provide you something to remember, something to talk about and something to look forward to the next day.

I’m a lifelong baseball fan, I’ve studied the game past & present, competed in fantasy leagues for 15 years, and have seen most teams in person and visited dozens of stadiums.  This has become a passion of mine and I'm finally putting my experience in writing.  I hope you enjoy it.

New postings will be available Monday – Friday at 6:00am and you can subscribe at the bottom of this page.

Predictions

Before the season starts, I’ll make my team predictions for the season.

A.L. East Winner               Tampa Bay Rays

A.L. Central Winner           Detroit Tigers

A.L. West Winner              Los Angeles Angels

A.L. Wild Card #1             Toronto Blue Jays

A.L. Wild Card #2             Oakland Athletics

N.L. East Winner                Washington Nationals

N.L. Central Winner           Cincinnati Reds

N.L. West Winner               Los Angeles Dodgers

N.L. Wildcard #1               San Francisco Giants

N.L. Wild Card #2             Atlanta Braves

Detroit Tigers over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALCS & the Washington Nationals over the Atlanta Braves on the NLCS.

I’ll take the Detroit Tigers to win the World Series over the Washington Nationals.  They are loaded.  Justin Verlander is going to have a huge year, considering he was my first overall pick in my keeper fantasy league. 

3/31 Games

Astros Blast Rangers 8-2

Bud Norris limited the Texas Rangers to 5 hits and just 2 runs as Rick Ankiel provided the Astros punch with a pinch-hit 3-run HR in the 6th inning to propel them to an 8-2 victory.  Clearly the Rangers lineup lacks punch without Josh Hamilton & Michael Young, who left via free agency, but the Astros aren't this good.  Some are comparing them to a little league team and they just might lose 110 games, but right now they're 1-0 and on pace for 162 wins. 

 

Fantasy Spin

Houston OF Justin Maxwell tripled twice and singled once while driving in 2 runs and scoring twice.  He just missed a HR by a few feet and could be a surprise source of power at 6'5" and 222 lbs. hitting righty in a very hitter-friendly Minute Maid Park

 

News & Notes

This is an unusual scheduling year in baseball.  The Interleague schedule is spread out throughout the season and one will be played almost every day when games are scheduled. 

New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana will miss the rest of the season as he contemplates shoulder surgery.

Boston Red Sox highly coveted rookie outfielder Jackie Bradley made the Opening Day roster after an impressive spring and will start in left field today against the Yankees in New York.

The Kansas City Royals added former A.L. MVP Miguel Tejada to their Opening Day roster.

A.L. MVP Watch - Justin Maxwell, HOU (hey, you never know)

N.L. MVP Watch - None yet, but we'll see what happens today.

I'm Just Saying...   (Player whose sudden spike in production raises suspicion)

Rick Ankiel.  He's hit just 69 career HRs and after last night's' pinch hit 3-run bomb, he's on pace for 162.  Hmmmm.

Record Watch – Justin Maxwell is on pace for 324 triples which would shatter the record of 36 held by Chief Wilson of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1912.

History – (with approximately 155 posts planned, the first 30 posts in this section will detail each team's history, the next 109 will chronologically feature all the World Series winners beginning with the first in 1903, and the remaining posts will cover post season awards & records).

   

Team History - Houston Astros

The Houston franchise joined the National League in 1962 along with the New York Mets and was originally named the Colt 45’s for 3 years.  In 1965 they moved into the first ever domed stadium the Houston Astrodome and took on the name Astros.  They’ve made 1 World Series in 51 years, losing to the Chicago White Sox in 2005 in 4 games.  After 51 years in the National League, they now reside in the American League West.  Craig Biggio leads the Astros in career games played, at-bats, hits, runs and total bases,

Trivia -   (I'll ask a different trivia question and reveal the answer the next post).  Anyone can look up the answer, but try not to use any resources.  You can reply back via email with your answer and I'll post the first 5 correct answers.

Today's Opening Day Question:  Which 3 players have hit 3 HRs in an Opening Day game? 

Schedule -

Today's Schedule, Monday 4/1 with pitching matchups in parentheses and my personal picks to win highlighted.  I'll keep a running score of my overall record throughout the year. 

                                                                                                                                        

1:00 pm    Boston Red Sox (Lester) @ New York Yankees (Sabathia)                               

1:05 pm    Miami Marlins (Nolasco) @ Washington Nationals (Strasburg)                        

1:10 pm    San Diego Padres (Volquez) @ New York Mets (Niese)        

1:35 pm    Chicago Cubs (Samardzija) @ Pittsburgh Pirates (Burnett)                 

2:10 pm    Colorado Rockies (Chacin) @ Milwaukee Brewers (Gallardo)

4:00 pm    San Francisco Giants (Cain) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (Kershaw)

4:10 pm    Kansas City Royals (Shields) @ Chicago White Sox (Sale)           

4:10 pm    Detroit Tigers (Verlander) @ Minnesota Twins (Worley)               

4:10 pm    Los Angeles Angels Weaver) @ Cincinnati Reds (Cueto)              

7:00 pm    Philadelphia Phillies (Hamels) @ Atlanta Braves (Hudson)                 
10:00 pm  St. Louis Cardinals(Wainwright) @ Arizona Diamondbacks (Kennedy)      

10:05 pm  Seattle Mariners (Hernandez) @ Oakland Athletics (Andersen)          

 

Finally, here's an actual Las Vegas Proposition bet that anyone can wager on:

Over/Under: 2 Chicago White Sox OF Adam Dunn strikeouts today against the Royals

Thanks for reading and please feel free to offer comments and forward to anyone you think would be interested.  I'll be back tomorrow morning with a new posting.