The Marathon: Major League Baseball

Everyone rags on baseball for being too long. 162 games, plus another boatload in the playoffs, makes baseball "relevant" from March - October. One thing you have to give baseball credit for though, is that they recognize this and have taken measures to reduce the game time, and even have tossed around the idea of reducing the number of games.

However, I still think going to a baseball game is one of the most enjoyable sporting experiences out there.  The casual nature of the game, while boring on television is perfect for live viewing.  It gives you the opportunity to relax, talk with friends, and enjoy a cold one or two (Editor's note: Or five or six).

While most people were focusing on football, basketball and even hockey the last few months, a flurry of offseason moves were made by a bunch of prime contenders.

Washington Nationals

Yes - I may have an obsession with my Nationals.  But I feel like I'm entitled to talk a bit about them after this offseason, after they pulled off the single biggest move: signing this goofy guy.

Giving them this ludicrous rotation - with Roark (190+ innings sub 3.0 ERA) in middle relief

Projected Rotation

	Player	POS	IP	W	L	ERA	WHIP	K	BB	SwStrike	Fastball
1	Stephen Strasburg	SP	199	16	7	2.85	1.11	221	47	11.2%	94.7 mph
2	Max Scherzer	SP	207	16	8	3.00	1.12	237	58	11.5%	92.8 mph
3	Jordan Zimmermann	SP	202	15	8	3.12	1.09	172	34	10.3%	93.7 mph
4	Gio Gonzalez	SP	173	13	7	3.28	1.21	175	64	10.7%	92.1 mph
5	Doug Fister	SP	183	13	9	3.69	1.17	124	32	6.1%	87.9 mph

Does that mean someone besides Harper will show up in the Postseason - we will see. But Vegas does have them as the favorites (5/1).

San Diego Padres

The San Diego Fathers also made significant moves this offseason - although that has only raised them up to 10th in Vegas (20/1).  Still, when was the last time the Padres were a relevant baseball team (Hint: its been a while).

The Padres revamped their entire outfield (Kemp/Upton/Myers), added Norris in the infield, and signed James Shields.  All of this should improve the Padres. But there are still a lot of questions.  Will Kemp stay healthy? Is Upton that good? Why has Myers underperformed his expectations?  Is Shields an ace or just a locker room guy?  You figure it won't all break bad for the Padres and some of these moves will pan out. But....

The Padres are still clearly NOT the best team in their division.  The Dodgers are certainly ahead of them, and maybe even the Giants (who won the WS last year) are ahead of them as well.

Chicago Cubbies

Everyone's talking about the Cubs this year.  And yes, Back to the Future did predict this.

Yes, the Cubs are better this year. Yes, they added Lester. Yes, you expect Maddon to produce a jump in the win total. Yes, Vegas has them at 14/1 (good for sixth).  But I don't see it.  Maybe they can win the division (which is expected to be weaker than usual). But I don't see them competing with the Nationals or Dodgers in the National League.

Everyone Else

There are a lot more teams I could talk about here, but I'm trying to keep this article shorter than the season, so I'll do a quick around the horn

NL West: The Dodgers are back and better than ever after shedding weight.  Expect Kershaw, Puig, and Pederson to carry this team to the NL West crown.  

AL West: The Angels should win comfortably (even without Hamilton).

AL East:  Could be an interesting three way race between the O's, Jays, and Red Sox (although overall all are weaker than they have been), I think Machado stays healthy and Baltimore pulls it out.

AL Central: The Central could fall to the Indians as the Tigers age and slump.