2012 Major League Baseball Season Preview

The 2012 MLB season gets started this week (actually Oakland and Seattle played two regular season games in Japan and split them this past week) and there will be a new wrinkle in the mix as an extra "wild card" team will be added once the post-season begins.
There are now ten teams competing for the World Series title once October rolls around, so that could make for an interesting Fall Classic as it seems that baseball, much like NFL football these days, crowns the team that is the hottest as champion when the post-season arrives.
Anyway, here are capsule style previews/predictions for the division races this season as well as the picks for the World Series outcome.


AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

1. NEW YORK YANKEES - As long as they spend, they seem to keep winning, just not as much in the post-season anymore.
2. TAMPA BAY RAYS - Manager Joe Maddon worked a lot of magic last year, including that incredible comeback in the final game to see the Rays get into the playoffs.
3. BOSTON RED SOX - The Bosox will be competitive once again in baseball's best division.
4. TORONTO BLUE JAYS - These guys always seems to flame out as the season wears on. So expect yet another .500 type season north of the border.
5. BALTIMORE ORIOLES - The O's are a young and improving team. Seems to be the case about this team for the last six years or so. Avoiding 90 losses in 2012 will be considered a good season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL 

1. DETROIT TIGERS - The pressure is all on them as they seem prepared to make a serious run at the World Series this year.
2. CLEVELAND INDIANS - The Tribe will do well to finish above .500 in 2012.
3. CHICAGO WHITE SOX - The Sox are not as bad as some seem to be indicating. However, do not expect them to contend with the Tigers in this division this season.
4. KANSAS CITY ROYALS - Another up and coming young team that will be tough to beat day in and day out.
5. MINNESOTA TWINS - Ron Gardenhire is a good manager, he just does not have the talent as he did a few years ago when the Twins were regularly winning this division.

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST

1. TEXAS RANGERS - They came ohsoclose to winning it all last year. The Rangers are head and shoulders above a lot of teams in the American League.
2. LOS ANGELES ANGELS - Albert Pujols needs to deliver for the 'Halos to contend with Texas in this division.
3. OAKLAND A's - They took a step back last year, so we have to wait and see in 2012 which team will show up.
4. SEATTLE MARINERS - Ichiro is entering the twilight of his career in Seattle, but this team will do well to escape the division cellar.



NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST 

1. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES - They added a real closer this season to go along with perhaps the best starting pitching rotation in the game. Watch out!
2. ATLANTA BRAVES - Can the Braves get over the hump with the extra playoff spot in 2012?
3. WASHINGTON NATIONALS - This team is steadily on the rise and may even finish ABOVE .500 for the first time in franchise history.
4. MIAMI MARLINS - Ozzie! Ozzie ! Ozzie!
5. NEW YORK METS - Cellar dwellers in 2012.

NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL 

1. CINCINNATI REDS - No excuses this season boys.
2. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS - How the Red Birds won it all last year is beyond comprehension.
3. MILWAUKEE BREWERS - The Brew Crew lost a Prince (Fielder) to Motown, but they still have Ryan Braun and some solid pitching.
4. PITTSBURGH PIRATES - No longer the laughing stock of the National League.
5. CHICAGO CUBS - Theo! Theo! Theo!
6. HOUSTON ASTROS - GO WEST! And they will next year to the American League. But this team needs to move to the American League West this season.

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST 

1. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS - They surprised everyone in 2010, but not last year. They should rebound and regain the NL West title.
2. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS - This team is solid and could make the surprise run in October much like San Francisco (2010) and St. Louis (2011) did the last two seasons.
3. COLORADO ROCKIES - Good lineup, but still need to show more with the likes of the Giants and D-Backs in their division.
4. LOS ANGELES DODGERS - Good pitching and a decent lineup, but they just seem to be lacking the magic to contend for the post-season.
5. SAN DIEGO PADRES - One of the worst teams in Major League Baseball once again.

Once the post-season begins, it seems to be anyone's guess as to what can happen as that has been the case for most of the past decade or so in the Major Leagues.
However, here is an attempt to pick the World Series champion for the 2012 season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE 

Wild Card Round - Los Angeles Angels over Tampa Bay Rays

Division Playoffs - Detroit Tigers over New York Yankees; Texas Rangers over Los Angeles Angels

AL Championship Series - Detroit Tigers over Texas Rangers

NATIONAL LEAGUE 

Wild Card Round - Arizona Diamondbacks over St. Louis Cardinals

Division Playoffs - Philadelphia Phillies over Arizona Diamondbacks; San Francisco Giants over Cincinnati Reds

NL Championship Series - Philadelphia Phillies over San Francisco Giants

WORLD SERIES

Philadelphia Phillies over Detroit Tigers


So there you have it... we'll see come October.

In the meantime, enjoy the baseball season and save me a hot dog.

Play Ball!



















 

Keith Olbermann Out at Current TV as Countdown Host

After roughly nine months on Current TV, Countdown Host Keith Olbermann is out.

Really?

Keith wasn't on that much since the show started on Current TV last summer, so what's the difference?

Plus the fact the show's best segment ...  "The Worst Person in the World" was phased out recently.

Good Night (Keith) and Good Luck.

The Resemblance Is Striking

I would rather these three guys above rule on the Health Care Reform Law rather than the three below.

STAY TUNED!!!

This Is Spot On Regarding The Right Wing

Sunday Stew

Just some random thoughts and musings about different events shaping the course of discussion these days in the United State of America.

The Trayvon Martin murder is a tragedy and that is what it is ... a tragic, senseless murder by a person who probably shouldn't have been able to have a handgun. This person used their own fear and prejudice to murder a teenager walking back home from a convenience store.

No real "Cinderellas" this year in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, unless you consider Louisville a "Cinderella".

Former VP Dick Cheney just underwent a heart transplant... maybe it will lead him to becoming a real human being now.

 The GOP Presidential primary continues to go  on ... and on ...and on ... and on ...


Gas prices were OVER $4.00 a gallon in 2008, before dropping back under $2.00 a gallon roughly six months later after George W. Bush was out of office... don't count on that happening again because President Barack Obama is not viewed in a favorable light by the major oil conglomerates or the Wall Street speculators who are responsible for the surge in the gas prices in recent months.

Baseball season begins in two weeks.

Why is it that right wingers in this country are trying to justify the murder of Trayvon Martin?

Lacy J. Banks, a great Chicago sports writer and columnist, passed away this past week at the age of 68 years old. Banks covered the Chicago Bulls for years, including the two three-peat runs in the 1990's.

 Perhaps the NRA needs to look in the mirror following the tragic murder of Trayvon Martin as a result of the "stand your ground" law that they helped push through in the state of Florida. The fact is when the right to bear arms law was enacted in the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, it was designed for a standing army to defend against a possible takeover by the King of England's army in response to the colonies forming this country following the American Revolution. We do not need a return to the days of the Wild West.

Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.


Have a great weekend and God Bless America!

Simple Music for Listening Pleasure

With so much angst and strife going on these days in our country, just a moment of music to help ease tensions and unwind the spirit.

HEY U.S. HOUSE REP. PAUL RYAN - ARE YOU NUTS?

This pretty much sums up the people's opinion of the Paul Ryan (REPUBLICAN) budget plan for the United States of America, which is just more of the same warmed over crap from last time.

Get a clue, dude!

A Real American Hero

Greg Smith

Kudos to Greg Smith, the former Goldman-Sachs employee who blew the whistle with an op-ed piece in the New York Times this past week and blasted the crooks on Wall Street and all of their corruption for the lack of morality they use in every day dealings.
When Smith wrote the article, he was informing the giant firm of his resignation because he could no longer carry on in the cesspool that has become the speculating and price manipulation of Wall Street.
Maybe it is time some of the unethical bozos on Wall Street land behind bars and do some time in the slammer.
 Are you listening Attorney General Eric Holder?

NCAA Basketball Tournament

Heftyinfo picks the FINAL FOUR . . .

                                                   

         

March Madness

COMING SOON  . . . . . .

College Basketball Top Ten

Heftyinfo Men's College Basketball Top Ten  (Week ending March 4)

1. Kentucky (30-1)
2. Syracuse (30-1)
3. North Carolina (27-4)
4. Kansas (26-5)
5. Missouri (27-4)
6. Marquette (25-6)
7. Michigan State (24-7)
8. Ohio State (25-6)
9. Duke (26-5)
10. Georgetown (22-7)

Lindsay Lohan Hosts SNL ... WTF

RUSH apologizes

Right wing talking head Rush Limbaugh apologizes (sort of)  for calling Georgetown University Law School student Sandra Fluke a 'slut' and a 'prostitute' this past week after she testified on behalf of women's health care issues regarding contraception before a Congressional committee hearing.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW to see Rush Limbaugh in action.

Politically Speaking, What A Week

The past week has generated some interesting banter around the world of politics.

First, there was Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum (going up against Michigan native Mitt Romney) blathering about how President Barack Obama is a 'snob' for wanting to give young people the chance to go to college.
Really?
Santorum himself had the chance to go to college before eventually winding up in the U.S. Senate for twelve years.
 In 2006, Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly threw his ass out of office in the election, where he lost by a whopping 18 percentage points to Bob Casey.
Then there was Romney (the ultimate flip-flopper) changing his position at least two or three times on the 'Blunt Amendment' to the Health Care Reform law regarding contraception (among other items) when it comes to women's health.
He claims he didn't quite understand the question when it was posed to him.
Yeah, right!
How about the death of Andrew Breitbart, the right wing internet blogger?
This guy was miserable it seemed as he continually hounded and howled at the Occupy Wall Street protesters in recent weeks.
Breitbart was just 43 years old and suffered from an apparent coronary disease that took his life this past Thursday.
Let's just leave it at that regarding the right wing hack.

But the topper of them all was RUSH LIMBAUGH, that fat tub of goo heard by millions on a daily basis over America's radio airwaves.
 He called a young woman named Sandra Fluke, who is a student at Georgetown University Law School in D.C. a 'slut' and a 'prostitute' after she testified on behalf of contraception regarding women's health care recently in a Congressional committee hearing in the nation's capitol.
Really Rush, a slut?  A prostitute?
This just goes to show what a complete asshole Limbaugh is.
Maybe he should be FIRED the way radio talk show host Don Imus was a few years ago when he called the black women on the Rutgers basketball team 'nappy headed hoes'.
Perhaps a suspension is in order rather than a firing for the fat bastard that is Limbaugh.
Radio talk show host Ed Schultz (also of The Ed Show on MSNBC) was suspended from his own show last year when he called fellow political talker (on the radio) Laura Ingraham a slut. So why isn't radio giant Clear Channel doing something about the Limbaugh rant?
In fact, Schultz voluntarily took the suspension in reaction from the right to his remarks about Ingraham.
Applause was in order to Schultz for his actions on the matter as he manned up to his error and now continues onward in the political talk arena.

I stand by Schultz for his actions (that is Ed Schultz and myself in the picture)  and his witty commentary on a daily basis.
'Big Ed' is for the people of the United States of America.
Limbaugh is a complete tool for the right wing corporate fascists that hate America and especially President Obama.
How this guy remains on the radio is beyond any reasonable comprehension.
But what a week it was and it will continue to get interesting as the gasoline prices continue to soar well over $4.00 a gallon this spring and early summer.
Thanks you nitwits on Wall Street for the speculation on future oil prices in the God damn "global economy" that continues to drive those GAS PRICES up and up.
In the meantime, Heftyinfo will keep observing and only hope that things will reach a calmer demeanor politically speaking in the near future... but don't hold your breath on that happening.

50 Years Ago - Wilt Chamberlain Scores 100 Points In One Game