Thoughts from the Dugout

Expect more pictures of Royals players here if they keep playing well.

As of today, many teams will be playing games #41 and/or #42. If you divide 162 by 4, you get a mess (or 40.5), so it’s safe to say that we are a quarter of the way through the baseball season. Granted, that’s a lot of baseball left to play, but it’s also not an insignificant number. Several teams have played themselves into excellent position throughout this year’s first leg. Others have dug themselves a hole. Still others started slow, yet are coming on strong as the year moves onward.

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MLB usually tries to come up with some kind of gimmick to make the All Star Game more palatable marketable less void of purpose entertaining. In years past, this has included the All Century team and granting the winner of the exhibition contest home field advantage for the World Series. (Just ask Kansas City how that worked out last year.)

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The baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint, and it is one filled with peaks and valleys. Different teams will peak at different times, and others will face dark days sporadically and unpredictably throughout the year. This monthly feature takes a look at three teams doing terrifically well…and three teams that aren’t doing so hot.

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Baseball is back, and with it, a plethora of scintillating story lines. The Atlanta Braves are on pace to go 162-0. The Colorado Rockies have hit more doubles than God. Hanley Ramirez is on pace to hit 324 home runs. The Cubs are still terrible.

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More of the same. You know the drill. Last time, it was the National League season preview. This time around, it’s the league’s kid brother, the American League.

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MVP Candidate Andrew McCutchen

There’s moving and shaking going on. As I mentioned in Friday’s piece, I’ll break down each team in a brief season-preview – covering things to look for, intriguing story lines, and expectations for the year. These may be high, or these may be low, but there are expectations moving forward. I’ll try and pick which teams make the playoffs as well, an easier proposition given that a third of baseball’s teams make the postseason now. If I get even four out of ten right, I’ll be pleased as punch.

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March Madness is upon us – my bracket’s not busted because come on, Kentucky’s going to win. (Ed. Note – I will redact this to whomever actually wins the tourney so as to appear ultimately omniscient. TC) The NBA is surging towards the postseason – if by surging, we mean limping at a fetid pace with most relevant starters resting on the bench. Hockey is WILD FOR THE WILD a thing that happens. Football is…well, let’s not.

Meanwhile, the National Pastime returns in less than two weeks. Two weeks! Anything is possible!

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So, Bug Selig has retired, and new MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has already started making his mark. But before we bid farewell to the erstwhile Commish, we need to properly and truly put him into context – the debate has already started about whether or not Bud Selig is likely to gain election into the Hall of Fame when the Expansion Era Committee votes again in 2017. (It’s not an open and shut case…but let’s be real – he’s probably going in.)

But where does he rank when compared with the other array of men to have held the position of Commissioner? How does he stack up in the illustrious history of powerful angry white men appointed by the owners to protect and serve the financial, political, and esoteric interests of their business interests*? How does Selig compare?

*protect the interests of the game of baseball. Sorry, I get them confused.

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