Its a Celebration

Less than 24 hours.

Tribe '07. Year 6 of the Grand Shapiro Plan. Potentially the team to finally end Cleveland's championship drought? (43 years and counting...)

We shall see. Baseball's so-called experts have anointed our Tribe as "this year's Tigers," and one of the team's to watch in the American League's loaded central division. Last year proved that lofty preseason projections mean absolutely nothing, but its clear that the core is there for this team to have a chance at contention.

The facts: The starting rotation is talented and deep. The lineup could be even more powerful than last year. The bullpen on paper is improved but still pretty awful.

Roberto Hernandez, Aaron Fultz, and Joe Borowski are our major improvements in the 'pen. Fultz has had one good year in his career (2005) and is perpetually mediocre at best, and as ludicrous as it sounds Joe Borowski could be described as a poor man's Bob Wickman for the daily tightrope he walks every ninth. That leaves the ageless Hernandez as the stabilizer for our bullpen. Ouch.

Still, hope abounds for this year's Tribe. With the most rotation depth we've had in recent memory coupled with a dangerous offense, we have as good a shot as any to make the playoffs and make history.

ONE MAN'S PREDICTIONS:
Division Winners:
AL: Yankees, Twins, A's
NL: Mets, Astros, D'Backs

AL Wild Card: Indians
NL Wild Card: Cardinals

AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
AL Cy Young: Johan Santana
NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb

ALDS: Indians over Yankees, Twins over A's
NLDS: Mets over Cardinals, D'Backs over Astros
ALCS: Indians over Twins
NLCS: Mets over D'Backs

WORLD SERIES: CLEVELAND INDIANS over New York Mets

Why not us?