Start Me Up (part 1) - Play Ball!

I absolutely love Opening Day.

The fresh cut grass...the sound of vendors selling products all around the stadium ("It's the BEER GUY!")...the taste of a hot dog with stadium mustard and onions...I wish I could be there.

But since I'm located in New York, I'll have to settle for watching this game in my room.

Unfortunately, I don't have much time to do a full preview today, since I've been backlogged with all kinds of stuff for the baseball beat here at Columbia, but I will leave you with some quick predictions for now and I'll fill in the details later this weekend when I'm not so busy.

If it interests you at all, I'll be tweeting (@SilverBullets21) my thoughts as the games go on.

But without further ado...

2012 Indians
Record: 79-83, 2nd place AL Central.

I want to be wrong so badly, but this team just has too many "what if?" questions for me to feel any kind of confident that the Tribe will make the playoffs. I reserve the right to revise this prediction later this season if the Indians make some moves, but right now, I just don't believe this is a playoff team. I don't see them being a Wild Card team either—not with the big boys of the AL East and now the Angels and Rangers in the AL West.

That being said, I'm going to watch this team and root for them to win every game. It's just that the realist in me is is preventing the prediction from being any more optimistic in that prediction.

As I said before, look for me to fill in some of those details later this weekend, but until then, enjoy Opening Day! I know I will.

~MAS