Greetings SOSHers: What Are Your Hopes, What Are Your Dreams?

I notice we’re getting quite a bit of traffic today from Sons of Sam Horn and, since I’m both unable to access the thread and the traffic all seems to be coming in for the Norm posts/debate threads, I’m going to guess it’s of the Pinsetting and Gutterballs variety.

Anyway, I wanted to acknowledge this because a.) I’m a huge Sox fan and I lurk there all the time, in particular the game threads b.) We haven’t had any posts in quite a while except for Vasgersian making a fool of himself, c.) this will presumably help push some of my baseball articles off the front page, which probably isn’t a bad thing, and d.) everyone loves a vanity post.

In summation: Go Sox!

2009 MLB Preview: American League East

As Opening Day 2009 fast approaches — a little faster than I’d like considering what I’m trying to accomplish here, though I’m more than fine with it otherwise — I thought I’d take a more expansive look at the upcoming Major League Baseball season. For those who don’t care to read my exhaustive rambling, I produced an easy-to-digest version of this all-you-can-eat buffet of baseball-related banality right here.

With that out of the way, let’s not even pretend that I don’t contribute, however little, to the dreaded East Coast Bias.

Yep, it’s AL East time. Teams appear in order of last year’s finish.

The defending American League Champion Rays stunned just about everyone who follows baseball last year (with the possible exception of my friend Brian, who claims that in his sleep-deprived haze during last year’s A’s-Red Sox opener in Japan he had the foresight to tell me that the Rays would win the American League. I was too busy cursing Daisuke Matsuzaka’s constant nibbling and J.D. Drew’s wonky back to notice or care) when they made the leap from perennial punching bag/disgrace to a fairly great team that merely plays in an unspeakably disgraceful venue.

Whereas the question a year ago at this time in the eyes of the people who had given the Rays any respect was if they’d finally manage to win at least 82 games, the question today is can the Rays repeat as champions of the AL East and the American League? The best answer is, they can, but they’re going to need to catch quite a few breaks.