Season Greetings

Today is a holiday for me - Opening Day. I've never actually been able to go to an Opening Day, but I've had countdowns for as long as I remember, and look forward to it all winter.

I haven't been able to watch for the last few years because I'm always coaching; indeed, it's our Opening Day as well tomorrow, as we play our first official game. However, I'll watch a tape-delayed version of the game on my majorleaguebaseballtv.com tomorrow night, and be very happy.

The Tigers are set to be one of baseball's best teams, and anything less than a World Series victory this year will be a disappointment. With the addition of Miguel Cabrera, the Tigers have baseball's best offense, and perhaps a historic best offense. Still, I worry about the bullpen, and the starting rotation, which needs comebacks from a couple of talented young pitchers who pitched poorly last year - Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman. Our pitching depth is weak, and I fear falling under the crush of high expectations. Still, this season will be an exciting one, and one that I hope ends with a healthy playoff run.

As for the Orioles, I've never been so excited about them, either. I'm admittedly not a longtime fan, but root for them a bit over every team except the Tigers. For the first time ever since I've been in Baltimore (7 years), they seem to be on the right track, though. I still wonder about some of their decisions (their everyday shortstop decision is horrible, there are better shortstops available on the waiver wire right now), but, for the most part, they're doing exactly what they should have done a while ago - trading away their veterans for young stars. I'm excited about watching Adam Jones play; he and Markakis could be the core of the next great Orioles team. So could Adam Loewen and Matt Wieters. The Orioles will probably lose 100 games, but it's better to do that than lose 85 or 90 with a bunch of mediocre veterans. I see the 2008 Orioles like the 2003 Tigers - on the cusp of something good.

Tigers over the Mets in 5.