I haven’t gotten a lot of chances to write recently primarily because of work consuming about 12 – 13 hours of my day. I am out of the house at 7 a.m. most days and end up taking the train (or bus) back after 6 p.m. I am a week away from completing my initial three month contract here at Chartis and it is remarkable how quickly time has gone by. There has been plenty of chatter about converting me to a full-time employee now but I have yet to receive an offer, so I will withhold further comment on that until there is actually something to write about.

As another promising but disappointing Blue Jays season winds down, it is important to note that the Yankees have played six games in Toronto since I have moved here. The more interesting fact is that the only two games they have won from those six happened to be the ones that I attended – including the Tuesday night. Jays have to find a way to turn things around quickly as the division seems to become more and more competitive every year.

Hockey season is right around the corner with the Leafs playing their season opener against Montreal a week from today (and about 3 blocks from my work). You can already see the swarm of blue and white jerseys around downtown with people heading towards the preseason games around the same time as I leave work.

I recently searched for Maple Leafs tickets as I have never seen them play at home but the cheapest available at the moment for a Hockey Night In Canada game is $100+ a ticket for a game in February. Maybe holding out on buying a Leafs’ ticket is the best option right now as I’m afraid the hockey season will be disappointing again as a Leafs’ fan. The Maple Leafs have missed out on the postseason in each of the last five years and the primary goal for Toronto this year will be to end the longest playoff drought in the franchise’s storied history. Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf are clearly the two new stars on the team and hopefully can spark something miraculous.

This is the place where legends are made of. Just like the players who ended the Red Sox World Series drought, the players who bring home the championship to teams like the Cubs or the Maple Leafs and hopefully something good happens soon.

Just had an Over/Under draw for the 2010 MLB season with my brother over at The World According To Me and I ended up winning the toss that we virtually held with a Canadian penny. I decided to take the 2nd and 3rd pick, he got 1st and 4th and then we alternated after that until we both had six picks each. The only rule was you can’t repeat a pick of another person but you could pick the same team if you decided to go in the other direction of the first pick.

For those not familiar with the game, Vegas sets a number for how many games each team is going to win. After that, you decide whether a team will go OVER or UNDER that amount, make your pick and forget about it until the end of the season. If any of you want to make picks with me before the rest of the season gets under way tomorrow, let me know.

Ayaz
1. Mets OVER 80.5
4. Giants OVER 81.5
6. Angels OVER 83.5
8. Philadelphia UNDER 92.5
10. Washington OVER 70.5
12. Yankees UNDER 95.5

Faraz
2. Detroit UNDER 80.5
3. Minnesota OVER 83.5
5. Tampa UNDER 89.5
7. Cubs OVER 82.5
9. Philadelphia OVER 92.5
11. Toronto UNDER 70.5

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Mike
1. San Francisco O81.5
4. Seattle O83.5
6. Washington O70.5
8. Boston U94.5
10. Angels U83.5
12. Cleveland U74.5

Faraz
2. Detroit U80.5
3. Minnesota O83.5
5. Philadelphia O92.5
7. Angels O83.5
9. Baltimore O74.5
11. Pittsburgh U69.5

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Faraz
1. Mets O80.5
4. Minnesota O83.5
6. San Francisco O81.5
8. Angels O83.5
10. Cleveland U74.5
12. Washington O70.5

Cindy
2. Boston U94.5
3. Baltimore U74.5
5. Pittsburgh O69.5
7. Philadelphia O92.5
9. White Sox U82.5
11. Seattle U83.5

1. Unfortunately, the Toronto Blue Jays will lose 100+ games this season. In addition to playing AL East teams 19 times who have all seemingly improved from last year, the Blue Jays have a month long stretch from June 18th to July 11th where they have one “easy” series. The teams they play are Giants (3), Cardinals (3), Phillies (3), @Indians (4), @Yankees (3), Twins (3) and Red Sox (3). A rough 22 game stretch going into the All-Star Break. I don’t think too many teams get to play that tough of a stretch very often. They certainly have a powerful offense to compete with anyone in the game but the lack of experience in pitching will probably cost them way too many games.

Even though I make that prediction, I am going to be rooting every day like there is not tomorrow for the Blue Jays to prove me wrong.

2. On the other hand, Yankees will not win 100 games this year. I have seen several reports that have them at 103/104 wins but I don’t see that happening in the ever improving and difficult AL East. They improved in CF by getting Granderson but lost clutch hitters like Damon and Matsui and Gardner/Swisher isn’t a very intimidating corner OF. I am interested in seeing how Vazquez does because I have a feeling he could end up wining the most games in that rotation this year.

3. Even without Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins will comfortably win the AL Central. Tigers improved a little not nearly as much as they needed to and that playoff type rotation for White Sox will only help them so much. Behind the leadership (and new contract extension) of Joe Mauer and some decent pitching, I think they still win the division by at least 10 games even without Joe Nathan.

4. Both winners of the West divisions will have less than 90 wins. It has happened a few times in the past decade for the NL West but not in the AL since 1998 when Texas won the division with with 88 wins. Both Dodgers and Angels should win their respective divisions again but the Angels will have a much tougher fight and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mariners are competing for a playoff spot in late August or early September.

5. The first baseball game of the season I will attend is going to be May 19, 2010 when Tampa Bay Rays come to the Bronx to play the Yankees. Haven’t bought any tickets to the game yet, but it is the first date when everyone is done with finals and it just might work out.

Since there are only 19 days left until pitchers and catcher report for spring training, baseball predictions and projections are starting to appear left and right with the Baseball Prospectus one really sticking out in my mind. I will just mention a couple of quick things right now and probably a more in-depth post before the regular season starts in a couple of months.

As of today, they have the Washington Nationals finishing at .500 (81-81) something they have not done since 2005 and finish 3rd in the NL East – another feat they have only accomplished once in the past 12 years (and they were the Montreal Expos at the time). Another good thing for the Nationals franchise is that the Montreal Expos will have a second item in their name in the Baseball Hall of Fame as Andre Dawson will be the sole inductee and will go in wearing an Expos hat.

I am not really surprised to see the Blue Jays projected to finish at 73-89 after their dumping of Roy Halladay and considering how they only won 75 games last year with Doc, I think that just might be a reach but crazier things have happened, so one can only hope. I think the Jays’ offense is being severely undervalued at the projection of only 726 runs which puts them last in the AL and bottom 6 in the entire MLB.

Finally, I hope that this year the New York Mets will not try to sell to their fans a major league team with a minor league roster. A very nice addition for them in Left with Jason Bay but they still have Pagan, Castillo, Murphy and a catcher which makes for a rather weak lineup in the NL East if they want to dethrone the Phillies especially if they are not aggressively trying to upgrade their pitching rotation. Mets at 78-84 is about what everyone is expecting but an upgraded part or two can certainly make them a contender with a win total in the mid-80s.

I usually try to make a couple of Yankee games a year just to see my ‘favorite’ team lose and I even made a trip down to Philly last year to see my second ‘favorite’ team lose, so hopefully this year will be no different. If you are interested in purchasing MLB baseball tickets, try that new site or the usual ones like StubHub or if you are lucky enough to get it from the team’s site without any additional markups.

Well all series have now ended with Mike DiAmore being our leader with 4 points after the League Divisional Series. I expect everyone to have their predictions for the Championship Series in well before they start Thursday night.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs. New York Yankees

Also, just a reminder: these series will now be a best-of-7 from now on – the League Championship Series and the World Series both.

Get your picks in now fools. Also if anyone wants to get in on this contest, you can do so but your score will be one less than the lowest score on the board to begin that round. It’s going to be ridiculously difficult for you to win now but that’s what you get for not participating from the start.