American League

A Fit Full of Tasers : MLB Enjoying A Week of Hearty Storylines

It usually happens like this. Everything is going great, there’s no drama, no over-excited story that garners far more national attention than it deserves, and all of a sudden the stories hit like a thunderstorm in a Michigan summer.

Attention mediocre American League pitchers and hitters.

If you'd like to build Hall of Fame numbers, it would be in your best interest to transfer to the National League as soon as possible.

We see pitchers like Brad Penny, Carlos Silva, and Jose Contreras, recent transfers to or back to the National League, as examples of the most recent hilarities the National League has produced.

Teams are no longer counting on the three run home run these days; they are thinking speed, speed, and more speed.

The Oriole Way

Peter Angelos, the Baltimore Orioles owner, has no idea what that means. It is a term every baseball fan in Charm City is well aware of, and a methodology that Angelos has seemed bent on destroying since he bought the ball club in 1993.

The Oriole Way had been very successful before he bought the club. For over three decades, from the 1960's to the 1980's, the Orioles had the highest winning percentage in all of sports, and the winningest team in all of baseball. They won six American League Pennants and three World Series over that time.

In 2009, plenty of American League rookies had excellent seasons. Twenty three-year old third baseman Gordon Beckham had a eye-opening year, hitting .270 with 14 homers and 63 RBI in 103 games.

Baseball season begins April 4, so it’s time to predict the outcomes for every team in the AL. Look for your favorite squads and compare your picks to mine.

I’ve ranked the teams based on their predicted finish for the 2010 season. I’ve also ranked each squad’s batting and pitching on a letter scale, with a short explanation following.

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Some pests are hard to get rid of.

Like Yankee fans.

As anyone who follows American League ball can tell you, they show up in droves at opposing ballparks whenever the Bronx Bombers visit.

With their charming ways, chainsaw accents, and oh-so-gentle demeanor, they continue to be ambassadors for the civility and "live and let live" attitude that their home city is so well known for.

But few realize that the entire Yankee fan species (blowhardus obnoxious) is actually split into several subsets or, from those who remember your high school biology days, phylum.

The Minnesota Twins announce that Joe Mauer has signed an eight-year, $184 million contract. The deal includes a full no-trade clause.

The deal will be made official at a 7:00 pm EST press conference in the Twins’ Conference Center.

Gerald Laird might have been the best catcher in baseball in 2009—defensively.

But Detroit's catcher forgot to pack his bat when he left Spring Training.

His seventh campaign was his most disappointing at the plate. In 413 at-bats, Laird limped to a .225 batting average, four homers, and 33 runs batted in, all while providing top-notch defense. With an on-base percentage well-below .300 (.278), he was a major blockage in Detroit's light-hitting bottom of the order.

So the Tigers' backstop worked endlessly in the offseason to improve the weak point in his game.

The greatest time of the year is upon us. As the weather warms up, so does that spot in our heart for baseball. Spring Training has finally begun!

Thirty MLB teams now begin their preseason games knowing that in under a month, it finally counts again.

So if your favorite team's dreams were crushed last season, you once again have reason to hope. Embrace this chance because, come October, you may just have to wait another year.