Play Ball!

Play Ball!
The season officially starts in about 22 minutes, when the A's and the M's square off in Japan. I'm awake right now (2:38am) because I cannot seem to get to sleep, so don't think I'm such an obsessive fan that I would stay up for this.

If I did stay up, however, it would be the sixth time I would have stayed up past 2am to watch a sport in Japan on TV. The last five times, I have been watching the haru-basho, where the yokozuna, Hakuho, beat out sekiwake (and soon-to-be ozeki) Kakuryu to take home his 22nd yusho. He still trails Asashoryu by three for the record for a foregin-born rikishi (they are both Mongolian) but could conceivably catch and surpass the legendary Chiyonofuji and Taiho, who have 31 and 32 yushos, respectively. Baruto was disappointing in his bid for promotion, mustering only a 10-5 record. He was overpowering against many of the rank-and-file sekitori but could not buy a win against a sanyaku rikishi. He has such raw power and is so young that he could still concievably make yokozuna in the future. Kotoshogiku and Harumafuji were disappointing, despite Shogi's usual ephemeral flashes of brilliance. On the other hand, a few of my favorite lower-ranked rikishi did well. My man from Shimane prefecture, Okinoumi, had a strong showing and should climb the banzuke. The Nate Robinson of makuuchi and a personal favorite, Toyonoshima, was fantastic, and shared the technique sansho with Kakuryu. He could even get promoted back to komusubi, but we'll see.

Still don't know what I'm talking about? Look it up!

This is my last chance to make "pre-season" picks so I am slightly revising what I had last time, I'll post my new predictions below.

AL West

1 Texas

2 Los Angeles 

3 Seattle

4 Oakland

AL Central

1 Detroit

2 Minnesota

3 Kansas City

4 Chicago

5 Cleveland

AL East

1 Boston

2 New York

3 Tampa Bay

4 Toronto

5 Baltimore

NL West

1 San Francisco

2 Arizona

3 Los Angeles

4 Colorado

5 San Diego

NL Central

1 St. Louis

2 Milwaukee

3 Cincinnati

4 Pittsburgh

5 Chicago

6 Houston

NL East

1 Miami

2 Philadelphia

3 Atlanta

4 Washington

5 New York