Kuzul

What makes a fresh baseball season so beautiful? Maybe it’s that moment when you first open the newspaper and see the standings and find every team tied at zero. It’s the only time during the season where every team has an equal chance to succeed. Even the Astros, however briefly, take comfort in not yet being mathematically eliminated.

Or it could be the weather—that warm Spring air that we’ve all come to associate with a new season starting. It’s that scent of the trees blooming mixed with the familiar smell of ballpark nachos that wafts into the bleachers, but there’s something else in the air, too. Something it’s hard to put a finger on. What do they call it?

Oh! That’s what it is—hope.

That’s the best thing about April, the possibilities. For perennial basement-dwelling teams, it’s the prospect of a fresh slate and the thought that maybe, just maybe, we’ll turn things around this year. It’s the rookies who made the cut out of training camp for the first time, out on the field to prove themselves every night, as they strive to define themselves as big leaguers. Or it’s the grizzled veterans at the tail ends of careers, determined to have one more strong year before they hang it up.

The National League East has always been about pitching. From the Atlanta Braves‘ fourteen straight titles, to the Phillies‘ recent reign, to last year’s Washington Nationals, great pitching is what ruled the division.

But the stars of yesterday are fading. Johan Santana is out for the season with an injury. The Phillies’ core group, so dominant for so many years, is getting older and looking quite mortal. R.A. Dickey, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle have fled the country to play for some team in Canada.

A new wave of young arms now hopes to rekindle the fire and carry on the tradition of leading their teams to a division title. Who will be the next ace from the East who goes on to become a postseason hero? Stephen Strasburg might be a good bet, who for the first time has no constraints to his playing time. Or Kris Medlen, who has been lights out since the Braves inserted him into the rotation, and at the rate he’s going, he may never lose another game. The Mets‘ young Matt Harvey also has plans to return his team to prominence.

With so much up-and-coming young talent, the race in the East should prove to be exciting for many years to come.

The following predictions are as much speculation as anything, just one casual fan’s thoughts based on things he may have observed. They’re not meant to be set in stone. We all know what the swings of the season are like. An unexpected contender will emerge from obscurity and make the playoffs. Expected 100-win teams will plummet and start eyeing next year’s early draft picks. And that’s really why we’re all fans of the game. Because now and always, whether you’re a Yankees fan with ingrained championship expectations, or a Pirates fan just holding out hope for a winning season, we all have a chance.

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What makes a fresh baseball season so beautiful? Maybe it’s that moment when you first open the newspaper and see the standings, to find every team tied at zero. It’s the only time during the season where every team has an equal chance to succeed. Even the Astros, however briefly, take comfort in not yet being mathematically eliminated.

Or it could be the weather, that warm spring air that we’ve all come to associate with a new season starting. It’s that scent of the trees blooming mixed with the familiar smell of ballpark nachos that wafts into the bleachers.

But there’s something else in the air, too. What do they call it?

Oh! That’s what it is—hope.

That’s the best thing about April: the possibilities. For perennial basement-dwelling teams, it’s the prospect of a fresh slate and the thought that maybe, just maybe, we’ll turn things around this year.

It’s the rookies who made the cut out of training camp for the first time, out on the field to prove themselves every night as they strive to define themselves as big leaguers. Or it’s the grizzled veterans at the tail ends of careers, determined to have one more strong year before they hang it up.

The NL West is an enigma this year. It features strong teams on paper, but none without their respective questions.

The defending world champion Giants are the same patented band of misfits. So much has to go right in order for them to succeed that they hardly seem like favorites.

The Dodgers intend on making a splash this year, storming into the conversation after surpassing the Yankees for the highest payroll in the game. With that Yankee-sized payroll come Yankee-sized expectations—anything less than a championship will be considered a failure. Can the Dodgers live up to the hype?

Or will a contender emerge from among the D’backs, Rockies and Padres?

A revamped Arizona team is out to prove that they belong in the race. The Rockies have a handful of players back from injuries and are ready for a fresh start. And the Padres are relying on a youth movement and one of the most underrated offenses in the game to get them to the top.

The following predictions are as much speculation as anything—just one casual fan’s thoughts based on things he observes. They’re not meant to be set in stone.

We all know what the swings of the season are like. An unexpected contender will emerge from obscurity and make the playoffs. Expected 100-win teams will plummet and start eyeing next year’s early draft picks.

And that’s really why we’re all fans of the game. Because now and always, whether you’re a Yankees fan with ingrained championship expectations, or a Pirates fan just holding out hope for a winning season, we all have a chance.

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Ah, midsummer.

All-Star season is officially in full bloom, and with rosters having been announced, and new substitutions seemingly every day, a baseball fan can scarcely avoid the ubiquitous discussions of which players are deserving and which ones have no business being anywhere near Kansas City next week.

Especially since this time, it counts.

In 2003, in order to the provide additional incentive for victory, it was agreed that the winner of the All-Star Game would be awarded home-field advantage in the subsequent World Series. The idea was that this would stop managers from simply parading players out on the field; with nothing on the line, the only duty of a manager was to ensure that fans from every city would get to see their representative get some playing time.

Since then, managers have been making a more concerted effort to bring the title home for their respective league. Or have they?

Baseball is never about one single player winning the game for his team. Any manager will tell you that games are rather won by a collaboration of all 25 guys. You need the big boppers, the base stealers, the benchwarmer who can lay down that perfect bunt, the long relievers, the lefty one-out guys and the closers.

The All-Star Game should be no different, but it’s those smaller pieces that get often overlooked. Rosters get stocked with big jumbotron-smashing bats and pitchers who can light up radar guns, but it’s the other, vital smaller pieces that can really win you a close game in the later innings.

One of the most prominent omissions from All-Star Game rosters are setup men. The pitchers whose job it is to maintain a lead in the eighth inning and hand the ball to the closer. Often able to pitch comparably well to the closer, the setup man’s job can be a lot more matchup-based, and therefore arguably tougher. They have to be versatile, able to get the strikeout when called on with the bases loaded and nobody out or able to shut down that dangerous pinch-hitter that the opposing team has been saving for a big spot.

All-Star managers perennially overlook these guys, and instead load their rosters up with closers.

Here are five setup men who were snubbed this year, all deserving of a spot to represent their team.

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Hitting leadoff is one of the most important, yet undervalued jobs in baseball.

It seems lost on some managers in baseball today, that the leadoff spot in a lineup is merely where you put a fast guy who can steal a few bases.

Crafting a lineup is really just apportioning playing time among the members of your team. Each lineup spot gets, on average, twenty more plate appearances throughout a season than the spot below it. Ergo, a leadoff hitter should be the man you want at the plate more than anyone else on the team.

The leadoff hitter’s job is above all— to get on base. It helps if he’s an intimidating force on the basepaths. Affecting a pitcher’s concentration as he pitches to the heart of the lineup is always beneficial. But if he’s a guy who runs whenever he feels like it, gets caught a lot and kills more rallies than he starts, then you’ve got a problem.

Some leadoff hitters in baseball today are a break from the traditional mold. And a lot of them are on contending teams. This is more than a coincidence. We’re going to soon see a change in the winds regarding what skills are valued in a leadoff hitter, and which are overrated.

I have put together a power ranking of the 30 leadoff hitters in baseball, factoring in the following statistics: On Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage, Runs Created (Bill James’ statistic that measures total offensive output), and Stolen Bases. Some are weighed more heavily than others, and I used my judgement to determine which of them really performed the job of leadoff hitter the best.

Enjoy and please comment with your opinions!

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