Not long to go now!
Johnny, Josh, Erik and the rest of the Five team will be looking ahead to tonight’s broadcast with as much excitement as the rest of us. The Braves and the Nationals are leading off, with first pitch scheduled for 01.05 BST and Five’s coverage getting under way ten minutes earlier.
Lots of predictions have been released over the weekend and together they show just how open MLB is this season. Sure, there are plenty of teams who we all know will not get to the World Series, or even the play-offs, but that’s to be expected in a crop of thirty, particularly when only eight will be playing baseball in October. Half of the teams have a genuine right to dream of glory and it is impossible to predict with any certainty how any of the divisions will end up, nevermind who will be lifting the World Series trophy.
ESPN’s picks for example show quite a lot of variation, with the support for the Braves (two people pick them to win the World Series) perhaps being the main surprise, although they are certainly going to be a good team this year. The ESPN pundit who has really gone out on a limb is Pedro Gomez. He thinks the Angels are winning it all and that the White Sox’s Nick Swisher is going to be the AL MVP. Good luck with those picks, Pedro! (He also thinks the Brewers are going to win the AL Central and the Tigers will triumph in the NL Central – although we can put that down to a typing mistake).
The truth is, the predictions are all over the place because none of us knows what is going to happen. With each team playing 162 games over six months, there are going to be plenty of twists and turns, heroes and villains, and moments of joy and despair.
It’s going to be another great season.
Play ball!
