2008 Colorado Rockies
February 25, 2008
The Rockies might not of won the World Series against the Boston Red Sox but their storybook finish took baseball by storm last fall. When all looked like another year and no playoffs the Rockies went on one of the scariest runs in baseball history. They finished the regular season winning 13 of 14 games with the last one coming in the one game playoff against the Padres for the NL wild card spot. They didn’t stop there as they swept the Phillies and Diamondbacks in the first two rounds to take...
2008 Arizona Diamondbacks
February 25, 2008
In 2007 the Arizona Diamondbacks shocked everyone when they took a bunch of guys no one has heard of and won the NL West with a 90-72 record. They didn’t stop there as they went on to sweep the Cubs in the first round before eventually losing to the Rockies in the NLCS. Though the Diamond backs were probably ok bringing back the same team for 2008, as many of there players have yet to even hit their prime, they went out and got all-star pitcher Dan Haren in a big trade with Oakland. Manager Bob...
2008 Philadelphia Phillies
February 23, 2008
While this team needed all the help it got from the Mets to make the playoffs last year, they were playing some of the best baseball out of every team in the league. While their first round match up with the eventual NL representative in the World Series didn’t go to well, the team is hoping that they can get back to the playoffs in 2008. The Phillies looked primed to have the edge over the Mets for division favorite, but that all changed when the Mets signed Johan Santana. Manager Charlie Manuel...
2008 Washington Nationals
February 23, 2008
Last year’s Washington Nationals were more of a surprise than anything. Expected to finish at the bottom of the NL East they finished 4th with a 73-89 record. While the record isn’t anything special the team played much better than expected. The Nationals are known for bringing in troublesome players and getting the best they can out of them. Las year they took on troubled Dimitri Young and he would up being the NL comeback player of the year. This year will be no different as they traded for...
2008 New York Mets
February 23, 2008
In 2007 the Mets had one of the biggest collapses in baseball history. The Mets were up 7 games with only 17 games remaining in the regular season. Next thing you know they lost their last game of the season to the lowly Florida Marlins and the Philadelphia Phillies were all the sudden the division winners. While many believed manager Willie Randolph would be the scapegoat after seasons end, but he will be back in 2008 to lead a revamped Mets team. The main reason that the Mets believe that last...
2008 Florida Marlins
February 23, 2008
The Marlins finished 2007 at the bottom of the NL East with a 71-91 record with a very young team. 2008 won’t be much different as they are full of young talent, but in order to get all this young talent fans have had to watch big name player after big name player get traded away. They didn’t stop this off-season as they made a big deal with the Detroit Tigers to send Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis for 6 prospects. The two best players that came the Marlins way are OF Cameron Maybin and...
2008 Atlanta Braves
February 23, 2008
The Braves have now missed the playoffs two straight years after they completely dominated the NL East in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. While the window of opportunity seems to close as each year passes by the team needs to win and win now. They finished 2007 with a winning record of 84-78, but finished 3rd still finished third in the division. Manager Bobby Cox will try to lead the team to the playoffs once again in his 19th season as the Braves coach. The team will still have mid-season pick...
2008 Oakland A’s
February 19, 2008
In 2007 the Oakland Athletics came into the season as defending AL West champions, and a playoff team five out of the last seven seasons. But in 2007 they fell all the way to third place in the division with a 76 – 86 record and were only one game ahead the last place Texas Rangers. The team traded away almost all of its veteran talent by the end of the season, and even more of them were traded this past off-season. The biggest names to go were P Dan Haren, OF Nick Swisher, and OF Mark Kotsay....
2008 Texas Rangers
February 19, 2008
At the end of last year the Texas Rangers showed great signs of improvement. At the end of May the Rangers were tied with Kansas City for the worst record in baseball at 19 – 35, but finished the season strong going 4 games over .500 for the remainder of the season. One of the big reasons for the turnaround was when the team traded away P Eric Gagne, 1B Mark Teixeira, and P Ron Mahay for eight prospects. A few of these prospects are expected to start and play big roles in 2008. Manager Ron Washington...
2008 Seattle Mariners
February 19, 2008
The Seattle Mariners were the leaders of the AL Wild Card on Aug. 27th, but they crumbled down the stretch to miss out on the playoffs. While the team had to deal with the departure of manager Mike Hargrove in the middle of the season, pitching was the main reason they team was unable to perform down the stretch. New manager John McLaren should have a much better chance of not letting that happen in 2008, as the Mariners have recently acquired Baltimore Orioles ace pitcher Erik Bedard. The team...