I am really excited about the 1998 Major League Baseball season.
Okay, I am always pretty excited when the baseball season gets started. And I’ll probably be unexcited about 100 games into the season. And I’ll probably be excited again when the playoffs roll around.
But right now, I am really ecstatic about baseball and here are a few of the reasons why you should be too:
I won five dollars!
Maybe that’s not a great reason for you to be excited, but before the season really even gets underway, I have a sure bet in my pocket. An editor at The Hatchet (to protect his identity, let’s call him Tyson) bet me five dollars that Mark McGwire is going to hit 70 home runs this season.
Just to clarify, that’s a seven, followed by a zero.
Not to take away from the power hitting of the St. Louis Cardinals’ McGwire, but hitting 70 homers is about as likely as the Wizards making the playoffs and the Capitals winning the Stanley Cup.
I am pretty sure that this person knows nobody has hit 60 since Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961. At least I hope he knew that when he made the bet.
Anyway, my personal benefit aside, watching the stars of the game chase after one of the most elusive records in baseball definitely will be entertaining again this season. McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr. should be getting used to fan and media pressure to break Maris’ record, so this year might be one of their best chances to make baseball history.
The NL East
Yeah, it’s just one division, but the dynamics of the National League East should be interesting to follow during the 162-game schedule.
Maybe I am a little biased because I am a Phillies fan, but I have a feeling the NL East will be a knock-down, drag-out fight all season and that the intra-division series should be gems. After all, Philadelphia just took three of four games from Atlanta last weekend, and not too many baseball analysts would have predicted that.
The Braves are good, as always. The New York Mets should be good as well behind both a solid starting lineup and a talented pitching staff. The Phillies, one of the youngest teams in baseball, are on their way up after residing near the cellar of the division since their 1993 World Series appearance.
Montreal, which is off to a slow start (3-9 through Tuesday), is once again young and talented and can’t be counted out of the wild-card chase. And even after dumping most of its team in the off-season, Florida should toughen up behind the play of veterans like Bobby Bonilla and Gary Sheffield who will try to save face for the team.
Devil Rays and Diamondbacks
In case you didn’t know, these are the mascots for the two expansion teams that joined Major League Baseball this season.
In an era in which professional teams are running out of good and/or imaginative nicknames (i.e. the Wizards, the Panthers), these two teams are really bucking the trend.
All kidding aside, the addition of two new teams in baseball is fantastic considering the success of the last two expansion teams (the Marlins, who won the 1997 World Series, and the Rockies, who consistently feature one of the most explosive offenses in baseball).
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are off to a good start at 7-5 behind the hot hitting of Quinton McCracken (.415) and Rich Butler (.379), and, while the Arizona Diamondbacks have started slowly (2-12), look for them to improve throughout the season behind the veteran leadership of Matt Williams, Jay Bell and Devon White.
