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Picking the best team in the American League in any season usually means deciding between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, but the Texas Rangers proved last year that surprises can happen. Here’s an AL 2011 preview.

AL East

The Red Sox are the darlings of a lot of prognosticators this year based on the free agent signing of Carl Crawford and trade for slugger Adrian Gonzalez. The Yankees have a lineup just as potent as Boston’s, but their starting pitching is suspect after C.C. Sabathia and Phil Hughes. The Sox, so long as Josh Beckett is his usual self, have the best team on paper in the division. As for the rest of the division, Toronto and Baltimore look like teams on the rise, while Tampa Bay appears to be on the decline. The Blue Jays won 85 games last season with a young developing roster and a bonafide power hitter in Jose Bautista. Buck Showalter breathed some life into a lowly Baltimore team when he was hired as manager, and the Orioles look primed to do some damage in the division this year. Tampa manager Joe Maddon has his hands full trying to keep his team competitive after losing Crawford, and others, to free agency.

AL Central

If things go according to form in this division, the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers will start fast, then fade at season’s end while manager Ron Gardenhire’s Minnesota Twins sneak past them and win the division. Things could change this year as the White Sox look ready to stay in it for the long haul. They added Juan Pierre, Alex Rios and Adam Dunn to an already potent offense so they appear to be favorites to win, if manager Ozzie Guillen can control his mouth. The return of closer Joe Nathan from injury makes the Twins a stronger team, and I see them battling the Chisox down to the wire. Detroit has got to figure out how to shake their reputation for choking at the end of the season, although slugger Miguel Cabrera’s problems with alcohol may signal troubles for the Tigers at the start of the campaign this year. Cleveland and Kansas City, unfortunately, are glorified farm teams for the big spenders in baseball and have no chance of winning anything. The only race either of them will be involved in is against each other to stay out of the division basement. Cleveland has some young stars in Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana while KC traded away its’ lone recognizable player – pitcher Zach Grienke – so the Royals look destined to finish last.

AL West

The Texas Rangers surpised everyone by reaching the World Series last year, but the free agency loss of pitcher Cliff Lee will make it difficult for the Rangers to even repeat as AL West champs this season. This is the weakest division in all of baseball and the move of Lee to the Phillies makes it even weaker. The Oakland Athletics, like Cleveland and Kansas City seemingly always operating as a major league “farm” team for the big money boys, have collected an impressive group of young players and the A’s will contend this year if they can pull this group together. In a division like this with no clear favorite, I have to favor the team with a winning background and capable veteran manager. That would be Mike Scioscia’s Los Angeles Angels. The Angels have added Vernon Wells’ bat to their lineup and I see them overtaking the Rangers and winning the division. The Seattle Mariners had Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez at the top of their pitching rotation last year and couldn’t win, so there’s no reason to believe they’ll go anywhere this year.

The major league baseball season gets underway on Thursday, and after last season’s shocking World Series win by the San Francisco Giants, just about every team, not just the big spending high-rollers, have championship dreams going into the new year. Today we’ll preview the National League.

NL East

The Philadelphia Phillies would most likely have been the favorites to win this division anyway. Then they went out in the off-season and signed pitcher Cliff Lee, who they had traded before last season to acquire ace Roy Halladay. Now the Phils have the strongest starting pitching staff in the majors seen in a long time, drawing comparisons to Atlanta’s staff of the 1990s and Baltimore’s of the 1960s. They are without a doubt the overwhelming favorite to win the World Series this year. The loss of outfielder Jayson Werth, a clutch hitter, in free agency can’t be overlooked, and the Phils didn’t really replace him . Also, Chase Utley will start the year on the disabled list, so the Phils may be scratching for offense early on. Still, they should win this division easily. The Atlanta Braves will play for a manager other than Bobby Cox for the first time since 1990, and stars like Jason Heyward, Brian McCann and Martin Prado make them the most likely challenger for Philly. The New York Mets have a new manager in Terry Collins, and showed signs of coming on last year behind youngsters like Ike Davis. They need big years from veterans like Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana and Jason Bay to compete with the rest of the division. The Florida Marlins are always a pesky team in the division and always play competitive baseball, despite losing players to free agency every year. However, manager Fredi Gonzalez is now in Atlanta, so the Fish look headed for a down year. The same goes for the Washington Nationals, who made a big splash in free agency by signing Werth but will be hard-pressed to overcome the loss of young pitching phenom Steven Strasburg.

NL Central

The Cincinnati Reds came out of nowhere last year to win this division, and with manager Dusty Baker and reigning NL MVP Joey Votto, are the favorites to repeat. Tony LaRussa’s St. Louis Cardinals are always a threat, but the club has had injury troubles with their pitching staff which may hold them back. Still, any team with Albert Pujols in their lineup is going to be dangerous. The other teams in this division, the Cubs, Astros, Brewers and Pirates, are also-rans, although the lowly Pirates have some intriguing young talent, led by outfielder Andrew McCutcheon, and a new manager in Clint Hurdle who has a history of getting the best out of average rosters. Milwaukee, uncharacteristically, went out and traded for an ace for their pitching staff – Zach Grienke – and have some big bats in their lineup. They are even being looked at as a dark horse to win the division by some, but I can’t see that happening.

NL West

The San Francisco Giants won it all last year with solid pitching and timely hitting from a lineup made up of mostly journeymen and castoffs, so to me they have the look of being the ultimate one-year wonder. Their closer, Brian Wilson, will start the 2011 season on the DL so the Giants’ opponents won’t have to “fear the beard” for awhile anyway. The Giants may have trouble repeating as NL West champs, let alone winning the Series again. The San Diego Padres gave them a strong run before folding at season’s end, but the loss of Adrian Gonzalez from their lineup will hurt. The biggest threat to the Giants should be the Colorado Rockies, who have a potent lineup and the pitching to match San Fran’s. The Los Angeles Dodgers figure to be rejuvenated under new manager Don Mattingly and should make some noise in the division also, but the Arizona Diamondbacks are in major rebuilding mode and appear to headed for the division basement again.

Major league baseball’s “hot stove” league, the off-season period when trades and free agent signings dominate the news, is now in full swing. Baseball’s annual winter meetings, where team general managers get together to do business, is where most of the action takes place. The Boston Red Sox, trying to get back to the postseason, have been big winners – signing one of the top free agents in outfielder Carl Crawford, and trading with the Padres for power hitting first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. The Bosox also lost catcher Victor Martinez in free agency as he signed with the Detroit Tigers. A lot of baseball writers have the New York Yankees on the “losers” list for the winter meetings, as they haven’t made any big moves. However, keeping Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera in the fold makes them off-season winners in my book. Plus the prize free agent – pitcher Cliff Lee – is still out there for the taking and the Yankees are considered prime candidates to sign him. The World Series champion San Francisco Giants declined their option on Series MVP Edgar Renteria and lost SS Juan Uribe to free agency, so they’ll have some holes to fill in their infield, and they signed Miguel Tejada to help out. Washington’s huge contract with Jayson Werth is a bit of a head scratcher, but give the Nationals credit for giving their fans a first class player to cheer for in the team’s lineup. As the off-season goes on, look for a lot of teams to try and add lower end and mid-range free agents to try to duplicate what the Giants did last year, when they added journeyman type players like Uribe, Pat Burrell, Aubrey Huff and Cody Ross, then rode those players to a world championship.

Baseball’s annual general manager’s meetings are currently going on, and these meetings usually signal the beginning of the “hot stove league”, the period in the off-season that major league teams begin building their teams for the following season through free agent signings and trades. The first major trade of the meetings was announced yesterday, as the Florida Marlins dealt one of their young stars, 2nd baseman Dan Uggla, to the Atlanta Braves for infielder Omar Infante and pitcher Mike Dunn.  For the Marlins, it was one of their classic money-dump moves, as Uggla is due for a huge contract and recently turned down an offer from them. Former Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez is now taking the helm as Bobby Cox’s replacement with the Braves, so the move makes total sense for them and vastly improves their lineup. Pitcher Cliff Lee is the hot free agent commodity this year, and his agents have already met with representatives of the Yankees and his current team, the Texas Rangers. I think the fact that the San Francisco Giants won the World Series this year, with a lineup of mostly low-cost players, may keep the big money from flowing in free agency this year like it usually does, as teams look at what they have on their roster, compare it to what the Giants accomplished, and decide to either go with their home-grown talent, or improve their teams with a timely trade or two. Lee and outfielder Carl Crawford should wind up with big paydays, but after them there won’t be any huge signings. Two other potential big name free agents are Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko, who would be attractive to a team looking for that one last big bat missing from their lineup. I don’t see either Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera leaving the Yankees. The 2 World Series teams have already made moves to save money, with the Giants choosing not to resign Edgar Renteria, and the Rangers declining next year’s option on Vlad Guerrero. Major League Baseball, like most other sports, is a copycat league, and with the big spenders like the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Dodgers and Phillies not having ultimate success this past year, this may be the year of teams staying the course with what they have in their own system, with pressure being put on managers to do what San Francsco’s Bruce Bochy did this past season – keep your team competitive,  get hot at the right time and ride the wave to a title.

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants for winning the 2010 World Series! The Giants weren’t on anyone’s radar when it came to picking the best team in baseball before the season started, and had to go to the last week of the season before even qualifying for the playoffs. Then they caught lightning in a bottle, as their bats came alive to complement their outstanding pitching, and the result was a stunning run through the playoffs, culminating with a one-sided World Series win over the Texas Rangers in five games. The Giants’ strength going into the postseason was their outstanding pitching staff, led by two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. Lincecum thrived in the postseason spotlight, outdueling Atlanta’s Derek Lowe, Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay, and the Rangers’ Cliff Lee, twice, in the World Series. The surprise was the effectiveness of the other Giants’ starters – Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Bumgarner. Closer Brian Wilson did his job throughout the playoffs, and the rest of San Fran’s bullpen was nearly unhittable also.

The pitching was outstanding, but what the Giants’ lineup accomplished was amazing. It was a great example of winning as a team, as the Giants’ roster of castoffs and misfits took turns coming up with timely hits. Rookie catcher Buster Posey is the only home-grown player, and he should be a cornerstone of the franchise for a decade. Series MVP Edgar Renteria epitomized the team’s makeup. His three run homer in last night’s series-clinching win was the second time in his career that he’s had a World Series winning hit. The entire starting lineup is made up of players who have kicked around the majors for years and were either acquired in trades or signed as free agents because nobody else wanted them – first baseman Aubrey Huff, 2nd baseman Freddy Sanchez, Renteria, 3rd baseman Juan Uribe and outfielders Pat Burrell, Cody Ross, Aaron Rowand and Andres Torres.

The best part of the story may be seeing the Giants’ manager, Bruce Bochy, win it all. Bochy is a crusty old career baseball man who has always reminded me of the actor, James Gannon, who played manager Lou Brown in the baseball comedy movie Major League. It’s always a great story in baseball when a team that isn’t one of the big spenders wins it all, and this Giants’ team was the ultimate example of how a team can succeed, even a collection of veteran castoffs, when they combine team play with great pitching.

Lou Brown looking to the bullpen for the “Wild Thing”.

Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy.

It’s rare when David slays Goliath twice in one week, but that’s what happened in baseball’s League Championship Series. In the American League, the Texas Rangers followed the tried and true formula for reaching the World Series – make sure Cliff Lee is in your starting rotation. Of course, the Rangers did much more than that. They outplayed the defending champion New York Yankees in every phase of the game. Lee continued his post-season mastery, putting his name up there with Sandy Koufax, Jack Morris and Bob Gibson as pitchers who excel under pressure. The surprise was the performance of the other Texas starters, especially C.J. Wilson and Colby Lewis. Not being a fan of pitch counts and coddling of pitchers in general, I hope the Rangers’ example of expecting the starters to finish what they start, an old school approach that mirrors what their team president, Nolan Ryan did, becomes a trend in baseball. It’ll improve the quality of the game. The Yankees’ starters were mostly ordinary. Even C.C. Sabathia, who won a start to keep his team from being eliminated in game 5, wasn’t dominant in that start, his teammates bats just came alive. Josh Hamilton, Vlad Guerrero and Yankee killer Bengie Molina all had timely hits in the series for Texas, while the vaunted Yankee lineup mostly went cold.

In the National League, it was a similar story. On paper, the Philadelphia Phillies had a much more potent lineup than San Francisco. However, the Phils’ bats went silent when it counted, and the Giants combined great pitching with timely hitting to win. The Phillies were a heavy favorite based on their starting rotation being the best in baseball, and their lineup far outclassing the Giants’, but the Giants pitchers and hitters got the job done. Ryan Howard’s last at-bat, which ended the Series, summed up Philadelphia’s effort overall. Every kid who has ever played Little League baseball has heard it a thousand times – “if you’ve got 2 strikes, protect the plate”, “if it’s close, get your bat on it”, “go down swinging”, etc. but Howard watched strike 3 pop into the catcher’s glove doing what too many major leaguers do these days that make the game too long and exasperating – he took the pitch, the most important pitch in the most important at-bat of the series. The Phils already had the tying run in scoring position and Howard is paid to drive in runs. Drawing a base on balls in that situation did nothing to help his team, and the pitch was way too close to take.

In picking a winner in the World Series, I have to go with Texas, based mostly on the presence of Lee. While other pitchers, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Phil Hughes, Andy Pettitte, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, etc. have had great playoff outings this year, they’ve also had average ones. Lee has been consistently spectacular in every start, and there’s no reason to believe he won’t continue to be. Texas has a better overall lineup also. So, assuming that Lee will beat the Giants’ best starter, Lincecum, probably twice, I’ll pick the Rangers to win in six games.

There’s a cliche in sports that says that any team good enough to make it to a championship is capable of winning it also, but I’m betting there are a lot of people who are surprised at the results of both League Championship Series in baseball this year. The last 2 World Series winners are being handled by unsung, unproven teams through the first 4 games in both leagues so far. In the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies came into the LCS having swept Cincinnati, with their superior pitching shutting down the Reds’ offense, which was the most potent in baseball in the regular season. At the same time, the San Francisco Giants had to battle to eliminate an Atlanta team that was riddled by injuries, so the Phils were considered heavy favorites. The difference so far in this series is that the Giants’ pitching, starters and bullpen, are trumping the Phils’ outstanding three starters, while the Giants’ lineup, which on paper is nowhere near what Philly brings to the table, is finding ways to score runs while the Phillies’ big hitters struggle.

In the American League, the New York Yankees staved off elimination by winning game 5 over Texas, but the Yanks were outplayed in all phases of the game through the first four. Cliff Lee was outstanding in his start, as expected, but the other young Ranger pitchers have gotten the job done also. Josh Hamilton, Texas’ biggest regular season offensive threat who has been slowed by injury and wasn’t a factor in the division series, has managed to supply timely hits in almost every game of this series. The Rangers are doing a great job of taking extra bases and doing all the little things to manufacture runs. Manager Ron Washington’s team has also blown games open with big innings late in games, rendering one of New York’s biggest weapons, closer Mariano Rivera, a non-factor.

Both series are far from over, despite the early success of the Giants and Rangers. The Yankees already showed in game 5 that they aren’t going to go down quietly, and Philadelphia’s bats, which have been silent, came alive last night in game 4, and despite the fact that the Giants have a big edge, if the Phillies can turn it around and start scoring, they certainly have the pitching to win 3 straight games.