Well, another baseball season is upon us. Being a Cubs fan, I tend to get excited about another year of baseball, hanging my hat on previous years where we “almost made it.” This year my playoff hopes may be fleeting, but they’re still alive, as they are for any Cubs fan. Although my loyalty is true and true, I have my eye on a few other teams that may go farther than everyone expects, but let’s start with a preview of the Cubs season.
Two years ago, the Cubs won 97 games – the second most in baseball behind the Angels and tied with the Rays. Then last year, they infected themselves with Milton Bradley, Geovanny Soto had his “sophomore slump,” and injuries really screwed Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano. This year, the Bradley infection has cleared and Soto has vowed to rebound from his slump excuse. Ramirez has been my guy since 2003, and if he can stay healthy, I think he can team up with Derrek Lee, Ryan Theriot, and Mike Fontenot to make some magic happen. I have nothing to say about Soriano. He has started off the season already with three errors and he was never the “superstar” we thought he was after he joined the team. As far as pitching is concerned, we’ve got Carlos Zambrano for a long time, so hopefully his comfort with this team will keep him in solid pitching mode and Carlos Silva may be revived now that he’s on a this new. The Cubs have their flaws, but they also have the makings of a solid club and could sneak up on teams this season. They have a huge challenge with the Cardinals, but hey, anything can happen.
Another sneak team this season will be (and I hate to say it) the Chicago White Sox. Being a Cubs fan, I am quite pleased that Jim Thome is gone and the chants of “Thome’s Home-eys” are a thing of the past, but the team’s still got a few heavy hitters. Jake Peavy is their main man and Paul Konerko is always a favorite with Alex Rios, Mark Teahen, and Mark Kotsay are all there to back him up. The addition of Juan Pierre is a hit or miss – he sure didn’t do anything spectacular for the Cubs, but then again almost everyone the Cubs get ends up being a superstar somewhere else after they leave.
Going along with this “leave the Cubs become a superstar” trend, the Seattle Mariners may be a team to watch out for with the addition of Cliff Lee. Again, he didn’t do anything notable for the Cubs, but this may be his time to really shine. The Mariners also have Felix Hernandez and the always popular Ichiro Suzuki, but time will tell if these two are enough to carry an entire team through seven months. This uncertainty may be the advantage they need to creep up to the top of the league in the next few months.
The Atlanta Braves are another team I have a feeling will go pretty far, but I say this because of their impressive roster, not necessarily any action I’ve seen come out of Hot-lanta. Chipper Jones, Troy Glaus, and Nate McLouth are easy compliments to Jason Heyward, Yunel Escobar, and Melky Cabrera. If this roster can turn out runs and Heyward can prove that he deserves Rookie of the Year glorification, the Braves may be set. They gotta stay humble though – with a roster of big names, it’s sink or swim.
Well, that rounds out my top four sleeper picks for this 2010 season. My loyalty is and has always been with the Cubbies, and I hate to even mention the White Sox in this article if I’m not trash-talking about them, but I like to think that this could be a possible inflation of their ego, hopefully causing a crash and burn mid-season. I have no qualms about the other teams, they gotta make that pay-pah, too, boo boo. You may or may not see me in next year’s August issue – if these predictions pan out, I’ll likely leave law school to pursue an oh-so-rewarding career in MLB futures.

Jolene Cieniawski is a 2L and can be reached at jolene.cieniawski@valpo.edu.   669 words