2008 is shaping up to be one of the more boring baseball seasons in the Bay Area, probably the most so since perhaps 1996. No Barry, a downswing in the Moneyball cycle, much tougher divisional rivals... plenty of good seats available! (That said, I plan to fill a goodly amount of said seats over the course of this season. I want to take advantage of living in The City this time around, after going to only two games in '07.)

SF Giants capsule preview: Poor Aaron Rowand, going from a stacked lineup in Philadelphia's launching pad of a ballpark to a horrible homer-hitting ballpark for right-handed hitters, with no lineup protection to boot. Anything over 25HR would be a mild surprise. With the Flax-Seed Bomber out of the picture, the Giants suddenly become a pitching-and-speed team. In other words, a Bruce Bochy team. I'd imagine that Roberts and/or Raj Davis will let it loose this year (Roberts was surely held back from stealing a lot in '07, as doing so in many instances was a guaranteed intentional BB for Bonds). Fred Lewis, Winn, Vizquel and youngster Eugenio Velez add more speed to the '08 lineup. Their only path to a winning record will involve scrapping their way to 82 wins through close, low-scoring games, bolstered by a solid starting rotation and an improving bullpen. Megabucks southpaw Barry Zito finished strong down the stretch, and will hopefully build on that this year. Sabean was wise to hold on to Cain and Lincecum, and if Noah Lowry returns strong in late April, the G-men will have a stellar top four. But the difference between 65 wins and 82 wins will depend on if the Giants can put together even an average batting lineup out of the slim pickings they currently sport. Especially with news that Kevin Frandsen will be out for the year with an achilles injury. I don't want to think about it anymore. Let's move on to the A's, we can make fun of them just as easily. Prediction: 73-89, 5th in NL West

Oakland A's capsule preview: It's appropriate that the Athletics' mascot is an elephant, because there are a lot of people on the A's roster that make me say, "Who?" The A's have serious questions at First Base, Third Base and Center Field. If Dan Johnson is able to see, that might help. Eric Chavez is battling injuries (gasp!), and Billy Beane continues to add to his collection of washed-up Royals (Emil Brown joins Mike Sweeney on the Disabled List roster). The A's starting rotation won't help much, because they're pitching for the Diamondbacks, Cardinals, Braves and Giants, respectively. They're not going to compete for the AL West crown, not by a longshot, but some of these young players -- particularly pitcher Gio Gonzalez, who'll probably start the year in the minors -- will be intriguing. Prediction: 68-94, 3rd in NL West (the rangers will be even worse, amazingly)

SEASON PREDICTIONS

NL West
1. Los Angeles (nl's most complete team, even if andruw hits .190)
2. Arizona (jackson, reynolds, drew, young, upton... if 4 of them improve, watch out)
3. Colorado (will disappoint, in spite of their epic offense)
4. San Diego (offense improving, but rotation too top-heavy, trevor getting old)
5. San Francisco (well... they'll steal bases!)

NL Central
1. Chicago ("prior delivers... and castillo pops it up left of third...")
2. Milwaukee (it'll be a close race in the nl central)
3. Cincinnati (could harang top 500 innings pitched under dusty?)
4. Houston (good lineup, but beyond oswalt...)
5. Pittsburgh (i like their starters. if bay rebounds, could be as high as 3rd?)
6. St Louis (if pujols' elbow catches up with him, they'll score less runs than the giants)

NL East
1. Philadelphia (knowing the giants' luck, feliz will hit 30 homers this year)
2. New York (big names, but an injury or two from trouble.)
3. Atlanta (rotation wants you to get off its lawn)
4. Florida (can attendance numbers be negative?)
5. Washington (shiny new stadium, garish lineup, cover-your-eyes rotation)

AL West
1. Seattle (bedard puts this team over the top)
2. Los Angeles (will battle with mariners until season's end)
3. Oakland (2010 will be a good year)
4. Texas (hamilton will have a nice year in arlington, but who's gonna pitch?)

AL Central
1. Detroit (scary lineup, but rotation, bullpen will be a little shaky)
2. Cleveland (oh so close last year. will betancourt be closing by the break?)
3. Chicago (who cares? ozzie's gonna swear a lot!)
4. Minnesota (will liriano's arm hold up?)
5. Kansas City (gordon and butler are two future yankees stars)

AL East
1. Boston (the complete package)
2. New York (one of those young starters needs to step up)
3. Tampa Bay (strong young team, will compete)
4. Toronto (good rotation, will rios take the next step?)
5. Baltimore (they'll score some runs, but not enough)

Division Series
Boston over Los Angeles
Seattle over Detroit
Chicago over Philadelphia
Los Angeles over New York

ALCS
Boston over Seattle

NLCS
Los Angeles over Chicago

2008 World Series
Los Angeles over Boston in 7
The Dodgers are the most complete team in the National League. The Red Sox will have enough to make it back to the series but not to seal the deal. Their rotation at that time will be two very old guys, two very young guys and an ace with one full above-average season since 2003.

NL MVP: Chase Utley, Philadelphia
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit
NL Cy Young: Johan Santana, New York
AL Cy Young: Erik Bedard, Seattle
NL Rookie of the Year: Justin Upton, Arizona
AL Rookie of the Year: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay

Opening day is tonight at 3AM! (A's vs Red Sox in Tokyo) I should pick up some hotdogs and beer...