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Jonny’s Thunder MLB Warms Up With Summer Heat

by Jonathan Oglesby
Published July 30, 2008


If anything says America, it is the smell of a pennant race as the summer hits it’s hottest stretch. While the weather is hot, Major League Baseball is continuing to get hotter. It seems that almost every division in the American and National Leagues are warming up for a fight with home runs, trades, and all-star pitching from the game’s best. So, as the month of July in ends, it’s only fitting that one of the best pennant races in a long time be fully and completely documented.

America’s love of baseball always starts and ends with one division, the American League East division. From the Yankees to the Red Sox, from the Orioles to the Rays, the AL East always has excitement, fun, and passion for the game as the leafs begin to start turning colors. When July started, it seemed that only two teams would challenge for the AL East crown: Boston and Tampa Bay.

The perennial AL East champions, the New York Yankees, seemed to be out of the picture and likely out of the playoffs for their first time in 12 years. That was pre-All Star break. With the All-Star break coming and going however, the Yankees have shown that they have the best bullpen in the division and are starting to get production from the Lefties. Jonny Thunder’s pick to win the AL East: Yankees.

While the Yankees have caught fire in the AL East, their crosstown counterparts have done the same in the NL East as the New York Mets have been playing hard for their new manager, Jerry Manuel. The Mets have a tough job because they are fighting with a strong Phillies team and a resurgent Marlins club. But the Mets have the pitching, hitting, and fielding capabilities to do it; that is, if the Phillies don’t do it first. Jonny Thunder’s pick to win the NL East: Mets Chicago, the City of Big Shoulders and now the unofficial city of baseball. Who would have known that Ozzie Guillen would lead the White Sox to a lead in the AL Central with such a paper-strong Tigers club? I wouldn’t have even bet the change in my pocket.

It’s a bad thing I didn’t bet because I would have been as rich as Jermaine Dye and Carlos Quentin are today. This is a division that can’t be trusted to experience and payroll. The Twins have a solid ballclub and the Tigers have a manager who knows what it is like to win in Jim Leyland. But the White Sox still have their favorite North Side manager, Ozzie Guillen. Jonny Thunder’s pick to win the AL Central: White Sox.

The Cubs; baseball’s most haunted team. The Lovable Losers have come out this year to prove that they have the team that can win it all.

People in the South Side of Chicago can get excited over Lou Piniella’s gang of characters ranging from Alfonso Soriano to Kerry Wood but can the Cubs hang on to the division? Can they hang on when the Brewers are on the rise with CC Sabathia and Ryan Braun leading the way? The fan in me wants to think so but the realist doesn’t believe it will work. Jonny Thunder’s pick to win the NL Central: Brewers.

Now we move to the bright lights of Los Angeles or more specifically, the bright lights of Anaheim where the Angels have a ten game lead over the Texas Rangers. With K-Rod, Vlad Guerrero, and John Lackey leading the team, the AL West has no chance. You can always count on the Angels to be consistent because Mike Scioscia won’t tolerate anything but. Jonny Thunder’s pick to win the AL West: Angels.

And finally we reach the worst division in baseball; the National League West. With only one team above .500, the NL West has nothing to be proud off. The Arizona Diamondbacks have held control of the division for most of the season but they have a foe that won’t give up and that foe is the Joe Torre-led Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers refuse to stop fighting and with Nomar Garciaparra healthy again and with Casey Blake now playing for them, they have a fighting chance to head to October. Jonny Thunder’s pick to win the NL West: Dodgers.

These are my picks and this is my analysis. I just hope that I can follow all of the twists and turns of the Road to October.

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