AL East

Here it is, your first installment in Spaulding's predictions for the 2007 baseball season. Very little (if any) actual "research" has gone into these predictions -- instead they are gut-level guesses which will almost certainly make this author look like an idiot (probably before the All-Star break). Presented for your entertainment purposes only, are a few (probably misguided) picks.

AL EAST

The teams:
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Toronto Blue Jays

The outlook: The AL East is where the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox fight their yearly war of attrition. The East is also the only division the national media pay any attention to -- assuming you're a Red Sox or Yankee. If not, you're practically in the witness protection program. Roy Halladay anyone?

For 2007, expect more of the same. The Red Sox and Yankees buy all the good names, and that's good enough to get you to the post season (but not necessarily win it -- see: A-Rod, Randy Johnson, Jason Giambi)

Spaulding prognostication:
AL East Champion -- New York Yankees

Note: Don't be surprised if the Red Sox get the AL Wild Card, but with so many good teams in the AL Central, Spaulding has to give the pre-season Wild Card prediction to that division.

Up next: The AL Central

The Little League

I don't care what the final score of this year's Major League Baseball All-Star Game ends up at (and it is 2-1 NL in the 8th as I write this), the National League is far, far inferior to the American League. Need proof? How about this from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"...over the past nine seasons, the AL has gone 8-0-1 [in the All-Star game]. As it turned out, the highlight for the NL was the 7-7 tie in 2002 in Milwaukee, the game that prompted the format change with the World Series tie-in.

"Beyond that dominance, the AL has swept the past two World Series and ran through the NL in interleague play like General Sherman through the South, going 154-98. "

154-98! That's a .611 winning percentage. And yes, the Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Devil Rays are included in that total.

For point of comparison, there are only three teams at the All-Star break whose winning percentage is better than .600. They are:

Tigers
.670

White Sox
.648

Red Sox
.616

And what do all three of these teams have in common? Yep, they're all from the American League.