The Catalyst

By Chad Fox, Reporter

It is almost spring time calendar wise, but according to baseball fans, spring has arrived! This past week teams have played the 1st games of their exhibition seasons in Arizona and Florida. The biggest stories out of spring training are the Alex Rodriguez scandal on the east coast and the Manny Ramirez saga on the west coast.

The local Colorado Rockies have stumbled out of the gate losing their opener. The Rockies will hope to build on a disappointing season following the World Series appearance. Their biggest move of the offseason was trading fan-favorite superstar Matt Holiday to the Oakland A’s for Huston Street and Carlos Gonzalez. Street will compete for the closer position with Manny Corpas and Gonzalez will compete for the job in left field, which Holiday left vacant.

The rest of the league will be concentrating on more of the steroid scandals to follow after the A-Fraud story broke. Also, this season will consist of stadiums opening in the Bronx and Queens for the Yankees and Mets respectively. Now the predictions for the season:

NL Cy Young Winner: Carlos Zambrano, Cubs
AL Cy Young Winner: CC Sabathia, Yankees
NL MVP: Russell Martin, Dodgers
AL MVP: Matt Holiday, A’s
AL Champs: Angels
NL Champs: Cubs
World Series Winner: Cubs