February 11

Spring training is just around the corner. Can you feel the excitement in the air? The start of baseball season is one of the best feelings ever. It's like when you see that really cute girl in your class for the first time. Your eyes meet and you look away really fast with that fluttery feeling in your stomach. Then you try to be casual, looking at her intermittently throughout the class. It's an invigorating feeling. Of course, then you realize she just thinks your creepy and weird so you get all dejected, that's more like the end of the season. With this new season on the way, you hear a lot of early pre-season picks, and they're always the same, but never 100 percent accurate. In the AL, you'll hear Yankees in the East, Twins or Tigers in the Central, Angels in the West, and Boston as the Wild card. In the NL you'll hear Phillies in the East, Cubs in the Central, Dodgers in the West, and Mets as the Wild Card. Probably Yankees/Red Sox-Phillies/Cubs World Series predictions will be prevalent. These are all fine, but last years pre-season picks were usually Sox/Tigers-Cubs/Mets, and obviously those were very wrong. So this season, I'm going to give my top NL and AL dark horse picks.

NL - Cincinnati Reds

The Reds are a very strong team going into this year. Their lineup is very well balanced between power (Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Edwin Encarnacion, and Ramon Hernandez) and speed (Willy Taveras, Brandon Phillips and Chris Dickerson). With the lineup being stacked from top to bottom, the only question is pitching, and that question has been answered. Aaron Harang was a Cy Young candidate just a few years ago, but faltered last year, going 6-17 with a 4.78 ERA. We know the kind of pitcher he can be, and last years poor performance could have been due to injury and over use, he should bounce back this season. Then there's Bronson Arroyo, another veteran player who has a lot of talent, but stumbled a little last year. After thase two, come two dazzling second-year arms: Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto. In his rookie year last year, Volquez went 17-6 with a 3.21 ERA and 206 strike outs. Cueto pitched well for a rookie last year. His velocity is off the charts and coming into his sophomore season, he should build up his accuracy. Finally, a great closer is important to a good team. The Reds have that in Francisco Cordero. Cordero takes this team to the next level with his ability to shut down teams in the ninth inning. This is the best team no one's talking about.

AL - Kansas City Royals

Laugh if you'd like but these guys are for real. They start with a great pitching staff that has the ability to win a lot of games. Gil Meche is The ace of the team. His ERA last year was under 4 and he won 14 games on a rebuilding team. With another year of experience under this team's belt, Meche is capable of an 18-20 win season. After Meche comes Zach Greinke. Greinke had a phenomenal year last year, with 13 wins and a 3.47 ERA in his fifth season with the Royals. Obviously, he and Meche could be one of the better one two punches in the game. It doesn't get any easier after that. Brian Bannister started last season, his second full season in the majors, going 7-6 with a 4.47 ERA. Although he ended up with a 9-16 record and a 5.76 ERA, he shows a lot of promise. If he can get back to where he was the first three games of last season (3-0, 0.86 ERA) he could become the best 3 starter in the league. Then there's Joakim Soria, one of the best closers in the game. He save 42 out of 45 games last year. That's about as close to a guarantee as you can get. Not only do the Royals have a great pitching staff, their lineup is mouth-watering. Kansas City is loaded up on young talent. Third baseman Alex Gordon is one of the most talked about young players in baseball. Short stop Mike Aviles hit .325 with 10 homers and 51 RBI in just over 100 games in his rookie season last year. Billy Butler has the potential to be one of the premier power hitters in baseball. Veteran catcher Miguel Olivo had 41 RBI in just 84 games last season and after a slow start to the year last year, Right Fielder Jose Guillen hit .345 in the month of June with 7 homers and 25 RBI. They picked up two key free agents in the off season in power hitting first baseman Mike Jacobs, and the speedy leadoff man Coco Crisp. Not to mention David DeJesus, the most under rated outfielder in baseball. He is a career .287 hitter and had the best average with runners in scoring position last year. If my team was in the AL Central, I'd be worried about these guys.