The 2007 Major League Baseball season was one of the most exciting and noteworthy in the history of professional baseball. The sport got a huge amount of publicity, both good and bad, over the last year. As we head into the 2008 season, let us first take a look back on the 2007 campaign.
The thing that will be remembered most about the 2007 Major League Baseball season was Barry Bonds passing Hank Aaron on the all-time homerun list. Aaron, who hit 755 homeruns in his career, got passed up by Bonds when the San Francisco Giants slugger clubbed number 756 against the Washington Nationals on August 7th.
Not only was that a historic milestone for Bonds, perhaps even more noteworthy is how he got to that point. With steroid rumors circling Bonds, fans around the league booed Bonds and claimed that his record should be asterisked. Amazingly enough, the person who caught the record-breaking homerun ball sold it to a collector who ended up branding the ball with an asterisk.
The Boston Red Sox won the 2007 World Series as they swept the Colorado Rockies in four games. The Red Sox, who hadn’t won the World Series prior to 2004 since 1918, have now won two of the last four World Series titles. The Rockies, even though they ended up getting swept, were a young team who surpassed all expectations just by making it to the World Series.
The 2008 Major League Baseball landscape has changed quite a bit. Now that Bonds’ chase has ended, there won’t be a media flurry following his every move. In fact, heading into the 2008 season, Bonds is without a job. The 43-year-old slugger is on record as stating that he wants to keep on playing, however he has yet to generate much interest on the open market. The Giants have already stated that they will not bring him back in 2008.
Bonds not in the league to start the season is only one of many changes that you will notice in 2008. Joe Torre, who spent the last 12 seasons managing the New York Yankees, is now the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. To replace Torre in New York, the Yankees named Joe Girardi as their manager.
In arguably the biggest personnel move of the offseason, the Minnesota Twins traded pitcher Johan Santana to the New York Mets for four prospects. The Mets then signed Santana to a six-year contract worth nearly $140 million. Santana is a two-time Cy Young Award winner who the Mets hope can continue his dominance in the National League.
The Baltimore Orioles were also extremely busy over the offseason. The team traded away arguably their best two players. The Orioles first traded shortstop Miguel Tejada to the Houston Astros. After that trade was completed, Baltimore then sent pitcher Erik Bedard to the Seattle Mariners. In each trade, the Orioles received five prospects in return.
Not only did a number of players change teams, one team changed their name. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays changed their team name to the Tampa Bay Rays. To correspond with their team name change, the Rays will also debut a new uniform for the 2008 Major League Baseball season. The Rays hope that their new name and new uniform will help them improve on their 2007 record of 66-96 – which was the worst record in all of baseball.
The 2008 Major League Baseball regular season will begin on March 25th when the defending World Series champion Red Sox take on the Oakland Athletics. The game will take place in Tokyo, Japan in the Tokyo Dome. The last game of the regular season will be on September 28th.
The 2008 All-Star Game will be played on July 15th in Yankee Stadium. The location is special because this will be the last year that the Yankees play their games in Yankee Stadium. In 2008, the Yankees are moving to a new facility. Yankee Stadium has been the home of the Yankees for over 80 years.
The first postseason games of the 2008 Major League Baseball season will be held on October 1st. The World Series will begin on October 22nd.
There are a number of teams who are serious contenders to win the 2008 World Series. The favorites going into the season according to most experts are the Red Sox. The defending champions will be returning most of their key pieces and will attempt to win their third World Series title in five years. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are the two big bats in the lineup for the Red Sox, while their pitchers are headlined by Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Boston’s main rival in the American League will be the Yankees, which has been the case for much of the last decade. The Red Sox and Yankees have the two highest payrolls in all of baseball and seemingly always end up going head to head in their battle for American League supremacy.
The Yankees, like the Red Sox, are bringing back most of the same players for the 2008 campaign. Alex Rodriguez, who won the 2007 American League Most Valuable Player Award, and Derek Jeter are the two biggest names in their batting order. The team’s biggest names in their starting pitching rotation are Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte.
The Detroit Tigers are another team in the American League which heads into the 2008 season with World Series aspirations. In the offseason, the Tigers traded for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in a deal with the Florida Marlins. Those two players will be key additions to an already very potent roster.
The National League is more wide open than the American League. While the American League is expected to be won by either the Red Sox, Yankees or Tigers, the National League has nearly a dozen teams with a decent shot of making it to the World Series.
The team with arguably the best chance is the Mets. Santana has proven to be a dominant pitcher and he’s expected to elevate the Mets from a good team to a great team. Along with Santana, the Mets also feature star players such as Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and David Wright.
It’d be a mistake to count out the Rockies, who as a team gained valuable experience last season. Troy Tulowitzki is a 23-year-old budding superstar at shortstop. Matt Holliday is another great, young player on the Rockies. While the Rockies may be a bit of a long shot to make their way back to the World Series, they have the talent to do just that.
Other National League teams with a shot to make it to the World Series include the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Torre’s Dodgers.
While the 2008 baseball season won’t get as much publicity since Bonds’ chase has ended, there are still plenty of reasons why to watch. In fact, with the Bonds hoopla out of the way, 2008 should be a season where fans can just concentrate on watching great baseball.
If you can’t get enough baseball, consider ordering the MLB Extra Innings television package. With this package, you can watch up to 60 baseball games per week. Check your local cable or satellite provider to see if it’s available in your area.
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