MLB preview 2026, part 3: The AL East

 With less than a week before the regular season begins, we're taking a look at the AL East, which figures to again be one of the more competitive divisions.

Boston may have a little extra swagger after the World Baseball Classic, considering how Wilyer Abreu had a breakout performance in the tournament, and one of the team's biggest offseason acquisitions, Ranger Suarez (Philadelphia), also played a role in Venezuela winning the tournament. Willson Contreras (St. Louis) didn't play as big a role, but he will add some punch to the offense, provided he keeps his temper in check on strikeouts (if you've seen those ejection compilation videos on YouTube, you know what I mean). Contreras & Sonny Gray came over in an offseason trade for pitcher Hunter Dobbins and two minor leaguers. Not that the Red Sox gave up on Dobbins too quickly. No, they just didn't have long term plans for him.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (Pittsburgh) returns to the division, having previously played for Toronto & the Yankees after starting his career in Texas. He'll likely spell Trevor Story at shortstop or Nick Sogard at second base. Other than this, the Sox stood pat.

The big news in Baltimore, of course, was heisting Pete Alonso from the Mets, a classic Scott Boras Badenov money grab. Alonso will anchor the infield, and haunt his former club when the Mets & Orioles get together. Reliever Ryan Helsley finished 2025 with the Mets, but was erratic. Alonso will see another familiar face in starter Chris Bassitt (Toronto), who will give the Orioles plenty of innings. Baltimore also acquired another starter in Shane Baz (Tampa Bay), to help Bassitt & Zach Eflin, though Trevor Rogers has already been named the opening day starter. Outfielder Taylor Ward came over from the Angels to help Alonso fortify the offense.

The Yankees now can concentrate on overtaking Toronto to win the division, now that their core players are all back together again after the WBC. Aaron Judge got some undeserved heat after failing to produce vs. Venezuela in the finals, so he'll take it out on AL pitching. Nothing new there. The Yanks get Gerrit Cole back after he missed 2025 due to Tommy John surgery. The problem they face, however, is fan apathy if they don't win the title. Then, the whining will start again, calling for Aaron Boone and/or GM Brian Cashman to be sent packing. However, owner Hal Steinbrenner has shown how he is too loyal to both, and they'd have to miss the playoffs for Boone and/or Cashman to be let go.

Toronto found a diamond in the rough in Trey Yesavage late last season, which explains why Chris Bassitt became expendable. The Blue Jays fortified the rotation by signing Dylan Cease (San Diego) to join Yesavage, Shane Bieber, Kevin Gausman, & Jose Berrios to form a very formidable rotation. Max Scherzer makes it a six pack, and I would not discount the Blue Jays going to a 6 man rotation.

The Jays are counting on Kazuma Okamato to fill the offensive void created by Bo Bichette's departure (Mets). Otherwise, it's business as usual.

Tampa Bay reopens Tropicana Field after playing at the Yankees' minor league home in Tampa last year. Problem is, the team isn't ready to contend. They do have some veteran help in the outfield after acquiring Cedric Mullins, who bombed with the Mets, and Gavin Lux (Cincinnati) in the offseason. Pitcher Steven Matz (Boston) is on his 3rd AL East team, having gone from a rising star with the Mets to a journeyman lefty in 10 years time. The Rays are still a couple of years away from a playoff spot.

Projected order of finish:

1. Toronto.

2. Yankees.

3. Boston.

3 (tie). Baltimore.

5. Tampa Bay.

Of course, I could be wrong.

Monday: The rest of the AL.

Musical Interlude: Pink Shoelaces (1959)

 It wasn't long after Dodie Stevens started climbing the charts (peaking at #3) that "Pink Shoelaces" was covered on The Lawrence Welk Show. Three of the four Lennon Sisters sing backup behind Roberta Shore. Rocky Rockwell gives Dooley his voice.

Roberta Shore would later join the cast of The Virginian for a bit, and I think she did some musical numbers there, too.

MLB preview 2026, part 2: The rest of the National League East

 A week ago, we took a look at the Mets' prospects for 2026. Now, it's time to turn our attention to the rest of the NL East.

After being thwarted in the playoffs the last two seasons, Philadelphia made some moves to try to correct whatever flaws exist. For starters, they pried outfielder and World Series hero Adolis Garcia away from Texas. A combination of Garcia with Brandon Marsh & Johan Rojas, with Kyle Schwarber likely used exclusively as a designated hitter, will cover a lot of ground.

The problem, however, is pitching. Zack Wheeler starts the season on the IL recovering from thorasic outlet surgery, and won't be back until summer at the earliest. The Phillies stupidly let Ranger Suarez walk (Boston), replacing him with Brad Keller (Cubs) as part of a rotation that will be fronted by Jesus Luzardo & Aaron Nola, with Christopher Sanchez and the oft-erratic Taijuan Walker. This means the Phils will have to hope to deliver the one thing Bryce Harper doesn't have--a championship. Yeah, good luck with that.

In Atlanta, the Braves have retooled as well, especially in the infield, where Austin Riley has some new playmates in Mauricio Dubon (Houston), Ha-Seong Kim (Tampa Bay), & Jorge Mateo (Baltimore), plus the returning Ozzie Albies. Jonah Heim came over from Texas to back up Sean Murphy, as Drake Baldwin will continue to learn on the job behind the plate.

New manager Walt Weiss poached a pair of coaches from the Mets in Jeremy Hefner & Antoan Richardson, the latter to help improve the running game, plus reliever Danny Young. Robert Suarez came east from San Diego, likely as the heir apparent to Raisel Iglesias as the closer. Ex-Met Carlos Carrasco was invited to camp, but will he stick? We'll know next week.

Miami surprised a lot of people last year with a 3rd place finish. The biggest name to arrive in the offseason is first baseman-outfielder Christopher Morel, who returns to the National League after spending some time in Tampa Bay. Pete Fairbanks came over in the same deal, and will be in the rotation behind Sandy Alcantara. Other than that, this team of obscurities won't sneak up on anyone again.

Like Atlanta, Washington has a new manager in Blake Butera, and while there's been some buzz over catcher Harry Ford, who represented the UK in the World Baseball Classic, he'll be challenging for playing time behind Keibert Ruiz. There are some changes in the rotation, with Zack Littell, who finished 2025 in Cincinnati, and Miles Mikolas (St. Louis) providing some veteran aid for younger starters Josiah Gray & Jake Irvin. Still, the Nats are a year at best away from contending.

Projected order of finish:

1. Atlanta.

2. Mets.

3. Philadelphia.

4. Washington.

5. Miami.

Of course, I could be wrong.

Tomorrow: The AL East.

Caught in another lie? Dumb Donald claims other presidents support his war with Iran. Or do they?

 In less than three months, Donald John Joseph Isuzu Trump will be 80. Unfortunately, he has no clue as it relates to reality as we know it.

A couple of recent examples suggest that he can no longer be examined by partisan quacks who will ignore the obvious to stay on his good side.

An article on MSN.com, for example, was headlined by the claim that Trump "predicted" the 9/11/01 attacks in New York and elsewhere. Nostradamus, he ain't. Not by a longshot.

Then, he made the ridiculous claim that other presidents support his war on Iran. Whoopi Goldberg and the panel on The View, joined this week by former Trump aide Carly Fiorina, discuss this latest tirade of twaddle.

Trump's memory is failing him at the most inopportune times. His defense mechanisms, such as bullying reporters, are, sadly, still intact. As Whoopi mentioned, reps for the 4 living ex-Presidents (Clinton, GW Bush, Obama, Biden) all deny Trump's claims. Trump makes Ivy Leaguer Bush look like a Rhodes scholar by comparison. Ok, then, if no other American President is behind Trump on this, who is?

Trump knows he screwed up "bigly", to use the word he himself coined. It's way past time he was given a full physical examination by a legitimate, non-partisan staff of doctors, and this includes psychologists. There is something truly wrong with him, and he'll be the last one to know about it.

Classic TV: The Ann Sothern Show (1958)

 Film actress Ann Sothern transitioned to television with Private Secretary, which ran for 5 seasons. Not too long after the series ended, Sothern soon returned with a self-titled sitcom, bringing along co-stars Don Porter (later of Gidget) and Jesse White.

The Ann Sothern Show ran for 3 seasons (1958-61), and until the final season was a part of CBS' formidable Monday night block. In season 3, the series moved to Thursdays opposite The Untouchables, a Desilu stablemate. Game over.

Following is the season 2 opener with special guest star Lucille Ball, reprising as Lucy Ricardo.

It's been a long time since this has aired on cable, as the above print suggests.

No rating. Just a public service.

Pass the Pepto!: It's way past time the NCAA stopped screwing over mid-major schools in the basketball tournament

 Today, millions of wanna-be handicappers are filling out brackets for the NCAA basketball tournaments, both men's & women's. There's always an upset lurking in the first weekend of play, but for mid-major colleges & universities, some of whom you've probably never heard of, first round games against teams from either the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, or SEC, might as well be queued with the theme from Mission: Impossible.

All 4 Power 4 conferences control the top seeds. That's a given, considering some schools, like, for example, Michigan or Duke, are ratings draws in their native areas.

Take, for example, Long Island University-Brooklyn, which is being fed to Arizona in the West Regional. Or Ivy League champion Pennsylvania, coached by former Siena & Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, a #14 seed in the South Regional vs. Illinois from the Big 10. At least it's a team McCaffery is familiar with. Or Siena, which is being sent on a suicide mission to play Duke. The suits in charge of the selection committee don't give a rat's butt about reality in terms of these matchups. The tournament has been bloated for years because the NCAA's media partners (currently CBS/Paramount+ and TNT and their sister channels, plus HBO Max) want to maximize the television ratings by putting the games on as many outlets as humanly possible. They throw bones to the mid-majors every year, but won't let them sit at the big boys' table. Ever.

After all the work that went into reforming college football's postseason, and it still needs a few tweaks, for what it's worth, the NCAA is not willing to change their business model for basketball. There's too much money involved to allow the Sienas and Penns of the world a fair opportunity. They have to make their own luck.

The bottom line is, the mid-majors get dissed every year. Which is why they should have a patron saint around this time of year. Like this guy.......

This is why the only college basketball I even bother to pay attention to is close to home, with Siena & UAlbany. Politics rules the college game, and has for several years. That needs to change, preferably yesterday.

Sports this 'n' that

 The Mets welcomed back shortstop Francisco Lindor today, as he made his preseason debut vs. Toronto.

Lindor reached on an error, and scored in the midst of a 5 run 2nd inning, as the Mets thumped the AL champs, 8-1. The game was stopped after 6 innings due to rain.

There will be a new champion in the World Baseball Classic after Venezuela upended Japan Saturday night in Miami, 8-7. 

Atlanta's Ronald Acuna, Jr. opened the game with a solo home run off the Dodgers' Yoshinobi Yamamoto. In the bottom half of the 1st, Shohei Ohtani answered for Japan to tie the game. 

However, in the 6th, with Japan up, 5-2, going into the inning, Venezuela took back the lead, thanks to Boston's Wilyer Abreu, after trimming the lead to 5-4.

Venezuela will play Italy tomorrow night, while Team USA plays the Dominican Republic tonight, with the winners meeting on Tuesday to end the tournament.

An even worse downside for Japan was outfielder Seiya Suzuki going down with an injury after being thrown out trying to steal 2nd to end the 1st inning. That's the last thing the Cubs needed, but, if it's not serious, Suzuki should be ready for the Cubs' opener next week.

Chalk up another endorsement deal for Caitlin Clark.

The Indiana Fever star is appearing in a new Capital One ad with Charles Barkley & Samuel L. Jackson that will play from now until the end of the NCAA tournaments April 6-7. Barkley's also given the rub to the "Capital One Bank Guy", as has Jackson. Now, all we need is for the dude to be in an ad with Jennifer Garner......!

Most amusing ad of the week comes from WWE, which has LA Knight, Penta, & Stephanie Vaquer appearing in a commercial for TurboTax. Ms. Vaquer is from Chile, while Penta, of course, is from Mexico. I guess tax returns do come with work visas......!

With the NCAA's right around the corner, CBS' Ian Eagle & Bill Raftery are doing a spot for Spectrum Cable. Keep in mind, though, that this is a national ad, not a localized one.