* Baseball Preview Review: Sports Illustrated

April 4, 2009

Aside from the annual magazines, several weekly and bi-weekly publications put out a preview issue, which, one would think/hope, are more up-to-date.

Suffice it to say there are team previews, a.k.a. “scouting reports (duh), so we won’t dwell on them. Suffice it to say each team profile includes a starting lineup, “Consider this: A Modest Proposal…”, a mini-analysis by Joe Sheehan; a cute item on whether certain stats about the teams lie or don’t lie; and an article excerpted from old issues of the magazine, a plug for their SI Vault.

Predictions (Team only; no individual awards):

Division winners/wild card:

AL — Yankees, Twins, Angels, Red Sox

NL — Mets, Cubs, Dodgers, Phillies

ALDS — Yankees over Twins, Angels over Red Sox; NLDS — Cubs over Phillies, Mets over Dodgers

ALCS: Angels over Yankees; NLCS: Mets over Cubs

World Series: Mets over Angels

(Don’t you know the networks would love any post season that includes the NY teams, giving them a chance to show off the new ballparks?)

Bear in mind, of course, that the issue still went to press before the end of spring training so there are some updates that aren’t included. For example, the Mets just signed Gary Sheffield. No doubt other transactions will be made and rosters adjusted for injuries. Will these have any bearing on the outcomes? Stay tuned.

So let’s go to the main event, the features:

  • “Big Love,” by S.L. Price, a profile on new Yankees’ ace C.C. Sabathia
  • “Baseball’ next top models” As baseball starts to concentrate more on defense, now that power is so passes, who are the top run-preventers?

Grade: C — Overall, this was kind of disappointing, given the SI reputation.

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