2011-12 Major League Baseball Season

Didn't see a thread where people could discuss the 2011-12 MLB season, so I thought I'd make one!

As a Ranger fan I'm pretty excited for the season. With the acquisition of Adrian Beltre I think we have one of the best hitting lineups in the leauge and with an above average bullpen I think the AL West should be ours without too much trouble (I hope haha).

Is anyone else excited for their team and the upcoming season?

yankees out strong, boston is failing.

I like the angels and dodgers since I am in socal.

Boston pitching has been getting crushed by Texas and the Yanks seem to be off to a good start. I am happy my Muts are .500 and looking good so far today.

As a Red Sox fan, I'm taking the Sox. 2 early losses does not ruin a season, not even close, especially since the Red Sox have a history of starting off a little weak the first few weeks.

That line up is sick and the pitching staff is solid despite the rough start. Way too early to have any idea what the season will look like.

Yeah. One thing that the first two games have shown me is that David Ortiz might still have a little something left in the tank. He's had two nearly identical years or .250/30/100 after struggling mightily the first two months, but 2 home runs in two days should give him some good confidence in the early going for once. I think they'll have a pretty solid pitching staff (Clay Buchholz was second in the AL last year in ERA and is the 3rd starter), and a pretty good back end of the bullpen. Even if Papelbon falters they have 2 more closer-quality guys in Jenks and Bard who could step in.

In short, despite what some Boston sports writers would like to believe, the sky is indeed not falling.

Hey, the M's are 2-0.  The division, and then the World Series, is a lock.

Welp, Phillies are off to a great start!

They sure are :)

Going to be a great year.  I have tickets to a few games this year but I want to get up there sometime this month.

Bobby Jenks is bad....

If he was their #1 closer, sure, that wouldn't be ideal. But as the 7th or 8th inning guy and backup closer on a great team, I'll take him any day. And he isn't that bad. His 4.4 ERA last year wasn't great, but he's been a serviceable closer with strong save record for a while now.

Fat boy Jenks is more than  serviceable. He was solid as a Chicago White Sox closer. May take some time to get used to being the set up guy but he will be okay just like the Bosox will most likely win the East.

2, well, 3 losses now is huge!!! this is the end of the marathon run for boston. there is no way they can catch the orioles at 3-0 or the yankees at 2-1. with 159 games left, I don't think I have ever seen a team come back from 3 games back. I really wish sarcasm worked on the internet. well, that was fun for a little but.

I am not a boston fan. I like the "buy my championship" yankees. boston kinda is buying their championship this year though. 160 mil for boston line-up is a lot. but the yanks are at 206 billion. yes, billion. haha.

no worries for the red sox. they will win a lot of games. you guys have won a couple championships recently. I was happy they did it. good for baseball. but, bad for the yanks in the history making 4 game comeback.

I got to attend a yanks vs bosox game in NY with my dad few years back. one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. it was a mad house. got to go to a angels vs yanks game last year in NY and that was nothing compared to when the bosox where in town. it is a circus of madness. lots of cussing and throwing of objects. all in fun of course. lol. fights? well, duh! funny thing is the red sox fan is thrown out even though the yankees fan starts the fight. I guess for the red sox fans protection. I of course, did wear my angels cap but that was all. some looks, but no confrontations. and yes, I was scared. after seeing what went down at the sox yanks game, I wasn't about to start arguing with anyone.

and the new yankees stadium is something every baseball fan should go see. it is amazing. next stop for dad and I is padres. and hopefully wrigley field. it is a goal to make it out to at least one new stadium a year. been doing it for 6 years now. fun times

Salty needs to produce soon, or the V-Mart trade is going to look like pretty bad.  0-10 with 5K's is not the way to begin the season for a catcher who really needs to prove that he is a MLB starter.  It'll be interesting to see if Tek can produce at the plate - this will make Francona's job a bit challenging.

Still way too early to tell, but first impressions are not favorable for Salt.

This kinda reminds me of the Thomas and Tuukka situation for the B's (the veteran shines while the youngster struggles a bit).

I think Salty will be fine, or at least decent. 0 for 10 isn't good, obviously, but he batted .405 in spring training. Now, I know it's just spring training, but I think a solid .250 year is just fine from you #8 hitter. While I wish Tek would be able to come in like Thomas did, Tek just can't hit everyday anymore.

Also, just as a note, V-Mart wasn't traded, he left as a free agent.

I knew that V-Mart was a FA, yet I still typed "trade".

I agree with #8 hitter prodcution premise, and Salty should be serviceable in that slot.  His offensive stats are close to Tek's (.250 is a bit higher than his career # ), so that makes his handling of the pitching staff and on-field captaincy even more important.  Again, just first impressions from a very small sample...

At least A-Gon was a bright spot...

Changed my avatar just for this thread and season!  Hey, we can still hope, right??

scoring runs in bunches...the aces are well...the ACES!!!

162 and 0....guess that isn't reasonable. 100-62 should be good enough. I just hope charlie doesn't over use the starters.