Psst... Baseball Season is Here

With Final Four fever sweeping campus, it is easy to let the start of the Major League Baseball season slide by, but ignoring the start would be a bad way to kick off one of the most anticipated seasons in recent memory. This year, there are many intriguing questions that will be answered, with collective-bargaining topping the slate.\nTo be, or not to be?\nThat is the question that will be answered more than once this summer. This year's all-star game -- set to be played in Milwaukee, Wis., (home of the Brewers, the team formerly owned by commissioner Bud Selig) -- is in jeopardy. The players are considering a boycott because they are worried that they will not get their way at the bargaining table.\nIf no progress is made by the end of the season, baseball may, once again, not have a World Series. The players went on strike in 1994 and will do it again if they are unhappy.\nAnd finally, nobody knows the fate of the Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins, as the contraction issue will have to be addressed again at the end of the season. Nobody wants to see them go, but at the same time, it is obvious that teams like the Expos are worthless to the league under current conditions.\nWill the Mets get anyone out?\nSure, the NY Mets have Armando Benitez, one of the best closers in the game, but how often will they be ahead in the ninth inning? With quality pitching so rare in baseball, this team took a huge risk in trading a proven starter (Kevin Appier) to Anaheim for first baseman Mo Vaughn. While Vaughn, along with outfielder Jeromy Burnitz, will certainly add power to a potent offense, their low batting averages and high strikeout totals will mean fewer scoring chances -- something the Mets cannot afford.\nHow will the Cubs screw up this year?\nLast year, the "Lovable losers" finally had a strong pitching staff -- and it carried them until mid-August. The hitting was the problem, something they hope to have solved this year. Now, Sammy Sosa has both Fred McGriff and Moises Alou hitting behind him. If Bill Mueller can recover from his knee surgery, this could be an amazing offense. If the pitchers can repeat their performance from last year, then the Cubs could have one of the top three or four teams in the National League. But we all know the Cubs. Some way, some how, they always find a way…\nHow can last year's World Series be topped?\nC'mon -- Two game-ending home runs, a game-seven bottom-of-the-ninth comeback win? It just doesn't get any better than that. This year, baseball fans should hope there is a World Series period. But with teams that have such good pitching always playing in November, the times when runs do cross the plate will be exciting, hopefully making for another thrilling finale.\nMajor League Baseball is always a saga, but it is just a matter of time until the season will reveal its answers.