Notes on a Scorecard - March 31, 1994

Bound to happen during the baseball season:

One-fourth of the teams in the NL West and AL West will win division titles. . . .

Parkmania will break out at Dodger Stadium. . . .

NL West standings: 1. Dodgers, 2. San Francisco, 3. Colorado, 4. San Diego. . . .

Tony Gwynn will hit .348 and nobody will notice. . . .

Michael Jordan will be called up by the Chicago Bulls. . . .

Attendance will increase again because baseball is the only major league sport where a working stiff can afford the price of a ticket. . . .

Cleveland will be the most improved team. . . .

Oakland will carry 14 pitchers by August. . . .

Purists will campaign for banishment of the designated hitter. . . .

NL Central standings: 1. St. Louis, 2. Houston, 3. Cincinnati, 4. Pittsburgh, 5. Chicago. . . .

Hitting will be up, mostly because pitching will be down. . . .

Buck Rodgers will tell it like it is. . . .

Raul Mondesi will become the Dodgers’ third consecutive rookie-of-the-year. . . .

A statistician will note that no wild-card team has ever won a World Series. . . .

NL East standings: 1. Atlanta, 2. Philadelphia, 3. Montreal, 4. Mets, 5. Florida. . . .

Kevin McReynolds’ invisible personality will make New York writers wish that Vince Coleman were still a Met. . . .

Mike Piazza will be NL most valuable player. . . .

The Texas Rangers--with Juan Gonzalez, Will Clark, Jose Canseco and Dean Palmer--will become the second team ever to have four 30-home run hitters. . . .

Jim Kaat will offer more insight than any other TV analyst. . . .

AL West standings: 1. Texas, 2. Seattle, 3. Oakland, 4. Angels. . . .

*

Baltimore outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds will be American League rookie of the year. . . .

The cinnamon rolls will make life bearable at Anaheim Stadium. . . .

The triple will be the most exciting play--and Deion Sanders, Marquis Grissom and Ray Lankford each will hit more than 20. . . .

During a slump, the Kansas City Royals will be tempted to activate George Brett. . . .

Doc Gooden won’t be what he used to be. . . .

Best seats in most ballparks will be in the first row of the second deck behind home plate. . . .

Ron Gant will make some general manager look good. . . .

Cal Ripken Jr. will play in his 2,000th consecutive game in late July. . . .

A fit Frank Viola will make sweet music again. . . .

Juan Gonzalez will be AL most valuable player. . . .

Florida Marlin third base coach Cookie Rojas will be the loneliest guy in the National League. . . .

AL Central standings: 1. Cleveland, 2. White Sox, 3. Kansas City, 4. Minnesota, 5. Milwaukee. . . .

Jim Fregosi, who won’t have to watch Mitch (Wild Thing) Williams, will look five years younger. . . .

The San Diego Padres’ infield will not be quite as good as the one they could have had--Fred McGriff, Roberto Alomar or Carlos Baerga, Ozzie Smith and Gary Sheffield. . . .

Production of the Bo Jackson TV movie, starring Bo Jackson, will be announced during the All-Star break. . . .

Dave Winfield will charge the mound. . . .

Talk of a downtown stadium will surface in San Francisco. . . .

Illness will break out among left-handed hitters on days Randy Johnson is scheduled to pitch. . . .

The Milwaukee Brewers will have the worst record in the majors. . . .

Bruce Froemming will call the best balls and strikes. . . .

Dave Hollins will challenge Matt Williams as baseball’s most powerful-hitting third baseman. . . .

Sparky Anderson will talk pennant. . . .

Montreal Expo left-hander Kirk Rueter, who was 8-0 last year, will prove it was no fluke. . . .

Mark Portugal will be less effective because he won’t be able to pitch against the San Francisco Giants. . . .

The Montreal Expos will trade Larry Walker. . . .

*

All of St. Louis Cardinal Manager Joe Torre’s moves will make sense. . . .

AL East standings: 1. Toronto, 2. Baltimore, 3. New York, 4. Boston, 5. Detroit. . . .

The wild cards will be Philadelphia in the National League and Baltimore in the American. . . .

An Atlanta Brave--pick him--will win the Cy Young Award. . . .

CBS, now out of baseball, will televise only a few less games than last season. . . .

The Oakland Athletics will trade Rickey Henderson to the Toronto Blue Jays in August.