Choosing the hottest teams in baseball a mere week into the 162 game season seems as pointless as ESPN's \trial"" of the Yankees for ruining baseball.
Nonetheless, UW football and basketball seasons are over for another year and the opportunity for Brewers and Tiger fans to receive press without the words ""officially out of playoff contention"" lie few and far between. Thus we present The Daily Cardinal's smokin' hot teams, none of which include the names Derek Jeter or A-Rod.
A year ago, the Tigers were the bottom-feeders of AL Central, barely missing having the dishonor of having the worst season in the history of the franchise. This year the team started off to its best beginning since 1985 (5-1). Whether it was the strength of the starting lineup led by Ivan Rodriguez or the surprisingly strong pitching vastly improved from last season, Detroit could be this year's best turnaround team.
Always the bridesmaid and never the bride when it comes to Chicago baseball, the White Sox have the fortune of starting off as strongly as the perennial loveable losers across town have struggled. The Sox have a history of failing to live up to their potential, but after taking the series from the Yankees in front of the always hostile New York crowd and killing Kansas City 12-5 in their home opener, look for a re-energized White Sox to turn some heads. And with heavy hitters Magglio Ordonez, Paul Konerko and a less-temperamental-than-usual Frank Thomas back, and an energized management under former-player Ozzie Guillen, the Sox have their best opportunity to steal the division from since the days before the dreaded ""White Flag"" season.
A new stadium was not enough to jump start a struggling Brewers, but the removal of commissioner Bud Selig might have been with the Brewers starting out with a 4-4 record. After all the anger among Brewer fans when Richie Sexson was traded, the Brew crew's bats have been hot early on with 12 home runs (second in the league) spread among 10 players. Everyone loves an underdog and a team whose entire payroll is almost equal to that of A-Rod gives baseball fans something to cheer about.
Ken Griffey Jr. is not the player he was when he dominated in Seattle, but he's started off far from the often-ailing player he was last year with the Reds providing a much stronger hitting team than they were last year.
Topping the AL East along with the Red Sox, the Devil Rays boosted their value with splitting four games against the Yankees and winning the series against Baltimore.??Victor Zambrano leads the MLB pitchers with three wins and is third in stats in strikeouts with 15.
