National league Topic Page

Before the season starts I have to get my predictions set in stone, so people can point and laugh at me at the end of the season. Please share your picks in the comments.

American League

East: Tampa Bay Rays

Central: Cleveland Indians

West: Los Angeles Angels

Wild Card: New York Yankees

Cy Young: Roy Halladay

MVP: Grady Sizemore

ROY: David Price

The Twins completed their second consecutive sweep, again coming against a National league team at the Metrodome. On Sunday, they defeated one of the NL's best right-handed pitchers, Arizona's Brandon Webb. After a rough stretch, Livan Hernandez has now pitched two straight decent starts as he continued the trend of a rotation turnaround.

Less than a week before pitchers and catchers are due to report to Fort Myers, the Twins added a veteran presence to what was a very young rotation. Of the likely candidates for the 5-man rotation, Scott Baker was the oldest at about 26 1/2 years. The 33 year old Livan Hernandez will become the old man of the group after signing a 1-year $5 million contract.

The Twins will return to the Metrodome after a rough 2-4 road trip to the west coast. They're probably a bit relieved (I know I am) to be getting back into interleague play. The National league has treated them quite well recently. In 2006 the Twins were 16-2 in interleague play and so far this year they've got the 2-1 series victory against Milwaukee.

Yesterday I gave a rundown or the Twins hitters for opening day, today it's a chance to look at the pitchers that will make up the rotation and the bullpen.

Francisco Liriano got his first start of the season for the Twins Friday night, and he met expectations with a nice five inning outing as he works to build up his endurance. Liriano wasn't given a whole lot of breathing room, but the Twins offense scored just enough runs just in time for Liriano's departure after 5 innings.