Is this the end of the line for the Detroit Red Wings and their 22-year playoff run, I think so. I am a loyal Red Wing fan, but with the change to the Eastern Conference scheduled to take place during the 2013-14 season, and their lack of team size in my opinion in just may happen unless they take a different direction and add some size to their lineup. I mean come on, how many times can this team be punished by teams with a huge size difference for which they will face on a nightly basis.

Let's be serious here for a moment, seeing teams like the Bruins 5 to 6 times a year will not be good for the smaller Wings unless they make changes and add size and even more toughness than Jordin Tootoo and Justin Abdelkader provide. But we will see what direction the Wings head after the playoffs are over, these changes are necessary in order for them to compete in the East, and has to happen during this offseason. 

Is this the answer to the Detroit Lions problems as a team, I highly doubt it. Honestly I believe Martin Mayhew missed the boat again when he drafted him number 5. I personally believed they should have drafted a tackle to replace Jeff Backus who retired during the offseason. But this is typical Lions draft strategy since the Matt Millen era, draft a project (Charles Rogers, Titus Young) and pray that they work out. When they don't they release them in order to save face. I am not knocking their entire draft, but there were a lot better players out there that were ready to play this year, not two years down the road. I guess its time for the Lions to find a real general manager, who will draft to the needs of the team, and break the draft day trend. Oh wait I forgot, that is why they are the only Detroit team that I have never seen win a championship during my near 49 years on this earth. Why is this, because they do not have a clue!

Well I have to admit that this weekends series against the Indians has been rather interesting, and not the walkover I thought it would be. Nice to see that Tito, Nick and all the other additions are starting to pay off for the Indians. If this trend continues like it should, because those I mentioned will not let the others quit, then the Central Division might stay interesting this year. 

Thanks for stopping by, and I will see you the next time.

With games starting as Sunday night when the newly minted American League Houston Astros host their cross-state rival Texas Rangers on Sunday night, the 2013 Major League Baseball season is upon us. No more talk about the Hot Stove, no more trade or free agent speculation, just baseball. Pure and simple.

But we still have a few days left before the first pitch is thrown and the long, arduous season is underway. That means we have a few more minutes to make some predictions and assumptions about how things will play out and who will be wearing the crown when the dust settles.

Today, we'll work on the American League, and then we'll follow that up with the National League tomorrow. So let's get started, shall we?

American League East

1.) Toronto Blue Jays

2.) Tampa Bay Rays (WC)

3.) Boston Red Sox

4.) Baltimore Orioles

5.) New York Yankees

No team in baseball did more to improve their overall team than did the Toronto Blue Jays. Adding three quality starters (R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, and Josh Johnson) to their starting five and then securing two solid top of the order hitters (Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera) and a pair of universal infielders (Maicer Izturis and Emilio Bonifacio), the Blue Jays may be the deepest team in baseball. They will beat teams on the mound, on the basepaths, and in the batter's box. Some pundits worry about how the team will gel, but the players acquired are all professionals of the highest order and that shouldn't be an issue. The AL East, in a weakened state, should be their division to lose.

Tampa will take second place and one of the two wild-cards in the American League. The Rays have the one thing all teams envy, and that's a deep pitching staff that will keep them in any game, and help them win quite a few. Unfortunately, the line-up outside of Evan Longoria is at its most barren and Tampa will again struggle to score runs. That may improve once the team bites the bullet and promotes Wil Myers, but they'll need to wait three weeks before that happens.

I may shock some people by picking the Red Sox to vault up to third place this season, and then again some will think this is a homer pick. That said, Boston did a lot to improve themselves throughout the order, adding Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes, and Ryan Dempster. Furthermore, the pair of Clay Buchholz and Lon Lester have looked great this spring and they'll have a healthy Will Middlebrooks back. The only question mark is David Ortiz, but the team is deeper and may be able to withstand a short-term loss of Big Papi.

The final two squads could easily flip-flop in the standings. As much as I appreciated what the Orioles did in 2012, I think they overachieved and are in for a market correction. Baltimore did little to improve on a squad that managed only a +7 run differential and won more games with their bullpen than any other team in the American League.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are going to struggle to overcome the injuries to Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, and Alex Rodriguez. They may have a solid starting five, but they'll lose more offense than any team in baseball for the first three months of the season, and an aging Kevin Youkilis, Travis Hafner, Vernon Wells, and Lyle Overbay are not going to be the answer the Yankees need.

American League Central

1.) Detroit Tigers

2.) Cleveland Indians

3.) Chicago White Sox

4.) Kansas City Royals

5.) Minnesota Twins

The AL Central is likely going to be a brutal division in 2013. The Tigers are still the toast of the town and should be better than the 88-win team that won the division in 2012. The addition of Torii Hunter and the return of Victor Martinez should make the line-up even deeper and the pitching staff should be solid, with Justin Verlander topping the rotation and a full season of Anibal Sanchez to add to the mix. Closer is a concern, but the role is overrated anyway.

The Cleveland Indians have flirted with respectability each of the last two seasons, but stumbled in the second half of both. The front office reloaded by bringing in Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, Mark Reynolds, and Brett Myers, but we should all keep an eye on Scott Kazmir. If Kazmir can be a shadow of what he used to be, this could be a very entertaining team to watch.

The White Sox have a lot of good going for them, but they are still only a third place team at best. Chris Sale and Jake Peavy are a solid 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation, but the rest of the starting five has its question marks. Will Tyler Flowers be able to carry A.J. Pierzysnki's weight? Will Adam Dunn ever get himself away from the Mendoza line? Can the starting outfield avoid regressing in 2013? That's a lot of questions to answer to make a two-team jump for the division title.

I really like what the Kansas City Royals did this winter. The front office finally said "we need to win", and they went out and traded their top prospect (Myers) to Tampa for James Shields and Wade Davis, and acquired Ervin Santana from the Angels. Still, will it all be for naught when these markedly better Royals squad still has to jump three other teams in the division? Will they regret losing a talent of Myers' proportions?

What can you say about the Minnesota Twins? This is a still a team that revolves around Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, but their window of opportunity has passed and the team seems to be set on building for the future. The fans will be treated to a talented rookie in Aaron Hicks and the team will likely turn to other young building blocks as the season progresses. The lack of a solid pitching staff and a young line-up likely means that the Twins will make more noise at the trade deadline than they will in the standings. Expect Morneau and Josh Willingham to be shopped extensively when the Twins fall out of contention in early June.

American League West

1.) Los Angeles Angels

2.) Oakland Athletics (WC)

3.) Texas Rangers

4.) Seattle Mariners

5.) Houston Astros

To me, this is the toughest division to pick. In the end, I went with the Angels taking the title, as they are just a dangerous team to have to face consistently. The addition of Josh Hamilton to a line-up that already contained Albert Pujols, Mike Trout, and Mark Trumbo will be devastating for even the best rotations to face. Jered Weaver is a solid ace at the top of the rotation, but the rest of the starting five is made up of number 4 starters at best, and that's giving Joe Blanton a lot of credit. Still, the team's offense should carry them.

Oakland is my runner-up, but could very well steal the division again. The starting rotation is as deep as they come, and Billy Beane's teams always seem to have another arm waiting in the wings, which they may need if Brett Anderson continues to struggle with his health. Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick will likely continue to improve and are solid offensive building blocks. The addition of Jed Lowrie is another good buy-low move by Beane.

What were the Texas Rangers doing this winter? A team with so much to gain just by retaining their top offensive weapon, Texas instead let Hamilton walk to a division rival and did nothing to replace him. They have the best prospect in the game in Jurickson Profar, but no place to play him, so why they couldn't swing a deal for Justin Upton with Elvis Andrus as a center piece, I don't know. The combination of Yu Darvish and Matt Harrison at the top of the rotation is solid, but losing out on Greinke is going to hurt them.

The Seattle Mariners, like the Royals above, did a lot to improve their team, first bringing in the fences, then bringing Kendrys Morales and Mike Morse to help an anemic offense support one of the most underrated pitching staffs in baseball. Still, they face an uphill battle with the Rangers, A's, and Angels still having stronger rosters to fall back on. The presence of Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, Mike Zunino, and Nick Franklin gives the Mariners a top-5 prospect list to be envied by any organization.

Moving from the NL Central to the AL West was the right move for the Astros and will help them create a natural rivalry with the Rangers. Unfortunately, they have a few years of building a roster ahead of them, especially after dismantling the current one. There is something to be said about building a winner by losing on the field, but entertaining is not one of them.

Virgil “Fire” Trucks, one of 5 pitchers to throw 2 no-hitters in a season, and the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers oldest living ballplayer passed away at the age of 95. He also was only one of two pitchers to win a World Series game without wining a regular season game. Virgil also tossed 4 no-hitters in the minor leagues.

In 17 seasons Trucks was 177-135 with a era of 3.39 and 1,534 strikeouts.

Trucks was the uncle of Butch Trucks, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, and his great nephew Derek Trucks is also a member of the Allman Brothers Band and has his own band with his wife, Susan Tedeschi, called the Tedeschi Trucks Band.

Virgil’s niece was my supervisor at the post office for 11 years. I have never met Virgil but I have met Butch before.

  That's right folks, here we are three days into free agency and all of Detroit city is drinking that Honolulu Blue and Silver Kool-Aid! We got Reggie Bush... we got Glover Quinn... we got Houston and Delmas back... all right. We'll be running that football next year with Bush, and Quinn and Delmas will be locking down the back end of that defense. Unstoppable... next stop... Super Bowl... Even Bill Polian says we're going to be the "Greatest Show on Turf"!

  And here's the reality; we signed a thirty year old running back to a four year contract, re-signed a corner and safety from a secondary that sucked out loud last year, signed a new safety, lost our starting left tackle with Backus retiring, lost our starting right tackle with Gosder Cherilus signing with the Colts, and now reports are that Lions' brass is not even sure Reiley Reiff is the future at left tackle. Oh yeah, and we cut our starting RG before free agency started.

  As it sits right now, the Detroit Lions have many massive holes to fill. First of all, you still have no pass rush. Cliff Avril, a guy who represented what little bit of pass rush ability you had on the roster, took less money than what you offered him last year to go play for Seattle. Bye bye... don't let the door hit you on the way out. Letting him walk wasn't a huge deal. But pair that with the fact that you blew most of your free agency cash on an aging, underachieving running back and a safety with all of one year of starting experience under his belt, and now we have a fucking problem. You still need starters at the following positions; WR, LT, RT, RG, DE (2), LB, CB, K. That's right, our "face of the franchise" Jason Hanson is still gone. Fucking pathetic.

  Don't fool yourselves, people, signing Reggie Bush isn't getting this team any closer to a Super Bowl. This team has no offensive line... you could have signed Adrian fucking Peterson and it wouldn't make a Goddamn bit of difference. When your entire right side needs to be replaced, on top of the left tackle position, you are fucked no matter who you have lining up at running back. Oh yeah, Reggie Bush is going to open things up for Calvin Johnson... bullshit. There is nobody else in the receiving corps aside from Calvin Johnson. They can still double and triple Johnson and keep an eye on Bush, there are ZERO threats on this team otherwise. Ryan Broyles... he's a fucking cripple. Nate Burleson... see Ryan Broyles. Brandon Pettigrew, the waste of a first round pick on a tight end, he drops more passes than Kate Upton does jaws. This team is a fucking joke, and that's just the offensive side of the ball.

  On defense, you have Suh and Fairley up the middle, Houston at one corner. If he's your #2 corner, that's great. No, he's your #1, and you're paying him like a #1... that's the only reason he's still a Detroit Lion. There is literally nobody else on that defense even worth mentioning... and I'm not going to waste any time discussing it. Delmas is a fucking bum, even when he's healthy.

  If the Detroit Lions are not picking in the top ten of next year's NFL draft... either they traded their first round pick for a bag of magic beans, or they're picking #11! Right here and now, I'd like to officially announce that I do not give a fuck about the Detroit Lions in the year 2013. Will I have a fucking aneurysm if they draft a wide receiver in the second round again? Probably! Will I still rant and rave about whatever the hell they do in the draft... definitely. I would LIKE to announce that I don't care anymore and fuck the Lions from here on out... I just can't! I'm like Lil' Wayne on PCP with this team... just can't kick it.

  So, I'll throw my official 2013 Lions prediction out there... 6-10, miss the playoffs, take last place in the NFC Norse Division, and draft somewhere in the top 12 once again. Oh, and after the season, both Mayhew and Schwartz keep their jobs... same with the coordinators... why not? Fuck it.

 Speaking of things I am trying not to care about, how about that new pope? Yeah... I have just as much authority as the new Pope does... I just don't have as many people that believe it! The great George Carlin gets credit for that, but he's 100% right... aside from Catholics, who gives a shit about the Pope?

  I will give those crazy Catholics some credit... it was kind of cool to watch the media having a shit fit because they had to wait just like the rest of us "common folk" to find out who the new Pope was going to be. The secrecy and lack of leaks to the media were just fucking great. Is it just me, or does the media seem like a bunch of self-important, over-entitled bags of shit these days? They kept a lid on the identity of the new Pope as if it were a molested child trying to point the finger at one of them. Hell of a job gang... if there is one thing the Church knows, it's keeping things covered up.

  Looks like Notre Dame couldn't wait for the NCAA tourney to debut the worst uniforms in the history of sports... they donned them Friday night in the Big East tourney while losing to Louisville. I swear I turned off the TV and still saw those damn things for half an hour after.

  The Detroit Tigers became the first victims of the Biogenisis scandal, as AA pitcher Cesar Carrillo was suspended 100 games by Major League Baseball for violating the Minor League Drug Prevention Program. Why is this significant, you ask? Carrillo was the road roommate of Ryan Braun at the University of Miami. Looks like Braun could be next in Major League Baseball's crosshairs. Hopefully they put him down for a good, long while.

  That's all I've got for the week, folks. Thanks as always for reading and for any comments you leave on the way out. Have a great weekend, Gabbers.  

Sully brings us today's question....

Bill Polian claims the Lions will be the "Greatest Show on Turf" after signing Reggie Bush. Do you agree with that?