For the most part a boring week this past week. The snow that started falling on Tuesday and just kept falling. After all of these little nickel and dime storms we finally got some real snow. Looks like around one foot but hopefully it will all be gone by the time baseball season starts. It is warming up but baseball season starts on the 29th so we’ll see. At least on positive news the weather forecast for Opening Day seems to be improving as the rain has all but disappeared from the forecast.

Of course the huge news here in York was the fire and subsequent building collapse on Broad Street that killed two York City firefighters and injured two others. I drove by there on Thursday morning while out shoveling snow since it is right around the corner from my parent’s house and that building was still smoking. It may have reignited at that point and several firetrucks were out front. To say it was a mess was an understatement. Wonder if we’ll ever find out the cause of the fire.

On a lighter note I was going to head up the PIAA basketball championships in Hershey on Thursday, Friday and Saturday but due to the snow and the fact that half of the semifinal games still had to be played they were PPD to Monday thru Wednesday. It is a shame, I was going to hit a few most of the breweries in Dauphin and Cumberland counties that I have not visited yet but since some are not open early in the week they’ll have to wait. It’s not like I won’t be up that way for a Senators game at all.

I did head over to one of the semifinal doubleheaders being played in Chambersburg on Saturday. To make the most of this I not only drove through Gettysburg to get some pictures of the battlefield in the snow but since I was in Chambersburg I had lunch at Roy Pitz and got some beer to go around the corner at Gearhouse brewing as well. I don’t get to Chambersburg all that often so I might as well make the most of it and I got those two added to the list for the year.

The 6A semifinal was first between late year’s state runner up Pine-Richland and Philly’s Roman Catholic. It was a back and forth affair and wound up going to OT. There Roman shined and exploded putting the game out of reach. Certainly a game effort for the Rams but they came up short. Then came the 3A semifinal between Lancaster Mennonite and Richland from near Johnstown. This was another back and forth affair and both sides held late leads only to see the other make crucial basket. Mennonite seemed to put the nail in the coffin with a putback with about 3 seconds left to put them up 1 but Richland (also nicknamed the Rams) inbounded it to their best player Tyler Zimmerman who hit a shot from about 30 feet away to win the game.

So the matchups for next week are: 1A Lourdes Regional vs. Kennedy Catholic 2A Constitution vs. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 3A Richland vs. Neumann-Gorette 4A Imhotep vs. Sharon 5A Abington Heights vs. Mars and 6A Abraham Lincoln vs. Roman Catholic.

And finally with Spring Training wrapping up I am predicting that the Pirates will win 75 games this year. I’d like to be wrong but I’m pessimistic. There were a lot of things that went wrong last year like Marte’s PED suspension, Taillon’s testicular cancer, Polanco’s hamstring and the number of injuries to Cervelli. McCutchen showed up for more of the season last year but it still was not enough. I think there have been some upgrades. Elias Diaz I think will be a better catcher than Chris Stewart (he certainly can’t hit any worse), Josh Bell is getting better and hey, we might have a third baseman in Colin Moran so Sean Rodriguez and David Freese can sit on the bench! It’s been a long time since the Pirates had a competent third baseman, might have to go back to Joe Randa for that. I don’t quite know what to expect from Corey Dickerson but he seems to have more pop than McCutchen and he can’t be much worse of a defender.

On the flip side the pitching staff isn’t much worse. Gerrit Cole never seemed to be able to take that next step and while he was good he was becoming home run prone. He also never could seem to beat the Cincinnati Reds which was a problem when they are just about the worst team in baseball. With a full season of Taillon this year things may not be so bad. Ivan Nova can hopefully eat some innings and I like Trevor Williams and Chad Kuhl as well but I don’t expect Kuhl to ever be more than a #4. The one person who can make everyone forget Cole is Tyler Glasnow and if he can ever get his control under control he will be dominant. The last thing I want the Pirates to do is give up on him too soon and watch him turn into another Randy Johnson. I also think the bullpen will be better this year as a result of the offseason trades made. The problem is the division. Milwaukee is getting stronger (and they always seem to have the Pirates number), Chicago still has a lot of good hitters and is pretty much able to print money, Cincinnati has the hitters with a ballpark made for them and the Cardinals are still the Cardinals. It’s not an easy division and the Pirates could very well be in last place.

I think this could be the last hurrah for guys like Josh Harrison, Starling Marte and maybe even Gregory Polanco who could net valuable pieces in a trade. If the team struggles I would not be surprised to see a tear down ala Houston or Philly though it may not be immediate. I just hope the rebuilding doesn’t last 20 years like the last one did. The Pirates lost a lot of fans during that time and another would probably destroy the franchise. It would be hard to root for the Montreal Pirates or Portland Pirates.

For other baseball predictions sure to go wrong I will concentrate on the three teams in my local area. I think the Orioles will be middle of the pack. That still could have them out of contention behind the Yankees and Red Sox and staying in contention could be the worst thing that could happen to them. By being out they could do a quick replenishment of the farm system by trading Manny Machado and/or Adam Jones. The rotation is still iffy even after Alex Cobb is ready but at the very least there is no more Ubaldo Jiminez and a guaranteed loss every fifth day. He might be pitching in the Atlantic League soon since he can’t even get a minor league deal.

My prediction for the year is 74 wins. Down 95 I still see the Nationals as the cream of their division, which is still not saying much. I think the Braves will be better and the Phillies are on the rise but for the Nats it is now or never. With Bryce Harper set to become a free agent they need to win now and they are built for it. My prediction is 93 wins. Speaking of the Phillies, they will be able to hit as they always have but they still need pitching. I’ve never been sold of J.P. Crawford. He has always seem to put up gawdy numbers in the minors but when I saw him in person he did not look good at all. He made numerous fielding errors and base running mistakes and I have never been impressed with him. The guy I would like to see if he has what it takes is Aaron Altherr. I’ve always liked him and the injury bug has bitten him hard. Jake Arrieta is a good addition but he is not what he was 3 years ago. Last year their bullpen could barely hold a lead so that will need to improve. They have the talent down on the farm but again pitching is an area of concern there. Their rotation after Arrieta and Aaron Nola is not exactly feared though there is some potential there is Jerad Eichoff and Vince Velasquez can bounce back to their selves from two years ago when they came to the Phillies. My prediction is 76 wins for the Phils. Showing signs of improvement but still far enough back to be able to trade a guy like Cesar Hernandez when it comes time.

Kevin’s division winners:

National League West – LA, Central – Cubs – East – Nationals
American League West – Houston Central – White Sox – East – Yankees

Wild Cards: National League – Milwaukee and Arizona. American League: Texas and Boston

World Series: Houston over Washington

Yeah I know Houston is the easy pick and as much as I do not want to see Washington win the World Series at some point they have to break through. If they don’t heads could roll there so I hope they have some urgency. I really did not want to pick the Yankees. I hate how they got the “feel good” story for “rebuilding” so I’ll go with Houston, hopefully sans hurricane this year.

And last but not least with baseball season starting this week I am planning on attending Thursday’s home opened in Baltimore against Minnesota and may go to the game Saturday as well. I may go to Hershey to see the Bears one last time instead and with Sunday being Easter I am not able to go on Sunday.