'Mr. Red Sox' predicts World Series in Boston

'Mr. Red Sox' says fans can look for another World Series win from the Boston team this year.

The AL is king, and don't expect this to change in

As Porter Wagoner of the Country Music Hall of Fame once philosophized in song, Sun Don't Shine (On the Same Dog Every Day).

Or, as Catfish Hunter of the baseball Hall of Fame later interpreted, "The sun don't shine on the same dog's ass all the time."

Do you remember the last time the NL won a World Series game? Scott Miller does -- barely. Click play to hear more.
However you split the hair of this dog, be it in the heartbreak parlance of country music or in the earthy language of the dugout, one thing is clear. The American League is enjoying an extended period of ultra-violet rays and warmth, of rolling around in the sun and contentedly scratching itself in the backyard grass ... while the National League is entering another summer of being shut in the shade of the dog house.

As baseball swings into the 2006 season, few things are more predictable than this:

If you're looking for power, dominance, Q-rating, raw muscle, sexiness, household names, a good party, winning lottery tickets and, oh yes, the eventual World Series winner, the AL clearly is where it's at.

Not only has the AL won the past two World Series, the league has swept them.

American League clubs have won three of the past four World Series and six of the past eight.

The AL has swept the World Series in four of the past eight years -- the Chicago White Sox over Houston in 2005, Boston over St. Louis in 2004, the Yankees over Atlanta in 1999 and the Yankees over San Diego in 1998.

Last time there were this many TKOs in championship bouts, Muhammad Ali was in his prime.

"When I came over here in 2004, St. Louis was the best in the National League," says Cincinnati manager Jerry Narron, who coached and managed in Texas from 1995-2001 and worked as Grady Little's bench coach in Boston in 2003 before moving to the Reds organization in 2004. "The Angels, the Yankees, the Red Sox and the Twins, I thought they were all better.

"And there was a bigger gap between the Cardinals and the second-best club in the National League than between the Red Sox and the second-best in the American League.

"I don't want to make it sound like the NL doesn't have as many good clubs. But in reality, there wasn't."

Still isn't, and it's not even close.

Scan the NL heading into the '06 season and what you'll find on paper is similar to what has been the case for the past three or four years: St. Louis is the only scary-good team. Oh, there are other good clubs -- Houston's pitching is stellar, Atlanta is always a powerhouse, a San Francisco team with Barry Bonds in the lineup always gets your attention -- but if you look hard enough, you can find flaws. And it isn't as if you need to be a professionally trained scout to find them.

Break down the AL and you've got monsters -- or, potential monsters -- in the Bronx, Toronto, Boston, Chicago, Oakland, Anaheim, Cleveland and, possibly, Minnesota.

   
Mariano Rivera and the AL have won six of the past eight World Series. (Getty Images)   
The AL is King Kong. The NL is Curious George.

"It's a different ballgame," says White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who watched the NL closely as a coach with Montreal and Florida for three seasons before taking his current job in 2004. "People think that there is all of this difference in strategy. The only strategy is the double-switch.

"In the American League, I can hit-and-run with my six, seven, eight and nine hitters, and I can bunt. In the National League, I can't move guys over there because the pitcher is batting behind them and what am I gonna do?"

Oh, and the AL is 8-0-1 over the past nine All-Star Games.

As the lines between the two leagues have blurred more and more over the past decade -- interleague play, free agency, umpires now working both leagues instead of just one, the dissolution of the league offices -- the most obvious difference is the designated hitter.

Clearly, as Guillen and many others say, that generally makes for stronger lineups in the 14-team AL than in the 16-team NL.

There is more money in the AL, too -- at least, at the top. In 2005, three of the top four payrolls came from the AL -- the Yankees (highest in the majors at $208 million), Boston (second, $123.5 million) and the Los Angeles Angels (fourth, $97.7 million).

"Let's not kid ourselves, when you have good players, it makes everybody look good -- players, manager, front office," Yankees third-base coach and former Philadelphia manager Larry Bowa says. "The other thing is depth. That's what big payroll teams have. If they lose somebody, they've got somebody else. They don't go down to their farm system. That's a big difference."

The Yankees have ranked first in payroll in each of the past seven seasons, beginning in 1999, and will be there again in 2006. (Baltimore had the highest payroll in the majors in 1998 at $70.4 million).

In five of the six seasons from 2000-05, at least three of the top five payrolls were funded by AL clubs. They ranked 1-2-3 in 2002 -- the Yankees ($125.9 million), Boston ($108.3 million) and Texas ($105.7 million). They did it again in 2004 -- the Yankees ($184 million), Boston ($127 million) and the Angels ($100.5 million).

A True World Series

The inaugural World Baseball Classic, the first true world championship, is now history and, to most observers, it was an instant success. The competitive games, fan enthusiasm and high media ratings show that there is a rapidly growing global market for baseball. What was more surprising were some of the outcomes Who could have predicted that young teams from Mexico and Canada would beat the United States at what is widely considered to be the quintessential American sport? Was this an 
Baseball has become a battlefield in the global talent competition, but in the Cuban case, players do not quite enjoy free movement of baseball labor.
unanticipated consequence of the emerging 'NAFTA community?'
Team USA's struggles were one of the many ironies of a tournament that saw Japan and Korea embarrass a young China team. It also saw an underpaid Cuban team consistently outperform Major League millionaires.
And the tournament featured a reinvigorated Japan team, which  in an apparent echo of the country's long overdue economic resurgence  led an Asian baseball ascendance.
Flawless defense
Team Korea was the surprise of the tournament, posting a 6 to 1 record behind outstanding pitching and flawless defense. It managed to beat the Japanese team twice, the first time in Tokyo in front of Japan's royal family.
The Koreans finally ran out of gas when Japan beat its regional nemesis in a semi final rematch before going on to defeat Cuba (10 to 6) in a memorable finale.
A hard lesson to learn
One clear lesson for Team USA emerged from its poor showing against the Asian teams: It can no longer rely on reputation, brute strength and the fear factor to compete internationally.
The World Baseball Classic became a three week celebration of a game that, somewhat surprisingly, has truly gone global. 
Both the Japanese and Korean teams consistently outperformed their Western Hemisphere rivals by mastering the fundamentals and displaying speed, finesse and the occasional burst of power. We should hope the North Korean military was not watching the tournament and taking any encouragement from the outcome.
Another lesson from the tournament is that baseball has become just another battlefield in the global competition for talent. Countries like the Dominican Republic, Panama and Venezuela continue to send talented young players to the United States, where many have become big stars.
Million dollar contracts
This has, in turn, fueled more dreams of million dollar contracts and driven more youngsters into the Latin baseball pipeline. Even Japan has begun to export an increasing number of players to the United States in recent years.
It was, therefore, somewhat surprising that the tournament's championship game featured only two professionals who have played in the United States  Ichiro Suzuki, the Japanese megastar who had two hits in the final, and his teammate Akinori Otsuka, who plays for the Texas Rangers, and struck out the final two batters to end the game and nail down the championship.
Undervaluing foreign talent
This may reflect a growing pool of baseball talent that now chooses to compete outside of the United States. It may also mean that American scouts continue to under value international talent  at their own peril.
Whether baseball will be known as 'America's pastime' much longer is just one of the many questions raised by the tournament.
Of course, in the Cuban case, players don't quite enjoy free movement of baseball labor. A sizeable number of Cuba's best players have defected in recent years and found their way into U.S. leagues.
Many more, however, are thought to aspire to the majors, but ultimately choose to remain in Cuba in order to protect their families. It was no surprise, therefore, that political freedom became a small side story of Cuba's participation.
Cuban work ethic
The most overt political controversy of the tournament centered on the right of spectators to display anti Castro signs at Cuba games. Out of deference to their Cuban guests, the tournament organizers cracked down on such signs, which the Cuban team called propaganda.

Of course, no one could stop Team Cuba's spokesman from delivering a steady stream of commentary about the team ethic of his players and the selfish, greed driven motivations of players in the United States.

Fortunately, this brief bit of politics was overshadowed by large, passionate crowds and a larger than expected viewing audience for the tournament. Almost 800,000 fans attended the 39 games.

The fans of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Korea, and Japan traveled thousands of miles (many from within the United States) to see the four semi finalists play in San Diego.

 
One clear lesson for Team USA which emerged is that it can no longer rely on reputation, brute strength and the fear factor to compete internationally.

Having observed the final weekend of competition in person, I can report that the World Baseball Classic became a three week celebration of a game that, somewhat surprisingly, has truly gone global. While displays of the flag (including face paint) were frequent, most fans put politics aside in order to enjoy a favorite pastime.

It was heartening to see fans from many nations cheer heartily for players they had never heard of  and even dance to some national music one would never hear at a U.S. ballgame.

Whether baseball will be known as 'America's pastime' much longer is just one of the many questions raised by the tournament, which lived up to its billing as the beginning of a true classic. An encore is already planned for 2009  and every four years after that.

White Sox World Series trophy in Granger today

The 2006 baseball season is less than a week away, and plenty of Michiana White Sox fans are hoping for back-to-back World Series wins.

In October of last year, the White Sox captured their first World Series crown since 1917, by sweeping the Houston Astros.

Chicago went 11-and-1 in the post season.

However, what may be just as exciting for local fans is the famous World Series trophy will be in Granger on Tuesday.

You can take your camera out to the U.S. Cellular store in Granger Tuesday afternoon, from 4:00 until 7:00 PM and get a picture with the World Series trophy.

There is a suggested donation of $10 for taking a photo. However, all proceeds will go to the United Way, and Chicago White Sox Charities.