Blogging Plans As Spring Training Games Grow Closer

With less than a week until baseball games are once again being played down in Florida and Arizona as part of Major League Baseball’s annual Spring Training, the topics surrounding the coming season are growing by the day. March 1st is set to be the first of a month of matchups between teams in both the Cactus League and the Grapefruit League, and with them will inevitably come numerous takeaways and subsequent predictions regarding the 2016 regular season.

As a baseball fan, I myself have several predictions of my own for what I feel will unfold over the course of this season. Although some of those things will undoubtedly fail to come true, I still find it enjoyable to lay out some of my thoughts this time of year as to what’s to come. With that in mind, I thought I’d discuss a brief overview of what’s to come from this blog as the season inches closer over this final month.

Although a lot of the things I write about will be related to news that is impossible to foresee, the first post of the month is going to give the readers a chance to let their opinions be known. As I’ve done for the past several seasons, I’ll be uploading a post with polls that let you all vote for which team you feel stands the best chance at winning each division in 2016. It’s always fun to see what people from around the baseball world have to say regarding those polls.

Once that is up, I’ll be publishing a blog post revealing the players who are likely to reach a home run milestone in the coming season, which winds up being an interesting post to look at in order to see what to look forward to from some talented players in the year to come. In addition, I plan to publish two more interviews at some point in the first and last weeks of the month, with both of them being with really talented pitchers; as well as a post on my own predictions for each team individually, regarding their fate in the standings at season’s end.

However, while all of those posts are planned out, as previously stated, the majority of the things I write about in March will simply be about whatever is going on around baseball at that point in time. Like the coming season, anything can truly happen.

Last Blog Post Until 2016

This was originally going to be my last blog post ever. I had decided back in August that I wouldn’t be continuing this blog into another year and would end things with a final, definitive post in December. But things have changed. I have several interviews with some amazingly talented ballplayers already conducted, and I don’t want those to not be published. In addition, the closer the final day got, I found myself not wanting to give up blogging. That day is coming (likely in 2016), but that point hasn’t arrived just yet.

With all of that said — back on January 1st of this year, when I posted my blogging New Year’s Resolutions/Goals, I stated that I was going to attempt to blog at least once every five days in 2015, post 100+ entries, get more views than the year before, go on a 3-post-blogging-streak and reply to every comment that was left.

I was successful in blogging at the set pace, posting three blog posts on back-to-back-to-back days and replying to every comment, but I only wound up posting 95 entries this year and didn’t surpass my total views from last year. Even so, I think it was a rather successful year of blogging.

After another long, tedious blogging year, this will be my final post until 2016 rolls around (as the title suggests). It’s Christmas time, and therefore I don’t want to spend it working multiple hours on putting any blog posts together. I’ll save that for January. Meaning, if any major baseball news stories break, no matter how big they are, I won’t be writing about it. At least not until 2016.

My first post of the new year will be my blogging resolutions/goals for 2016, followed by my Hall of Fame ballot a few days after. Then I’ll take the time to recap the elected members after they’re announced, and write a five year blog anniversary post on the 20th. Along the way I’ll hopefully post an interview or two, in addition to providing my thoughts from time to time on the latest baseball news. After that, heading into February, things are up in the air.

To conclude the year, I just want to take the time to thank everyone who’s read my blog throughout the past year, and throughout its nearly five year existence. Whether you’re a regular or just check in from time to time, if it weren’t for you all I’d have no reason to blog. So thank you. I’m going to do my best to make 2016 the best year yet — even better than 2015 — and hopefully you will all continue to come back every so often to read what I have to say.

Merry Christmas, and best wishes for a Happy New Year.

I’ll be back in 2016.

Blogging Plans for Remainder of 2014 Regular Season

We’re quickly approaching the final month of the 2014 Major League Baseball regular season, and that means that the playoffs are just around the corner. With only a few dozen more days until the end of the season on September 28th, I figured I’d do a blog post — as I do from time to time — covering what I’m planning to write about over the course of the next month or so.

First up, on August 28th, I’m going to be publishing an entry on the top five story lines worth keeping an eye on in the final month. There are several dozen potential points of interest that people around the baseball world will be keeping an eye on throughout September, but I’ll do my best to narrow it down to a mere five topics.

Once that’s up, I’ll, obviously, post an entry on the first day of September with the latest statistical leaders (something I’ve done every first day of the month throughout this season) from around baseball, and will likely do the same toward the end of September, or, perhaps, on the first day of October. I haven’t decided yet.

Either way, around a week or two into the month, after the Minor League Baseball season has ended, I’m going to be publishing a recap of sorts from my time spent this past season out at local minor league ballparks. I did the same things last year, going over each game briefly and displaying the autographs/game used items I picked up, but I did remarkably better this time around, so I’m looking forward to publishing that.

When the playoff teams have been finalized at the end of the season, I’ll be giving my postseason predictions, starting with the Wild Card games and working my way all the way down to the World Series. Though I was extremely far off yet again this year with my preseason predictions, I was able to successfully pick the World Series matchup in 2013 — unfortunately, I had the Cardinals winning instead of the Red Sox — so hopefully I’ll be able to do it again.

Other than that, it’s all up in the air.

My Busy Upcoming Baseball Game Schedule

Every now and again, I like to post an entry covering my baseball game plans and such for an upcoming week or two, especially when it’s going to involve a rather busy schedule. Although I try to avoid too difficult of a schedule, when several good teams come to town in a short period of time, sometimes it can’t be helped. For the next couple of weeks that’s going to be the case.

Starting on Friday, I’m going to be attending the first of what will be five minor league baseball games in two weeks, to see some of baseball’s future stars in person as well as get an autograph or two from as many of them as I can. While five games in two weeks could sound hectic — and to a certain degree it is — I have it all planned out so that everything will, hopefully, go smoothly.

Friday’s game will be my sixth MiLB game of the season so far, and my first Mudcats game of 2014. (Four of the games I’ve been to have taken place in Durham, with the other game occurring down in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.) It will be the Mudcats taking on the Pelicans, who are the High-A affiliate of the Rangers.

Though I’ve seen the Pelicans once this year, and therefore have already gotten many of the players’ autographs, I couldn’t pass up seeing them once again with the level of talent on the team. From Jorge Alfaro (their number one prospect) to Joey Gallo (who led all of the minors in home runs last season, with 40) and numerous players in between, it’s sure to be a fun game.

My next game will take place sometime during the following week (I haven’t decided the exact date yet). It will be another Mudcats game, but this time they’ll be squaring off against the Blue Rocks (Royals’ affiliate).

The Blue Rocks has its fair share of top prospects, despite them having underachieved for the most part in 2014. Including names such as Raul Mondesi, Hunter Dozier and Bubba Starling (who has unfortunately seemed lost throughout his past three minor league seasons), it’s well worth the trip out to the ballpark for another game.

Then begins the somewhat crazy week of games.

On Monday, June 2nd, I’m planning on heading over to Durham (for what will be the first time in nearly a month) to see a game against the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate, the IronPigs.

While it isn’t an overall fantastic team, with Maikel Franco (their number one prospect) being the main standout, with it being a day game, it’s sure to be an enjoyable time, as is any game. But there’s just something different about a day game (not necessarily better, just different) that’s makes the game special.

Following that game, either on Tuesday or Wednesday (just not Thursday due to the 2014 MLB draft which I plan to watch on MLB Network), I’m heading back out to the Mudcats to see the opposing White Sox affiliate, the Dash.

The Dash’s roster includes names such as Tim Anderson (their first pick in the 2013 draft), Courtney Hawkins (their first pick in the 2012 draft), and future pitching star, Tyler Danish, among a few other standouts. As a team with so much high talent, it should be an entertaining game, in addition to being a good time for autographs.

The last game in the busy two week span will take place on the following Friday, when I’m heading over to Durham once again to see the visiting Pawtucket Red Sox, who have quite the team.

Currently with a roster of five of the Sox top ten prospects, including Allen Webster, Garin Cecchini, Matt Barnes, Anthony Ranaudo and Christian Vazquez, as well as some former big leaguers, the Pawtucket team is a very good one — and one that I’m really looking forward to seeing.

That game will end the planned five games in two weeks schedule, in which it should be interesting to see how much I can add to my autograph totals for the year. Over the five games I’ve attended thus far, I’ve amassed 20 autographs, with four of those being from top 100 prospects. While I haven’t blogged about any of those games (I’ll probably be blogging about at least one of the games over the next two weeks) I’m still going to do a recap at the very end of the season, like I did last year, covering how my time went out at the ballpark in 2014.

With there still being two and a half months remaining, even after the games I’ve planned out, including the 2014 Triple-A Home Run Derby and All-Star game in July (I’ll definitely be blogging about both of those), there’s going to be a ton of opportunities to add to my overall autograph totals.

Finally Back Up and Running

Question: What do you get when you combine a shattered computer screen with an internet connection problem?

Answer: A two week gap in blog posts–which is the case here.

Unfortunately, since I wasn’t able to hop on my laptop and type up a blog entry over the past couple of weeks, I missed out on writing about the World Series like I had been planning to. In addition, I was unable to post entries on the Gold Glove awards, as well as the Player’s Choice awards, but although I missed out on those, I’m still planning to post something on the Silver Slugger awards, which are set to be announced Thursday night.

After that will come posts on the 2012 Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and MVP award winners. They will be published the day after each is announced and will include a recap of the winner along with a look at how well I did with my predictions (probably not all that well).

Following the award winners blog posts–which will run through the end of next week–I’m just planning to post my thoughts on the latest MLB news as it happens. That’ll be the case for most of the offseason, but I might change it up here and there; I haven’t decided yet. One thing I am going to attempt to do is post an offseason Q and A with a MiLB or MLB player once every two weeks starting after next weeks’ awards posts. I should be able to pull it off, but it really comes down to player cooperation.

So, as of right now, that’s the plan for the offseason. Keep in mind, however, that a lot can happen between now and the beginning of the 2013 MLB season, so make sure to check back often. I’ll be sure to let you know if my plans change….