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  Date / Time: 4/21/2009 12:38 PM UTC

  Major League Baseball - Don't let the early season drama alarm you
  

  The Florida Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners are all in first place?  Meanwhile teams like Tampa, both New York clubs, and the Phillies are trying to stay above .500?  This is that time of year (and it happens every year) when people start to freak out.  We are all smart enough to hold our horses for the first week of the season- we know we have to stay calm, cool and collected when our beloved New York Yankees are 0-2...but when its week two they get waxed by Cleveland, you start to worry. 
  
  The fact of the matter is that everyone is still in the race.  No team is out of the pennant race---well let me rephrase that.  The only teams that are out of it are the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles.  Let's face it, the Nationals are 2-10 in a division where all four teams above them in the standings have a legitimate shot at contending for the title.  The Orioles are in a similar position, even though they have a slight lead on the Tampa Rays, who we all know will turn it around.
  
  We all just need to relax.  The truth is that any team can still win it.  This is what makes baseball great.  If we go back and look at the past teams to win the series, 7 teams have won the past 8 World Series.  In the past 20 yrs, 14 teams have won the World Series, and that takes into account a three year stretch when the Yankees were simply unbeatable.  All this to say- we don't know who can come out of no where this year. 
  
  Do you all remember last year, when we all kept waiting, and waiting for the wheels to fall off of the Tampa Bay Rays?  It seemed like every night Peter Gammons and Buster Olney were debating how long the Rays could keep up the winning.  It took until the World Series for them to finally lose. 
  
  When you think about it, how often do we have a team win that hasnt won in years. The Red Sox won in 2004 for the first time in what, 100 yrs?  The White Sox did the same thing in 2005.  The Phillies hadnt won in 30 yrs or so.  The Angles, Marlins, and Rays had never experienced this kind of success.
  
  So, if your team is in the bottom of the standings in late April, dont sweat it.  They could turn it around.  But, if they dont turn it around, just hang tight, because one of these years they will be crowned World Series Champions.
  
  -cb
  
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