Opening Day Predictions: American League

Boston Red Sox at Oakland Athletics. Josh Beckett vs. Joe Blanton. The Sawx are of course coming off their 2007 World Series Championship, and Beckett off his Cy Young Runner Up year. The A's have recently traded Dan Haren, Nick Swisher, Marco Scutaro, and probably are still in the midst of their rebuilding process. It'd be tough to pick the A's realistically, and I won't. Prediction: Red Sox 4-2.
SUPER BONUS SECTION: MLB 08 The Show was released yesterday, and I played out this matchup, controlling the A's. It was a hard fought battle, with the Sawx winning 5-2 in 12 innings. Ruddy Lugo was forced to go a second inning due to the bullpen getting stretched thin, and gave up three runs in his 2nd inning of work. The A's would have won it on a 9th inning, two out blast by Bobby Crosby, but somehow the molasses-footed Manny Ramirez grabbed it from over the wall.
Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees. Roy Halladay vs. Chien-Ming Wang. The Yankees are at an interesting crossroads, with their pitching getting better with a new year, but their position players getting worse with a year (Save Melky and Cano.) The Blue Jays added Yankee-Killer Marco Scutaro in the offseason, but otherwise stood pat (I consider exchanging Troy Glaus for Scott Rolen standing pat.) They'll be better this year, and I'm taking the AL upset here because I'm a sucker for Scutaro, who will pinch hit smash his way to victory. Prediction: Blue Jays 4-3.
Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays (I don't care what they say, they're still the Devil rays to me) at Baltimore Orioles. Scott Kazmir (probably) vs. Jeremy Guthrie. Scott Kazmir had surgery recently, and is probable for Opening Day. If he's out James Shields takes his place, though it won't make a whole lot of difference. The Rays have far and away the best minor league system in baseball, producing such gems as Evan Longoria (Read: this year's Ryan Braun,) James Shields, BJ Upton, and friends. This year is the beginning of some great years for Tampa Bay. This is another in a long series of bad years for Baltimore, as they took a team who won 69 games, and got rid of their ace (Erik Bedard) and one of their primary offensive producers (Miguel Tejada.) Expect a truly awful season, and not much contest here. Prediction: Rays 6-3.
Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians. Mark Buehrle vs. CC Sabathia. Sabathia is the reigning Cy Young winner, and his team looks very solid heading into this season. They didn't lose any big pieces from their Pennant Contending team, while young guys like Asdrubal Cabrera will benefit from the year. The White Sox decided they need to keep trying for it while Paul Konerko and Jim Thome still resemble offensively capable producers, so they added Nick Swisher at the expense of what little their farm system had, and traded Jon Garland for Orlando Cabrera. I still don't think the Indians will have much trouble here. Prediction: Indians 4-1.
Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers. Gil Meche vs. Justin Verlander. Really, do I have to go into this? The Royals have been historically bad this year, and it will still be a few years before their young guys come into their own. It says something about your offense when your top RBI producer is Emil Brown, who this year is platooning on one of the worst offenses in the league (Sorry A's fans.) The Tigers won the pennant two years ago, had the AL MVP runner up in Magglio Ordonez, and added two ridiculous pieces in Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. This will be a romp. Prediction: Tigers 7-1.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Minnesota Twins.
Quick Aside: Anyone ever thought that the A's may soon be "The Oakland Athletics of Fremont?" How awkward.
John Lackey vs. Scott Baker. The Angels are a very good team who take an even mix with age. The Angels' only concerns are injuries, which won't affect them during Opening Day. The Twins traded their best player in Johan Santana, and didn't acquire any major league ready players, much less any particularly good players. Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are still around, but that's about all that remains of the offense. Prediction: Angels 3-1.
Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners. Kevin Millwood vs. Erik Bedard. My gosh, is Kevin Millwood still acing this team? How embarrassing. Erik Bedard wrote the book on strikeouts, and that should be enough. The popular opinion is that this is great pitching with bad offense against Good offense with awful pitching. I think the Mariners' offense is better than the Rangers' pitching really, so I don't think the Mariners will lose here. Prediction: Mariners 2-1.
There we go! I'm picking the Astros and Blue Jays as my upset victories, but otherwise the Opening Day matchups don't allow for many surprises.