The 2009 season is finally getting underway tomorrow. I am almost ready - I have already participated in one Fantasy Draft, have another one scheduled for next week. Here in Toronto, we're not quite in the groove yet - the Leafs have a few games left, while this weekend we are patiently waiting for a mild hurricane blizzard to pass through. It's the time of year when, no matter how down people are on the Blue Jays, we all start pining to get the damn ball season going.

It has been about five weeks since I wrote an article that detailed a (perversely) optimistic scenario in which the Jays could contend in 2009. If anything, I am feeling as good, or even better, about that scenario; for starters, Sports Illustrated has picked the Jays to finish last in the division, and we all know that SI couldn't pick a horse race between seven Clydesdales and Secretariat.

Elsewhere, a whole bunch of miserable things have been happening around baseball, but surprisingly few of them involving the Jays. They include:

• Alex Rodriguez having hip surgery, will be gone six weeks and then will need surgery again after the season
• Ichiro Suzuki going on the DL with a bleeding ulcer
• Joe Mauer is expected to miss April with a back injury
• Angels' ace John Lackey has elbow soreness, and will miss at least a month
• the Angels' other ace, Ervin Santana, sprained an elbow ligament and will also miss at least a month
• Athletics' ace Justin Duchscherer had arthroscopic surgery on his elbow, will miss at least a few weeks
• Joey Devine (the guy with the 0.59 ERA last year) has a sore elbow, will miss at least a few weeks
• Scott Baker DLed with shoulder stiffness
• the comebacks of both Joel Zumaya and Jeremy Bonderman have been put on hold for now
• Dontrelle Willis has been DLed with anxiety disorder
• Rich Hill has been DLed with elbow soreness, to be replaced by Mark Hendrickson
• both Horacio Ramirez and Sidney Ponson are in the Royals' starting rotation

And that's just the American League. In Toronto, B.J. Ryan's "dead arm" has gotten lots of attention - though given how B.J. pitched for much of 2008, I'm not sure how anyone is able to tell. It still kinda sucks, of course; one way or the other, B.J. wasn't likely to finish the year as the team's closer, but it would be nice if they could take some time to figure out who his replacement will be, and maybe even trade him for, I dunno, Justin Upton or something useful.

(fortunately, dead arms can become undead - there have been more than a few zombie lefthanders in baseball whose arms - and careers - refused to die)

The rest of the bad news is that there of been no medical miracles this spring - Jeremy Accardo and Casey Janssen will need more time to come back from their injuries, while Dustin McGowan might not come back till late in the year - if at all. None of this is surprising, and doesn't fundamentally alter the team's outlook - but at this time of year it is nice to believe in things like the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy and Magically Healed Labrums.

Amazingly, SI's predictions aren't even the most conservative that I've seen this spring - these probably hold that honour. Some people are trying to step outside the box and muster up some love for the Kansas City Royals - the argument is that if their young players improve, and if Ponson and Ramirez don't suck, then they could be contenders. Which I guess could happen, except that even then they still have Tony Pena Jr. and Willie Bloomquist on the roster. I'm not feeling the love.

Anyways, I'm going to boldly pick the hometown Blue Jays to win the Wild Card, because I can. The Red Sox are clearly the best team in the baseball right now, and should win the division. The Rays probably should win the WC but baseball history is littered with teams that shoulda' done somethun' but didn't. The Yankees have awesome front-line talent, but fat, drunk, and defensively challenged is no way to build a ballclub.

Elsewhere... on paper, the Twins appear to have the best team in the Central, but Mauer's back is wonky and Krazy Ken Williams was making trades again during the winter which is always scary so I'll pick the White Sox. In the West - yikes, I think I'll take Oakland. Not because I like the Athletics, but the Angels probably weren't all that good last year, and look even worse right now, while both the Rangers and Mariners look ugly.

The post-Gillick era hasn't gotten off to an encouraging start in Philly - I'll pick the Mets to finally win the damn division, with the Marlins grabbing the Wild Card. The Cubs still have the best team in the NL, so of course I'll pick the Cardinals to win the division and continue their 80+ year tradition of breaking the Cubs fans' hearts. The young DBacks should be able to win the West - they should have won last year but hopefully have learned some life lessons and how to hit curveballs.

AL MVP: Matt Holliday
AL CY: Roy Halladay
AL ROY: Chris Getz
AL MOY: Cito Gaston

NL MVP: Hanley Ramirez
NL CY: Johan Santana
NL ROY: Cameron Maybin
BL MOY: Rat Bastard LaRussa