Spring is upon us. Sunlight is longer. What does this mean? Baseball. Yes, the smell of the freshly cut grass, the sound of the pop of the ball off a bat, the crackle of the ball hitting a mitt. My favorite time of year. We’re going to do a division-by-division preview, with award predictions as well.

AL East: Yankees

I feel bad for the Yankees. I do. Because even though they spent $450 million this offseason, they are still in the toughest division in baseball. That said, I still think they will win. CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Mark Texieria will contribute to a potential championship team. Even though A-Rod will be missed, ‘Tex’ makes up for that production, and when he comes back, they will be better than ever.

AL Central: Twins

Every year, the Twins are discounted. And every year, they exceed expectations. So this year, I’m picking them to win the Central. Maybe now they’ll finish in last place.

AL West: Angels

Bobby Abreu was, quietly, the best free agent pick up of the offseason. They are also in the mix as a championship contender

AL Wild Card: Rays

I was debating back and forth between the Rays and the Red Sox. In the end, youth wins out. A year removed from their surprise World Series run, the Rays have experience, talent, and David Price for a full year. That sounds like success to me.

NL East: Mets

The bullpen was their downfall a year ago. Now, it’s their strength with K-Rod, and JJ Putz.

NL Central: Cubs

They are really too talented.

NL West: Dodgers

Manny’s back. Need I say more?

NL Wild Card: Reds

This is my surprise pick. With Edison Volquez and Jonny Cueto, their pitching staff has two young aces. Add in Joey Votto and Jay Bruce hitting homers left and right, and this team could make a run.

AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez, Yankees

I really feel that the month or so off will have everyone forgetting about steroids. And that will allow A-Rod to flourish

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, Cardinals

Although the Cards won’t make the playoffs, Pujols will be the reason they hang around.

AL CY Young: Roy Halladay, Blue Jays

He’s the best pitcher that you don’t hear enough about.

NL CY Young: Johan Santana, Mets

Could’ve won it last year, if not for the awful bullpen. Now that that’s improved, he should win it.

ALDS: Yankees over Twins, Rays over Angels

ALCS: Yankees over Rays

NLDS: Mets over Reds, Dodgers over Cubs

NLCS: Dodgers over Mets

World Series: Yankees over Dodgers.

Enjoy the season.

About the Author

Your favorite writer from The Blog of Champions, is also writing for Tastefully Driven. He brings his sports expertise and knowledge to Tastefully Driven, and will continue to provide the insight and opinions you’ve grown to know and love. Any questions, comments, suggestions? You can contact him here.

The end of the world is near…no I’m not crazy. I’m just observing all these somewhat radical new “old-school” based nutrition and exercise methods that have been popping up all over the place. First you had the paleo diet - a diet that simply emphasises food that our cave-dwelling ancestors had access to. Ok, that’s fine. But then we have all these parkour athletes jumping around in the jungle. Alright…fine. Looks like a fun workout.

I’ve never really mentioned this to anyone but..I’m really worried about the survival of the human race. I mean, we’re all just sitting around - fat, unhealthy, stressed out - how are we going to survive hurricanes, earth quakes and other natural disasters. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not paranoid. But I mean this is the world we live in. And now we have to worry about all these people who’re willing to blow themselves up just to cause as much harm to others as possible.

I don’t know about you, but we’ve never really lived in a safe world. Our ancestors realized this and were a lot tougher. There are a lot of cultures out there that still start teaching their children martial arts and basic survival skills at a young age. Why not us? I went to boy scouts and know a few things here and there, but I’m certainly not an expert. I’m not saying I’m the king of survival and we should all just quite our day jobs and start preparing for the worst.

Here are a few random survival tips that might just help your chances of surviving this crazy world:

• Travel Light - When you go on a trip on an airplane, I don’t care if your flight is 4 hours or 14 hours, try to carry as little as possible. God forbid you’ll have to make a run for it - do you really want to make a decision between your life or your valuables?  Either way, traveling light has a lot of advantages, one of which is it dramatically reduced back pain.
• Practice Fasting - To tell you the truth, I still haven’t figured out if our bodies need a LOT of food, or a LITTLE bit. I’ve said it before that I’m not a nutrition expert, but doesn’t it makes sense to have the ability to live without food for a short period of time, especially when food is not readily available.  I personally have not lived through a famine, but anything is possible. Besides, fasting has some remarkable positive properties, including improved concentration and reduction in bathroom breaks. Although, I do think my clearest when I’m sitting on the can.
• Sprint like a Mad Man - Whether it be running away from an ax murderer, a terrorist trying to blow himself up, or trying to catch the 9 am bus, sprinting is a very useful skill to possess.  Sprinting not only burns a ton of fat really fast, but it is probably the most useful survival skill that you can use. How else did you think our ancestors survived during the days of the saber toothed tiger.
• Boost your Pullups - Watching parkour videos is fun. Jumping off of tall buildings and scaring away shoppers as you leap from one stair railing to the next is probably fun as well, but the main thing I noticed is how much “pulling” they do.  They pull themselves up to different areas, they climb up trees, if they jump off of a building and miss their target they’re able to catch themselves and pull themselves back up, etc.  Pullups are probably one of the best exercises you can do for yourself. Just think - you can sprint away from an ax murderer, and then be able to climb a tree with your amazing pulling strength!
• Lose some Sleep - I hate it when I don’t get enough sleep. It’s happened to me a few times, but I get this strange sense of ZEN after a while. This happened to me a few times when I was staying late at night working on college papers.  You get so sleep deprived that you just don’t need sleep anymore. You have this strange sense of clarity. I remember when I was craming for some exams during such a state, I would be able to soak up a ton of information extremely fast.  I’ve often took a C average to a B+ just because I aced my finals. It kind of makes you wonder - what if you just paid attention and did your work during the rest of the semester?

The Ultimate Survival Workout Guide

Well, look I’m a workout guy, and a workout guy can never end an article without writing a workout. Even if I’m writing about the sewage system of Long Island, New York, I’ll probably end up writing about how a sewage treatment technician can stay in shape on the job (I’ve seen those plants, and they’re are a lot of opportunities for pullups).

The key to developing a good surival workout is learning how to use your surroundings. Not only that, but you must be able to MOVE. It’s no use being big and strong if you can’t dodge someone trying to punch in the face.

You don’t need to go out and join some boxing class our parkour club, but start incorporating the following things into your workouts:

• Sprinting
• Shadowboxing/Heavy Bag Work
• Jumproping or Agility Drills
• Pullups and variations of
• Circuit training workouts where you’re required to move really fast between each exercise.

You can throw all these elements into one really intense puke-busting workout, or you can just spread the training out throughout the week. You can even start incorporating conditioning-type training along with your regular routine, whether you’re a bodybuilder or distance athlete. Here’s a sample 5-day schedule:

• Monday - Your regular stuff
• Tuesday - Sprinting, jumproping + shadowboxing
• Wednesday - Your regular stuff
• Thursday - Calisthenics circuit with emphasis on Pullups
• Friday - Your regular stuff

Good Luck Surviving

Ok, so maybe I used “survival” as just another way of pushing my own training style. But in all seriousness, we do live in a tough world and it doesn’t hurt being faster, stronger, healthier, and more agile then the guy who’s after you.

About the Author

Parth Shah is an average joe who’s tired of all the nonsense he sees in mainstream health and fitness media. His thoughts, ideas, and philosophy can be found on his website, ShahTraining.com. (Feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/shahtraining/UQuk)