Well, the old “Hot Stove League” is dampening down millions of pot-bellied stoves and as I write, the cry of “Play Ball” is in the air.

We’re nearing another season, friends, and already the Oakland Athletics have met the World Series champion Boston Red Sox in — of all places — Tokyo, Japan. Times sure are changing.

Despite ongoing Congressional investigations and words like “asterisk” and “cheaters” in the air, the Grand Old Game continues — and long may it be so.

And speaking of the Oakland Athletics, right now our North Bay neighbors are a work in progress.

General manager Billy Beane, not at all pleased with a team that in 2007 ended with a 76-86 win-loss record — 18 games behind their division-leading rivals, the Los Angeles Angels — is doing something about it.

He traded off Dan Haren (his best starting pitcher) and unloaded his best outfielders, Nick Swisher and Mark Kotsay, and will be pinning his hopes on kids he picked up in those trades.

Across the Bay, the Giants, also in dire straits, are practicing addition by subtraction.

They unloaded Barry Bonds after the long wait for Barry to reach his quest for the Holy Grail and have now, it seems, begun to shape up for a legitimate run at a pennant race.

Last year’s 71-91 cellar record, 19 games behind the division leader, is nothing to be proud of.

What someone has to do to make our Giants whole again is exactly what the late Leo Durocher suggested when he took over another sorry Giants team 60 years ago.

Leo, who would spike his own mother if she was covering a base he was trying to steal, looked at his aging and slow Giants team and said, “The first thing I’m going to do is back up the moving van.”

He did, and the Giants, with youth and speed, became winners.

So cutting to the chase, here’s how I see the 2008 season playing out:

AL West

The Los Angeles Angels are loaded with pitching, hitting and speed, led by ERA champion John Lackey (19-9, 3.01) and should demolish their Western Division rivals with ease.

The Seattle Mariners have some hitting with Ichiro Suzuki an amazing batter, but their pitching allowed the third-most runs in the league and that won’t be easy to overcome.

I would assign the Oakland A’s to last place in the four-team division, but the Texas Rangers’ horrible staff earned-run average of over 5.00 has me believing that Napa High, Justin-Siena and Vintage batters could hit Ranger pitching.

So it’s the cellar for the kids from Arlington, Texas.

 

AL Central

This division of five teams has two of the best American League teams in its ranks in the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers. However, there are two reasons I pick the Tigers to win the division. The first is Dontrelle Willis, a fine pitcher, and the second is Miguel Cabrera, a slugging third baseman picked up in the annual Florida Marlins fire sale.

The Cleveland Indians will be a contender all the way with plenty of talent.

Yet the Red Sox, facing elimination in last season’s playoffs, tarred and feathered the suddenly hapless Indians — and I mean they were beaten badly.

What’s left are the Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins. I would have assigned the Twins third place, but letting Johan Santana — one of baseball’s premier pitchers — slip away to the New York Mets means the cellar for the Twins.

AL East

The best teams in Major League Baseball, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, dwell in this division and you enter at your own risk.

As I see it, the Red Sox will hold off the Yankees — at the same time keeping an eye out for those dangerous Toronto Blue Jays.

The Sox are loaded with a mix of experienced veterans and young talent, both in pitching and batting, and what is now the new “Evil Empire” will make it three World Series championships in a five-year span.

With a staff headed by Josh Beckett, sluggers galore and two kids, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury, I see no one stopping them.

A Yankee team without manager Joe Torre will not be the same, but with solid performers like Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu, the Yankees, even with iffy pitching, will stay close to the Sox all season.

Toronto will be tough, but not tough enough, and Tampa Bay and the Baltimore Orioles will bring up the rear.

 

NL West

In many ways this is the most puzzling division in baseball. The Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres finished 11⁄2 games apart, with the Los Angeles Dodgers eight games behind and the Bonds-led Giants so far back they needed a road map to find the rest of the division.

My surprise choice here is the Dodgers. They have a solid team, including pitching, and were in need of a field leader and now they got one.

If Joe Torre can’t jump-start this club and make up the eight games over a long season, then no one can.

I see the Arizona Diamondbacks battling the Dodgers all season and coming up short. The Colorado Rockies, last year’s surprise NL champion, will settle back into third place.

The San Diego Padres will hold off a hopefully young Giants team which will gain experience and confidence for a run in 2009.

   

NL Central

Last year, for sentimental reasons, I predicted the Cubs would win it all after 99 years.

Of course they didn’t, but a $300 million infusion lifted them from last place in the Central Division to a crown in ’07.

I expect them to do it again, and who knows what will happen in the playoffs?

Beyond the Cubs in this six-team division, I see the Milwaukee Brewers as the Cubs’ main threat.

A shaky and troubled St. Louis Cardinals club with some talent will claim third place and the Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates will bring up the rear.

 

NL East

The New York Mets, in a terrible September fold last year, saw the Philadelphia Phillies catch them and pass them on the last day of the season.

With lefty Johan Santana now a Met, that won’t happen again.

This year I see another tough race with the rejuvenated Atlanta Braves butting in. But as I see it, the Mets will handle the Phillies and let the Phillies and Braves fight it out for second place.

Oh — and the Washington Nationals and Florida Marlins will bring up the rear.

Of course, if any big stars get hurt this season, I can always invoke the Parker Clause — all bets are off.

Ace Parker can be reached at evjenpar@mailbug.com or 224-9956.