I have been following baseball since my first game in 1994 at age 8.  My first game was at Yankee Stadium with my Dad and Grandpa.  I don’t remember much of it at that age; but I do know it sparked an interest that will last a lifetime.  Since that first game I have been to 20 MLB stadiums.  I love to travel and I figured why not incorporate my passion for baseball at the same time.  My mom plans family vacations around baseball on occasion and after my freshmen year of college me and four buddies (Chris being one of them) took a baseball road-trip.  We visited six stadiums in seven days including: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago (both stadiums), Detroit and Cleveland.  That game was probably the last game I went to before Opening Day 1996 when Andy Pettitte and the Yankees took on the Kansas City Royals in a near blizzard.

Granted I am from New Jersey (about one hour away south of Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium and one and a half hours north of Citizens Bank Park) but I am a dedicated fan to the Minnesota Twins (now).  My parents are from Queens and my Grandparents still live there so you would think I should be a Mets fan at the very least.  I just can’t deal with NY media bashing their players while obnoxious fans are booing some of the best players in the game; it’s actually quite a disgrace if you ask me.  Many of you (by many I mean two of our five readers) are probably cursing me out for calling New York fans obnoxious.  Honestly, I don’t care and that is part of what this blog will be about.*

Call me a hypocrite but I USED to be a Yankee.  So now everyone reading this is thinking ‘great now we can listen to anything this guy has to say because he just flip flop teams every few years’…NOT TRUE.  I just woke up people!  The Yankees franchise is a joke today.  Like I said, this is going to be about my opinion and I honestly feel the Yankees will not win another World Series until they get rid of A-Rod, CC and Burnett and any other free agent signing or trade since their last World Series.  I’m not joking, dump everyone but Jeter and Rivera basically.  Has anyone else noticed when the Yankees were winning championships they had guys like Paul O’Neill, Bernie Williams, Shane Spencer, Chad Curtis, Scott Brosius, Charlie Hayes; guys whose egos didn’t get in the way of winning.  Yeah everyone WANTS to win but these Yankees players really WANT MONEY more.

So back on track here; the reason I left the Yankee bandwagon was partially because Yankee fans know nothing about baseball and they have too much pride (yes, this is possible) and just root for them because they are from New York.  I will bring this up 50 times in the first six months of this blog; but how can you boo some of the best players in baseball?  You know what I do?  I boo those Yankee fans, bunch of clowns.  If you are an opposing teams fan, you are cursed out at Yankee Stadium.  Real nice, way to respect everyone’s views and opinions.  I had to leave, I had to go and fast.  It was ruining my experience as a baseball fan.  I didn’t want to be look at as “one of them.”  I was being looked down upon by my friends who woke up and smelled the coffee before I did.  Signing everyone in baseball is just flat out annoying, ESPECIALLY when you DON’T WIN!  Get over the fact you have the highest payroll and give the rest of baseball a chance to sign someone.  Actually don’t, because every team who wins will show you how to do it with a payroll under $250 million.  I’m done, I can keep going here but I won’t, you get the point.

Minnesota Twins: I like the look and feel of a mid-market team who doesn’t spend the money on free agents (although they easily could, wake up Billy Smith!) and wins though their farm system.  Look at the Twins from last year: four of their five starting pitchers were drafted by the Twins (excluding Liriano), Mauer/C, Morneau/1B, Casilla/2B, Punto/SS, Buscsher/3B and Span/OF all came up through the Twins farm system.  They play hard-nose baseball and do all the little things to win in this league.  The Twins are a great young team and their players should be with them for a long time to come.  It’s exiting to watch and if you are just getting into baseball a team like the Twins is a great team to follow.  I will go further in detail why the Twins are my favorite team in another post.

As far as my knowledge of baseball goes, I consider myself a stat junkie.  I am always looking at stats and comparing players; but I feel it is more than just numbers.  I understand what the numbers mean and analyze them to make opinions on players.  I’m more of a stat junkie for this past decade of baseball I would say.  I don’t know too much in depth stuff about players before the 80’s (except what many consider “significant” numbers).  Many of the posts will be about the game TODAY, hence the name MLBtoday.net.  Not only am I a stat freak but I am sort of an autograph buff as well.  I have been collecting for awhile now and I have over 125 autographs.  To some of our readers that may not sound like a lot but I am proud of everyone autograph I possess (just ask my buddies from the road trip how hardcore I am).  I don’t buy them a card shows, I go hours before games to batting practice and get my signatures then.  It’s fun and I consider that a hobby of mine.

*As I previously mentioned when I bashed New York fans, “this is part of what this blog will be about,” I meant opinionated.  This blog will be all about my take on baseball; including my “Nasty 9″ which my Top 9 in MLB list, my weekly power rankings and everyday baseball news throughout the season.  All of my opinions though will be backed up with facts and reasoning as to why I wrote what I did.  Not only do I have a say in the subject matter but you the fans do as well.  There will be a comments section for each article in which Chris and I encourage you to post your opinion.  Also you can email us at MLBtoday.net@gmail.com.

I hope you enjoy what we have to say!  Check out MLBtoday.net DAILY because we will always be posting TODAY.  …and remember to tell your friends about us!

-Jason