As I write this, we're less than an hour away from CC Sabathia taking the mound for the Yankees against Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers. 11 of this year's 23 pool participants picked Sabathia to lead the American League in wins, while 8 of us picked Verlander for AL strikeouts.
At approximately the same time, and a couple hundred miles away, Livan Hernandez gets things started for the Washington Nationals versus Derek Lowe and the Atlanta Braves. A lot less on the line pool-wise in that contest, but just as importantly, it's the beginning of almost seven months of baseball to come.
With that, we welcome you to the 2011 MLB Pool, our seventh year of generally succeeding less frequently than a .300 hitter. Only one brand newbie (Brian Wells) joins 20 returnees from last year's pool and two familiar faces who sat one out last year, meaning our total entrants equal last year's total of 23. That also means the grand prize matches last year's record setting mark of $460.
Last year, one of the pool's co-creators (Jud Ehrbar) finished on top for the first time, making it six different winners in six years. All but one of the following past champions are part of the action this year, hoping to buck that trend, while there are 18 of us still aiming for that elusive first prize.
2005: Sid Harris
2006: Matt Lucas
2007: Joe Maissel
2008: Jon Pauley
2009: John Agnello
2010: Jud Ehrbar
Be sure to take a look at the grid of everyone's picks here, to see how unique (or not) yours are. We'll still be sending out emails, of course, but if you want more frequent updates, the blog is where it's at. You can subscribe as an RSS feed (from the upper right corner of this page), or if you want to receive blog email updates, just let us know and we'll set you up for that.
Most importantly, good luck, and thanks for choosing to participate once again.
