Welcome to the 2011 MLB Pool

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.

Welcome to the 2010 MLB Pool

Welcome to this year's pool, our sixth year of thinking, "I should be able to pick 10 out of 20 categories correctly," but being dead wrong. In fact, out of approximately 150 entries in our five years so far, the best anyone's been able to do is make eight correct picks. So, let's not forget that this is far from easy. Another important fact to remember is that we've had five different champions in our five years of existence:

2005: Sid Harris
2006: Matt Lucas
2007: Joe Maissel
2008: Jon Pauley
2009: John Agnello

There are definitely no haves and have-nots in this contest, so even if you think of yourself as the Pittsburgh Pirates of the pool, this could be your year. Congratulations to last year's winner, John Agnello, and to all of our past winners, and looking forward to seeing who will be in contention for this year's prize.

Speaking of this year's prize, it will be a pool record $460, as we have 23 participants at the increased $20 entry fee. So, your chances of winning that record reward are higher than they've ever been...a win-win for all.

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.