The 2008 Spring Training season is coming up fast. Here are some tips for those of you thinking about making the pilgrimage to one of two 2008 MLB season previews- the Grapefruit League.

1. Get to the ballpark early: Arrive before batting practice begins. The players don’t have as much to do then and tend to commiserate with fans. A chain-link fence is typically all that separates fans from competitors, so chat it up and click the shots, shutterbugs.

2. Plan on some night life: Early workouts are 9 a.m. to noon, so much of your days will be free. And come game time, plan on matinees at the park and free nights. It’ll certainly take time for you regular-season folks to acclimate after growing so accustomed to night games.

3. Proper attire: Shorts and T-shirts are required. Sunscreen, too. Expect temps in the 70s and 80s and the humidity to be quite reasonable.

Some teams have been making the trip to the land of Spring Break and Quebecois retirees for decades. The Detroit Tigers, for instance, have made their Spring home in Lakeland, Florida since 1934. So if you haven’t made one of these trips along with them, 2008 is a good time to start.

We presumably bet on sports because we love sports. But it’s not always easy. There were some tough moments in 2007, as the following list of the year’s Top 10 stories will testify.

1. Barry Bonds hits home run No. 756; a nation shrugs and braces itself for the Mitchell Report.
2. Michael Vick sentenced to jail on dogfighting charges.
3. NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleads guilty to two charges in betting scandal.
4. Sean Taylor’s murder just one of far too many untimely deaths.
5. Marion Jones admits to steroid use, forfeits Sydney Olympic medals.
6. New England Patriots compile first undefeated regular season since ’72 Dolphins.
7. Rape charges against Duke lacrosse team dropped.
8. Alex Rodriguez wins AL MVP, skirts Scott Boras to re-sign with Yankees.
9. Boise State uses Statue of Liberty, other trickery to upset Oklahoma at the Fiesta Bowl.
10. Florida Gators sweep college football, basketball championships.

Sen. George Mitchell’s report on steroid use in baseball was long on allegations and short on punitive measures. Mitchell recommended MLB officials avoid “contentious disciplinary proceedings” and work more on cleaning up the sport.

This leaves everybody involved in a state of limbo. Commissioner Bud Selig cannot punish players (at least, not without a fight from the MLBPA) without more proof than what the Mitchell Report offers. Nor can players threaten legal action against the report, because the burden on proof would be on them to prove their innocence.

It appears the U.S. Congress is more than willing to continue this investigation. If they can prove that active MLB players broke the rules, then punishment is warranted. But whatever side of the steroids issue you find yourself on, this much is true: Taxpayer money is being spent on policing baseball, instead of things like education, crumbling infrastructure, or equipping the troops.

The Mitchell Report implicates over 80 MLB players (34 active) in the use of steroids and human growth hormone. The evidence in some cases is stronger than others; nonetheless, here is the Associated Press list of all the players in question.

• Chad Allen
• Mike Bell
• Gary Bennett
• Larry Bigbie
• Ricky Bones
• Kevin Brown
• Ken Caminiti
• Mark Carreon
• Jason Christiansen
• Howie Clark
• Roger Clemens
• Paxton Crawford
• Jack Cust
• Brendan Donnelly
• Chris Donnels
• Lenny Dykstra
• Matt Franco
• Ryan Franklin
• Eric Gagne
• Jason Grimsley
• Jerry Hairston
• Phil Hiatt
• Matt Herges
• Glenallen Hill
• Todd Hundley
• Ryan Jorgensen
• Mike Judd
• David Justice
• Chuck Knoblauch
• Tim Laker
• Mike Lansing
• Paul Lo Duca
• Exavier “Nook” Logan
• Josias Manzanillo
• Cody McKay
• Kent Mercker
• Bart Miadich
• Hal Morris
• Daniel Naulty
• Denny Neagle
• Rafael Palmeiro
• Jim Parque
• Luis Perez
• Andy Pettitte
• Adam Piatt
• Todd Pratt
• Stephen Randolph
• Adam Riggs
• Brian Roberts
• F.P. Santangelo
• David Segui
• Mike Stanton
• Ricky Stone
• Miguel Tejada
• Derrick Turnbow
• Mo Vaughn
• Ron Villone
• Fernando Vina
• Rondell White
• Jeff Williams
• Todd Williams
• Kevin Young
• Gregg Zaun

“Alleged Internet Purchases of Performance Enhancing Substances By Players in Major League Baseball”

• Rick Ankiel
• David Bell
• Paul Byrd
• Jose Canseco
• Jay Gibbons
• Troy Glaus
• Jose Guillen
• Darren Holmes
• Gary Matthews Jr.
• John Rocker
• Scott Schoeneweis
• Ismael Valdez
• Matt Williams
• Steve Woodard

“Concerning BALCO and Major League Baseball”

• Marvin Benard
• Barry Bonds
• Bobby Estalella
• Jason Giambi
• Jeremy Giambi
• Benito Santiago
• Gary Sheffield
• Randy Velarde

It’s going to be hard to bet against the Colorado Rockies in this year’s World Series. They’ve won 21 of their last 22 games, sweeping the Chicago Cubs and the Arizona Diamondbacks to reach their first Fall Classic in franchise history.

However, this is still a National League team. The talent level in the senior circuit is simply not at the same level as the American League. Only two teams played well enough to register 90 wins: the Diamondbacks and the Rockies, and it took a tiebreaker victory against the San Diego Padres to put Colorado at 90-73. Over in the AL, four teams topped that mark, including the two ALCS combatants from Cleveland and Boston, each with 96 wins.

The folks at Baseball Prospectus had Colorado’s World Series chances pegged at 46.9 percent heading into Game 5 of the ALCS. Cleveland was at 47.4 percent, and Boston 5.6 percent.

Scoring is supposed to be down in the MLB playoffs. Forget that. Seven players managed to swat a pair of home runs in their short division series; five of them have advanced to the league championships.

Little surprise that Boston’s Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are on that list. Or that Colorado’s Matt Holliday continued to feast on the Phillies after hitting 36 long flys during the regular season. Even Arizona’s Chris Young (32 HR) got his usual all-or-nothing cuts against the Cubs. But Stephen Drew?

The presence of the light-hitting Snakes shortstop (12 HR, .370 SLG) underlines the difficulty of predicting a postseason home-run king. It’s a small sample size of games, and anybody can win, just like anybody can win the World Series once you get in. Last year’s big bopper was Detroit’s Craig Monroe with five. Paul Konerko also went deep five times in 2005. Might as well pick Coco Crisp.

Return airfare and 2 nights hotel, two tickets to Game 4 of the MLB 2007 World Series, $1,000 spending money, on-field access, a digital camera, $500 MLB.com gift card…and your photo on MLB.com? This is one sweet contest! I don’t normally publish this sort of thing but this was just too cool to pass up. Check out the “Ultimate World Series Job” contest!

The San Francisco Giants have had one of the most surreal seasons imaginable. 2007 was all about Barry Bonds; the team behind him is a mess of broken-down veterans and questionable relievers. San Fran was nearly 18 units in the hole at press time, ahead of only Tampa Bay. Ugh.

Don’t blame Matt Cain. He’s the most unprofitable pitcher in the majors this year at minus-15.85 units, and the Giants have won just six of his 25 starts. But look again: Cain has a 3.78 ERA. Not bad at all. Problem is, San Fran is scoring just 3.2 runs per game when he takes the mound.

Run support isn’t necessarily reliable – do his teammates hate him? Do they love Noah Lowry, who gets 4.5 runs of support per start and has earned nearly seven units for Giants supporters? Doubtful. Still, the “under” is a tasty 16-8 for Cain this season. Food for thought.

These are interesting times in Major League Baseball. The truly awful teams have improved, the great teams have struggled, and in between, there are some very lucky ball clubs out there.

Take the Arizona Diamondbacks. One of the sexy darkhorse preseason picks, the Snakes have allowed more runs (553 at press time) than they’ve scored (537). Yet they lead the National League West at 71-53, raking in nearly 20 units of profit.

Arizona could very well have the talent to develop into more than just a lucky team down the stretch. But if you’re looking for a true NL pennant contender, the New York Mets are in very good shape at 70-53. They lead the senior circuit in “third-order” wins at 71.7, and they expect Pedro Martinez back shortly from his minor-league rehab assignment.

When the dust clears, the Mets might be the only 90-win team in the NL. Interesting times.

The race for the AL Pennant could come down to another showdown between the Boston Red Sox and the New Yankees.

The arch-rivals are both big favorites at Bodog with the Red Sox coming in at 3/2 to win the pennant, while the Yankees are close behind at 9/5. The Sox have seen their lead in the AL East slip to five games, but if they can get things turned around they could still cruise right into the playoffs. Pitching Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Curt Schilling in a playoff series could be enough all by itself to get the Sox back to the World Series.

The Yankees will need to rely more on their bats to get them back to the Fall Classic. New York has tied Seattle atop the AL Wild Card race, so two teams from the AL East could be playoff-bound once again. The Yankees’ powerful lineup that includes Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu – just to name a few – could supply enough runs to make up for their lack of dominant and consistent starting pitching.