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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

And this year’s World Series champions will be …

Associated Press Jason Bartlett and the Tampa Bay Rays are focused on winning another division championship. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Larry Stone Seattle Times

The chic media quest this spring was to sniff out the “next Tampa Bay Rays” – as if that team’s once-a-quarter-century breakout magic can be annually replicated.

Oh, it’s possible, of course, but not many teams want to adhere to the first step: Finish in last place nine out of 10 years and horde high draft picks. Yup, that’s the Rays’ formula for overnight success – give or take a few brilliant acquisitions along the way.

Not that it has helped the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are the next Tampa Bay Rays in their dreams, but still the Pirates – 16 years worse than .500 and counting – in their fans’ nightmares. The yucky Buccos are due for an upturn one of these days; then again, so is General Motors.

Sorry, but there will be no “next Rays” in 2009, unless you count … the Rays, my choice to repeat as champion in the ridiculously rugged American League East.

It’s easy to argue that the three best teams in the American League – if not all of baseball – reside in the A.L. East. Yet only two of the Holy Trinity of the Rays, Red Sox and Yankees can advance to postseason play.

That spirited six-month demolition derby should be one to savor. I have my money on the Red Sox getting the wild card, with the Yankees as odd juggernaut out.

That won’t go over well with the Steinbrenners, who shelled out $423.5 million over the winter to land free agents CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett – the better to burnish their modest little $1.5 billion ballpark, with the modest little $2,625 price tag for top seats and $425,250 for a pair of high-end season tickets.

One of these days, the Yankees will figure out that whenever they resort to throwing money at their problems willy nilly they invariably regress. And at a time when Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Johnny Damon are getting long in the tooth, and Alex Rodriguez is getting short in the truth they can no longer be automatically penciled into the postseason.

All that said, I’ve picked the Cleveland Indians to win the pennant this year. They have a power-packed lineup, enough front-line pitching to suffice in a short series, a potential dominant closer in Kerry Wood, and one of the shrewdest management teams in baseball, led by Mark Shapiro.

Before I get to my World Series champion, let’s review some of the highlights of the upcoming season.

Of course, all eyes will be on the turnstiles, and how much the recession cuts into ticket sales. Many ominous signs point toward a rather dramatic attendance downturn, which could have major ramifications on, among other things, the free-agent class of 2010.

Not that they’ll get much pity from fans involved in their own workday struggles. One harbinger will be the June draft, with once-in-a-lifetime pitcher Stephen Strasburg already being positioned by agent Scott Boras for a $50 million payday.

That’s light years beyond any No. 1 pick, an audacious gambit in these tough times. Considering that the Mariners own the No. 2 overall pick, behind the Washington Nationals, this is a story to monitor closely.

The season will feature two opulent new stadiums, both in New York, and one stadium in its final year (the Metrodome, God rest its Hefty bags). There will be two new managers (Don Wakamatsu in Seattle, Ken Macha in Milwaukee), and two others who took over midway through last year – the Mets’ Jerry Manuel and the Blue Jays’ Cito Gaston.

Gary Sheffield, sitting on 499 home runs, figures to get No. 500 with the Mets after being released by Detroit earlier this week. Randy Johnson, now teamed with Tim Lincecum in San Francisco, needs just five more victories to reach 300.

That brings us, in a roundabout way, to the man who managed a good share of the Big Unit’s wins, Lou Piniella.

Sweet Lou has been golden for the Cubs in the regular season, winning back-to-back Central Division titles. But he’s been a postseason dud with a pair of one-and-dones in the Division Series, going 0-6 in the process.

This year, however, I see the Cubs finally busting the door down, and ending 101 years of frustration and winning the World Series.

Of course, if I had a dollar for every time Cubs fans have envisioned this outcome, I could pay one month of A-Rod’s salary.

But this time, it’s really, truly going to happen. And then, next spring, we can ruminate on who will be “the next Cubs.” I’ve already got the answer. It will be … the Cubs.

In 2110.