Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Or in my case, doomed to repeat Partial Differential Equations 315A. We'll see what we can learn about the 2005 Pittsburgh Pirates by looking back at the 1980s.

For those of us who followed Jim Edmonds' early career, seeing his name here as a possible Hall of Famer is a bit of a shock. But it's no joke. He's arrived in his mid-30s as a powerful centerfielder, with a great glove and a discerning eye. 2004 was his best year yet as he put up a very pretty .301/.418/.643 line in 612 plate appearances. He was a key cog in the Cardinals National League champions.

With the Montréal Expos now in Washington, rumor has it that the Phillies are supposed to be our new rival for interleague play. So I guess that those of us who know nothing about them should read the upcoming Philadelphia preview next Monday.

The Jays have fallen to second place behind Cleveland, but only by the slimmest of margins. I recommend that they go in there today and show the new rivals who's boss and get that first place position back, killing two birds with one stone.

The DH was implemented in the American League in 1973 with the stated intention of increasing offence. Unlike most of major-league baseball’s innovations, this one actually worked, kind of. Scoring, which had been in the doldrums, perked up: the AL’s collective batting average rose 20 points, and the AL has outscored the NL in runs per game in 31 of the 32 seasons that followed (interestingly, the NL actually outscored the AL by 0.05 runs per game in 1974, the year after the DH’s introduction).

This matchup wouldn't have been must-see TV in the regular season, so as an exhibition match, it was even more of a snoozer. But there were still some positive signs as the Jays thumped Tampa in this Sunday tilt.

Aquilino Lopez, who arrived to such fanfare in the spring of 2003 as a brilliant Rule 5 Draft selection, left the organization entirely without fanfare over the winter to join the Los Angeles Dodgers.

March Madness is upon us and I have created a NCAA Pick 'Em tournament for the Batter's Box community.

Your typical baseball fan knows all about 1961. Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, home runs, Whitey Ford, New York Yankees, asterisks, Ralph Houk, Ford Frick, Yogi Berra, a million books, movies, you name it. More boring Yankee crap than you can shake a stick at.

Well, forget it.

I was all set to say "hey, a new opponent", but the Jays played the Rays last week. One of these days we'll see some new people.

Last weekend's games showed up unheralded on the Fan 590. I suspect that we'll be lucky again today, since the Raptors are playing at night tonight. No plans to televise the game have been announced.

In 2004 the Milwaukee Brewers finished last in the NL Central for the third consecutive season and failed to win 70 games for the fourth straight season. They scored the second fewest runs in the National League and they had the fourth-lowest attendance in the NL, despite playing in their relatively new stadium, Miller Park. Should we expect anything to change this year?

On Thursday, in his Chicago Cubs Preview, Rob delivered the bad news. This isn’t going to be the year, Cub fans. Your team is good, just not good enough. There will be no championship banner flying on the north side of Chicago.

There has never been a championship banner flying on the north side of Chicago.

The Jays aren't even halfway through their spring training games, so there are still a handful of "73s" seeing action for the Jays. In yesterday's game, for instance, Bryant Nelson went 0 for 1 as did Jason Alfaro.

In this game report, we take a look at five of these "73s".

Maybe I've just never followed Spring Training this closely before -- do the Jays always play the Twins every other day? Are the two teams getting tired of each other?

Lucky for us, this game is also on Rogers Sportsnet this afternoon, with coverage starting at 1:00. Let's hope it's less like the last televised game and more like yesterday.

Pepper reminded us last week of Weaver's First Law:

No one gives a damn in July about a game you lost in March.

Personally, I don't even care all that much in March - however, recent events have reminded us of another of Weaver's Laws. To wit:

The best place for a rookie pitcher is in long relief.

So, what's going on here anyway?

In 1975, the Big Red Machine broke a four-decade drought by besting the Boston Red Sox in the greatest World Series ever played.

Fifteen years later, in 1990, the Nasty Boys took the Reds to the most surprising World Series sweep in the history of the Great Game, blasting the Bash Brother-led Oakland A's in four straight.

It's 2005 -- another fifteen years later. Baseball is starting its 136th professional year on the shores of the Ohio River. And it's about to happen again.