Baseball season in full swing

It’s spring, which means the Boys of Summer are back on the field for 162 games. Major League Baseball will be taking over the sports highlights on television from here on out.

The Seattle Mariners, the most popular team around Coeur d’Alene and the Pacific Northwest, darted out of the gates with the sweep of the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, but have cooled off a little since then. They hold a 6-4 record as of early Sunday morning, which is good enough for second place in the American League West, a half-game back from the division-leading Oakland Athletics.

Robinson Cano is earning his money hitting .316 with a .409 on base percentage.

The Angels and Texas Rangers have yet to establish momentum, but are expected to play better with their star-studded lineups and compete for an AL West crown.

The Detroit Tigers hold the best record in the American League at 6-3. They are getting it done with hitting and pitching.

Seven Tigers have a .300 or better batting average, and not one of them is named Miguel Cabrera, last year’s AL MVP. That should be a good sign for Detroit since he will probably break the .300 mark by the end of the season.

Cabrera is hitting only .250 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Left-fielder Rajai Davis is hitting .320 and right-fielder Torii Hunter leads the team in home runs with three and RBIs with nine.

Detroit’s pitching staff has thrown well to start the season, holding a 3.39 team earned run average.

Reigning Al Cy Young award-winner Max Scherzer has a 1.20 ERA with 15 strikeouts in his two starts this season. Justin Verlander, a former Cy Young winner himself, has a 2.57 ERA to start the season.

The Milwaukee Brewers are off to the hottest start in baseball with a 9-2 record.

The Brewers look like they are ready to make a push toward the playoffs this season, leading the National League Central.

Third baseman Aramis Ramirez is hitting .383 with 10 RBIs, center-fielder Carlos Gomez is batting .375 with four home runs and catcher Jonathan Lucroy is hitting .357 with a .426 on base percentage. Ryan Braun, back in the lineup after being suspended the final 65 games of the regular season last year, is hitting .300 with three home runs and 10 RBIs.

The St. Louis Cardinals will most likely be in the playoff hunt when September rolls around.

The Los Angeles Dodgers sit atop the NL West standings at 8-4 and the Buster Posey-led San Francisco Giants are a game back.

The Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals should contend for the NL East crown. They are both in first place in their division.

Parody has been the theme in the AL East as no team has proved to be a strong favorite to win the division.

Any team can win that division without shocking anyone. Last season, the Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles finished with plus .500 records, and it wouldn’t be surprising if that happened again this season.

The season is very young, so it is tough to get a reading on any team right now. Once the dog days of July and August come around, we will see whom the contenders and pretenders are.

As for now, think World Series for your team.