Royals end season on sideways note

OK, so I guess it's an up note. A sweep of the Tigers to keep them from getting the division title that also meant the Royals get the #2 pick in the 2007 draft and not the #1 pick as the D-Rays mailed in the final week. With another 100-loss season in the books, I really wouldn't have minded the #1 pick, but the Royals are gonna get a pretty good prospect either way. Early indications are the pick will be either one of the better college pitchers or perhaps Ga. Tech C Matt Wieters, who's been slated as one of the best if not the best position prospect on the board.

The playoffs are upon us and I gotta say I'm rooting for a Padres-Tigers World Series -- let's bring back 1984 and make the Pads go back to dark brown unis with orange and yellow mixed in. I don't necessarily, however, see that happening. The Padres are maybe the weakest team in a weak NL playoffs and the Tigers may not get past the Evil Empire in the ALDS, altho I'd like to see that happen. My second choices in either league would be the A's and Dodgers.

On a Royals minors note, the Hawaii Winter Baseball league is back in action with a mix of Japanese and MLB players involved. 1B Mike Stodolka, 1B Kila Kaaihue, OF Brian McFall and Ps Gilbert de la Vara and Jarod Plummer made the trip to Hawaii from the organization and are playing on the West Oahu Canefires with a batch of guys mainly from the Yankees and Rangers organizations. There are only 4 teams playing this season in HWB, which last played a season in 1997. Stodolka was 3-4 with an RBI in West Oahu's opening loss. An interesting note is that Ichiro played in the HWB in its first season in 1993 before hitting it big in NPB and later the MLB. I don't know, I think I'd rather play in Hawaii than the Arizona Fall League but it's mainly for guys in lower levels. The AFL cranks into action Oct. 10.