Hello Bird Watchers. I'm Ryan McCabe, a grad student in Minneapolis, a big fan of baseball and a lunatic for the St. Louis Cardinals. I'm proud to be with this group making up The Bird Watch. Stay tuned daily and amaze your friends with the knowledge and insight we try to offer.

I enjoy crunching through the stats as much as the other authors on this page (and may not be as good at it as they are), but I also like to reinforce the more qualitative aspects of the game that seem to have taken a backseat through this Saber-revolution. Some of my favorite plays in baseball are not the highly valued, single-action HR or BB but rather scoring a runner from 1st on the hit-and-run, watching the defense, the wild running, the throw, the play at the plate; I tend to pump my fist in the air when our 8 hitter grounds out to 3rd after a 13-pitch battle in the 4th inning; I think all managers should get thrown out of a game for arguing balls and strikes at least once every season, even calm nerds like TLR; And the double steal always seems to be the cruelest stunt to pull on another team.

I've been a lifelong Cards fan by birth. For this reason, I'm very glad that I wasn't born in Chicago, the psychological result of being baptised into Cub Nation could have been debilitating. That being said and already commonly known, I am thankful that the Cubs do exist and am looking forward to another season reinforcing our intense rivalry. No team is more fun to beat than the Chicago Cubs. Finally, they have enough talent to make it somewhat difficult for us. In fact, the whole NL Central is a division of wicked-good baseball, perhaps the toughest in all of baseball last year, and possibly again this year (in spite of the decline of the Astros). Should make for some great games, some unforgettable moments and, hopefully, another playoff spot for our Birds.

Pitchers and catchers report in less than a month. I can already hear the gloves popping.