Baseball season is approaching faster than you think. With less than a month until opening day, it’s time to starting focusing in on the 2008 campaign.

Everyone knows the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox will be in the thick of things because those two teams have more money than God. However, what other teams will make noise in 2008?

In the National League, I like the Houston Astros. Yeah, there are plenty of holes on this team but I think their offensive firepower will mask a lot of weaknesses. With bats such as Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman and Hunter Pence, the Astros should have no trouble scoring runs.

Pitching on a whole will likely be a weakness for the Astros – at least early in the season. Their only dependable starter is Roy Oswalt. The good news is that Oswalt might be the best pitcher in all of baseball. Outside of Oswalt, the second best pitcher on the team is likely closer Jose Valverde. Valverde led the major leagues in saves last season with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

To be successful, the Astros will need a couple of their young starters to emerge as quality pitchers. They also can’t afford Tejada to get deported back to the Dominican Republic for lying about steroid use. That would certainly put a damper on things, to say the least.

The Los Angeles Angels in the American League have a chance to be really good. No team in baseball has four outfielders that can compare with the foursome the Angels boast in Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson, Torii Hunter and Gary Matthews.

Outside of their outfielders, the Angels have a lot of youth on the rest of their team. That youth combined by the power of their outfield should make for a good combination. Their pitching rotation is solid and their bullpen has a number of good arms. It’ll be tough for the Angels to get by the Yankees and Red Sox but they are talented enough to beat anyone.

An Astros versus Angels World Series? You heard it here first on Steamy Sports.