Edition: U.S. / Global

Sports of The Times;Season Brings 28 Questions About 28 Teams

Published: March 31, 1996

Just asking, but when the baseball season opens tonight and tomorrow, isn't there a question involving each team?

Shouldn't there be office pools on which of the Orioles' games Cal Ripken Jr. will miss sooner or later after his 2,154th consecutive game in tomorrow's opener? If he plays all 162 this season, shouldn't the money collected be donated to A.L.S., now commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease?

Who, if anyone, will succeed Don Mattingly as the "real Yankee" in the clubhouse as well as on the field?

As consistently brilliant as Greg Maddux has been in winning 20, 16 and 19 games in his three Cy Young award seasons with the Braves, what should be the over/under on how many games he will lose? He lost only two last season, only six the season before.

Do all those "Griffey in '96" TV commercials mean that Junior will stay healthy long enough to be the American League's most valuable player for the first time?

With all his Florida homers, isn't Butch Huskey, suddenly the Mets' starting right fielder and cleanup batter, proof that somebody can still hit his way into the lineup?

Even if Albert Belle, the Indians' time bomb, again hits 50 homers and 50 doubles, how long will it take for him to do something stupid that will tarnish his overall image?

Now that the Dodgers finally have a shortstop with a glove, Greg Gagne (instead of Jose Offerman), will Hideo Nomo improve on his 13-6 record? Or will the Japanese right-hander with the hesitation delivery no longer baffle as many batters?

If the Blue Jays finish last in the American League East again, will they draw another 2.8 million to the Toronto Skydome?

In the mile-high air of Coors Field, isn't Dante Bichette, who led the National League with 40 homers last season, the biggest threat to Roger Maris's record of 61 home runs if he gets off to a quick start?

Even though the Angels won their last five games to force an A.L. West playoff with the Mariners, which they lost in Seattle, will they be haunted by their September collapse that wasted an 11-game lead?

Will Ryne Sandberg be the same second baseman he was before he deserted the Cubs midway through the 1994 season?

For all of Mo Vaughn's stature as the A.L.'s most valuable player, isn't his motivation this season the memory of his 0-for-14 playoff disappearance in the Red Sox's three-game sweep by the Indians?

Dollar for dollar, won't the Expos again possess baseball's most cost-efficient payroll?

Are the Athletics the only team to open a season with the first four starters in its rotation (Doug Johns, Todd Van Poppel, Carlos Reyes and Ariel Prieto) coming off a combined 15-23 major league record the previous year?

If Jeff Bagwell doesn't suffer a broken right hand for the fourth straight season, shouldn't the Astros dethrone the Reds in the N.L. Central? Or at least salvage the wild card?

Will the Tigers' new general manager, Randy Smith, and their rookie manager, Buddy Bell, start putting together a team worthy of a new Detroit ball park in 1998?

Will the new ownership of the Pirates, once the scourge of the N.L. East, start putting together a contender worthy of baseball's best manager, Jim Leyland?

With all the hoopla that Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds are baseball's best players, have too many people forgotten that Frank Thomas of the White Sox has 182 career homers and 595 runs batted in? And that he won't turn 28 until May 27?

Will center fielder Devon White be the difference in lifting the Marlins into the N.L. playoffs as a wild card?

Tony Gwynn will be 36 on May 9, but does anybody doubt the Padre outfielder won't win his seventh N.L. batting title?

With the Royals rebuilding, is the 22-year-old center fielder Johnny Damon their next George Brett?

The Giants have a new stadium plan approved by voters, but will fans approve the won-lost record?

Less than three seasons removed from their 1993 pennant, whatever happened to the Phillies?

Even with 27 homers and 82 r.b.i. last season in only 90 games, when will the oft-injured Juan Gonzalez start justifying all those millions in his contract by leading the Rangers into the playoffs?

Will the touring outfielder Ron Gant provide 29 homers for the Cardinals as he did for the Reds last season?

With the 39-year-old Paul Molitor returning with 2,789 hits to the Minnesota area where he grew up, isn't his target date for 3,000 hits sometime midway in the 1997 season?

Despite all the deserved raves for the iron man Cal Ripken Jr., isn't the Reds' Barry Larkin baseball's best shortstop?

And with the Brewers promised a new ball park to be known as Miller Field, isn't it time for Bud Selig, the acting commissioner, to oversee a new collective bargaining agreement and find a real commissioner who would prevent another strike?

Photo: Cal Ripken will add to his streak in '96. (Agence France-Presse)