Because of the mild (non-existent?) winter this year, it may be tough to tell, but it is spring and that means baseball season is firmly upon us! We’ll be following the borough’s high school and college teams closely as well as checking in with the Bronx Bombers as they do battle in the extraordinarily tough American League East. We’ll start with the Yankees, who open their season against the Rays tomorrow. (Click on the jump to see our high school preview.)

Let me first just throw out a disclaimer: your humble scribe is a huge baseball junkie, but not a Yankees fan, which, I believe, gives me an objective (if somewhat cynical and envious) viewpoint about the Bronx’s professional baseball team. In other words, I will tell it like it is.

But first, let’s hear from actual Yankee fans, starting with former Norwood News intern, ex-Bronx News Network Yankees columnist and current Riverdale Press reporter Graham Kates who just finished in second place for the New York Press Association’s Rookie of the Year award, which makes him kind of like the Derek Jeter of Bronx reporters. We asked for his take on the upcoming season. Here’s his response:

We’re heading into a season in which the Yankees will be playing in the single greatest division in baseball history. There are four playoff-quality teams in the American League East — and the Orioles — stuck playing each other 18 times. It’s a gantlet of power the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Warriors fought their way from Van Courtlandt Park to Coney Island (ultimately, if the Yankees are the Warriors, the Orioles are the Orphans, the Blue Jays are the Lizzies, the Rays are the Furies and the Red Sox, of course, are crooked transit cops).

Fortunately for the Yankees, their biggest problem going into the season is, “We have seven good starting pitchers and only five spots in the starting rotation.”

What to watch for:

• All Yankee relievers are in a season-long competition to be first in line to replace Mariano Rivera

• A major Alex Rodriguez rebound.

•  Soon-to-be MVP Robinson Cano.

• The maturation of former Mariner Michael Pineda, 23, under the tutelage of fellow humongous hard-thrower C.C. Sabathia. (Editor’s note: Pineda is starting off the season on the disabled list after coming into camp out of shape and showing an alarming decrease in velocity, while Jesus Montero, the slugger the Yankees traded to the Mariners for Pineda, is being mentioned as a Rookie of the Year candidate. I’m just saying…)

• A season of provocation by new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine.

(Thanks Graham, we’ll be soliciting your biased opinion early and often this year. Send your thoughts on the Yankees and other Bronx sports to us at norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org.)

For this week’s edition of the the Norwood News (pick up your copy today!), our Inquiring Photographer David Greene asked readers for their predictions for the upcoming Yankee season. Here’s what they said:

• We’re going to win our 28th World Series. Teixeira is going to hit 40 homeruns, Granderson is going to hit 40 homeruns, I’m not too sure about A-Rod. Jeter is going to retire, this will be his last season. Mariano will also retire. But it’s going to be great. We’re going to opening day. –Royston Rai

•  Mariano is going to retire. I’m concerned about that because we need him. Jeter’s got a couple more years, if he stays healthy. I hope they do better this year and don’t choke-up at the end. We have a couple of good players, so I hope they make it to the pennant. –Urel Stewart

• Hopefully everyone stays healthy, they’ll have a great year and win the World Series again. Every year that Kentucky has won the NCAA and the incumbent president has been re-elected, the last three times, the Yankees have won the World Series. Kentucky is going to win the NCAA, Obama will get re-elected and probably, the Yankees will win the World Series. –Ron Katz

• I think they’re going to go all the way, but I don’t have any clue who they’re going to play. I’ve been a fan a long time, since I’m a kid, so of course I’d like to see them win. –Jimmy Lanzetta

•  I’m not a baseball fanatic, so I really don’t know. I’m a New Yorker, so it would be pretty cool if they went to the World Series, but baseball is not my whole life. I’m more of a basketball fan, the New York Knicks. There’s a lot more excitement going on at Madison Square Garden right now. –Ray Reyes

High School Preview

• The Bronx loves its baseball and its high schools traditionally produce some of the top teams in the city. This year is no different. Among PSAL teams, James Monroe is a perennial powerhouse and will once again be the team to beat in the Bronx. They crushed Walton, which is supposed to be one of the borough’s better teams, in a two-game series earlier this week. That might say more about how good Monroe is, rather than how overrated Walton was going into the season. Monroe is the only public school team in MSG Varsity’s Top 15.

• Besides Walton, John F. Kennedy, Lehman (which, along with Monroe, made the Post’s PSAL top 10 ranking this week) and Taft high schools are all expected to contend this season. Will any of them have the fire power to dethrone Monroe?

• Look for outstanding seasons from several of the borough’s private school teams to be among the best in the city, with All Hallows and Fordham Prep leading the way.

• Despite a move up into the Bronx A Division this year, Walton coach Tom Hall says he’s expecting huge things  from his Wildcats girls softball team, which made the playoffs last year and finished 14-3 in the Bronx B Division. So far, they’re 3-4, including losses to local rivals Dewitt Clinton and Bronx Science.

• Clinton (6-1) is on a roll to start the season after finishing 11-2 and capturing two playoff wins last year. Clinton’s ranked 8th in the latest Post rankings. The Governor’s are the only PSAL team ranked.

• Cardinal Spellman, ranked 10th, is the only Bronx private school team in the Post’s Catholic school softball rankings.

Next Thursday, we’ll have Yankee and high school updates, plus take a look at the Bronx’s college teams.