Can the champion Oakland Athletics repeat?  Certainly right off the bat things are looking Angelina Jolie-kind of good for the champs as they are clearly the class of the American League.  Of course, that is tantamount to being the class of Enron's management team.  For the forseeable future- until Amsterdam or the Cubbies can turn the kids into producers- the American League is Oakland's league.  So, barring an unforeseen fall-from-grace (And remember, the ever-changing Arizona Diamondbacks did take Oakland to 6 games in the ALCS after taking an early lead), we'll give the Athletics a pass to the World Series.  So, the only thing standing in their way from repeating now is Bellmore, Scottsdale, Bermuda and maybe Las Vegas.  Vegas would probably succumb to the A's if they played a series today, but Bermuda, Scottsdale and especially the NL champion Braves have enough talent to derail the Oakland Repeat train.  So, with the Free Agent Draft looming ahead in March, the "fall favorite" could fall to the team that possibly comes up with Miguel Cabrera or Dontrelle Willis.  But, injuries beware, this cub reporter is annointing the Athletics as the favorite to win it all in 2008.  Unless- Bellmore beats them.