According to MLB ’06: The Show, Barry Zito and the Oakland Athletics have a lot to look forward to this year. COURTESY OF SONY

Credit: Carl Schierhorn

On April 2, baseball season officially kicked off – and the Cleveland Indians’ quest to finally break back into the playoffs began with a loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Now, like any baseball and video game fan, I rushed out to buy the latest Major League Baseball game: MLB 06: The Show. But before delving into my very own franchise, I wanted to find out the answers to a few questions:

Will the Indians make the playoffs?

Who will be the MVP?

Who will win the World Series?

How many home runs will Barry Bonds hit, sans steroids?

Will the cute girl who sat two rows in front of me in my freshman psychology class ever return my Facebook messages?

Sadly, the game could only provide me with three of those answers. Barry Bonds, like every other year, is not in the game because of licensing issues. And I highly doubt anyone at Sony cares about Facebook.

But the game did provide the other answers.

First, the Indians missed the playoffs, finishing second in the American League’s Central Division with a 78-84 record.

Now that the suspense is over, here are the regular season awards as MLB 06: The Show predicted:

• MVP: David Ortiz (Boston Red Sox)

• Cy Young: Randy Johnson (New York Yankees)

The playoff match-ups are:

• Yankees vs. White Sox

• Athletics vs. Red Sox

• Cubs vs. Padres

• Dodgers vs. Braves

The World Series Champions?

• The Oakland Athletics beat the San Diego Padres in six games.

So there you have it. Head down your nearest bookie and place your bets. The Oakland Athletics will win this year’s World Series. Just remember, when you cash in, that you heard it here first.

Contact ALL editor Seth Roy at [email protected].