The crack of the bat. The roar of the crowd. A warm sun beating down on your back.

Hot dogs that cost $7.

Ah, baseball season.

It’s April and it’s a magical time of the year. The Major League Baseball schedule is in full swing and that means hope for all 30 teams.

Last year, the Pittsburgh Pirates were one of the biggest stories in baseball. What will some of the stories be this year?

Here are some of my bold (and not so bold) predictions:

The Pirates will win 90 games.

And they will again earn a wild card spot. Yay!

Of course, 90 wins may not appease the suddenly rabid Bucco fan base. They have short memories and have blotted out most of that 20-year-losing-thing.

Someone will get caught cheating.

Baseball isn’t messing around with PEDs. They nabbed a slew of cheaters last season and they have an eagle eye trained on all players again.

Still, a prominent player will think he can get away with it and he will be caught.

Pitchers will continue to dominate.

Partly because of the Great PED Crackdown, hitters aren’t nearly as dominant as they were even five years ago.

Another reason is the influx of great young pitchers that has hit the major leagues at the same time.

So, who will win the World Series?

The chic pick is the Washington Nationals because of their deep pitching staff and potent lineup.

But rarely does the chic pick ever win it all. It’s usually a team that comes out of nowhere, like the Red Sox last season.

That team? Tampa Bay.

The Rays are kind of under the radar, but have a solid pitching staff, an emerging star in Wil Myers and a healthy Evan Longoria.

Mark it down.

Instant replay will be the worst thing to ever happen to Major League Baseball.

The Black Sox scandal, Pete Rose betting on baseball and PED use can’t compare to this travesty.

We’re less than a week into the season and already it is painfully obvious how flawed the system is.

Manager reviews? More like managers walking slowly out to the umpire, standing there while one of his lackeys watches a replay to give him a thumbs up or down signal.

There should be no replay in baseball. Period. But since it is here, replays should be decided by a dude sitting in front of a TV in New York or Kansas City or Butler.

I can tell my wife instantaneously on my cell phone that we are out of bread. Surely, a nerd sitting in a command center can notify an umpire just as quickly that call was missed.

Until then, enjoy that four-minute Clint Hurdle saunter to the umpire.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.