Hey everyone, hope you are as excited as I am about the beginning of the MLB season.
Predictions:
AL East
Yankees - 95 wins
Red Sox - 93 wins
Rays - 92 wins
Blue Jays - 80 wins
Orioles - 71 wins
Its a shame only 2 out of the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays threesome can make the playoffs because they are IMO the best 3 teams in the league (although some people would argue the cubs belong there). However, the cubs get to beat up on the crappy NL central while a team like the Blue Jays, which is actually talented and would do well in several other divisions, is the 4th best team in this one. Easily the toughest division. The Yankees are spent a ton of money on free agents this winter, and while these contracts will be burdens in 5 years, right now they have several very talented players in their prime.
AL Central
Indians - 85 wins
Twins - 82 wins
Tigers - 80 wins
White Sox - 77 wins
Royals - 75 wins
This is one of the aforementioned less talented divisions. It will be close as every team has significant flaws. The Indians and Tigers have significant starting pitching issues to go with good offenses. The Twins and Royals can't hit and the White Sox are old. You could make a believable case that any of the top 4 teams could win the division.
AL West
A's - 84 wins - A's win tiebreaker game
Angels - 84 wins
Mariners - 75 wins
Rangers - 72 wins
I know, I know, cop-out of the century predicting a tie. But these teams are very evenly matched although in very different situations. The A's have a bunch of up and coming pitchers and a newly added star offensive player in Matt Holliday. The Angels are trying to hang on to success while their core ages and the deal with significant injuries to the pitching staff. Ultimately, it will be the injury stories that determine who wins this division. The Angels two best starting pitchers are going to miss the beginning of the season with injuries while Eric Chavez of the A's is likely to re-injure his shoulder if he sneezes to hard. If Erving Santana and John Lackey of the Angels don't miss too much time, they will probably take the division. If the A's rookies in the starting rotation hold up well and perform better than expected of rookie pitchers, they will probably take the division. This one will probably go down to the wire.
National League
NL East
Mets - 91 wins
Braves - 87 wins
Phillies - 86 wins
Marlins - 74 wins
Nationals - 73 wins
The Mets are the class of this division after re-tooling the bullpen. Either the Braves or Phillies will win the wild card and after adding Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, and Kenshin Kawakami; the Braves pitching is what seals the deal and leaves last year's world series winner out of the playoffs.
NL Central
Cubs - 94
Brewers - 82
Cardinals - 81
Reds - 78
Astros - 73
Pirates - 69
This division is the Cubs and 5 teams ranging from, at best, average to worst team in baseball. The Cardinals have one ridiculously good player (Pujols), 2 decent starting pitchers (though one is always hurt), and a team of scrubs (with Khalil Greene being king of the scrubs). The Brewers have some young talented position players but lost their 2 best pitchers to free agency and will only have one starting pitcher that is safely above league average (Yovani Gallardo). The Pirates bring up the rear in the division and I predict they will have the worst record in the majors when its all said and done.
NL West
Dodgers - 91 wins
D'Backs - 85 wins
Giants - 80 wins
Rockies - 71 wins
Padres - 70 wins
The Dodgers will safely win this division as it boasts one of the best top-bottom lineups in baseball. The Rockies lost their best pitcher to injury for the season and traded their best hitter for nothing that will be very useful in the major leagues next season. They will be fighting off the Padres to avoid the cellar in the NL West. The Diamondbacks have a young core of position players ready to take the next step to stardom and have 2 of the best starting pitchers in the game. They will fight the Phillies and the Braves for the NL wildcard.
First Round Playoff Scenarios
Yankees > A's
Red Sox > Indians
Cubs > Braves
Dodgers > Mets
Second Round Playoff Scenarios
Yankees > Red Sox
Dodgers > Cubs (98 more years)
World Series
Yankees > Dodgers
Enjoy the season everyone!
Showing posts with label Baseball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baseball. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Baseball !!!
In my quest to make everyone as excited about baseball as I am. I thought I'd give status reports on the teams readers of this blog cheer for (plus it gives me a chance to brag about how awesome the Red Sox are)
A's - Great farm system but doesn't really have any potential stars. They have two really good pitchers that people will see in the majors in 2010 but I worry about the future of their offense. Some names to remember are Trevor Cahill, Chris Carter
Giants - Another good farm system but for the opposite reason as the A's. The Giants have several potential stars but lack the depth the A's have. Some names to remember are Angel Villalona, Buster Posey (who looks younger than I do in my ID picture)
Tim Alderson, and Madison Bumgarner
Angels- The Angels are going to be hard pressed to keep up with the A's and especially the Rangers in a few years. The Rays surprised a lot of casual baseball fans because a lot of their prospects are finally coming into their own as major leaguers. The Rangers will be that team soon. I'm guessing they make the playoffs in 2011 and are really strong for the next 5 years. What this means for the Angels is that their reign will end and unless their prepared to spend like the yankees, will have to accept some 3rd place finishes to retool the farm system. They don't have many upper echelon type players in their system. Some names to remember: Jordan Walden, Hank Conger
Yankees- The Yanks used to buy the best players at every position. Realizing that this only got them over the hill players at inflated prices, they turned to the draft to try to catch some elite talent on the upswing. For a team with all their financial strength and their unwillingness to accept anything less than elite talent at each position, they have an interesting strategy in the draft of being conservative and not taking high risk, high reward players. I'm really curious about where the yanks end up in the next couple years because they could be stuck behind the Rays and Red Sox for a couple years or could quickly jump right back in the mix for a title as soon as 2009.
Red Sox- The Red Sox are really good at using their financial advantage. The Sox's draft strategy is to shoot for the moon, and if the player doesn't work, its only a small loss. The A's pride themselves on making sure every dollar invested provides some return, this is not a concern for the Red Sox as many of their high risk players flame out. However, the Sox have a number of future stars waiting to join the team in the next few years and will smoothly transition to a youthful team while keeping up with the yanks and Rays who have established major league talent already. Names to keep in mind: Lars Anderson, Josh Reddick, Michael Almanzar
Watch the playoffs and talk with me about baseball!!
A's - Great farm system but doesn't really have any potential stars. They have two really good pitchers that people will see in the majors in 2010 but I worry about the future of their offense. Some names to remember are Trevor Cahill, Chris Carter
Giants - Another good farm system but for the opposite reason as the A's. The Giants have several potential stars but lack the depth the A's have. Some names to remember are Angel Villalona, Buster Posey (who looks younger than I do in my ID picture)
Tim Alderson, and Madison Bumgarner
Angels- The Angels are going to be hard pressed to keep up with the A's and especially the Rangers in a few years. The Rays surprised a lot of casual baseball fans because a lot of their prospects are finally coming into their own as major leaguers. The Rangers will be that team soon. I'm guessing they make the playoffs in 2011 and are really strong for the next 5 years. What this means for the Angels is that their reign will end and unless their prepared to spend like the yankees, will have to accept some 3rd place finishes to retool the farm system. They don't have many upper echelon type players in their system. Some names to remember: Jordan Walden, Hank Conger
Yankees- The Yanks used to buy the best players at every position. Realizing that this only got them over the hill players at inflated prices, they turned to the draft to try to catch some elite talent on the upswing. For a team with all their financial strength and their unwillingness to accept anything less than elite talent at each position, they have an interesting strategy in the draft of being conservative and not taking high risk, high reward players. I'm really curious about where the yanks end up in the next couple years because they could be stuck behind the Rays and Red Sox for a couple years or could quickly jump right back in the mix for a title as soon as 2009.
Red Sox- The Red Sox are really good at using their financial advantage. The Sox's draft strategy is to shoot for the moon, and if the player doesn't work, its only a small loss. The A's pride themselves on making sure every dollar invested provides some return, this is not a concern for the Red Sox as many of their high risk players flame out. However, the Sox have a number of future stars waiting to join the team in the next few years and will smoothly transition to a youthful team while keeping up with the yanks and Rays who have established major league talent already. Names to keep in mind: Lars Anderson, Josh Reddick, Michael Almanzar
Watch the playoffs and talk with me about baseball!!
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