MLB Predictions

 

by: pageian

Now that the baseball season has officially started I thought I'd fire off some predictions about what the standings are going to look like at the end of the season.  Let's have a look.

American League

AL East:
1.  New York Yankees.  Too much talent, coming off a title in 2009.
2.  Boston Red Sox.  Wild Card.  No surprise here, led by a very good pitching staff.
3.  Tampa Bay Rays.  Still young, still talented.  They'd be favorites in almost any other division.
4.  Baltimore Orioles.  Finally headed in the right direction now that Angelos isn't calling all the shots.
5.  Toronto Blue Jays.  Rebuilding after a failed attempt to compete with the big boys, dealing the best pitcher in baseball in the offseason will cause quite a drop off.

AL Central:
1.  Detroit Tigers.  Some things have to break right but the talent is there.
2.  Minnesota Twins.  Joe Mauer leads a good team here, bullpen has question marks.
3.  Cleveland Indians.  Certainly have holes but also have talent spread around, above .500 is possible.
4.  Chicago White Sox.  Hard to predict, they could compete or they could crash and burn.
5.  Kansas City Royals.  Time is just about up on the Dayton Moore regime, and not a minute too soon.

AL West:
1.  Texas Rangers.  Bold prediction given their past pitching issues, this may be the year they get it together.
2.  Los Angelos Angels.  Still have talent despite losing two good hitters and a good pitcher.
3.  Seattle Mariners.  Great makeover in the offseason but offense still has issues.  Jack Z may be GM of the year.
4.  Oakland A's.  Gambling on Sheets could backfire, the shine may be coming off Billy Beane.

National League

NL East:
1.  Philadelphia Phillies.  Great offense, great top of the rotation staff.
2.  Atlanta Braves.  Wild Card.  Losing Vazquez won't hurt too much, Heyward is for real.
3.  New York Mets.  Surely this year will be better than last... but not good enough to save Minaya's job.
4.  Florida Marlins.  Living on the edge isn't easy, sub .500 team this year won't be surprising.
5.  Washington Nationals.  Could add Storen, Zimmerman, Wang and Strasburg mid-season, second half will be better than first half.

NL Central:
1.  Chicago Cubs.  Doubters focus on the negative, fans wear rose colored glasses, the truth is somewhere in between.  Bullpen will be solid, offense will return to '08 levels, they'll be just good enough to win division.
2.  St. Louis Cardinals.  Top heavy, they have stars and not much backing them up, injuries could be trouble for this team.
3.  Milwaukee Brewers.  Offense is there, pitching is not, without some luck they'll be out of contention by early September.
4.  Cincinnati Reds.  Dusty Baker single handedly holds this team back.  Young talent coming along but not ready to contend yet.  Will they survive the whims of Dusty the arm mangler?
5.  Pittsburgh Pirates.  Rebuilding, but with mediocre talent.  The losing seasons will number 18 in a row next fall.
6.  Houston Astros.  A good candidate to completely tank, their stars are mostly old, their young guys aren't very good, their GM is horrible, their owner is bad.  Not much to look forward to for 'Stros fans.

NL West:
1.  Los Angels Dodgers.  The ownership divorce will take it's toll but not enough to derail a good team.
2.  Colorado Rockies.  The Rox have some talent but are streaky, pitching is always an issue, humidor or no.
3.  Arizona Diamondbacks.  Making progress but still have issues.  Horrible trade, should have kept Scherzer.
4.  San Francisco Giants.  The pitching is great, the offense is not.  Won't score enough runs, the bats they added are mediocre at best.
5.  San Diego Padres.  Offensively challenged as well but without the pitching of the others, last place is theirs for now.