MLB Predictions
AL East:
- New York Yankees: Okay, this is my homer pick of the season, but we always say the Red Sox, or this year the Blue Jays, are going to catch the Yankees. This is a playoff team, injuries and all, and I think they’ll win the division while the Blue Jays reassemble a bunch of losing players.
- Toronto Blue Jays: The Blue Jays reassembled a bunch of losing players from other teams, and suddenly everyone has them as the favorite to win this division. I think they finish just behind the Yankees, held back by their pitching and lack of chemistry.
- Tampa Bay Rays: Great coaching, good pitching, and a decent core group of players will have the Rays in contention. With the new 5th wild card spot, they have a chance to compete after Texas lost some of their best players out west.
- Baltimore Orioles: Good coaching again will keep the Orioles in it, but last year may have been an anomaly. They lack the pitching to make the playoffs two years in a row.
- Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox are pathetic (and this Yankees fan loves it). Pitching collapsed, and the team’s big name players broke down. Boston traded away some expensive contract and is rebuilding, but this is not the division to rebuild in.
AL Central:
- Detroit Tigers: Who is going to catch the defending conference champions? The Tigers have depth throughout their lineup, pitching, and even depth in their bullpen. This is the class of a mediocre division.
- Chicago White Sox: They seem to have the players to compete every year, but they haven’t put it together in some time. I don’t see them doing much better than .500 this year.
- Kansas City Royals: It might seem boring to predict this division to finish exactly how it did last year, but these teams haven’t changed enough to suggest otherwise. The Royals are terrible, but they’re not nearly as terrible as the Indians and Twins.
- Cleveland Indians: The Minnesota Twins’ rebuilding efforts were so bad, that the Indians will probably finish slightly ahead of them in a battle of two bad teams for last place.
- Minnesota Twins: The Twins rebuilding efforts were so bad, that they don’t have the team to climb out of the dumpster in the AL Central.
AL West:
- Los Angeles Angels: Even if the addition of Josh Hamilton doesn’t work out as planned, they took one of the best players off the only competition they had in the division. It’s hard to see the Angels not finishing first in this division, even after last year’s disappointments.
- Texas Rangers: Texas lost Josh Hamilton to their divisional rivals, but they’re still a good team. They’ll compete for a playoff spot this year.
- Oakland Athletics: Last year’s run was impressive, but they won’t be able to do it again without adding some depth to a mediocre lineup.
- Seattle Mariners: They locked up King Felix for the foreseeable future, but they’ve failed to surround him with any talent. This is a middling team at best
- Houston Astros: When the worst team in baseball switches divisions but not teams, they remain one of the worst teams in baseball..
NL East
- Washington Nationals: They return an incredible pitching rotation, a deep lineup (for this division at least), and most of the roster that made them division champs last year. Why not?
- Philadelphia Phillies: This rotation is too good to be on a team this bad last year. I think they’ll bounce back if their infield hits.
- Atlanta Braves: The core is there, but they won’t catch the Nationals. I don’t the lineup is deep enough to be as consistent as the Phillies will be.
- New York Mets: They kept David Wright, but they’re still missing too many pieces to compete with the big three in this division.
- Miami Marlins: A new stadium, new players, and a new coach completely failed… so the Marlins fired their coach, traded their players, and would likely blow up their stadium if they could. This team is a disaster.
NL Central
- St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals snuck into the playoffs, but after a full year to adjust to the absence of their manager and best player, I think they bounce back – led by pitching and defense.
- Cincinnati Reds: The Reds are a great team and should contend for a playoff spot again. A good lineup, deep pitching, and excellent bullpen will carry the Reds to the playoffs.
- Pittsburgh Pirates: This is the year the Pirates get close to the playoffs. They’ve got a good young team, they just didn’t put it together in the second half last season.
- Milwaukee Brewers: Ryan Braun is on steroids, the pitching fell apart, the lineup got weaker, and the Brewers barely cracked .500 last year. I think this year they finish right around the same, perhaps a bit worse.
- Chicago Cubs: It must be nice to play with the Astros – you don’t have to worry about being the worst team in your division… but with the Astros moved they’re stuck now.
NL West
- San Francisco Giants: The defending champs are going to repeat as division champions in one of the weaker divisions in baseball.
- LA Dodgers: A product of the mediocrity of the rest of this division, the Dodgers will finish second and well above .500.
- Arizona Diamondbacks: The Dbacks have a good young core of players and a solid pitching staff. They’ll hang around until the final months of the season, before another .500 year keeps them from the playoffs.
- San Diego Padres: They won’t compete in this division, but they won’t finish last either.
- Colorado Rockies: Was any team more dysfunctional than the Rockies last year? They abandoned the traditional five-man pitching rotation and couldn’t win with their two-man lineup of TuLo and CarGo.
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