MLB: Preseason Predictions
- Thread starter pyrocyz
- Start date
Funny - every year I see a Cubs game at Wrigley Field with my family, and every year at the souvenir stand I still see the stuffed goat wearing a Cubs jersey. And, up until at least a couple of years ago, Wrigley Field still had Bartman's seat "roped off".
It doesn't matter whether the fans still blame all their woes on those two things - the Cubs organization as a whole still does.
Do you honestly believe that? Yeah they have those things there but it's all for show. I'll give you that some people do genuinely blame Bartman, but they are just plain dumb. The whole goat thing is just a running joke. Kinda like playing baseball in a dome for 20-some years, right?
I have gone to at least one Cub game at Wrigley since 2003, and I dont recall ever seeing Bartmans seat roped off.
No they don't. Any fan who blames Bartman is a ******* idiot. But the vast, vast majority of Cubs fans do not blame him at all.
...and those fans who do blame Bartman probably could not even tell you who the player was who failed to turn that double play in the top of the 8th that would have got the Cubs out of the inning.
NL East - Hotlanta
NL Central - Cardinals
NL West - San Francisco
NL Wild Card - Philadelphia
AL East - New York
AL Central - Minnesota
AL West - Texas
AL Wild Card - Boston
World Series - Boston over Philadelphia
NL MVP - Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young - Josh Johnson
NL Rookie of the year - Freddie Freeman
AL MVP - Josh Hamilton
AL Cy Young - Justin Verlander
AL Rookie of the Year - Jeremy Hellickson
NL Central - Cardinals
NL West - San Francisco
NL Wild Card - Philadelphia
AL East - New York
AL Central - Minnesota
AL West - Texas
AL Wild Card - Boston
World Series - Boston over Philadelphia
NL MVP - Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young - Josh Johnson
NL Rookie of the year - Freddie Freeman
AL MVP - Josh Hamilton
AL Cy Young - Justin Verlander
AL Rookie of the Year - Jeremy Hellickson
Can we get back to predictions???
Tomorrow is opening day and every fan base should and is fired up about the upcoming season. Its just like the first day in any sport, everyone starts on equal footing and there is hope for the future. Cubs fans are looking forward to getting some bad contracts off their books and they have some decent talent built on the team. Reds put together a good season last year and have hopes of repeating. Cardinals may have lost a pitcher, but they still have the best player in baseball and a manager that knows how to get a lot of his teams. The Brewers have what could be an exciting offense and maybe even a pitching staff that isn't the worst in the national league.
You can find positives with almost every team in the league.
Tomorrow is opening day and every fan base should and is fired up about the upcoming season. Its just like the first day in any sport, everyone starts on equal footing and there is hope for the future. Cubs fans are looking forward to getting some bad contracts off their books and they have some decent talent built on the team. Reds put together a good season last year and have hopes of repeating. Cardinals may have lost a pitcher, but they still have the best player in baseball and a manager that knows how to get a lot of his teams. The Brewers have what could be an exciting offense and maybe even a pitching staff that isn't the worst in the national league.
You can find positives with almost every team in the league.
Alex Gonzalez is the one who booted that double play ball... game is over if he fields that... Damn Cubs...
NL East - PHI
NL Central - MIL
NL West - COL
NL Wild Card - ATL
AL East - BOS
AL Central - DET
AL West - TEX
AL Wild Card - NYY
World Series - BOS over PHI
NL MVP - A. Pujols
NL Cy Young - R. Halladay
AL MVP - A. Gonzalez
AL Cy Young - J. Lester
NL Central - MIL
NL West - COL
NL Wild Card - ATL
AL East - BOS
AL Central - DET
AL West - TEX
AL Wild Card - NYY
World Series - BOS over PHI
NL MVP - A. Pujols
NL Cy Young - R. Halladay
AL MVP - A. Gonzalez
AL Cy Young - J. Lester
Pirates. Royals. Orioles. Mariners (they're really going to suck when King Felix gets traded).
Actually, all I've heard starting from late last season and all offseason is how much the experts like where the Orioles are heading. Okay, they're still behind the Red Sox, Rays, and Yankees, but nobody's picking them to be the "outright losers" like who you have paired them with like they have been in the past.
They're behind the Blue Jays too. They're going to look at lot worse than they are just because they're going to get destroyed in division. They were 20 games out of 4th place if I remember right last year. I do think this is the year the Rays come back down to earth a little bit. Red Sox (on paper) are by far the best team in the East, Yankees 2, Rays and Jays will fight for 3rd/4th and Orioles will still hold down the cellar.
AL East - Boston
AL Central - Chicago
AL West - Angels
AL Wild Card - Rangers
NL East - Phillies
NL Central - Cardinals
NL West - Rockies
NL Wild Card - Braves
AL MVP - Adrian Gonzalez
AL Cy Young - John Danks
NL MVP - Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young - Tommy Hanson
AL Central - Chicago
AL West - Angels
AL Wild Card - Rangers
NL East - Phillies
NL Central - Cardinals
NL West - Rockies
NL Wild Card - Braves
AL MVP - Adrian Gonzalez
AL Cy Young - John Danks
NL MVP - Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young - Tommy Hanson
They were 19 games out of 4th place to be exact. But they were already 22 games out of 4th place on July 30 - the date they hired Buck Showalter. On July 30 they were sitting at 32-71 (.311), by the end of the season they were sitting at 66-96 (.406). They finished the season with a 34-25 record, and as such were considered one of the hottest teams towards the end of last year. They won more games in August and September last year than the did from April through July. That should tell you something.
I agree, it's still a steep uphill battle for the Orioles as they play in the biggest $$$ division in all baseball, but they shouldn't be categorized with the Pirates and Royals anymore, either.
Let's make it more interesting and predict the standings. There should be a lot of good races this year (I hope):
NL East
PHI
ATL*
FLA
WAS
NYM
Philly and Atlanta are the class of the NL. Florida stays in the race all year but fades down the stretch. Washington puts together a respectable season, but still doesn't have any pitching. The Mets are a complete disaster from beginning to end.
NL Central
MIL
STL
CIN
CHC
PIT
HOU
Three team race through most of the year between MIL, STL, CIN. MIL ownership knows it has to win this year with Fielder on the way out, may make a move before the trade deadline. STL will be strong, but miss Wainwright and Carpenter's health doesn't exactly instill confidence. CIN falls short of last year, but Bruce has a break out year. Cubs have some nice young talent, but can't compete. Pitt stinks, but manages to go a whole season without trading away their best players, so there's hope for the future. Houston...no idea, but I think they are going to be bad.
NL West
COL
SF
ARI
LAD
SD
Another close race between Col and SF. I think Car-Go has another great year and Ubaldo will be in contention for the Cy Young again. SF's pitching will be good again, but I just don't see them getting that kind of fluky production out of guys like Huff and Uribe that carried them to a WS last year. ARI will be in the race, but will come up short. LAD will be decent, but are still hamstrung by their ownership situation. SD lost Adrian Gonzalez and Latos is already injured.
AL East
BOS
NYY*
TB
BAL
TOR
I'm obviously biased, but I believe the Boston lineup is as good as advertised (best in the majors). I think Daisuke and Beckett will have bounce-back years (or at least 1 of the 2) and Lackey will continue to be a dependable innings-eater. I think Lester has a 20 win season and wins the Cy Young and Buchholz continues to be solid. Yankees will be good again and have improved their bullpen with the addition of Soriano. I'm not buying A-Roid for MVP. TB just can't overcome being raided in the off-season, but I think they stay in the race all year with budding superstars Longoria and Price. I think BAL might make some noise behind Buck Showalter, and they have some talented young arms in Mastusz and Britton, but they will fade down the stretch. TOR isn't going to be able to win with Power alone.
AL Central
DET
CWS
MIN
CLE
KC
I think Detroit will take this division and run with it. Cabrera is going to have something to prove and I think Scherzer has a dominant season to complement another good year for Verlander. I think Peavy is going to be a non-factor for the CWS and they are going to continue to struggle to produce runs. Still questions about Morneau in MIN and I think Mauer falls off (in offensive production) this year. MIN's pitching is a mess. Don't know much about CLE, but I'm betting on them being at least good enough to edge out KC, who will continue to stink.
AL West
TEX
LAA
SEA
OAK
Texas is going to miss Cliff Lee, but they have some other young arms that could be stand outs this year (Maybe Derek Holland?). They still have one of the best offenses in the Majors and that will be enough to get it done in a weak division. Angels whiffed big time in trying to get Crawford in the off season and will continue to lean on aging stars Hunter and Abreu for production. I think SEA makes it out of the cellar, but still doesn't do much. I'm not sure why I put OAK so low, as they finished second last year, and I honestly don't know much about them.
*Wildcard
NL East
PHI
ATL*
FLA
WAS
NYM
Philly and Atlanta are the class of the NL. Florida stays in the race all year but fades down the stretch. Washington puts together a respectable season, but still doesn't have any pitching. The Mets are a complete disaster from beginning to end.
NL Central
MIL
STL
CIN
CHC
PIT
HOU
Three team race through most of the year between MIL, STL, CIN. MIL ownership knows it has to win this year with Fielder on the way out, may make a move before the trade deadline. STL will be strong, but miss Wainwright and Carpenter's health doesn't exactly instill confidence. CIN falls short of last year, but Bruce has a break out year. Cubs have some nice young talent, but can't compete. Pitt stinks, but manages to go a whole season without trading away their best players, so there's hope for the future. Houston...no idea, but I think they are going to be bad.
NL West
COL
SF
ARI
LAD
SD
Another close race between Col and SF. I think Car-Go has another great year and Ubaldo will be in contention for the Cy Young again. SF's pitching will be good again, but I just don't see them getting that kind of fluky production out of guys like Huff and Uribe that carried them to a WS last year. ARI will be in the race, but will come up short. LAD will be decent, but are still hamstrung by their ownership situation. SD lost Adrian Gonzalez and Latos is already injured.
AL East
BOS
NYY*
TB
BAL
TOR
I'm obviously biased, but I believe the Boston lineup is as good as advertised (best in the majors). I think Daisuke and Beckett will have bounce-back years (or at least 1 of the 2) and Lackey will continue to be a dependable innings-eater. I think Lester has a 20 win season and wins the Cy Young and Buchholz continues to be solid. Yankees will be good again and have improved their bullpen with the addition of Soriano. I'm not buying A-Roid for MVP. TB just can't overcome being raided in the off-season, but I think they stay in the race all year with budding superstars Longoria and Price. I think BAL might make some noise behind Buck Showalter, and they have some talented young arms in Mastusz and Britton, but they will fade down the stretch. TOR isn't going to be able to win with Power alone.
AL Central
DET
CWS
MIN
CLE
KC
I think Detroit will take this division and run with it. Cabrera is going to have something to prove and I think Scherzer has a dominant season to complement another good year for Verlander. I think Peavy is going to be a non-factor for the CWS and they are going to continue to struggle to produce runs. Still questions about Morneau in MIN and I think Mauer falls off (in offensive production) this year. MIN's pitching is a mess. Don't know much about CLE, but I'm betting on them being at least good enough to edge out KC, who will continue to stink.
AL West
TEX
LAA
SEA
OAK
Texas is going to miss Cliff Lee, but they have some other young arms that could be stand outs this year (Maybe Derek Holland?). They still have one of the best offenses in the Majors and that will be enough to get it done in a weak division. Angels whiffed big time in trying to get Crawford in the off season and will continue to lean on aging stars Hunter and Abreu for production. I think SEA makes it out of the cellar, but still doesn't do much. I'm not sure why I put OAK so low, as they finished second last year, and I honestly don't know much about them.
*Wildcard
I don't feel as confident about the Twins this year as I did last year, but if recent history repeats itself, the Twins will find a way to win the AL Central. The Twins have won the Central 6 times, all since 2002. Only the Indians (7) have more division titles since the division's inception in 1994.
