Turning Heel

I’m not going into staaaats or anything, but I do need to have my predictions timestamped somewhere, so that after the season I can look at them and either claim to know a lot about baseball, or have been ripped off.

AL EAST:
1. Yankees      (96-66)
2. Rays            (94-68)
3. Red Sox       (93-69)
4. Orioles         (76-86)
5. Blue Jays     (70-92)

AL CENTRAL:
1. Indians        (89-73)
2. Tigers          (83-79)
3. Twins           (79-83)
4. Royals         (75-87)
5. White Sox   (71-91)

AL WEST:
1. A’s              (87-75)
2. Angels        (85-77)
3. Rangers     (76-86)
4. Mariners     (66-96)

NL EAST:
1. Mets          (91-71)
2. Phillies       (89-73)
3. Braves       (82-80)
4. Marlins       (75-87)
5. Nationals   (65-97)

NL CENTRAL:
1. Cubs         (93-69)
2. Brewers    (86-76)
3. Reds         (85-77)
4. Cardinals  (78-84)
5. Pirates      (76-86)
6. Astros       (68-94)

NL WEST:
1. Dodgers    (86-76)
2. Rockies     (85-77)
3. Giants       (83-79)
4. D’Backs     (78-84)
5. Padres      (70-92)

AL Playoffs:
Yankees over A’s, 3 – 1
Rays over Indians, 3 – 2

Rays over Yankees, 4 – 3

NL Playoffs:
Cubs over Phillies, 3 – 2
Mets over Dodgers, 3 – 1

Mets over Cubs, 4 – 2

World Series:
Rays over Mets, 4 – 2

Obviously the fan in me wants to say Mets win 110 games and sweep through the playoffs and win the world series, but that’s not realistic.   They should be pretty good this year, and while the bottom of the order and rotation could be a potential disaster, I think this is the year they don’t collapse at the end, and if they actually do make the playoffs, I see them getting to the World Series.  I can’t, right now at least, say in good faith that I could realistically see them beating the Rays in the end, but you never know.

The Rays may have struggles in the regular season, but they are exactly the type of team that can beat the Yankees in the playoffs.   However, while I think the Yankees will win the division by a few games, there will be a real dogfight for the AL Wild Card between the Sox and Rays.   Since I don’t like the Sox, I’m going with Tampa but it could go either way.  If the Red Sox do win out, I think the Yankees beat them in the playoffs and probably win the World Series.   Tampa is one of the most well rounded teams I have ever seen and would outgrind the Yankees in a long series, in my opinion.

The Reds will be better, and the Astros much worse, than people seem to think.   Both the Orioles and Rangers have a ton of good prospects coming up and should be division contenders within 2 – 3 years, possibly sooner.   The Mariners will be pretty horrible, and the Padres will be pretty shitty as well.   I’m not really seeing any team as a 100+ win or loss team, but you never know.    The predictions that I feel will look the stupidest at the end are the Cubs and Nationals.   Cubs could totally fall apart mid season, especially considering Bradley, Harden and some others are pretty damn injury-prone.   Nationals could surprise and be half-way decent, in no small part thanks to: