24 replies to this topic

[fromthemitten]

Now that the regular season is a couple weeks away here's my predictions.

NL West - Giants (fantastic pitching)
NL Central - Reds (more due to the mediocrity of the central than anything)
NL East - Nationals (pitching pitching pitching and the defense gets even better with Span)
Wild Cards - Braves and Diamondbacks (surprisingly, it's not because of the Upton bros but career years from Heyward and Freeman)

AL West - Angels (SIGN ALL THE PLAYERS lite)
AL Central - Tigers (Indians will make a run but will fade by July. Detroit will win division by 10 games at least)
AL East - Rays (young pitching will make fans forget Shields and Davis)
Wild Cards - Blue Jays and Rangers (Reyes has a bounceback year and the Rangers are loaded. Back end of rotation is questionable)

AL MVP - Trout (first 30-50 guy since pre-steroids Bonds)
NL MVP - Joey Votto (his OBP will challenge steroids Bonds)

AL Cy Young - Verlander (Best pitcher of his generation will be a first ballot hall of fame if he stays healthy)
NL Cy Young - Matt Cain (Most underrated pitcher in baseball. Been boned by poor run support in the past)

AL ROY - Myers (lazy pick, I know)
NL ROY - Arendo. As far as i know he's killing it in camp. If he doesn't make the team, Adam Eaton.

AL Comeback Player - Victor Martinez (full time DH will keep his legs fresh, hitting in that murderer's row of a lineup will let him see lots of good pitches)
NL Comeback Player - Mark Prior (if he can be a decent MR he deserves that and a movie,)

Biggest disappointment is the Dodgers. They'll have a better record than the Yankees (low to mid 80s), but they'll be a disaster in the clubhouse.. Gonzalez, Beckett and Crawford were dumped for a reason (the first two are assholes, the latter is going to at the best be rusty at the worst be completely shot). Hanley Ramirez is a lollygagger, and there are going to be some very pissed off starting pitchers who are going to be working out of the bullpen. Ellis is ancient for a 2B and Cruz is a replacement level player at 3rd. Ramirez has barely played SS this year and got injured in last night's game. Mattingly gets fired and they'll throw a bunch of money somebody like LaRussa or Pinella and they'll still suck even after they give Cano a $200 million contract in the offseason.

Biggest surprise - Diamondbacks. Jokes about SCRAP aside they'll have a fantastic OF defense. They'll make a big acquisition at the deadline and will keep the Cardinals and Phillies out of the playoffs and win my eternal gratitude.

Worst team in the NL - The Mets. That outfield is horrible and their pitching is going to be bad.
Worst Team in the AL - The Astros. Duh.

How will the Cubs do? They won't be in last place in the Central (that will be the Brewers after Ryan Braun is caught shooting up alligator pee to skirt MLB's drug testing policy and suspended).

Soriano gets traded to the Yankees. Marmol to the Tigers. Garza to the Diamondbacks. Feldman also gets shipped at the deadline to.. let's say the Phillies since Halladay looks shot.

World Series - Tigers over Nationals. VMart solves the lineup problems they had last season. Marmol gets the save in the clinching game and Leyland rides of into the sunset

[Brett]

I like this.

[Spencer]

NL West: Dodgers
NL Central: Reds
NL East: Nationals
NL Wild Cards: Giants, Braves

AL West: Angels
AL Central: Tigers
AL East: Blue Jays
AL Wild Cards: Rays, O's

AL MVP: Longoria
NL MVP: Votto

AL Cy Young: Verlander
NL Cy Young: G. Gonzalez

AL ROY: Profar
NL ROY: Eaton
(I honestly don't know if either of those guys qualify as rookies. Oh well.)

AL Comeback Player: V-Mart
NL Comeback Player: Crawford

Biggest disappointment: uhm...the Yankees? I dunno. Disappointing for them in the sense they miss the playoffs.
Biggest surprise: Royals contend for AL Central til late August.

Worst AL: Astros
Worst NL: Marlins

Cubs: 5th place, 94 losses, second worst record in the NL and 3rd worst in MLB.

World Series: Angels over Dodgers

[hansman1982]

NLC - Pirates - they still fail to finish above .500 after injuries decimate the Reds, Cubs and Brewers. Cardinals plane gets sucked into a black hole of smugness.
NLE - Nationals - DAAAAAAAAAAAANG they are good. 107 wins.
NLW - Dodgers - Finish with 85 wins, which is just good enough.
NLWC - Braves - Bourn and Upton's suckitude makes Kyle STFU but they still make the wild card.
NLWC - Cardinals - Even after getting sucked into a black hole, they still manage to make the playoffs.

NL MVP - Matt Kemp - And we all vomit uncontrollably for weeks.
NL CY - Strasburg - And we all have explosive diarrhea for weeks.
NL RoY - No Clue

ALC - Tigers - After Fielder goes down with a season ending injury, the team plane gets to games hours quicker and a noticably more rested team destroys the White Sox...like, literally destroys them.
ALE - Yankees - Because of course. (h/t to Brett)
ALW - Mariners - the 2013 version of the 2012 Orioles shock the nation as they defeat the A's in a play-in-game
ALWC - Rays - Basically, they are a real life version of what I have built with my 2025 Cubs on OOTP and by the end of the season, no player is over 25.
ALWC - Indians - Because I REALLY don't want to pick the Angels.

ALMVP - Miguel Cabrera - Still pissed about the 2012 snub, demands that Dombrowski trades for Tony Campana, then eats Tony Campana. Credits this act for getting him a triple slash of .410/.650/.700, smashes all records. Snubbed again for Mike Trout (the media's love affair knows no bounds). After hitting .200/.225/.194 for the first month, he is sent back to AAA where he hits .205/.210/.194. Out of baseball by 2015.

ALCY - Verlander - Cries from the media in April about him throwing 130 pitches in a game fall on deaf ears. Throws a 200 pitch perfecto on his last start of the year. Traded to the Cubs after the season, despite numerous medial tests that indicate he does have a bionic arm, has career ending minor tightness in his back during 2014 ST.

ALRoY - No Clue.

Cubs - 68-94, worst in the NLC, 3rd worst in baseball. Farm system ranked #5 after season. Samardjiza gets no extension but backs up 2012 season. Rizzo struggles, Castillo comitts 74 errors, Castro hits .310/.350/.450 and wins SS GG, Paul Sullivan includes the line "move Castro to 3rd" in his reporting of the GG.

DeJesus, Garza, Marmol, Barney and Feldman are traded mid-season. Soriano trade rumors are a daily event for the next 15 months (roughly 2014 trade deadline).

WS - Tigers over Nationals in 7.

[King Jeff]

NL West: Giants
NL Central: Reds
NL East: Nationals
NL Wild Cards: Phillies, Braves

AL West: Angels
AL Central: Tigers
AL East: Blue Jays
AL Wild Cards: Rays, Indians

AL MVP: Albert Pujols or Robinson Cano
NL MVP: Bryce Harper

AL Cy Young: Jered Weaver
NL Cy Young: Cliff Lee

AL ROY: Aaron Hicks, Min or Dylan Bundy, Bal if he gets enough time
NL ROY: Jedd Gyorko
AL Comeback Player: Mariano Rivera; even if he's close to form, he'll get this from wet pants writers waiting to praise him.
NL Comeback Player: Troy Tulowitzki/Roy Halladay

Biggest disappointment: Orioles, A's; Cinderella goes back to being a maid this year.
Biggest surprise: Phillies; Halladay, Utley, and Howard all have bounceback years

Worst AL: Astros, like others have said, duh.
Worst NL: Marlins/Rockies The Marlins are bad, but so were the Rockies last year and they didn't do much to upgrade

Cubs: 75-87; closer to .500 in June but start to slip and move players as deadline nears.
DeJesus and Marmol moved, as well as Garza finally being traded. Soriano remains a Cub as other gm's continue to drop the ball on adding a 30 hr bat to their potential playoff run.

World Series: Nationals over Angels
Strasburg is the difference in the postseason, teaming with Gonzalez, Zimmerman, and Haren to give the Nats a dominant September run.

[hansman1982]

AL Comeback Player: Mariano Rivera; even if he's close to form, he'll get this from wet pants writers waiting to praise him

Pfft, as long as he doesn't suck he'll get Comeback Player and be top-15 for Cy Young.

[fromthemitten]

Speaking about Prince Fielder Hansman http://www.theonion....lary-arb,18897/

[hansman1982]

Speaking about Prince Fielder Hansman http://www.theonion....lary-arb,18897/

I counted 116 cheeseburgers, which, given the exchange rate equals 127 hamburgers, which is my typical 4th meal, or what you may call "brunch".

[King Jeff]

Speaking about Prince Fielder Hansman http://www.theonion....lary-arb,18897/

That made me want a cheeseburger.

[hansman1982]

Speaking about Prince Fielder Hansman http://www.theonion....lary-arb,18897/

I do like the title though:

Prince Hansman. I will allow you all to still just call me Hamburg...er I mean, Hansman.

[Spencer]

MOAR PREDICTIONS

[BluBlud]

NL

East: Braves
Central: Pirates
West: Dodgers

Wild Card: Nationals and Reds


AL

East: Blue Jays
Central: Tigers
West: Angels

Wild Cards: A's and Rays

NL MVP: Kemp
AL MVP: Hamilton

Biggest Suprise:
NL: Wellington Castillo(will be an all-star)
AL: Trout(Will disappoint a lot of people and have a down year considering the hype he built last year. Will not hit .300 or 30 HR in my opinion.)

[King Jeff]

Here, I made it easy for you lazy folks. Just copy and paste, then fill in your choices.

NL West:
NL Central:
NL East:
NL Wild Cards:

AL West:
AL Central:
AL East:
AL Wild Cards:

AL MVP:
NL MVP:

AL Cy Young:
NL Cy Young:

AL ROY:
NL ROY:


AL Comeback Player:
NL Comeback Player:

Biggest disappointment:
Biggest surprise:

Worst AL:
Worst NL:

Cubs:

World Series:

[BluBlud]

CY Young
AL: Justin Verlander
NL: Strasburg

ROY
AL: Aaron Hicks
NL: Zack Wheeler

Cubs will go 78-84, down from my previous 82-80 prediction.

[fromthemitten]

Bold call with the Pirates. If I have to pick a "breakout" player in the NL it would be Pedro Alvarez. I could see him hitting 35 HRs with an OPS over .900 this season