2010 MLB Predictions

***I understand the season is already underway but I figured that having the advantage of knowing 1.85% of the season wouldn’t be too much.

It’s that time of year again. It’s time for me to inaccurately pick the final standings of Major League Baseball. I should probably dedicate more time to this but it feel that it would become futile after so long because in the end, you can’t really predict a team like Tampa Bay coming out of nowhere or a team like the Cubs not winning another World Series (One of those sounds wrong, doesn’t it?).

Nevertheless, I will give it a go and we can see how well I do come October.
We’ll start in the AL since that’s my least favorite league.

•AL West

1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (of California of the United States of the World)
• The defending division champs lost a lot this offseason. Most notably, they lost their ace John Lackey and former all-star Vladimir Guerrero. I know this would lead most to believe they have lost what made them the best team in the division for so many years but I still think behind the leadership of what I consider to be the best manager in baseball, Mike Scioscia, they will once again make their annual trip to the postseason.

2. Texas Rangers
•The Rangers made huge strides last year as far as being competitive goes. The one major component missing for them is pitching and they went out and signed Rich Harden, who has a lifetime 3.39 ERA and is 50-29 overall. What the Rangers excel in is offense. My favorite part of that offense is Michael Young. Everyone likes to give Derek Jeter credit as one of the best hitting shortstops in baseball but everyone forgets about Michael Young. Since his first full major league season in 2002, he has had 1566 hits, compared to Jeter’s 1548.

3. Seattle Mariners
• Similar to the Rangers, this team is teetering on the brink of being a contender. Their strength will be their two aces at the top of their rotation. They have “King” Felix Hernandez and former Phillies postseason ace, Cliff Lee (Lee went 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA last year in the playoffs for Philadelphia). But we have to remember that this will be a tough division and someone has to be the odd team out and depending on the AL East, it’s conceivable to think that once again the Rangers and Mariners could both miss the postseason with 85+ wins.

4. Oakland Athletics
• Nothing really to say here. This team is in a rebuilding phase and they are just going to get beat up by this strong division. I will, however, pay attention to them because their outfield contains former Sun Devil, Travis Buck, and they also have former first round pick from Arizona State, Brett Wallace floating around in the minors waiting to be called up. But no matter who gets called up, the team finishes fourth.

•AL Central

1. Minnesota Twins
• This is a fun division because you can never truly feel confident about who is going to win it (Since 2004, no team has won back-to-back division titles). It’s easy to say the Twins will win it after last year’s showing and they didn’t lose much this offseason but the White Sox did add a lot at the trade deadline last year and that could prevent the Twins from repeating. But I just can’t bet against the game’s best catcher and current MVP, Joe Mauer, and former MVP Justin Morneau. The loss of Joe Nathan will hurt but someone will step up and close out the games for them.

2. Chicago White Sox
• Yeah, they added former Cy Young award winner Jake Peavy. Yeah, they added former two-time all-star Alex Rios. They also retained last year’s perfect game pitcher Mark Buehrle. This team is talented and they have a good coach who the players love and respect in Ozzie Guillen. It’s just not enough to top the Twinkies. On a side note, expect Alexei Ramirez to have a pretty good year.

3. Detroit Tigers
• I can’t see why the Tigers traded away Curtis Granderson. It doesn’t make sense. The guy is a potential 30/30 outfielder and he’s a good defended to boot. The Yankees got a steal there. As for their actual roster, the team is good, not great. Verlander can be a CY Young contender or a bust. And other than Miguel Cabrera, I’m really not terrified by their line-up. They will contend for most of the season but fall off around September.

4. Cleveland Indians
• I love this organization. They make baseball so much better. They are the league’s farm system. If you go back to their glory days in the 90’s, they have allocated so much of their home grown talent across the league (ex. Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, etc…). So it is just a matter of time before they trade Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner and Fausto Carmona. This team struggles to get 70 wins.

5. Kansas City Royals
• The Royals really only have one objective this year. Win Zack Grienke another Cy Young award. They have no other bright spot on the team. And if the team gives him a little more run support, he could be a twenty game winner. That’s if they don’t trade him at the deadline…

•AL East

1. New York Yankees
• Ugh, the Yankees. I hate the Yankees. I’ve always hated the Yankees. But for the sake of my blog keeping its validity, I have to crown them potential 2010 AL East Champions. You know what you’re going to get from a majority of their roster. You know C.C. will have a work horse year with around 200 innings pitched and 16-20 wins, A-Rod will bat .300, get 30-40 bombs and plate 120 runs, Jeter will get 200 hits and break up with a super model. This team is good. I don’t have to be happy about it though.

2. Boston Red Sox
• The Sox will compete with the Yanks but when push comes to shove, the Red Sox won’t have Manny Ramirez to bail them out and I think the loss of such a potent bat, albeit he was juicing like crazy, will be significant to keep them behind the Bronx Bombers. The addition of John Lackey, Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre and Mike Cameron should be enough to stay in wild card contention and most likely, win it.

3. Tampa Bay Rays
• I feel bad for this team. They would probably either win the division or get the wild card spot in any other division but since they play in the AL East against the two toughest teams in baseball, they get bumped and it’s a shame. This team has so much potential with David Price, B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist, etc. But who knows, maybe they can shock the world like they did in 2008.

4. Baltimore Orioles
• This might be my favorite team outside the Diamondbacks. This team is so young and fun to watch. Matt Weiters is the next Joe Mauer, Nick Markakis and Adam Jones are fantastic outfielders, and their infield, although mostly aged veterans, could be quite effective. But again, this is a tough division and you can’t expect much of this team in the win-loss department

5. Toronto Blue Jays
•I’ll keep this pretty simple. Roy Halladay leaving for Philadelphia = last place.

• NL West

1. San Francisco Giants
• This is really tough for me because this is me picking against my team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, but how can you pick against the Giants pitching staff. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain could each finish with 200 strikeouts and 15+ wins and not to mention they have Barry Zito, a former Cy Young winner, and Jonathan Sanchez, who pitched a no hitter last season and had 177 k’s. They also enter this season with Pablo Sandoval, Bengie Molina and Edgar Renteria helping out their weak offense. I just think that the pitching will make up for what they can’t do at plate.

2. Arizona Diamondbacks
• I might be putting the D’Backs higher than I should but who cares, they’re my team and these are my rankings! And I hate the Dodgers! But this team isn’t a joke so don’t think I’m completely full of it. They might have the best offensive lineup in the NL West and if – and this is a big IF – Brandon Webb can come back healthy and effective, the Diamondbacks could be a contender in the National League. But like I said, it all depends on Webb’s elbow and how it recovers. In addition, both Mark Reynolds and Justin Upton have career years.

3. Los Angeles Dodgers
• The Dodgers still have a good team but without Manny taking steroid injections in his butt, their offense is pretty dormant. I know Matt Kemp is their new ‘guy’ but it won’t matter. The Dodgers take a step back this year.

4. Colorado Rockies
• I can’t foresee the Rockies winning their last 73 games (An exaggeration, I know but they did have two historic runs to make the playoffs.) like they have had the last two times they made the postseason. I give credit to the Rockies but they have been the luckiest team ever…twice. Helton is getting old, their pitching staff is going to come back to reality and it’s just not in their cards.

5. San Diego Padres
• This team is bad. Bad, bad, bad. Their opening day starter was Jon Garland! Really!? Garland!? He was the Diamondbacks fourth starter last year and they only won 70 games and had the worst record in the West! Too bad Adrian Gonzales is going to get traded this season.

• NL Central

1. St. Louis Cardinals
• Albert Pujols + Matt Holliday = NL Central Champs. Let’s not forget to mention their two Cy Young runner up pitchers, Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. The Cards are a major contender to win the pennant.

2. Chicago Cubs
• When will this team accidentally win a title? I mean, after over 100 years, you think a Steve Bartman knocks down a fly ball in their favor or a black cat runs across someone else’s field. But until then, they are going to have to deal with Alfonso Soriano’s jumping catches, Lou Pinella’s tirades and finishing behind the Cardinals. Hey Cubs fans, there’s always next year.

3. Milwaukee Brewers
• This is a really fun team to watch. Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder are pretty special players who are going to be good for a long time but their pitching, outside of Yovani Gallardo, is horrendous. They win some games but not enough to be challenging for a division crown.

4. Cincinnati Reds
• A lot of young talent here. Maybe they can have legitimate aspirations of making a postseason next year but as of right now, they’re youth is too raw and their pitching rotation has a lot of work to do. Shout out to former Sun Devil pitcher, Mike Leake, who is the Reds’ fifth starter.

5. Pittsburgh Pirates
• Probably the worst franchise over the past 25 years, the Pirates will continue their losing ways. The team has a good young core of hitters but like a lot of other teams struggling to make it over the top, sub-par pitching will keep them grounded.

6. Houston Astros
• What happened to this team? They were in the World Series in 2005 and now they are struggling to get 75 wins. Astros need a jolt to turn this franchise around. Bring back the killer B’s!

•NL East

1. Philadelphia Phillies
• This is probably the easiest one for me. The Phillies enter this year as back-to-back NL Champions and one year removed from their World Series title and for the most part, they’ve kept their entire lineup intact. Except for the fact that they added Roy Halladay to the pitching rotation. Phillies roll in the division.

2.Atlanta Braves
• I don’t know if you can call the Braves a dark horse but I am. The Braves won 86 games last year and that was without Tommy Hanson, my favorite young pitcher, pitching an entire full season. Add that to the fact that they have Bobby Cox managing their roster and you have a pretty interesting team. And they have Jason Hayward too.

3.New York Mets
• I want to pick this team to finish higher but I just can’t trust them. After their injury plagued 2009 season, I won’t get fooled again. Besides, Jose Reyes is still a wildcard to make it back, health wise and performance wise. I still do love David Wright to have a solid year though.

4.Florida Marlins
• The Marlins are a good team. Problem is that this is a better-than-good division. A good young rotation and lineup will keep them competitive but in the end they’ll fall short. Expect Hanley Ramirez to have another fantastic year.

5. Washington Nationals
• Call me crazy but this team isn’t that bad. I know I have them finishing last but I don’t think they’re going to be as bad as usual (That’s not saying much). They have a Chipper Jones-esque third baseman in Ryan Zimmerman, an improving slugger in Adam Dunn, possibly the greatest catcher ever in Ivan Rodriguez and my favorite young player last year, Nyjer Morgan. Expect great things from Morgan.

MLB Playoffs

•Divisional Series
o New York Yankees v. LA Angels of Anaheim – Winner: Yankees
o Minnesota Twins v. (WC) Boston Red Sox – Winner: Twins
o Philadelphia Phillies v. San Francisco Giants – Winner: Phillies
o St. Louis Cardinals v. (WC) Atlanta Braves – Winner: Cardinals

•Championship Series
o Yankees v. Twins – Winner: Yankees
o Phillies v. Cardinals – Winner: Cardinals

•World Series
o Yankees v. Cardinals – Winner: Cardinals

Awards

• AL MVP - Mark Texeria
• NL MVP - Albert Pujols
• AL Cy Young - Felix Hernandez
• NL Cy Young - Roy Halladay