We have hit and passed the Major League All Star Game so we are officially into the dog days of summer with 10 days to go until the trade deadline. My preseason predictions are mostly doing as expected with one outside wild card and one division prediction done for the season.
Here were my predictions Opening Day:
NL East: Atlanta
NL Central: Milwaukee
NL West: Colorado
NL Wild Card: Philadelphia
NL Pennant Winner: Colorado
NL MVP – Ryan Braun, NL Cy Young – Roy Halladay
AL East: Boston
AL Central: Detroit
AL West: LA Angels
AL Wild Card: Oakland
AL Pennant Winner: Boston
AL MVP – Robinson Cano, AL Cy Young – Jon Lester
World Series Winner: Boston
We Start in the NL West where if Colorado doesn’t go on their usual end of season tear they are in desperate trouble. The World Champ SF Giants are leading the division, but are ripe for the taking because they can’t hit and unless they trade for Carlos Beltran they could be in a battle with upstart Arizona who are only 4 games behind. My beloved Dodgers need more players plus Mark Cuban and the Padres don’t start anyone over a .265 BA. The Rockies more than likely are out, but stranger things have happened.
In the NL Central I am looking great becuase I have Atlanta winning and Philly as the wild card. Right now it is flip flopped, but they have the best two NL records and while Washington, Florida and the Mets hang around .500 they have an 8-14 game separation. I also have Roy Halliday as the Cy Young which could happen.
The NL Central is really fun to watch this year. Although I chose Milwaukee to win the division knowing the Reds would cocme back to earth, but who saw Pittsburgh leading the division on Opening Day? Yes, the Pirates are having a winning season this late in the year for the first time since 1992 when they lost the NLCS in 7 to Atlanta and Sid Bream. Watch young players like the next Barry Bonds sans roids Andrew McCutchen and 2B Neil Walker continue to blossom. The Pirates also have steady arms and use hard nose baseball fundamentals which has kept them competitive this season. Usual suspects St. Louis and Cincy are just 2-4 games back which should make for a very exciting August-Sept race to the finish. My NL MVP selection was Ryan Braun and if he stays healthy and has a big August and September he may get it, but he will have to pry it away from All Star MVP and teammate Prince Fielder who is having a monster year.
My AL East, Pennant and World Series winning selection is the Boston Red Sox. I knew Adrian Gonzales was going to be good (I selected him 1st round of fantasy as the #9 overall pick) but he is even better than advertised with a potential Triple Crown season in the midst. It took until July for the big five of Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzo, Ortiz and Youk to mesh, but now they have to the tune of the most runs, RBI, total bases and average in MLB. The Yanks are hanging in, but will need better pitching and A-Rod to get healthy. Tampa gave it a shot early, but like Toronto they just dont have the horses. My Cy Young pick was John Lester, but he has no shot at this point. My MVP selection was Home Run Derby winner Robinson Cano, but unless Gonzo or Bautista break their legs he doesn’t make it.
In the AL Central Minnesota on June 1st was 17-37 and basically given up for dead. Cleveland after their hot start rode into the month with the best overall record in baseball at 33-20 and 16.5 games ahead of the last place Twins. That being said in true Ron Gardenhire fashion the Twins have gone 29-14 since and are only 5 games behind leaders Detroit and Cleveland. Look for the Twins and Tigers pitching to carry them at the end while the disappointing White Sox look to unload Adam Dunn ($12.5M .166BA) and Alex Rios ($12M .202BA) and rebuild for next year.
Finally the AL West. I selected the Angels to win the division and until the Rangers won 13 straight in July things looked pretty good. The Angels won’t go away easily though and they took 2 of 3 against the reigning AL Champs and now are only 2 games behind. I had hoped the Oakland pitching and defense could overcome the lacking offense but injuries, average pitching and the most errors in the AL isn’t going to cut it.
I don’t like to brag, but I’m doing pretty well with these predictions!