Prediction Time: Who makes the playoffs from both leagues

[MANNYHOF24]

AL EAST: Red Sox

AL CENTRAL: Tigers

AL WEST: Angels

WC1: Rangers

WC2: Yankees

 

Rangers Advance

 

ALDS: Redsox/Angels- Red Sox

ALDS: Tigers/Rangers- Tigers

 

ALCS: Tigers/Red Sox- Tigers

 

NL EAST: Phillies

NL CENTRAL: Reds

NL WEST: Giants

NLWC1: Marlins

NLWC2: Cards

 

Marlins Advance

 

NLDS: Phillies/Marlins-Phillies

NLDS:Reds/Giants -Reds

 

NLCS-Phillies/Reds-Phillies

 

World Series- Tigers/Phillies= Phillies Win.

 

I know picking the Red Sox is a homer pick, however I am trying to bring up my enthusiasm for the season by saying that things will break the right way. I am also not as sold on the Yankees as everyone in the national media is. The core of that team is not going to stay productive forever, and I am going to predict that this is the season where age finally catches up with them. As for the Rays, until they prove they can hit and close out games with their bullpen, they have just as many potentially fatal flaws as the Red Sox.

 

If Beckett/Lester/Buchholz can stay healthy (already in question) the Red Sox rotation should be fine. I think Bard/Dubront will prove to be a huge upgrade to what he witnessed from August on last year. Addition by subtraction and overall health of the rotation will be the key to our season. We will score runs (expecting a big year from Crawford and Youkilis), the bullpen will be figured out eventually, we just need to get 6-7 solid innings out of the 5 on a nightly basis. I'm also expecting midseason reinforcement via a trade, or FA signing (Oswalt.)

 

 

EDIT-I'll pick my winners for the playoffs too.

[Dojji]

AL East: Yankees

AL Central: Tigers

AL West: Angels

ALWC1: Red Sox

ALWC2: Rays

 

ALDS1: Yankees v Angels

ALDS2: Tigers v Red Sox

 

ALCS: Yankees v. Red Sox

 

 

NL East: Marlins

NL Central: Reds

NL West: Giants

NLWC1: Dodgers

NLWC2: Phillies

 

NLDS1: Marlins v Dodgers

NLDS2: Giants v Reds

 

NLCS: Marlins v Reds

 

WS: Yankees v Marlins (Sorry guys, we're completely outmatched by the NYY rotation on paper)

 

World Champions: Marlins.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Lol Marlins.

[TylerD]

To early for me to predict anything yet but call me crazy. I see Toronto being a strong competitor this yr. i dont know if they will make the playoffs but i think they will have a better chance then Tampa. Torontos offense scares me a bit.

[NativeBostonian]

Lol Marlins.

 

I like the Marlins; I was born in Miami. But I would like to see what the bench can do first, before I jump on their bandwagon. Bench use is very important in the NL. Also, they have a lot of competition with the Phillies and Braves.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

I'm from Miami. Born and raised. The team is basically the same with a few nice touches. They're nothing special. They're overrated. The lack one thing and that is consistency. They're not taking the division and I see a few other teams beating them out of the WC.

[Cocos Disciples]

ALE: Yankees

ALC: Tigers

ALW: Angels

ALWC1: Rays

ALWC2: Rangers

 

NLE: Phillies

NLC: Cardinals

NLW: Giants

NLWC1: Marlins

NLWC2: Diamondbacks

 

Not even going to guess about the playoffs.

[iortiz]

I like Miami. If Johnson and Reyes stay healthy, Henley bounce back and Buherle put his career numbers, be careful with them.

[SoxSport]

I think the Angels and the Rangers are the teams to beat in the AL.

 

The Angels now have a local TV contract where they can spend like the Yankees, so their spending spree pre-season is bound to reap benefits.

 

I would put the Tigers ahead in the AL east, but behind the Rangers and the Angels. Adding Fielder has to help, but he or Miggey has to DH. Plus they have a great manager.

 

The Red Sox have had poor management the last couple of years, and it shows in their chemistry.

They have pitching and defensive weaknesses which are still there. They are still basically an offensive team. They won't be better until their pitching and defense get better. Somebody needs to tell the FO that runs prevented are equally as important as runs scored.

 

The Yankees keep getting older. Now there's even talk of unloading ARod on the Marlins. Funny how they always seem to manage to find suckers to unload their baggage on.

 

In the NL, it has to be the Phillies. They have the pitching. Manual is a nice guy who stays out of the way, and fills out the lineup card. The other team I like are the DBacks. Gibson looks like a winner. And the Marlins, who are desperate to make a big splash to sell tickets. They have to fill that stadium, or they will be in trouble.

 

For next year, watch out for the Dodgers--the other big market team in LA. They just got bought for $2 billion--most of that value is in their local TV revenue. You would expect a big spending spree off-season next year.

[SoxFanForsyth]

AL East: Red Sox

AL Central: Tigers

AL West: Angels

WC: Yankees

WC: Rangers

 

Yankees beat Rangers, CC over Yu.

 

NL East: Phillies

NL Central: Cardinals

NL West: DBacks

WC: Giants

WC: Braves

 

Couple things about the Rays. First off, their offense is horrid. Last year, they OPS'd .724 as a team. They lose Kotchman and pick up Pena, more power, way less average, way more strikeouts. Increase of OPS by .019. They pick up Luke Scott, and lose Damon. Again, I see very little or no improvement there.

 

Think about everything that had to go right for them to make the WC last year. Hellickson threw to a .223 BABIP and an 82% strand rate. His xFIP last year was worse than Lackey's. His FIP (4.44) will probably be more indicative of his ERA this year. Not saying he'll be a mid 4's ERA guy, but a 3.9-4.1 ERA is about right. They had Kyle Farnsworth cut his ERA in half last year and post a 2.18 ERA (and he now has a barking elbow and is going to start on the DL). They had Joel Peralta come in and somehow throw to a sub 3 ERA as well. The entire bullpen overperformed (ERA of 3.73, FIP of 4.14). The SP staff well overperformed as well (3.53 ERA, 3.99 FIP) whereas the Red Sox SP underperformed (4.49 ERA, 4.36 FIP).

 

I think the Rays have a very good SP staff, one of the best in the game, but I don't think they are as good as they were last year in the SP department, especially not the bullpen, and I don't think their offense will be able to pick up the slack when Hellickson's ERA starts to trend toward his FIP, or when Matt Moore starts to have some rookie hiccups, and especially not when the bullpen implodes.

[Scottish Red Sox Fan]

This second wild card team thing is rubbish so I'm just going to ignore it.

 

AL East - NY Yankees

AL Central - Detroit Tigers

AL West - LA Angels

WC - Tampa Bay Rays

 

NL East - Philadelphia Phillies

NL Central - Cincinnati Reds

NL West - Arizona Diamondbacks

WC - Atlanta Braves

 

 

I think this is the first time in over a decade I have not felt like the Red Sox would make the post-season.

[sheffieldcelt]

red sox

detroit

angels

 

WC's yanks and texas

 

Braves (yes thats right the braves)

cards

Giants

 

WC's phillies and dodgers

[jacksonianmarch]

AL East- Yankees

AL Central- Tigers

AL West- Angels

AL WC- Rangers

AL WC- Rays

 

NL...I dont give a s***

[iortiz]

AL East: TB

AL Central: Tigers

AL West: Texas

WC: LAA

WC: NYY/BOS (Drama in the end)

 

NL East: Phillies

NL Central: Cardinals

NL West: DBacks

WC: Milwaukee

WC: Marlins

[Meh]

WC: NYY/BOS (Drama in the end)

 

You can't tie for a wild card now. It's whoever has the better record between the teams since its already a one game playoff thing. Besides thats would be pretty crappy cause you'd have to throw CC or Lester to make the wild card then go play the Angels with Beckett or Kurado and if you win that game then move onto like the Tigers and have Verlander vs Pineda/Nova or Buchholz/Doubront to start an ALDS series best of 5.

[NZSox]

AL EAST: Yankees

AL CENTRAL: Tigers

AL WEST: Rangers

WC1: Angels

WC2: Red Sox

 

Red Sox advance.

 

ALDS: Tigers vs. Red Sox - Tigers win

ALDS: Rangers vs. Yankees - Rangers win

 

ALCS: Tigers vs. Rangers - Tigers win

 

NL EAST: Phillies

NL CENTRAL: Cardinals

NL WEST: Arizona

NLWC1: Miami

NLWC2: Giants

 

Miami advance

 

NLDS: Phillies vs. Miami - Phillies win

NLDS: Cardinals vs. Arizona - Cardinals win

 

NLCS- Phillies vs. Cardinals - Phillies win

 

World Series- Phillies vs. Tigers - Tigers win

[iortiz]

You can't tie for a wild card now. It's whoever has the better record between the teams since its already a one game playoff thing. Besides thats would be pretty crappy cause you'd have to throw CC or Lester to make the wild card then go play the Angels with Beckett or Kurado and if you win that game then move onto like the Tigers and have Verlander vs Pineda/Nova or Buchholz/Doubront to start an ALDS series best of 5.

 

What I meant with this, is that they will fight for this WC in the end of the season, say last 10 games, but I'm not sure who will be the winner.

[SoxSport]

It's just too early to tell. The usual suspects are all there, but there might be one or two surprises.

The last two World Series were won by surprises.

[Spitball]

AL East - Yankees

AL Central - Tigers

AL West - Angels

WC - Red Sox/Rangers (Rangers win playoff)

 

NL East - Phillies

NL Central - Cardinals

NL West - Diamondbacks

WC - Reds/Giants (Giants win playoff)

 

Angels and Diamondbacks in WS

 

Angels will be WS champions

[FredLynn]

ALE: Yankees

ALC: Tigers

ALW: Angels

WC: Rays, Rangers

 

NL: I could not care less.

And I hope to hell I am wrong about this.