Well, with the Sharks sucking, I’m actually really happy that its baseball season! Usually I don’t really tune into baseball until mid May at the earliest…but this year it appears I’ll be far less distracted by other sports. So, with that in mind, its time to make my predictions! Last season, I got 1 of 4 AL playoff teams correct (the Wild Card), and likewise 1 of 4 NL playoff teams correct (NL East Champs). My predicted World Series winner lost in the first round. I did get 1 of 6 end-of-season awards right (AL Rookie of the Year…Impressive).
So, yeah, not great. Even worse than the year before, actually. But whatever, I’ll just get back at it! Here are my 2012 baseball season predictions.
Note: Baseball added in a second Wild Card team for each league this year. The two wild card teams will then face off in a one game playoff, with the winner moving on to the Divisional Round. I think this is totally stupid, but my predictions will have to reflect this change anyways.
Division and Wild Card Winners:
AL West: Anaheim (2nd: Texas, 3rd: Oakland, 4th: Seattle)
AL Central: Detroit (2nd: Kansas City, 3rd: Chicago, 4th: Cleveland, 5th: Minnesota)
AL East: New York (2nd: Boston, 3rd: Tampa Bay, 4th: Toronto, 5th: Baltimore)
Wild Card: Texas
Wild Card: Boston
What a boring postseason this would be…but honestly, the AL always has a boring postseason. Anaheim signed Albert Pujols, has a great pitching staff, and really looks like they should be tough to beat. Them and Texas are both awesome…so I have the loser taking the first wild card spot. Detroit should run away with a weak Central division. New York looks pretty good…like, really really good. I expect Tampa to regress and Boston to bounce back (filthy lineup out there). So, yeah, one wins the division and one takes the wild card. Not really going out on any limbs here…but really, the AL should be pretty easy to predict this year.
NL West: Arizona (2nd: Los Angeles, 3rd: Colorado, 4th: San Francisco, 5th: San Diego)
NL Central: Cincinnati (2nd: Milwaukee, 3rd: St. Louis, 4th: Pittsburgh, 5th: Chicago, 6th: Houston)
NL East: Philadelphia (2nd: Atlanta, 3rd: Washington, 4th: Miami, 5th: New York)
Wild Card: Atlanta
Wild Card: Los Angeles
I had Arizona losing the West last year (5th place), and they ended up winning it pretty handily. Oops. I’ll take them again, since they’ve actually gotten a bit better, and the NL West hasn’t really seemed to want to keep up. I desperately wanted to pick the Dodgers for one of the Wild Card slots…and with Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw, you cannot count them out…so screw it, I will! I mean, why not? They could do it! Philly and Atlanta should have an epic battle for the East crown, with the loser taking the other Wild Card slot. None of the other teams there should really matter…although Washington could be interesting. I’ll give the central to the Reds…although any of those top three could take it. Do not see that division getting a Wild Card spot…but if they do, it’ll be in LA’s spot.
Playoffs
Texas def. Boston
Los Angeles def. Atlanta
New York def. Texas
Anaheim def. Detroit
Philadelphia def. Los Angeles
Cincinnati def. Arizona
Anaheim def. New York
Philadelphia def. Anaheim
Anaheim def. Philadelphia
I freaking hate this World Series matchup. Screw both of these teams. But they still do look like the class of their respective leagues. Philadelphia has the pitching to match up with Anaheim’s (which is also phenomenal). I’d give the edge in offense to Anaheim because of the presence of Pujols…but Philly could be solid if Ryan Howard comes back strong from his injury. Either way, I think this would be an entertaining series, even if I hate both teams in it. Anaheim in 7, and back to back World Series wins for Pujols.
Season Awards:
AL MVP: Albert Pujols - ANA
NL MVP: Matt Kemp - LAD
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander - DET
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw - LAD
AL RoY: Matt Moore - TB
NL RoY: Zack Cozart - CIN
And, I'll steal this disclaimer from Gregg Easterbrook: "All predictions wrong or your money back!"
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