2009 Baseball Predictions

They are much improved. Angel Berroa is a player. Joakim Soria is a good closer. The starting rotation will be the key to this team, but the Division is weak.

 

Ok time to put my predictions down:

AL East
*Red Sox
*Yankees
Rays
Blue Jays
Orioles

AL Central
*Indians
Twins
White Sox
Tigers
Royals

AL West
*Angels
A's
Rangers
Mariners

NL East
*Mets
Braves
Phillies
Marlins
Nationals

NL Central
*Cubs
*Cardinals
Reds
Brewers
Astros
Pirates

NL West
*Diamondbacks
Dodgers
Giants
Rockies
Padres

Red Sox over Indians
Angels over Yankees
Red Sox over Angels

Mets over Cardinals
Cubs over Diamondbacks
Mets over Cubs

Red Sox over Mets

AL MVP- Grady Sizemore
AL Cy Young- Roy Halladay
AL ROTY- Matt Wieters
NL MVP- Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young- Johan Santana
NL ROTY- Tommy Hanson

The AL Central is the hardest division to predict in my opinion and a lot is riding on when Joe Mauer is coming back, if he was going to be healthy for the whole season they'd be my pick. The AL West is going to be closer than people think with all of the Angels pitching injuries but I think Lackey and Escobar come back healthy and strong.

I went out on a limb with the Cardinals and not sure why but then I thought why not? They're in a weak division if Wainwright and Carpenter are healthy they could be a tough team and have a good solid line up. I'm not on the Phillies or Dodgers bandwagon simply because I don't think either teams have enough pitching to go with their offenses and I really think this is the year for the Mets.

The 3 best teams in baseball are the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays and I think 2 out of the 3 will make the playoffs and any of them could finish 1st or 2nd. I give a slight nod to the Sox only because they have more depth for both the line up and especially pitching as they're loaded with arms, I think that pushes them over. I also think missing Arod for a month and a half hurts the Yankees.

But hey we'll see, should be fun. Good luck everyone (minus Yankee fans ).

 

Angel Berroa is in the minors for the Yankees and hasn't been a good player since 2004, I'm thinking you don't mean him.

I don't get the love for the Royals around the media, Sidney Ponson is in their rotation right now and they added Kyle Farnsworth, Juan Cruz, Mike Jacobs and Coco Crisp in the offseason. Not exactly the same impact as Sabathia, Teixeira, and Burnett. Yeah the division is extremely weak but the other teams have better line ups and pitching staffs.

 

My predictions

AL East
*Rays
*Red Sox
Yankees
Blue Jays
Orioles

AL Central
*Indians
Twins
Royals
White Sox
Tigers


AL West
*Angels
Rangers
A's
Mariners

NL East
*Mets
Braves
Phillies
Marlins
Nationals

NL Central
*Cubs
*Cardinals
Reds
Brewers
Astros
Pirates

NL West
*Dodgers
Diamondbacks
Giants
Rockies
Padres

Rays over Indians
Angels over Red Sox
Angels over Rays

Mets over Cardinals
Cubs over Dodgers
Mets over Cubs

Angels over Mets

Complete homer predictions

The AL East is hard to predict, imo. As is the Central just because I can talk myself into any team in that division. I think the Yankees lineup is old, and I'm not convinced that ARod's stop gap surgery will let him play all season. I also have questions about the Sox lineup. Ortiz/Lowell/Varitek are obvious, but Pedroia and Youks had career years, you have to assume a little bit of slippage, dont you? They have a lot of pitching depth though, so I like them a little more than the Yankees.

NL Wild Card is also hard. I like the Cardinals because they get to play a lot of games against bad teams, and Carpenter has looked really good since the end of last year, through Spring training. I wouldnt be surprised at all to see the Phillies/Mets/Braves in that spot, though.

 

Has that ever happened before? Seriously though I think the Angels are overdue to finally win a playoff series vs. Boston sooner or later, I really thought it was going to happen last year. I'm just not sure with the way each team is built right now that it will change this year if they were to met again. The one thing if they do meet we can agree on is the games will be very close, stressful and tiring (and fun). That's what baseball is about.

 

It's very difficult for me to pick the Angels over the Sox, believe me. I tried to talk myself into having you guys miss the playoffs so I wouldnt have to do it lol.

But it has to happen eventually doesnt it?

 

I predict Brett Myers will give up a lot of homers again this season lol.

 

And I predict adding Dave Winfield to Baseball Tonight is going to be a bad idea.

 

Will he be fired before or after the All Star Break and will George Steinbrener be the one to do it? Damn, he was brutal!

 

I mean it's not like this is Winfield's first job. He was on FOX doing the pre and post game stuff when they first started airing games and he was awful. Apparently ESPN doesn't watch other stations.

 

That's what I thought about the Dolphins last year!!


Why not us?

 

The more things change the more things stay the same, I loved how Dusty Baker let Aaron Harrag throw 114 pitches in 30 degree weather on opening day. Honestly if I'm the Reds front office, I call Baker into the front and make sure he knows not to pull that crap again or he's out. But then again they're the ones who hired him in the first place.

 

Another day for the Reds....

What is it with that city and moron owners/coaches?

 

Cause your team is terrible

/end hope

 

I don't watch Baseball Tonight any longer. MLB channel is very good and has better insight. I honestly missed Harold Reynolds so it is good to see him pop up.

If anyone hasn't checked it out yet, it is a good channel to tune in to. They have a ton of old games to pull from as well which is always cool.

And I am surprised to see the love for my Dodgers in this thread. By all accounts, their starting pitching appears to be shaky at best. The Giants clearly have the best staff in the West (perhaps in the big leagues), but that offense is going to kill them. I would not be surprised one bit to see Arizona jump out early in the season and hold on to the division crown of what should be, a weak division once again.

 

Mark Prior would like to say hi.. I feel really, really bad for what's going to happen to Volquez and Cueto.

 

Hey Kerry Wood is right behind Prior in that department. It's a wonder Zambrano has lasted this long as well.

Also it's nice to see no matter where Kyle Farnsworth goes he still sucks. He gave up a 3 run homer today in the 8th when the Royals were ahead. That GM should be fired for giving Farnsworth a 2 year 25 million dollar deal.

 

Can't disagree.

Though Thome has always killed us ...

 

My predictions:

Al East:

Boston, the Yankees are going to lose as long as they have A-Fraud good things just do not happen to teams that he is on.

Al Central

ChiSox, it's a poor division, but they are the best of a bad lot.

AL West..

Oakland A's, they have the right mix of Veterans and Youth, and the Angels are a Vlad backache away from being a punchless offense.

NL East

The Mets, sooner or later, they will break through and this is the year, I can recall in the 80's when they were runner ups constantly.

NL Central

St Loius Cardinals...come on folks...the Cubs? Rich Harden already has a arm ache, it will only get worse for them.

NL West

San Francisco Giants, people forget what a great manager Bruce Bochy is as long as he has talent to work with, and he finally has some.

The Dodgers...please..they are the Cubs..West..for all of Cowherd's man love for Manny, they remain weak in the starting rotation..

 

I know, I know....still a ways to go ......BUT

 

Let's see what the Phillies would have done without Rollins, Howard and Victorino all year. Those injuries killed the Mets. Maybe the Phillies still would have won the division but it wouldn't have been a cake walk like it is now.

 

Looks like one of us will be ****ting themselves, and it wont be me

 

but dont act like you wouldnt be eating crow if the season ended today either....from page one

 

Good thing there's almost two months left.

 

exactly. and phillies have less then 81 wins right now.

 

Well, I blew the Mets, A's and Dodgers picks.

But SF is in the lead for the WC, and the Bosox and Chisox are within a good weekend of being tied or ahead.

 

seattle last year was 61-101, safe to say they had a good season at 56-52 so far...Dbacks, so far not having a good season

 

now i was completely wrong with Toronto since they are 51-46 but other than that i think i was pretty accurate

 

Originally Posted by Boik14
Ill **** myself if they win more then 81. They arent that good. There's no way that bullpen is that good again. None. Lidge didnt blow a save; they had the best conversion rate in save opportunities. You have to expect some decline there. Even a modest one will cost them 4-5 games. Combine that with a step down in LF (from Burrell to Ibanez...Ibanez makes Burrell look like a Gold Glover) and an awful 2-5 on the starting staff and its not hard to see why it could happen.



Where's Boik at? We went from Burrell to Ibanez, which was probably the best free agent signing in the NL during the past 10 years. Ibanez was on MVP pace before he missed about three weeks, but I think maybe only Pujols, Hanley Ramirez and a couple other guys are in the MVP conversation with Ibanez. 81 games is pretty doable....the Phillies will finish with 88 wins if they just play .500 ball the rest of the year. I think 95 wins is possible. But it is still early. Yes, I know the Mets have had nothing but injuries...without those injuries it would be a tighter race, but I would still take my Phils to repeat in the NL East for the 3rd straight year.

 

4-6 over their last ten. They had better pick up the pace if they think they're repeating. They wouldn't even be in first right now if it wasn't for their best July in 100 years. But that's baseball, it will be fun to see where things fall.

 

Im here. And Ibanez is a step down defensively. Always has been. Its masked by that sandbox they play in but he plays a horrendous OF. With the bats I figure it would be a step down but Ibanez has been a solid hitter so good call there. Happ and Blanton have been outstanding the last couple of months fixing what was looking like a horrid staff. Great job by Amaro and the Phils system. And nothing needs to be said about the Lee acquisition. Hes solid.

As far as the Mets go...ok ok I may be a bit of a homer with regard to them but no one could have predicted having anywhere from 5-15 regulars on the DL at any given time. I mean if nothing else happens this year I hope they evaluate their medical staff and realize they better clean house. The amount of hamstring and knee injuries this year have been insane and not all fo them are coincidence.

 

But it doesn't end today, and I still believe the Braves will finish ahead of the Marlins.

 

How is it a cake walk? The Marlins are 3.5 games back and the Braves are 4.5 games back and both have a ton of games left against the Phillies

 

If current trends continue the Phillies could be out of first place by around Sunday.

 

fingers crossed

 

Phillies win their 3rd straight NL East.

 

Talk to me when it gets past 10. Don't get comfortable because I suspect the competition will get fierce next season.

 

Yep but our World Series title last year equals the same amount the Braves had in their 14 year streak. Should be a great NL and AL playoffs. I hope it will be a repeat of the 1950 Phillies-Yankees World Series, but this time we win it.

Braves pitching should keep them in the hunt next year, but Chipper might call it a career.

 

It doesn't matter, 14 division titles is unprecedented and won't be repeated anytime soon. The Phillies most famous record is first franchise to 10,000 losses.

Chipper will probably stay another season because Bobby Cox is coming back. I don't know if he'll be around past next season though. If his production is down again I'm sure he'll retire. I'd be surprised if they don't make the postseason next season. Something catastrophic will have to happen to their pitching staff and I doubt Frank Wren doesnt' pursue some power in the offseason. They almost won 90 games with what they have now.