2008 Baseball Predictions

Here are my predictions for the 2008 season:

AL East: Yankees (Everyone is picking Boston, but outside of Beckett, you have Dice-K who is hittable and two rookies, one of whom had cancer. You can’t tell me Boston fans feel confident about that. As for the Yanks, I expect Wang to win 17-20 games, Andy to win 15 and Mussina to win 11 and we’ll get at least ten each from Hughes and Kennedy. The bats are enough to win the rest. And remember – the Yankees won 94 games last year after a historically shitty start. The Red Sox only won two more games. I’m picking the Yankees to go 95-67.)

AL Central: Indians (The Tigers lineup is awesome, but it was awesome last year – and Cleveland handled their candy asses with a team that’s inferior on paper. I don’t expect Dontrelle to do shit against AL hitters, so the Tigers’ rotation is suspect after Verlander.)

AL West: Angels (Everyone is picking Seattle, but Seattle was streaky as hell last year – win 8, lose 5 in a row, etc.)

Wild Card: Tigers (Yes, I’m once again picking Boston not to make the playoffs.)

ALCS: Yankees over Tigers

AL Surprise Team: KC Royals. They’re tough on the Tigers, of all teams, which is a great boon for the Indians.

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NL East: Phillies (Like the Yankees and Tigers, I think the Phillies can slug their way through the season. Their pitching is nothing after Hamels, though and they have bullpen concerns, like most teams.)

NL Central: Cubs (It’s hard not to pick the Cubs, but they should’ve won going away last year and the Brewers were in the mix until the end. The Cubs seriously underwhelm me, but the NL Central is piss poor in talent. Houston, Pittsburgh and St. Louis are going nowhere. I feel the Brewers will take a step back, and the Reds? Where’s the pitching? They have Harang and... I guess that all.)

NL West: Diamondbacks (I would like to pick the Rockies, but I think their shot was last year. How can they repeat that magic? And they lost one of their starters. I do think this a race that will go down to the wire, however. The Giants will come in dead last with the Padres slightly better. I feel the Dodgers will improve under Torre, but will not contend this year.)

NL Wild Card: Mets (With Santana they will improve, but there are so many people on that team that you KNOW will spend significant time on the DL – Pedro, El Duque, Alou, Beltran, Delgado. Willie will be fired this year, I’m sure.)

NL Surprise Team: The Nationals. I see them winning 80+ games and becoming like the Blue Jays are in the AL East – tough, but in an unforgiving division with superior teams.

NLCS: Cubs over Mets

World Series: Yankees over Cubs

AL MVP: A-Rod (with Robinson Cano, Manny Ramirez and Alex Rios in the mix)

AL Cy Young: Roy Halladay

NL MVP: Prince Fielder (with Hanley Ramirez in the mix)

NL Cy Young: Johan Santana