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Playoff Predictions
AL West-Angels The Angels are finally dishing out money and it's paying off with wins. The Rangers could compete again, but I don't see them beating out the Angels for the Division. They didn't do anything to improve their pitching. The Mariners will also be better with Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre, but don't expect Beltre to duplicate his numbers from last year now that he's playing half of his games at Safeco field. Billy Beane has earned respect to not be doubted, and scouts keep raving about the A's young talent in the starting rotation. This will be the best division in baseball if the A's young staff develops like everyone expects it to.
AL Central-Twins They will win again because of a weak conference and the best pitcher in the majors. I would watch the Indians, they could surprise a lot of people. I don't see the other teams putting up much of a fight, but the White Sox usually manage to hang in the playoff picture until late August.
AL East-Yankees They will win again because they out spend everyone else, just like every other year. They are scary good; they remind me of the Lakers of a year ago, which is why I'm not sure they'll win. The Orioles will score runs in bunches, but they can't compete with the two big dogs in this division.
AL Wild Card-Red Sox I'm a little worried about David Wells being an Opening Day pitcher, but Renteria was a good signing. They lost Pedro, but they are still "just a bunch of idiots."
NL West- Padres The Padres will win with defense and pitching. The Dodgers signed Kent, but they will miss Beltre dearly. Still, the team should compete for the division. The Diamondbacks are already penciled in as my most improved team this year. If they can avoid injury, they might win the division. The Rockies are already looking forward to 2006, don't expect much out of them this year. The Giants were my pick to win the division, but without Bonds, these guys are not a good team. They have one good hitter, Alou, who's getting old and a bunch of role players who score because of Bonds.
NL Central-Cardinals These guys surprised me last year. I won't let that happen again. Mulder and Carpenter are a powerful 1-2 punch. The Astros have lost Kent and Beltran. When you lose arguably the best all-around player in baseball and a former MVP second basemen, your team is significantly downgraded. Bagwell and Biggio are getting older and Berkman is the only other threat. The Reds have power and major upside, but they are always injury prone.
NL East-Braves They know how to win, that's all there is to it. Especially with Tim Hudson, they will have a great pitching staff(maybe the best in baseball if the Cub's pitchers don't stay healthy). The Mets did well signing Beltran, but they are not as good as many think. They will have one great pitcher in Martinez(who is prone to injury and aging quickly), a few decent pitchers(Glavine, Benson, Victor Zambrano), and one big threat in the offensive lineup. (No, I do not consider Piazza a big threat at this point). The Marlins are also improved, but I'm not sure what Carlos Delgado their getting. They paid for the 140+ RBI Delgado of 2003, but his 2003 numbers were well above his average career numbers. The key to this team is how their young players develop, i.e. Beckett, Willis, Cabrera. They all have superstar potential, but does that mean they will be superstars? The Phillies are once again potent with Thome, Abreu, and Burell (who will have a break out year. It's got to happen sooner or later). Their staff is also decent. The Nationals are also improved, and the change in atmosphere should do them well. It will be nice to play for more than 5000 fans a night. This is easily the most improved division.
NL Wild Card-Cubs The best pitching staff in the majors if healthy, hands down. Greg Maddux is their fourth best pitcher.
Season Review
AL West-I predicted this division pretty accurately. I'll admit though, that I didn't think that Beltre would have this bad of a year. The Mariners were a little bit of a disappointment, largely because of Beltre and because Bret Boone had a bad year. The Athletics young pithcing staff really developed more than i expected. They might be a force next year. I believe Billy Beane is in the elite category of General Managers where no one should question you, no matter what you do. Only a very select few reach this status. The Rangers have an amazing offense and dismal pitching. With an average pitching staff, these guys could go far.
AL Central-I'll admit, I did not ever see the White Sox having this good of a year. They caught me completely off guard. I said that the Indians would surprise a lot of people; one of those people was me. They have lots of talent and will be competing in October for many years if they can keep their core together. The Twins had a decent season; they just have harder teams in their division this year, which exposed the Twins as a fairly average ball club. The Tigers didn't have a memorable season, but this franchise should be proud of climbing out of the hole that they were in for most of the last decade. The Royals need a similar transformation to occur, but it will be tough. They need to draft well and lure some players to Kansas City, neither of which is easy. I don't see this team having a winning season until at least 2008.
AL East- In the end, the money paid off for the Yankees. They won their 8th straight division despite a poor start. I think Robinson Cano will develop into a fine second baseman and he further proves the theory that the Yankees best chance of winning the World Series is by bringing up talent. The Red Sox had another good year and it would have been better if their ace was healthy. The bottom half of this division is intriguing because so much potential exists. The Orioles proved that they can compete, for a while at least. (As a side note, if Palmeiro's goal this summer was to drag his name through the mud, lose all credibility, lose the favor of fans and teamates, and to end his Hall of Fame hopes then I would say he was very successful. He appears to have lied to congress, then he qualifies his statement that he never knowingly took steriods. Then he blames teamate Miguel Tejada for giving him a B-12 supplement pill. By the way, Tejada has passed several drug tests. I'm not saying anything new here, but how does a professional athlete, who's job completely depends on his body, accidentally take steriods. As Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly suggests, are elfs sneaking in and putting steriods in players lucky charms?) The Devil Rays are in a similar situation to the Tigers. They have made great strides and are finally putting a competitive team on the field. The Blue Jays lost Delgado to the Marlins and Halladay for much of the season to injury , but they still finished with an ok record, testifying of the talent of this division.
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