Opening Day!!!

One of the great days of the year is upon us... it opens us up to a world of fresh grass, sunny afternoons, grass and dirt stained uniforms, the crack of the bat, and most of all, return of the Remdawg (only the inhumanely biggest hot dog on the face of the earth. Trust me, it's worth dying of a heart attack.)

And with that comes (slightly biased) predictions!

AL EAST:
1) Boston Red Sox
2) New York Yankees
3) Toronto Blue Jays
4) Tampa Bay Devil Rays
5) Baltimore Orioles

The Sox, Yanks and Blue Jays all have really good teams. The Yankees, admittedly, have the best lineup, but as they've found in the playoffs the last few years, it all comes down to pitching. Curt Schilling has posted on his blog that he feels the team of the three that gets the most healthy starts from its rotation this year will win the division, and I don't disagree. Last year the Blue Jays finished second despite AJ Burnett missing a lot of time, and the Sox rotation went to shambles in mid-August. Going into the year, the Yankees already have some problems with Wang and Pettite (who has broken down a few times over the last few years). The Sox and Blue Jays have had no problems yet. I think this will finally be the year the Sox pass the Yankees on the strength of Schilling, Beckett and Matsuzaka - the Yanks pull off second place (and the wild card) just because they're the Yanks, they have a great lineup, and they always hang around, and the Blue Jays land a close third. I just don't like the back end of their rotation enough to keep them in it, though Halladay, Burnett and BJ Ryan will hold up their end. I also think that the combination of Kazmir and a good young lineup will lift the Devil Rays out of last place for the first time in their short (but getting longer) history, but they don't have the pitching to compete. Same goes for Baltimore, where Miguel Tejada will be upset again by June and traded at the end of July.

AL CENTRAL
1) Detroit Tigers
2) Cleveland Indians
3) Chicago White Sox
4) Minnesota Twins
5) Kansas City Royals

This division, in reality, is impossible to make a good prediction on. The Twins nabbed the division on the last day of the season last year from the Tigers, but though they have a good lineup, the starting pitching is a mess after Santana. The pieces are either too young or too useless to compete in such a good division this year. I just can't find a reason to not pick the Tigers - they bring back essentially the same team and added Sheffield to solidify the lineup. The starting pitching is good and the bullpen is good to very good. The Indians and White Sox, to me, are a toss up. Cleveland is a trendy World Series pick, but though I think they are good, I'm not on that bandwagon. Given their run differential last year, they should have won 88-89 games - and went 78-84 (I think) - so they vastly underachieved, mainly due to a horrible, horrible bullpen. I like Borowski, and if the back end of the rotation and set-up guys can hold it together, I think they can pass the White Sox. With Thome, Konerko, and Dye, the White Sox could very well bash their way to the postseason - I just don't love their rotation and expect more of last year than their World Series performance of 2005. I don't even know who half of their bullpen guys are either. Like I said, the top three are pretty much a toss up, and this is the way I chose them. I think Cleveland and the White Sox will duke it out with the Yankees and Blue Jays for the wild card, but both will come up just barely short. Did I forget to mention Kansas City? Sorry. They had a HUGE signing in Gil Meche this off season. And by huge, I mean they still suck.

AL WEST
1) Anaheim Angels
2) Seattle Mariners
3) Oakland A's
4) Texas Rangers

In my mind, this is the easiest division to predict - the Angels (yes that's right, I called them the Anaheim Angels) have a good lineup with a nice blend of veterans and youngsters, Lackey is a very good (might I use the dreaded word: underrated?) pitcher and they have a very good bullpen. In order to do anything whatsoever after conquering this weak division, however, they really need Colon to sort out his arm problems to make the rotation that much better. You might be surprised to find that I dropped the A's to third place; I like a few starters (Harden, of course, if healthy, Haren and Blanton) and they have a good bullpen... but with the departure of Frank Thomas, this lineup is, well, not very good. I don't think Piazza will have enough '06 Thomas in him to carry this team. Meanwhile, check out the Mariners - they have the makings of a very good lineup. Really. They have a good closer and if King Felix realized how badly he screwed up last year and starts looking like the pitcher everyone expected him to be, I think they can pass the A's, even with a pretty bad rotation. That being said, it's kind of a coin flip, and I'm talking about passing the A's and finishing with a record something like 77-85. So let's not get too up in arms about that pick. As for the Rangers, well, same old story. Bad pitching, and their lineup isn't even as good as it used to be. I just wasted far too much blog space on that team.

NL EAST
1) Philadelphia Phillies
2) New York Mets
3) Atlanta Braves
4) Florida Marlins
5) Washington Nationals

Ok, I admit it, I'm on the Phillies bandwagon. That wagon usually sinks as it fords the rivers of the season (I could be a poet), but I'm hanging on for dear life. Look, they have an equally good lineup as the Mets and better pitching ok? Usually that equates to a better team. Plus, Jimmy Rollins said they would be the better team, and who am I to argue with another Rollins? Easy Mets fans; the Mets will win the wild card by a mile because they have a lineup that is far superior to any of the other contenders, and the pitching will probably be able to hold it together well enough. But unless they pick up someone at the trade deadline or Pedro suddenly finds 2001 magic when he comes back in August, this wagon will sink in the playoffs river again. As for the rest of the division, the Braves are clearly the middle pick, but to everyone picking them to compete for the division: I don't get it. The lineup is ok but not great, the starting pitching is suspect, and they're actually letting Wickman go through the motions of losing the closers role by June 1st by blowing some saves. Whatever. The Marlins have some good young players but will probably win about 75, and the Nationals... well... they better prepare for ticket refund demands all season. This will probably go down as one of the most putrid teams in recent memory, especially in a division with the Phillies and Mets. It's really hard to convert people to Orioles fans, but the Nationals just might be able to do it.

AL CENTRAL
1) Milwaukee Brewers
2) Chicago Cubs
3) Houston Astros
4) St. Louis Cardinals
5) Cincinnati Reds
6) Pittsburg Pirates

I'll be honest with you, I don't even know what to do with this division. I can't believe I just picked the Brew Crew, but what else am I going to do? This is the most evenly mediocre division in baseball. Let's go bottom up - the Pirates rotation stinks. They've got an intriguing young lineup, three relievers I like a lot (Torres, Marte, Capps), but their rotation stinks. Better luck next year. The Reds will pan out similar to last year - I like Harang and Arroyo a lot, the lineup has some power, but they strike out way to much and the bullpen is currently in shambles. When I was doing research for my fantasy drafts, I couldn't figure out which one of about four guys was going to close and left them off my lists all together. Poor Bronson. He was a perfect 4th-5th starter for Boston. I placed the World Series champs fourth because... ugh. How did this team win the World Series again? If you can say a team is probably weaker without Jeff Suppan and Jeff Weaver, well, that says enough. Oh yeah, and Braden Looper is in the rotation. I guess they just decided he should blow the game early instead of breaking hearts later. Anyways, despite the best baseball player in the world (Pujols) and one of the top 3-4 pitchers in the NL (Carpenter), I don't like this team. I placed the Astros third because I didn't know where else to put them. I don't really know what they're going to do. I can't believe this team tried to trade Oswalt last year. Much less, I can't believe the Red Sox refused to move some guys like Delcarmen and Hansen to get him. If they keep Oswalt, they'll land in the middle again, if they trade him, push them down a spot or two. To me, the best two teams in the division are the Brewers and the Cubs (after some major retooling). I chose the Brewers to win the division because, quite frankly, I think they have the best pitching. Wait, let me check that... yup, I actually believe that statement to be true. When Sheets gets hurt though, all bets are off. They don't have the best #1 guy in a division that has Carpenter, Oswalt, and Zambrano, but I think they have the best overall rotation, and good closer (sub-2.00 ERA after the all-star break last year), and a good, young lineup with speed and power. So yeah, I talked myself into taking the freaking Brewers! The Cubs will probably give them a run for their money because of Pineilla, Zambrano and a good lineup in a teeny park, but I don't like the back end of the rotation and the bullpen isn't that great. Plus they lost points yesterday when I read they were going to give in to Soriano and let him hit leadoff. I mean, the guy can probably hit 50 HR in this park - usually you want your leadoff guy to get on and then the guy that hits 50 HR knock the leadoff guy and himself in a few at bats later, right? Instead, the Cubs decided that it was better not to have the leadoff guy on base after he hits a solo home run, and not to have a 50 HR threat knock lots more guys in. Am I missing something? Seriously. Am I? AM I???? If this were the Red Sox, I'd be having a fit. But it's not, it's a franchise that hasn't won a World Series in 98 years. Haha, that was a bad joke, huh?

NL WEST
1) Los Angeles Dodgers
2) Arizona Diamondbacks
3) San Diego Padres
4) Colorado Rockies
5) San Francisco Giants

Basically, the Phillies and Mets are much better than the rest of the NL and I'm a Red Sox fan, so the NL stuff is starting to bore me. But a quick recap of the west: Zito will have a good year, but the Giants aren't that good, and the Rockies will have their usual stretches of good and bad roller coaster play and finish fourth. The Padres have a pretty good rotation and a very good bullpen, but their lineup is the baseball equivalent to poo. They might break the record for games totaling 3 runs or less (both teams combined) in a season, whatever it is. Someone needs to ask the Elias Sports Bureau to track this. That leaves the Dodgers and Diamondbacks - again the D'backs have the best pitcher (Webb) but follow him up with grumpier old men, Randy Johnson and Livan Hernandez, who might be older than Julio Franco, but since he came from Cuba we'll probably never know. Their lineup is also talented but very young... so I'm going with the Dodgers. Not spectacular, but solid rotation, good bullpen, nice mix of young and old talent.

AL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS:
Angels vs Red Sox
Tigers vs Yankees

NL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS
Brewers vs Phillies
Dodgers vs Mets

Other awards:
AL CY YOUNG: Johan Santana, Min - maybe it won't happen again, but realistically, how could you possibly pick someone else?
AL MVP: David Ortiz, Bos - Should have won it two years ago and didn't have a chance last year after the Sox imploded and he missed some time, so another 50 bombs and 125 RBI for a division winning team should finally do it.
NL CY YOUNG: Carlos Zambrano, ChiC - this guy is due for a huge year with a really good lineup behind him. I'm thinking something like 20-5, seriously. If you don't think they need to give this guy an extension RIGHT NOW, you're wrong. Like second mortgage on Wrigley Field kind of wrong.
NL MVP: Ryan Howard, Phi - people will talk about Pujols, but with the Cards missing the playoffs I have to go with the guy with 60 bombs for an MVP repeat. And this guy fell to the ninth pick in one of my fantasy drafts. You can be sure I didn't have any of the top nine picks.

I won't go past the divisional playoffs because I'll either feel like a homer for picking the Red Sox or a crappy fan for picking against them, but I found it interesting that I ended up with two divisional playoff series rematches. I will tell you that, as the teams are currently constituted, I expect one of the following teams to win the World Series in October '07: Red Sox, Tigers, Yankees, or Phillies. See you in six months!