Crystal Balls

Often contributor, Yankee fan, and stat head (yeah, he’s 1 for 3), my buddy Mike has used his fortune telling ability to make some predictions of the up coming year. Yeah, I was going to do this, but I figured that I should get a SEMI un-biased opinion (even if I think he is showing obvious Yankee favoritism). These are his opinions and picks… all comments and hate should be directed to him.

God I love passing the buck.

NL East
Atlanta
NY Mets
Philadelphia
Florida
Washington

“The Mets rotation is weak. They don’t have the starters or the bullpen to keep up with Atlanta. Pitching wins.”

NL Central
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Milwaukee
Houston
Chicago Cubs
Pirates

“Cinci is going to be better than people think. They have two solid starters. But until someone proves they can beat the Cardinals, I’m gonna stick with them.”

NL West
LA Dodgers
Arizona
San Diego
Colorado
SF Giants

“Dodgers have a good all around team. Quality pitching staff top to bottom. The D-Backs are a year away from being really good. Their position players need more maturity.”

NL WC- Mets
“The offence still will carry them. They are going to win a lot of games with scores like 9-7.”

NL CY- Roy Oswalt
“He added the change up to his arsenal. He’s going to be amazing.”

NL MVP- Albert Pujols
“Every year Pujols is healthy, he should be defaulted the MVP. He’s that much better than everyone else.”

NL ROY- Kevin Kouzmanoff
“This kid is a career .320 hitter in the minors and doesn’t strike out. He’s gonna be really good for the Padres.”

AL East
NY Yankees
Boston
Toronto
Tampa Bay
Baltimore

“Yankees offense and bullpen is better than the Sox, but the Red Sox have the starting staff. Yankees win with 2 out of 3.”

AL Central
Chicago White Sox
Detroit
Minnesota
Cleveland
Kansas City

“Detroit is due for a let down after the WS run. The Twins are knocked down by injuries, the Indians aren’t there yet… White Sox are the least flawed pick.”

AL West
LA Angels
Seattle
Texas
Oakland

“Oakland cannot replace Zito’s numbers, won’t happen. Angeles are the best team in the West top to bottom. Seattle is close but is missing one or two starters.”

AL WC- Red Sox
“Offensively they are near the second best team in baseball, their staff is near the best. They are in the wrong division. Yanks and Sox are the best two teams in the AL.”

AL CY- Felix Hernandez
“Older, wiser, he’s in really good shape, won’t coast his way through this year and I didn’t want to go with the obvious choice in Santana.”

AL MVP- Vlad Guerrero
“Ortiz is out because of the DH thing. A-Rod is too disliked, but is the Yanks best player stats wise. Vlad has the stats and he should carry his team enough offensively to put him over the top.”

AL ROY- Alex Gordon
“He is a 5 tool player who is going to be fantastic. Superstar make up.”

NLDS
Atlanta over St Louis
LA Dodgers over NY Mets
“In a short series the pitching is the answer for both these wins. Bullpen and starters in a short series will be the deciding factor and Atlanta and the Dodgers win in those categories.”

ALDS
NY Yankees over Chicago White Sox
LA Angels over Boston
“This is a battle of bullpens. Angels and Yankees win because of the superior mid relief.”

NLCS Atlanta over the Dodgers- “Pitching again. When in doubt, go with the better staff.”

ALCS Angels over Yankees- “Yanks never do well against the Angels.”

WS Angels over Atlanta- “AL is MUCH better than the NL again this year. Safest bet is the AL team despite the Cards victory last year.”