Baseball Season Predictions

NATIONAL LEAGUE
EAST
1) New York Mets, 100-62: The Mets are by far the best team in the East.
2) Atlanta Braves, 86-76: Their run of division titles may be over, but this is a team on its way back.
3) Philadelphia Phillies, 82-80: There is a lot of buzz about the Phillies, but I think that the team's bullpen will be its downfall.
4) Florida Marlins, 81-81: Young and improving..............unfortunately.
5) Washington Nationals, 55-107: After what Baseball did to my former favourite team, the Expos, I will never cheer for the Nationals.
CENTRAL
1) St. Louis Cardinals, 91-71: By default, this division belongs to the Cardinals.
2) Pittsburgh Pirates, 83-79: Don't laugh. This team has a ton of young talent.
3) Chicago Cubs, 81-81: They signed Alfonso Soriano, hired Lou Piniella to be their manager, blah blah blah blah blah. They're still the Cubs. Send my regards to Steve Bartman.
4) Houston Astros, 78-84: No more Andy Pettite, and possibly no Roger Clemens either. That means definitely no playoffs.
5) Milwaukee Brewers, 76-86: Any team which is even remotely connected to Buddy Bud Selig is and must be consigned to perpetual mediocrity.
6) Cincinnati Reds, 73-89: As usual, the Reds will score a lot of runs, but they'll give up even more.
WEST
1) San Diego Padres, 94-68: Jake Peavy is healthy this season, and that alone is good enough for 6-10 more wins for the team.
2) Los Angeles Dodgers, 87-75: I may be light on the win total for the Dodgers, who have lots of young talent.
3) Arizona Diamondbacks, 75-87: Bringing back Randy Johnson may have been popular with the fans, but it won't help this team win more games.
4) San Francisco Giants, 74-88: How old are the Giants? Reportedly, they were after Randy Johnson too, because they wanted to start a youth movement.
5) Colorado Rockies, 69-93: It's the same old story in Colorado. They'll score plenty of runs at home, but won't do much on the road.
AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST
1) New York Yankees, 103-59: The Yankees may not have much pitching, but look for them to bring up phenom Philip Hughes at some point before the All Star Break, and for Roger Clemens to be pitching in the Bronx at some point in June. In the interim, they will bludgeon other teams into submission.
2) Toronto Blue Jays, 87-75: Call them "New York Lite". There's enough offense on the team to overcome most of the anticipated pitching woes.
3) Boston Red Sox, 85-77: Full Disclosure. I am a Red Sox fan. But, I am not sold on Daisuke Matsuzaka, and how old is Curt Shilling now anyway? 55?
4) Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 80-82: This will finally be the season the D-Rays make a run at the magical .500 mark. They will fall just short.
5) Baltimore Orioles, 66-96: Peter Angelos is close to doing something which I thought was impossible, which is to kill the passion for Baseball in Baltimore.
CENTRAL
1) Detroit Tigers, 93-69: Not as many wins as last season, but an improved team in Cleveland will have much to do with that.
2) Chicago White Sox, 90-72: Another 9o-win season for the South Siders.
3) Cleveland Indians, 88-74: Centerfielder Grady Sizemore is a budding superstar.
4) Minnesota Twins, 79-83: The loss of Francisco Liriano for the whole season and a festering contract dispute with Johan Santana, the best pitcher in the sport, mean plenty of losses for the Twinkies.
5) Kansas City Royals, 62-100: There are signs of hope, but they aren't very strong.
WEST
1) Los Angeles/Anaheim/California Angels: 92-70: Don't let the win total fool you. The Angels will be very good.
2) Oakland A's, 83-79: The loss of Barry Zito will really hurt.
3) Texas Rangers, 73-89: See my comments on Colorado and Cincinnati. They apply to Texas as well.
4) Seattle Mariners, 70-92: It wasn't that long ago that Seattle set a record with 116 regular season wins. Now that seems like that took place a million years earlier.