2008 Baseball Predictions

The 2008 Major League Baseball season begins today (I don't count the early games in Japan). Here are my picks for division winners and major award winners. Save these to mock me in November.

AL East
Boston Red Sox - If Beckett is out for a while I disown this pick.
New York Yankees - May take a couple steps back in first year after Torre.
Toronto Blue Jays - Good pitching backed up by solid defense.
Tampa Bay Rays - This team will challenge Toronto for 3rd.
Baltimore Orioles - Write them down for 100 losses.

AL Central
Cleveland Indians - Not a lot of stars, but a good balanced team with depth to
overcome the inevitable injuries.
Detroit Tigers - Their pitching depth is now in Miami. That will hurt in August.
Kansas City Royals - Gordon and Butler are going to power a much improved team.
Chicago White Sox - Counting on bounce back seasons from too many players on north
side of 30.
Minnesota Twins - Trades of Santana and Garza and Liriano's slow return from TJ
surgery leave the pitching cupboard bare.

AL West
Seattle Mariners - Pitching, pitching and more pitching
Angels - The season hasn't started and they already have a couple starting pitchers
out injured.
Texas Rangers - They'll score a bunch of runs but their pitching will allow more.
Oakland A's - They may do better than I'm predicting. Just too many players with no
track record.

NL East
Phillies - Everyone is talking about Rollins, Howard and Utley, but Pat Burrell may
be the one to watch put up an MVP season.
New York Mets - Jose Reyes stole 78 bases last year and he might be only the 3rd best
SS in his division.
Miami Marlins - Hanley Ramirez! 29 homers from a shortstop? Impressive. Add 51
stolen bases and a .332 batting average and you have the number one
pick in most fantasy baseball leagues.
Atlanta Braves - I don't see them being as good as everyone is saying.
Washington Nationals - Improving but they come up short in the pitching department.


NL Central
Cincinnati Reds - Better team than people realize.
Chicago Cubs - Pitchers won't like visiting Wrigley Field.
Milwaukee Brewers - Miller Park won't be a favorite place for pitchers either.
St. Louis Cardinals - Not much pitching.
Houston Astros - Even less pitching.
Pittsburgh Pirates - It is good to see there are some things we can count on.

NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks - Arizona fans will enjoy watching Chris Young and Justin Upton
develop into stars.
Los Angeles Dodgers - Can Joe Torre coax a winner out of this collection of injury
prone veterans and unproven young players?
Colorado Rockies - Good team suffers a let down after reaching WS last year.
San Diego Padres - Not enough offense.
San Francisco Giants - Not enough anything.

MVP's
AL: Manny Ramirez NL: Aramis Ramirez
Cy Young's
AL: Felix Hernandez NL: Cole Hamels
ROY's
AL: Scott Moore NL: Johnny Cueto
MGR's
AL: Trey Hillman NL: Chollie Manuel