My baseball predictions

[gridlore]

National League

NL West: San Francisco Giants
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals
NL East: Atlanta Braves
NL Wild Card: New York Mets

NL Champions: San Francisco Giants

American League

AL West: Oakland A's
AL Central: Cleveland Indians
AL East: New York Yankees
AL Wild Card: Red Sox

AL Champions: Cleveland Indians

It's 1954 all over again!

World Series Champion?

San Francisco Giants!!!

Comments

[pauldrye.livejournal.com]

Red Sox over Yankees, and I'd not be entirely surprised if the Yankees fall so badly that they don't get the Wild Card either. Angels, in that case. I have my doubts about the Blue Jays despite people talking them up a fair bit this year. If everything goes right, sure, but when does everything go right? They strike me as peculiarly fragile.

If the Mets win the NL Wild Card, I'll eat my hat. They look like an under-.500 team to me, which is quite the accomplishment when you have a Pedro and a presumably resurgent Carlos Beltran. They just look to have too many significant players who are likely to miss a good chunk of time this year (Martinez, Floyd, Glavine, Valentin).

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

I'd have to agree that with Prior and Wood unknown factors, the Cubs probably aren't in it. I don't think that the Giants are strong enough to go all the way... why do you think they are?

[pauldrye.livejournal.com]

Because hope springs eternal?

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know that well being a Cubs fan. ;-)

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Heard from Steve Bartman recently? :)

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

Nope, other than he no longer lives in IL. :)

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Aside from Bonds being relatively healthy (and he still won't play more than 120 games) I think we've improved in several areas.

1. Pitching. Tomko and Reuter have been replaced. Matt Morris had a great spring, and the competition for the fifth starter spot will leave us with a good starter and a long reliever. Jason Schmidt is healthy. We have two good closers. Too many times last year we lost a game because of our bullpen.

2. Changes in the infield. While losing J.T. Snow at first is a blow, I really believe that Lance Niekro will be a good defender as well as having a decent bat and great speed. Pedro Feliz has finally settled into a permanent spot at third. He's a great player with a bloody cannon for an arm. He will get a lot of outs from the third base line. And we still have Omar Vizquel

3. While the outfield still threatens to be the first group to have AARP cards along with their MLPA cards, they are a good group. Randy Winn showed that he can cover AT&T's large center field with great speed, which will take pressure off Bonds. And we have enough good-hitting depth in the outfield that the old dudes can take days off without losing too much offense.

4. Depth. Last year we were devastated by injuries. This year we have enough depth in the infield and outfield that we can weather the inevitable trips to the DL without taking too bad a hit. The only place I worry is the catcher role, since our back up catcher is a rookie.

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

Yeah, both the Cubs and the Giants lacked depth last year... I'm not so sure on the Cubs pitching depth given we're about to start another year with Wood & Prior on the disabled list. The infield and outfield looks good though.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I think its time for the Cubs to unload those two. Good, but way too fragile.

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

I agree with you but I don't think anyone would want them due to their injury history.