MLB Predictions 2011

Last year, my MLB season picks weren't spot on. I'll dissect the agony and the ecstasy of those 2010 ML picks at the end of this post.

First, however, because hope springs eternal, and spring springs once a year, and baseball springs also, it's time to debut my MLB Predictions for 2011.

American League
East 

1. Boston Red Sox    Best Team in baseball.
2. New York Yankees  A fine, if somewhat aged, lineup. Their rotation is a problem. And doesn't this have to be the year that Mariano Rivera jumps the shark?
3. Tampa Bay Rays  Sporting a new look lineup and a bullpen by committee.
4. Toronto Blue Jays   Could score metric tons of runs, but the rotation is a little green.
5. Baltimore Orioles   The Orioles are the slow-pitch softball team of MLB. I predict a lot of 13-12 games.

Central

1. Minnesota Twins   A dependable, well-rounded team. It seems like the Twins always have a steady farmhand on call if injury strikes.
2. Chicago White Sox (wild card winner)  The opposite of the Twins, the White Sox are like the dynamite on board the Black Rock in Lost. There's a lot of volatility on this team.
3. Detroit Tigers  I like their rotation, but this team will always be one Miguel Cabrera bender away from falling out of contention.
4. Cleveland Indians  The Indians are rebuilding, and aren't doing a good job of it.
5. Kansas City Royals  There are some exciting young players on this team. I guess they're finally starting to get the hang of picking first in the draft.

West

1. Texas Rangers   A murderer's row of hitting, a desolation row of pitching.
2. California Angels in Anaheim  A pleasant blend of hitting, defending, pitching, and coaching.
3. Oakland Athletics   No pop in this lineup, and I'm not buying the rotation hype. Anderson and Gonzalez are legit; Cahill and Braden aren't.
4. Seattle Mariners  A lot of things need to break right for the Mariners to top .500.

National League
East

1. Atlanta Braves  I hate to admit it, but the NL East reign of the Braves has begun.
2. Philadelphia Phillies (wild card)   Pitching won't be a problem, but a combination of injuries, age, and unwillingness to take pitches has unhinged this lineup.
3. Florida Marlins  The Marlins are a few years away from winning the World Series. And then auctioning off their roster to the highest bidder.
4. New York Mets  The Mets have gotten to the point of paying their overpriced talent to go home. Yikes.
5. Washington Nationals  If Steven Strasburg can come back from Tommy John surgery, this team has the talent to contend in a few years. For now, their starting pitcher is Livan Hernandez.

Central

1. Milwaukee Brewers  Pitching and pop, with Prince hungry for a new contract.
2. Cincinnati Reds  We'll see how this young team deals with success. Also, Dusty Baker has already made Johnny Cueto's arm fall off, it won't be long before he does in Edinson Volquez.
3. St. Louis Cardinals  Tony La Russa could very well overmanage this team to playoff contention, but I see a lot of borderline big league players here.
4. Chicago Cubs  An intriguing ballclub, but the Cubs always find a way to suck.
   
5. Huston Astros  Built by GM Ed Wade. Nuff said.
6. Pittsburgh Pirates  Grading them on a curve for recent futility, the Pirates have a pretty snappy lineup. Their rotation is a nightmare, though.

West

1. Colorado Rockies  Much as I hate purple, this team has talent all over its roster. It's going to feast on the atrocious West.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers  Forget Divorce Court, the McCourts ought to be tried at the Hague for crimes against humanity for what they did to a promising Dodgers team.
3. San Francisco Giants  The Giants have a nice rotation and a rag-tag collection of position players that through some cosmic kismet got hot last postseason. It won't happen again.
4. Arizona Diamondbacks Love the lineup. The arms are mediocre.
5. San Diego Padres  22nd in the majors in runs scored, 28th in batting average. No more Adrian Gonzalez. Think they'll get to 90 wins again? I say they'll be lucky to break 70.

World Series
Boston Red Sox over Atlanta Braves in six.

Awards
I'm picking two gimmies for MVP, so I'm going with two dark horses for Cy Young.

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, Cardinals
AL MVP: Carl Crawford, Red Sox
AL Cy Young: Max Scherzer, Tigers
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
NL Rookie of the Year: Aroldis Chapman, Reds
Al Rookie of the Year: Jesus Montero, Yankees
NL Manager of the Year: Jim Tracy, Colorado Rockies
AL Manager of the Year: Tito Francona, Boston Red Sox


Recapping Last Year's Picks

There's a fella who writes for Sports Illustrated, Cliff Corcoran, who writes a column called "Awards Watch" about the MLB season awards. You know, MVP, Cy Young, that kind of thing. Here's something he says in his latest column:

"Awards Watch lists the top candidates in each league for the award at hand, basing the rankings on who is most likely to win, not necessarily who is most deserving, though the latter is identified in the text when the inevitable fission occurs.
In my final regular season column of 2010, I predicted the top three finishers in each of the six races."

He says, in effect, that he picked the MLB regular season awards pretty accurately AFTER THE MLB REGULAR SEASON HAD CONCLUDED. This is like saying, "I put some fish in a barrel, and I was able to shoot most of them." At season's end, there are only a handful of likely candidates for each award, and there is almost always a prohibitive favorite.

We don't pad our stats here at Crying Eagles, Noble Turkeys, Red Glares. We call our shots at the beginning of the game, before Cliff Lee gets traded to the Rangers. And we take our lumps when God blesses the Giants with a World Series title because God loves Gay Marriage.

So, without further ado, here is how my 2010 Baseball picks shook out last season. The actual results are in bold, my picks are in parentheses.

American League

East
If the Red Sox hadn't filled a wing of Massachusetts General Hospital with their injured players, I think my AL East picks would've been more respectable.

1. Tampa Bay Rays (3)
2. New York Yankees (1) -Won Wild Card-
3. Boston Red Sox (2, wild card)
4. Toronto Blue Jays (5)
5. Baltimore Orioles (4)

Central
I know Middle America pretty well. They love me there.

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

West
Yikes. No excuses. Well, one excuse: I fell for the new look Mariners with all their pitching and defense. They turned out to be the old look Mariners.

1. Texas Rangers (3)
2. Oakland Athletics (4)
3. California Angels in Anaheim (1)
4. Seattle Mariners (2)

National League
East
On target. I'm a B-2 bomber, and the NL East is why the military budget is astronomical.

1. Philadelphia Phillies (1)
2. Atlanta Braves (2, wild card) -won wild card-
3. Florida Marlins (3)
4. New York Mets (4)
5. Washington Nationals (5)

Central
The youthful Reds coalesced and ruined what would've been a pretty solid prognostication on my part.

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

West
Picking the NL West was, and is, like picking which one of my dog's turd logs to scoop off the sidewalk first. They all stink. Yes, I'm saying that the Giants stink.

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

World Series:
The Yankees and Phillies nearly made it, but instead we had to suffer through the Giants and Rangers.
Giants over Rangers (Yankees over Phillies)

Awards
Mostly respectable misses for me here, except for picking Don Wakamatsu to win Manager of the Year. He got fired instead.

But check out my Cy Young picks! Pretty sharp shooting for your boy.
 
NL Rookie of the Year: Buster Posey, Giants (Jason Heyward, Braves)
AL Rookie of the Year: Neftali Feliz (Wade Davis, Rays)
NL Manager of the Year: Bud Black, Padres (Bobby Cox, Braves)
AL Manager of the Year: Ron Gardenhire, Twins (Don Wakamatsu, Mariners)
NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay, Phillies (ding! ding! ding!)
AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez, Mariners (ding! ding! ding!)
NL MVP: Joey Votto, Reds (Chase Utley, Phillies)
AL MVP: Josh Hamilton, Rangers (Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox)