New York Nine

Well my attempt to make my own 30 clubs in 30 days kind of fell flat on its face, so I figure I'll just throw out my predictions for each division and why, here it goes.

NL West
1. Diamondbacks
2. Dodgers
3. Rockies
4. Giants
5. Padres

Sorry, even with Manny, losing your two best starters and your closer, and I'm supposed to believe that they're better? No thanks. Diamondbacks are young but maturing and a staff that added Jon Garland as a fourth starter is a solid move, watch out for them come October.


NL Central
1. Cubs
2. Reds
3. Cardinals
4. Brewers
5. Pirates
6. Astros


You can never count the Cardinals out and I could easily see me eating my words and them making in as a wild card, but the Reds' young pitching to go along with veterans Harang and Arroyo are too good to not be second, albeit a relatively distant second from a dominant Cubs team.


NL East
1. Mets
2. Marlins (WC)
3. Phillies
4. Braves
5. Nationals


Sports Illustrated picks the Amazins to win it all and its hard to not like the Mets, they had one glaring hole, the bullpen, and they've made that it a strength. It's not a rock solid team, but unlike most teams this year there's no aspect of the team thats truly awful. The Phillies are good, but too much good luck went their way last year for it to be sustainable, can they really expect such an amazing performance from their pen again? Not likely. Besides, that Marlins pitching staff is crazy talented and their lineup has serious power, watch out.


AL West

1. A's
2. Angels
3. Mariners
4. Rangers


I don't like this division at all really, while picking a team to win a division with a staff as inexperienced as these guys is really dicey, that Angels team is just very underwhelming. Between Lackey hurt, Santana possibly going for Tommy John, question marks with Escobar and how much he can contribute, and Saunder's inevitable let down year (he doesnt strike out anyone, that will catch up to him very soon) and their even shittier lineup than last year I can't take them. Then again judging by the rest of the division's pitching, they could sleepwalk to the division.


AL Central
1. Twins
2. White Sox
3. Indians
4. Royals
5. Tigers

I really don't get people's take on this division, pretty much everyone is picking the Indians and I don't get it. Cliff Lee's season last year is an abberation, Fausto Carmona doesn't strike enough guys out to be effective and their third starter is Carl Fucking Pavano, can you REALLY expect anything from him? That's not a playoff rotation there, sorry. The Twins are not a sexy pick but they've got solid starting pitching, with Liriano coming back to full strength to mow down guys again and a lineup that has vastly improved with the presence of Joe Crede. The White Sox I don't love but Kenny Williams is a fantastic GM and he's made his team younger and cheaper with a solid front three of the rotation of Buerle, Danks and Floyd and the emergence of Alexi Ramirez at short.


AL East

1. Red Sox
2. Yankees (WC)
3. Rays
4. Blue Jays
5. Baltimore


I'll probably devote an article to this to explain it more fully, but even as a Yankee fan I'm hard pressed to say right now that the Yankees are better than the Sox. While the lineup is probably better and the Yankees rotation has gotten better, the Sox still have a far superior bullpen and depth in their rotation that is unrivaled, I mean John Smoltz is their 6th starter! That said, I think the Yankees will keep it close, with Tampa slightly behind. While I love the Rays, they're a great story and I love to watch them, a lot of things had to go right for them to burst out for 97 wins last year, perticularly their stellar bullpen performance. I don't see that being duplicated, especially with Troy Percival as their closer and that should keep them out of the playoffs, at least for this year, after that all bets are off.


I'm not making postseason predictions beacuse as the last few years have shown the playoffs are a fucking crapshoot, with teams getting hot at the right time anyone can win, although if I had to pick the teams that I think are the best from either league, my money would be on the Diamondbacks and the Red Sox. More on all of this as the season progresses.