It's that time of year again. Every year, I like to make my baseball predictions, and being opening day tonight, I need to it. I will also include a review of MLB 2K10 with it, since I have been playing that due to lack of The Show for XBox 360. I will break down my predictions on were I think teams will fall and a short explanation about why.
AL East
1. Boston
The new look Red Sox are going to be a very tough team to score runs against. Between having the best and deepest pitching rotation in baseball, they should have one of the best defensive teams in the league. Their offense isn't going to be what it was in prior years, but it doesn't need to be. A big question mark for the team is the DH spot, Ortiz will never be what he was from 2004 to 2006, but I also don't think he will be what he was the first half of 2009. Boston will put up a good number of runs, but their runs allowed should be near the best in the league.
2. New York(WC)
The Yankees will make the playoffs, no doubt, but we won't be as good as last year. Last year, they stayed completely healthy, which is rare for any team. I think we will see A.J Burnett spend time on the DL, which really weakens their pitching staff, I also don't think Nick Swisher will play nearly as well as he did last year, and Javier Vazquez had a ton of trouble pitching in New York in 2004, and I think we will see the same. The Yankees are still a great team, but they had an almost flawless season last near, there is no way they can repeat it again.
3. Tampa Bay
In the three headed monster that is the AL East, one team has to be left out of the playoffs. That will be the Tampa Bay Rays. They have one of the better offenses in the league, but I honestly do not believe Ben Zobrist is as good as he played last year. Their pitching staff is still fairly inexperienced, David Price and Wade Davis have not shown me anything to be blown away by. They will stay in the race for the majority of the year, no doubt, but I think similar to last year, they will fall short.
4. Baltimore
In any other division the Baltimore is a contender, in the AL East, they are not. Their pitching staff is still very weak, but this could change over time. The addition of Kevin Millwood will give them a good veteran starter to help along the young pitchers they have in the system. Their offense is going to very strong this year, they will play over .500, and playing in the AL East, that deserves to be noted. In a few years, they will be an even better team, but they need to make a couple big moves to contend.
5. Toronto
Toronto isn't going to be good this year, with that said, they still have a lot of depth in pitching, and a good couple of young hitters. The team is in a rebuilding year, and should be for the next two to three years. Toronto will not be the worst team in baseball, and they should give the other AL East teams some trouble, they will not be a definite win. We will see how they progress over the next couple of years, but this year, they are last place.
AL Central
1. Minnesota
Even without Joe Nathan, the Twins will win the Central. They are just too good. They have, in my opinion, the best player in baseball, Joe Mauer, and have a solid offense built around him. Adding J.J. Hardy and Orlando Hudson make the offense even better. Their pitching staff is filled with no names, but they are very good no names. On top of that, Francisco Liriano could return to his former self, he has looked good in spring training. The Twins will take the Central, and I think they will take it by 5 games.
2. Chicago
The White Sox are a pretty good team, but I am not sure they are any better than last year. I am not convinced Jake Peavy will succeed in the AL, but if he does the White Sox will be in the race the entire year. Their offense is pretty good, but nothing special, they have some good talent. Their rotating DH is an interesting situation, and they will need to find the RBI numbers outside of the DH, unlike most teams. Outside of my worries for Peavy, their pitching staff is solid. I just think the Twins are that much better.
3. Detroit
Detriot went from a rebuilding team to a win now team during the course of the off season. Trading away Granderson, but then signing Damon. They will play well this season, but I am not sure they have enough to win the division, or pass the White Sox. Behind Verlander, their pitching staff is somewhat suspect, and the offense is good, but not great, outside of Miguel Cabrera, they do not have a top flight bat, so they won't be able to drive in a ton of runs. Detroit will be a good team this year, but they will fall short of the playoffs for sure.
4. Cleveland
Although an all out rebuilding team, they are not the worst team in the division. Cleveland still has a good offense, and their pitching staff could surprise people. Westbrook is back after missing all of last year, if he has a good year, it will go a long way with Cleveland having a better year than last. Travis "Dr." Hafner looks the best he has been in a couple years also. Between Choo, Sizemore and Hafner, they Indians will put a good amount of runs, their pitching beyond 3 is a total crap shoot though.
5. Kansas City
The Royals are bad. The royals will be bad until they fire the entire front offense. Behind Grenkie, there really isn't much to talk about with this team, Grenkie will still put up amazing numbers, but no one else around him will do much. I do not for see them doing much at all this year.
AL West
1. Seattle
I am very torn between Seattle and Texas for the west. It is going to be a very close race, but I am giving it to Seattle. With a duo like Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez, how can I not. Behind them is Eric Bedard, who could be a top tier pitcher, if he knew how to stay healthy. Their offense is pretty good overall, Ichiro will be Ichiro and with Chone Figgins, we will see a ton of speed on the bases with them. I think they will generate enough runs to win games, and pitch very very well.
2. Texas
Texas is much like the Twins with their pitching staff, no guaranteed ace, but a lot of solid guys. With that said, if healthy Rich Harden is a very good pitcher. If not healthy, the Rangers need to rely on their offense to carry them. With that said, it should carry them very well, they have an amazing offense. I like Texas a lot, and if they win the West, I will not be surprised at all, they will stay in the wild card race until the final day if they do not win the West.
3. Anaheim
I see a lot of regression for this team, starting with the pitching staff, Scott Kazmir is not what he once was, and Joel Pinero will be nothing like he was in St. Louis. Losing Lackey and Figgins was a huge blow to this team. I think they will play well, and won't fall out of the race to early, but I really think it is between Seattle and Texas for the West.
4. Oakland
Oakland might surprise people, they have the best defensive outfield in baseball, if you ask me, and are a machine for turning out great pitchers. They aren't going to win anything, but they very well could leapfrog into 3rd with some key injuries to other teams. I think they will end up in fourth though, they have way to many question marks to do much more than that.
NL East
1. Philly
Philadelphia is no worse than they were last year, they might be better, starting the year off with a top tier pitcher, and adding Polanco at third base. I still predict them to win the East, similar to the last few years, they are a great team. The major question mark is Brad Lidge. He seems to fall apart every few years, and then rebound, though, starting the year on the DL may not allow him to rebound this year. If the Phils can find someone to close out games and keep Lidge on a short leash, they should have no issues in the East.
2. Atlanta(WC)
Atlanta is going to be a great team this year, trading away Vazquez is going to hurt them, but they still have a very solid pitching staff. Their offense should also be better than last year, though they do have a couple question marks. Troy Glaus is coming back from injury and Jason Heyward is starting in the outfield as a rookie. Atlanta will still have a great year, and I think they will take the wild card.
3. Florida
Florida, though young and cheap, always find a way to compete. This year will be no different. I don't think they are going to be good enough to get into the playoffs, but they have a great team to build upon. Major League Baseball is now forcing them to spend money, so we might see more players go to Florida in the coming years, and they can only get better.
4. Washington
Washington is going to be bad, but not as bad as last year. And, my big surprise prediction is them not finishing in last place. They have a decent core of offensive players with Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn. Their pitching could also be good enough, and if Strausburg plays this year, and lives up to the hype, they have an ace on their hands.
5. New York
The Mets are going to be awful this year. Adding Jason Bay isn't going to do much for them. They failed pretty hard at adding depth to their pitching staff, and have almost nothing behind Santana. With Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes starting the year on the DL, their offense will suffer a lot. Omar Minaya is a bad GM, I am not sure why he has not been fired yet. I am predicting the Mets to be in last place this year.
NL Central
1. St Louis
St. Louis should run away with the Central, between Pujols and Holiday on the offensive side, and Carpenter and Wainwright pitching, they have a solid team. I think they might be the best team in the NL going into the year.
2. Cincinnati
Cincinnati might be better than most expect, they have a very deep pitching staff, and we should see Chapman at some point during the year. Their offense, lead by Votto, should be pretty decent this year. I don't think they are going to make it a race with St. Louis, but they will win a very respectable number of games this year.
3. Milwaukee
To be honest with you, I am not sure that Milwaukee has a pitching rotation this year. With that said, the duo of Fielder and Braun might be one of the best offense 1-2 punches in the league. Milwaukee should be good this year, but I think both St. Louis and Cincinnati will be better.
4. Chicago
The Cubs should be a .500 team this year. Zambrano and Dempster are both good starters, and should win a lot of games for them, but behind them, there isn't much. The offense isn't anything special, they are really a very middle of the road team, they need to clear out some of the bad contracts, and get some new players in there to fill to wholes.
5. Houston
This might be the worst Houston team we have seen in years. With Lance Berkman on the DL to start the season, Roy Oswalt can't carry the team alone. If there is any team that is going to let the Pirates pass them, Houston will be it. I still think they will be better than the Pirates, but just barely.
6. Pittsburgh
The Pirates are in a continuous state of rebuilding, but with a new GM, they are actually rebuilding right. They have a decent young core of players, but too young to make an impact any time soon. The Pirates might end up the worst team in the NL this year, but Houston will be very far behind them.
NL West
1. Colorado
Colorado is a good team, but they are a team of nobudy's, beyond Todd Helton. They hit very well, they pitch very well. The NL West is going to be a very tight division this year, but the Rockies are a good team. I think they will sneak out a division win.
2. Arizona
If Brandon Webb was starting the year healthy, this team would be very tough to beat. Danny Haren will continue to put up great numbers like he always has, I think we will see more of second half Edwin Jackson from last year with the DBacks, but he still should be good enough. They are a young team with a very good offense and a very good top of the rotation. They will keep it close the entire year, but I think they will just fall short.
3. LA
The Dodgers did not get any better this year, but, they are still a decent enough team. Their pitching staff is a big question mark, it is young, and could exceed expectations, but I do not see the Dodgers making the playoffs this year, the Rockies are too good, and the DBacks are getting better as their young players age.
4. San Fransisco
Originally, I had the Giants winning the West, not anymore. They have an amazing pitching rotation, no doubt, and they will win a lot of games as a result, but their offense does not convince me. Upon first glance, their offense does not look bad at all, but once you dig deeper, you will notice that the majority of the players are past their prime, or are injury prone. I do not for see this team going very far. The pitching staff will carry the team through the entire year, and they may stay in the race the majority of the year, but I don't think they have the offense to finish the year on top.
5. San Diego
San Diego is another rebuilding team, beyond Adrian Gonzalez, there isn't much this team has to offer. If Chris Young doesn't pitch well this year, they are in even worse shape. There is no way San Diego comes anywhere near 4th place, let alone any sort of playoff birth.
Now, for the video game section of the post. I picked up MLB 2k10 the day it came out, and jumped right into it. I did not get it last year due to reading about the bugs and how it wasn't a great game. I was craving a baseball game so I thought I would jump in and take the risk. The game isn't as buggy as 2k9, but it isn't perfect either. One game, by team bugged out and I had a completely different teams uniform on, and many times, when attempting to play the game, it would just freeze. On top of the buggy game, hitting is absolutely impossible. I am playing on the default difficulty, and I have not won a game yet. I am pretty sure in 20 games, I have 2 home runs and only 2 doubles, the game makes hitting frustratingly hard. On the other side of the coin, I really enjoy the pitching system. You choose a pitch, and use a analog stick to do a motion for the pitch, the more accurate you are with the motion, the more effective the pitch is, I like it a lot. Overall, I have grown tired of losing in MLB 2K10, and the bugs in the game make it even more frustrating. The game is not great by any means. Maybe you will have more luck hitting than I do, but overall, I am not a huge fan of the game.
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