Playoff Preview

Here we are, at the most exciting time of the baseball year, as the playoffs start in just a couple of hours. It's really nice for me this year, as a) the Dodgers are in the hunt, and b) there is not a team that I hate in the playoffs for the first time since time since '93 (thanks mostly to no Yankees and/or NL West rivals). There are some great stories this year as well. Just a couple to watch:

- The Tampa Bay Rays will be the darling of everyone who doesn't have a horse in this race, having come from worst to first and with alot of young talent.
- The Chicago Cubs will try to break their 100-year curse with a World Championship.
- The Milwaukee Brewers dodged a huge collapse to make the playoffs for the first time since 1982.

Some intriguing possible World Series matchups:

- Red Sox vs. Dodgers- Manny vs. his old teammates
- Angels vs. Dodgers- The LA team vs. the pretends-to-be-LA team in the first-ever Southern California Series
- Rays vs. Brewers- The Fox execs' heads would explode at this small-market match-up, but 2 teams that have never won it all is always exciting.
- White Sox vs. Cubs- an all Chicago series would be super-annoying, but would make a Cubs victory all the more satisfying.

So here are my predictions:

NLDS

Cubs over Dodgers in 4 games
Phillies over Brewers in 5 games

ALDS

Rays over White Sox in 5 games
Angels over Red Sox in 4 games

NLCS

Cubs over Phillies in 7 games

ALCS

Angels over Rays in 6 games

World Series

Cubs over Angels in 7 games

Remember, these picks are un-scientific and not guaranteed to make you any money whatsoever. Enjoy the next 4 weeks of baseball at its best!

Preseason Baseball Picks Revisted- NL

With playoffs set to begin on Wednesday, it's time to look back at my National League Predictions.

The good:

I predicted 3 out of the 4 NL playoff teams (Brewers, Dodgers, Phillies).
I had the Phils and Mets as 1 and 1A in the NL East and got killed for that. Needless to say, I was absolutely correct.
The Pirates, Braves, Rockies and Giants all stunk as bad as originally thought.

The bad:

My 4th playoff team, the Padres, were the 2nd worst team in the NL.
The Nats were not as improved as hoped, in fact they were the worst team in baseball.
The Cubs were much better than thought, even though I did pick them 2nd.

Tomorrow, the AL.

For my original predictions, see here, here, and here.

NFL Playoff Predictions

AFC Wild Card Games

Browns over Jaguars
Patriots over Jets

AFC Divisional Playoffs

Colts over Browns
Chargers over Patriots

AFC Championship

Chargers over Colts


NFC Wild Card Games

Packers over Bucs
Giants over Rams

NFC Divisional Playoffs

Saints over Packers
Cowboys over Giants

NFC Championship

Saints over Cowboys

and finally...

Super Bowl XLIII

Chargers over Saints

Enjoy the season!!

NFC Predictions

NFC North

1. Green Bay Packers- 9-7
2. Minnesota Vikings- 8-8
3. Detroit Lions- 6-10
4. Chicago Bears- 3-13

NFC South

1. New Orleans Saints- 10-6
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers- 9-7
3. Carolina Panthers- 6-10
4. Atlanta Falcons- 2-12

NFC West

1. St Louis Rams- 10-6
2. Seattle Seahawks- 8-8
3. Arizona Cardinals- 8-8
4. San Francisco 49ers- 3-13

NFC East

1. Dallas Cowboys- 12-4
2. NY Giants- 10-6
3. Washington Redskins- 8-8
4. Philadelphia Eagles- 6-10

Playoff Teams

Cowboys, Packers, Saints, Rams, Bucs(wild card), Giants(wild card)

Tomorrow: Super Bowl prediction...

AFC Predictions

With the new NFL season starting tomorrow, it is time for the surely wrong BK picks. Today, the AFC:

AFC East

1. New England Patriots- 12-4
2. NY Jets- 10-6
3. Buffalo Bills- 7-9
4. Miami Dolphins- 4-12

AFC North

1. Cleveland Browns- 10-6
2. Pittsburgh Steelers- 9-7
3. Baltimore Ravens- 6-10
4. Cincinnati Bengals- 3-13

AFC South

1. Indianapolis Colts- 13-3
2. Jacksonville Jaguars- 11-5
3. Houston Texans- 8-8
4. Tennessee Titans- 7-9

AFC West

1. San Diego Chargers- 13-3
2. Denver Broncos- 9-7
3. Kansas City Chiefs- 5-11
4. Oakland Raiders- 3-13

Playoff teams

Patriots, Browns, Colts, Chargers, Jaguars (wild card), Jets (wild card)

Tomorrow: NFC Predictions

Playoff Predictions

Finally, here are my picks for awards and playoffs:

NL Cy Young- Johan Santana, Mets
AL Cy Young- Daiske Matsusaka, Red Sox

NL MVP- Prince Fielder, Brewers
AL MVP- Grady Sizemore, Indians

ALDS:
Indians over Mariners
Red Sox over Tigers

ALCS: Indians over Red Sox

NLDS:
Brewers over Padres
Dodgers over Phillies

NLCS: Brewers over Dodgers

World Series: Indians over Brewers

You heard it here first!

National League West Preview

1. San Diego Padres- Peavy, Young, Maddux, Wolf, Hoffman. Oh, and they have a good lineup too. Their pitching will most likely win them a highly contested and competitve division.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers- Have to show their late-season crumbling was due to Grady Little and not players. Pitching is better with Hiroki Kuroda and subtraction of Mark Hendrickson and Brett Tomko. Bullpen is as deep as any in the NL, and their lineup is solid if not powerful. Should be able to pull off the wild-card.

3. Colorado Rockies- I love how people who never even heard of the Rockies before last September are picking them to win the NL. A very good lineup, a decent if not dominant closer in Manny Corpas. Thier question to me is starters, as they remind me of the '05 White SOx- did everyone have career years at the same time in '07?

4. Arizona Diamondbacks- They would easily be the champs if they played in the dead-ball era of the early 1900's. Brandon Webb and Dan Haren are an incredible 1-2 punch, Randy Johnson is done, and Eric Brynes will be the new version of Brady Anderson- one monster season surrounded by average years.

5. San Francisco Giants- The start of the post-Big Head era will be rough going, but at least they'll start to get some good karma back after the freak show the last decade has been.

Coming next week- World Series and Award predictions-

National League Central Preview

1. Milwaukee Brewers- Time for the "Crew" to celebrate like it's 1982 (their last playoff appearance). A very good offense led by Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun. Ben Sheets and Jeff Suppan lead a good rotation, and Eric Gagne will rebound from a horrendous 2months as Red Sox' set-up guy to be the solid (if not dominating) closer again.

2. Chicago Cubs- At least we're not talking about Prior and Wood this year- wait- what- new closer Wood is having back spasms? Ohh boy..On the plus side, their offense is even better this year with Fukodome, along with the maturation of Geovanny Soto and Ryan Theriot. Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly are good top-of-the-rotation, then it gets sketchy. And the bullpen, well, did I mention Kerry Wood? 100 years of futility will go at least one more.

3. St Louis Cardinals- The Cards should be thankful they are in the worst division in the NL, and even that won't help them. Albert Pujols is still the best player in the game, but there may be injuries that hold him back. Good young outfield led by former feel-good story Rick Ankiel. An underappreciated closer in Jason Isringhausen. But that rotation would have looked good about 5 years ago, when some guys still had youth, potential, or both- Mark Mulder, Kyle Lohse, Joel Piniero. Maybe Tony LaRussa should have taken the Yankees' job.

4. Cincinnati Reds- Are people really picking this team to win the division? An okay lineup, a bland rotation, and closer Fransisco Cordero. Dusty Baker is good, but he doesn't walk on water.

5. Houston Astros- Maybe the 'Stros can play the White Sox in the "Remember Us, We Were Good in '05?" Series. Kaz Matsui and Michael Bourn were good pickups for the future, but Lance Berkman will be hitting most of his blasts with the bases empty. Good luck, Roy Oswalt.

6. Pittsburgh Pirates- I don't think the Pirates even pretend to try anymore. Just pathetic.

American League West Preview

1. Seattle Mariners- Biggest acquisition of the offseason in ace Eric Bedard (above). An already talented team with Felix Hernandez, Jarrod Washburn and Carlos Silva are that much better bumping everyone down a slot to bring in Bedard. AL's best closer in JJ Putz, AL's best pure hitter in Ichiro, and some good pop in the lineup will help the Mariners squeak by the Angels.

2. Anaheim Angels- The Yankees of the West, throwing money at anybody who has a heartbeat. Did make some solid moves picking up Jon Garland and Torii Hunter. The infield is surpirisingly shallow, with Chone Figgins being the only one worth much. Closer K-Rod and a decent starting rotation will make this a great division race.

3. Texas Rangers- A team on the rise offensively, Ian Kinsler and Michael Young make a great DP tandem. But when Kevin Millwood is your ace, well...

4. Oakland A's- Eric Chavez will be traded by July. Then they will have...Daric Barton? Emil Brown? Joe Blanton and Rich Harden will keep their starts close, but Moneyball's demise will continue.