Jay’s Sports Blog™

30 Major League teams, yet only one can win the whole thing. I’m not going to get into a huge in depth super detailed preview, but I will go through each division and of course crown a Champion.

I wrote in my 2008 Prediction Column the following:

September - October 2008 - The Sox finish the regular season with 103 wins and are set to play the Indians in the ALDS as the Tigers face off against the Angels. The Sox are pushed to five games by the Indians but win the 5th game in a nine inning shut out by Josh Beckett. The Sox then catch fire and sweep the Tigers on route to sweeping the Dodgers in the World Series.

Well that pretty much surmised my AL picks as well as the NL Champion to face to Sawx in the World Series. But what about the pennant races, division races and Wild Cards? Glad you asked.

AL EAST
1. Boston Red Sox - Duh. I picked them to win the whole thing and didn’t have the Wild Card coming out of the AL East so it’s pretty much the obvious pick. The only thing that would change this is a Beckett injury that keeps him sidelined for a while or a key line-up injury (Varitek, Ortiz, Manny, Lowell etc.)

2. NY Yankees - The sexy pick here is the Blue Jays, but the Yankees line-up is still jacked. The rotation is the huge question mark with no “ace”. Look for Joba to be moved from the pen to the rotation sooner than expected but they’ll fade down the stretch with inexperience in the rotation and an aging line-up.

3. Toronto Blue Jays - As I said above, they’re a sexy pick for second but I’m still not sold on Toronto. The addition of Eckstein and Rolen (the left half of the 2006 World Series Champion Cardinals) to a line-up that has Frank Thomas as the DH and Vernon Wells in center should help but even with the great (potentially) rotation their bullpen is a big question mark with closer BJ Ryan still not at 100%.

4. Tampa Bay Rays - Gone is the “Devil” from the Devil Rays but I still don’t think they’re ready for the leap. They have a solid young line-up and decent young pitching highlighted by Sox killer Scott Kasmir but lack of experience will again doom this team to mediocrity. The name Barry Bonds has been batted around for the team. I say why not? He’d add a little oomph to the line-up and sell a few more tickets to what Bill Simmons calls the worst stadium in baseball.

5. Baltimore Orioles - This team is a disaster. They traded their ace to Seattle, their poised to deal their second baseman to the Cubs and really just suck. Hopefully this season will prompt Peter Angelo to sell the team and bring in competent ownership and management to what used to be a decent team in the mid-nineties.

AL Central

1. Detroit Tigers - The team made some huge moves in the off-season highlighted with the trade to Florida that brought them the D-Train and Miguel Cabrera (who they signed to an 8 year $152M contract). The team also added former Red Sox shortstop Edgar Rent-a-wreck. Will he learn to hit AL pitching? Will he be better off in a town without the media circus that exists in Boston? Seemed to work in Atlanta, I think Detroit will bring more of the same.

2. Cleveland Indians - OK, so this team pushed the Sox to the limit in the ALCS last year, but what moves did they make in the off-season? That’s right. While the Tigers were loading up and retooling the Indians pretty much kept their team as it was last year. So based on the close race down the stretch last year with the Tigers, I pick the Indians to win the Wild Card in a close race.

3. Chicago White Sox - The team has some pop in the line-up still (remember Jermaine Dye after the trading deadline?) and adding old friend Orlando Carbrera at short and Nick Swisher in the outfield the team should be better than last year (which was a debacle) but won’t be able to keep up with the likes of Detroit and Cleveland.

4. Kansas City Royals - It came down to a coin flip between them and the Twins as to who would finish in the cellar. The Royals were chastised for over paying Gil Meche but he was respectable for them last year and Brian Bannister blossomed into a solid #2.

5. Minnesota Twins - Well, what it came down to was the fact that the Twins traded away their ace and are relying on Francisco Liriano to come back from injury and signed Livan Hernandez. I think that the young talent they got for Johan will eventually blossom but it’s too early for the Twins to reap the benefits. Good luck in 2009.

AL West

1. Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim - Of California, of the United States of the Planet Earth. What a crock of shit. You’re the California Angels. Period. Anyways, this team is poised to take advantage of what is a weak AL West. The rotation (even with a hurting Lackey) is solid and the addition of Torii Hunter to help Vlad in the line-up really helps this team. Look for them to have the West locked up in early September given the competition.

2. Seattle Mariners - Remember last season when despite their manager quit on them they were in the Wild Card chase with a couple weeks left in the season. The addition of the aforementioned Erik Bedard from Baltimore should help this team especially if he can stay healthy. If Sexon and Beltre could live up to their inflated contracts the team could give the Angels a run for their money, but that’s not too likely.

3. Oakland A’s - Despite the trading of Dan Haren and Nick Swisher I think that Billy Beane just knows what he’s doing. Well enough to stay ahead of the Rangers in a rebuilding year. The team is very young and will not likely make too much noise in the West, but if their close come the trading deadline look for Billy Beane to pull off some magic.

4. Texas Rangers - Yet another team that’s really just a lost ship on the ocean. They’ve tried to get better via free agents over the years (Chan Ho Park, A-Rod), they’ve tried to build from the farm (Michael Young, Mark Texeria (who the team traded for back up catcher/1B Jarrod Saltalamacchia), Ian Kinsler) which has worked a lot better. But the team is very green and given the lack of pitching (Millwood is their #1) I don’t see them making any noise this season.

Sticking with my original picks, I say Boston over Cleveland in the ALDS, Detroit over the Angles in the ALDS and the Sox sweep the Tigers in the ALCS.

If Beckett stays healthy he wins the Cy Young. Jacoby Ellsbury wins Rookie of the Year. Jim Leyland is the manager of the year and Vlad Guerrero wins the MVP thanks to Torri Hunter providing him line-up protection.

Back tomorrow with the NL Preview which should be fun considering I picked the Dodgers and really don’t follow NL baseball all that much.