Baseball season is knocking on the door, with Spring Training games scheduled to begin this weekend. With the season quickly approaching, let’s take a look at my preseason picks.
NL West: I think the Arizona Diamondbacks should be a good team still, but the return of a healthy Buster Posey to San Francisco makes them the favorite in book.
NL Central: No Albert Pujols. No Prince Fielder. No suspension for Ryan Braun. Milwaukee and St. Louis have had their share of headlines this offseason, but so have the Reds. A playoff team two years ago, the Reds have improved. They’ll take the Central.
NL East: Watch out for the Marlins and Nationals. Tough teams who brought in more talent in the offseason, they will join the Braves in the hunt for this division. But this division still belongs to the Phillies.
NL Wildcard: If there is one Wild Card team this year, look for Arizona to earn it. If there’s two spots, the Braves will not let it slip away twice in a row.
AL West: Texas is heavily favored and added Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish. But they lost C.J. Wilson to the Angles who also snagged Albert Pujols. Angels should win this division on pitching depth and veteran leadership.
Al Central: The Indians will be fun to watch this year and the young Royals should be a tough win to earn as well as a challenge in the future. But today is not the future and the AL Central is still the Tigers’ division to lose.
AL East: I don’t buy into the pitchers the Yankees added. Who knows if the youth in the Rays’ rotation will live up to its hype. And then, as if you couldn’t see this coming, there’s the Red Sox who have seemingly received only unflatter press at best. And they will come from relatively nowhere. That’s right, the bias wins, Red Sox win the AL East.
AL Wildcard: If there is only one wildcard spot available, I’d look to the Yankees to place their claim. If there are two, I see the Rays making the AL East the first team to send three teams to the playoffs in the same year.
It’s hard to predict the exact playoff breakdown when do not yet know exactly what playoff bracket format we will have. So for now, I will predict simply that the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies will meet in the National League Championship Series whereas the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will play the New York Yankees American League Championship Series.
And, drumroll please, the official LateInningFieldGoal Spring Training World Series prediction is: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim defeat the San Francisco Giants.
NL Manager of the Year: Dusty Baker, Cincinnati Reds
AL Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Rays
NL Comeback Player of the Year: Washington Nationals RF/CF Jayson Werth
AL Comeback Player of the Year: Boston Red Sox LF Carl Crawford
NL Rookie of the Year: Washington Nationals RF Bryce Harper
AL Rookie of the Year: Tampa Bay Rays SP Matt Moore
NL MVP: Cincinnati Reds 1B Joey Votto
AL MVP: Tampa Bay Rays 3B Evan Longoria
NL Cy Young: San Francisco Giants SP Matt Cain
AL Cy Young: Detroit Tigers SP Justin Verlander
Of course, I plan to revisit these predictions after I've seen some Spring Training action.
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