162 predictions for the MLB season, some will be bold some will be obvious
- The NL wins the All Star game
- Prince Fielder wins the Home Run Derby
- Yankees tickets will sell for absurd amounts of money online
- Joe Torre wins NL manager of the year
- Joe Girardi wins AL manager of the year
- Yadier Molina and Kenji Johnjima win the Gold Gloves at C
- Derrek Lee and Kevin Youkilis win it at 1st
- Mark Ellis and Orlando Husdon win it at 2nd
- Ryan Zimmerman and Mike Lowell win it at 3rd
- Tulo and Orlando Cabrera win it at short
- In the NL Andruw Jones, Felix Pie, and Shane Victorino win it in the outfield...
- and in the AL Ichiro, Torii Hunter, and Grady Sizemore win it.
- Greg Maddux and Jake Westbrook win it for Pitchers
- Brandon Webb wins the NL Cy Young
- C.C. Sabathia wins the AL Cy Young
- Carlos Gomez wins AL ROY
- Scott Kazmir will be the 3rd best pitcher on the Rays
- AL comeback player of the year Travis Hafner
- Nl comeback player of the year Andruw Jones
- Ichiro leads the league in hits (232)...
- ...and BA (.345)
- Dusty Baker doesn't give the young Reds enough playing time...
- ...other than Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volsquez, who each pitch 20 more innings than they should...
- The Giants will try and trade off their aging position players...
- ...but no one will want Durham, Roberts, Visquel or Aurilla
- Viagra uses Giants players in their new ad campaign
- Dan Haren will be a disapointment for the Diamondbacks
- But Brandon Webb will continue to pitch amazing
- And Randy Johnson won't have more than 15 starts
- The Rockies won't make it back to the World Series...
- ...they won't even make the playoffs
- Chase Headley will not only be the starting Lf in San Diego for most of the season...
- ....he'll also win the NL ROY
- Mark Prior doesn't pitch the whole season...
- ...but his ERA will still be low cause he plays in Petco
- Carlos Zambrano will keep his cool for most of the season, and will be a better pitcher for it,...
- ...although he will serve a 9-game suspension for shoving the end of a broken bat into J.J. Hardy's pants
- Alfonso Soriano will end up in the leadoff spot
- Rickie Weeks will challenge levels of mediocrity by a 2b that have rarely been seen...
- ...but Ned Yost will leave him in the lineup because his backup is Craig Counsell
- Ben Sheets will get hurt (hey I said some of them will be obvious)
- Jason Kendall will allow more runners to steal than he has RBIs
- Ian Snell will be top 3 in the league in quality starts...
- ...but still not record more than 12 wins.
- Jason Bay's BA rises 40 points off of last year...
- ...and he hits 12 more HRs, but still strikes out 145 times
- Miguel Tejada doesn't get deported
- Carlos Lee hits 115 RBIs
- Roy Oswalt wins a little less than a 3rd of his teams total victories
- Adam Wainwright dazzels...
- ...but the rest of the rotation proves why its the worst in the central, yes even worse than the Astros.
- Pujols gets shut down a little after the ASB
- Cesar Izturis sucks so bad...
- ...that LaRussa bats him 9th because the pitcher is actually better than him
- David Wright wins NL MVP...
- ...65% because he deserved it...35% because he plays in NY and for the best team in the NL
- Pedro makes 18 starts on the year.
- Manny Ramirez puts up similar numbers to last year's
- Manny Delcarmon is the most reliable option...
- ...out of the best bullpen in baseball
- Arod wins another MVP...
- ...but that's still not good enough for many Yanks fans
- Yankees trade for Joe Blanton...
- ...in a package that includes Ian Kennedy and a boatload of cash that rivals the GNP of Sierra Leone in the month of July
- Joba Chamberlian spends the year in the pen...
- ...and a few horrible outings inflate his ERA to 4.11
- Matt Stairs doesn't bat a single game in the leadoff spot...
- Alex Rios once again puts up the best numbers in the Toronto outfield
- Jeremy Accardo gets more saves on the year than BJ Ryan
- The Orioles trade Brian Roberts at the deadline...
- ...but not to the Cubs
- Nick Markakis hits .300 with 32 HRs and 110 RBIs...
- ...and the entire starting infield hits only 46 HRs
- Carlos Pena hits 41 HRs
- Carl Crawford steals 50 bases...
- ...but doesn't top 20 HRs or 80 RBIs
- Chase Utley finishs 2nd in the MVP race
- Ryan Howard belts 52 HRs...
- ...and strikes out over 200 times
- Brad Lidge blows 7 saves
- Tim Hudson and John Smoltz put up a quiet 33-16 3.30 ERA between them
- Will Ohman puts up a 5+ ERA
- Chipper and Tex put up 65 HR 220 RBIs between them
- Nick Johnson gets more starts than D. Young
- Jason Berggman leads the team in wins and ERA
- Hanley Ramirez hits .335 steals 50 bags and hit 30 dingers...
- ...and secretly wishes to be traded
- The only good starting pitcher in Detriot will be Justin Verlander...
- ...Dontrelle Willis will put up and ERA 5+
- But the Tigers will put up 900+ runs...
- ...but come up short of 1000
- Magglio hits 50 points lower than last year
- Renteria hits .320 with 85 RBIs
- Fausto and CC put up the best numbers for a duo in baseball
- Pronk hits 40 HRs again...
- ...but his BA still stays low at about .275
- The White Sox still don't realize they have no chance to win and try to make the playoffs when they are 7 games out at the deadline
- Hawk Harrelson remains the most annoying announcer in baseball...
- ...Joe Morgan takes the honor for color cominatators
- Speaking of Morgan, firejoemorgan.com has an unpresidented spike in hits
- Trey Hillman wins the Royals at least 5 more games than last year
- Zack Grienke wins at least 13 games
- Justin Morneau hits 35 HRs, but hits .280
- Fransico Liriano goes to the DL twice
- Huston Street becomes one of the most sought after players at the deadline...
- ....after converting 18 out of 19 saves in the first half of the season
- Bobby Crosby improves his .226 BA from last year
- Hitters still don't realize that KRod only throws basically one pitch for strikes
- Brandon Wood still doesn't get significant PT
- Rangers team ERA will be the worst in baseball
- Josh Hamilton approaches 30 HRs
- Richie Sexson gets his Slugging Percentage back over .500
- Eric Bedard has a K/9 rate over 10
- 3 hitters hit for the cycle:
- ...Adrian Gonzalez....
- ...Hanley Ramirez and...
- ...Brandon Phillips
- 2 pitchers throw no hitters:
- ...Adam Wainwright and...
- ...Carlos Zambrano
- Joe Torre leads the Dodgers to an NL West title
- ...1 game back are the Padres...
- ...then the Dbacks
- And the Rockies...
- and a ways back are the Giants
- The Cubs win the NL Central
- The Brewers finish second
- The Reds a distant 3rd
- The the surprise team of the year the Pirates in 4th...
- ...followed close by the Astros...
- ...and bringing up the rear are the Cardinals in last
- The Mets win the NL East
- The Phillies a close 2nd
- The Braves come in 3rd
- The Marlins battle it out for 4th with...
- The Nationals, they end up in a tie for 4th
- The Red Sox win the AL East with the best record in baseball
- The Yankees finish 2nd
- The Rays finish 3rd
- The Blue Jays finish 4th
- ....and the Orioles a distant 5th...
- The Angels Win the Al West
- The Mariners finish 2nd
- The A's 3rd
- The Rangers 4th
- The Indians win the AL Central
- The Tigers finish a close 2nd
- The White Sox finish much far back in 3rd
- The Royals finish a game ahead of...
- ...the last place Twins
- The Padres win the NL Wild Card...
- Barely beating out the Phillies on the last day of the season
- The Yankees somehow find a way to win the wild card and make the playoffs...
- ....making Tiger fans wish they had targeted better starting pitching than Dontrelle Willis
- The Mets beat the Padres in 4
- The Cubs beat the Dodgers in 5
- The Indians take out the Yanks in 4
- The Red Sox beat the Angels in 3
- The Cubs beat the Mets in 6
- The Red Sox beat the Indians in 7
- The Red Sox beat the Cubs in 6...
- ...which technically ends the curse