First off, a quick programming note: apologies for going AWOL the last two weeks. I had a busy (but extremely fun) time first in Arizona during the annual FanGraphs meetup and then in Florida for National Club Baseball Association spring training. We’ll get to more Brewers-centric analysis soon, but first, I’d like to go on record with my predictions for the 2011 season, given the nature of the punditry that myself and others partake in.
I entered this in friend-of-the-blog Larry Granillo’s annual prediction contest over at Wezen-Ball, where you and yours are also most welcome to participate (although I don’t know why you’d bother…). Without further ado, here are my hardly-pored-over predictions for the 2011 baseball season.
American League National League
Boston Red Sox 96 66 Atlanta Braves 91 71
New York Yankees91 71 Philadelphia Phillies 89 73
Tampa Bay Rays 89 73 Florida Marlins 85 77
Toronto Blue Jays 79 83 New York Mets 78 84
Baltimore Orioles 72 90 Washington Nationals 70 92
Chicago White Sox 88 74 Milwaukee Brewers 87 75
Detroit Tigers 84 78 Cincinnati Reds 85 77
Minnesota Twins 82 80 St. Louis Cardinals 85 77
Cleveland Indians 71 91 Chicago Cubs 80 82
Kansas City Royals 68 94 Pittsburgh Pirates 73 89
___________________________Houston Astros 64 98
Texas Rangers 87 75 Colorado Rockies 88 74
Oakland Athletics 82 80 San Francisco Giants 85 77
Los Angeles Angels 75 87 Los Angeles Dodgers 84 78
Seattle Mariners 70 92 San Diego Padres 80 82
____________________________Arizona Diamondbacks 72 90
Playoff Predictions
American League Division Series
Boston Red Sox over Texas Rangers
and
New York Yankees over Chicago White Sox
National League Division Series
Milwaukee Brewers over Atlanta Braves
and
Colorado Rockies over Philadelphia Phillies
American League Championship Series
Boston Red Sox over New York Yankees
National League Championship Series
Milwaukee Brewers over Colorado Rockies
World Series
Boston Red Sox over Milwaukee Brewers
American League MVP: Adrian Gonzalez
National League MVP: Prince Fielder
American League ROY: Jeremy Hellickson
National League ROY: Brandon Belt
American League Cy Young: Jon Lester
National League Cy Young: Roy Halladay
Aw, come on! You have the Crew going all the way to the Series but dropping it to the BoSox? Take that optimism the rest of the way, man!
a) I play club ball at tennessee and pitched against wisconsin congrats on stomping us. (assuming you go there)
b) It will be very interesting to see who gets the wild card in the NL
Yeah… I had a rough week down there. I was the lefty DH and probably the only one who didn’t get a hit for us in that game.
Come on! The Rockies are a much more proven team than the Brewers are! So we can beat an elite team like the Phillies but lose to a question mark in the Brewers? (I wanna see if Grienke and Marcum can pitch at Miller Park before I say anything about them)
Playoffs are the crapshoot of all crapshoots. I could’ve just flipped a coin to advance teams and would’ve felt just as confident on the picks.
I respect a guy who will publicly put his team in the big game in his predictions and stand by it. Here’s hoping you’re wrong about the outcome of MIL vs. BOS!