Baseball Predictions

In the grand tradition of Baseball season beginning, I reach out to our readers and contributors to give us predictions on how it will all turn out. Now we haven't heard from Killre or OneF on the subject, our loyal reader J from Chi has chimed in with his opinion.

The following is a direct transcript from his email to me:

"Cap'n, better late than never, right?

NL East-Maybe the best division in baseball this year...wouldn’t surprise me if the top 3 teams win 85 games or more.
New York-A strong lineup and they shored up the back of their bullpen. New stadium should give them some mojo.
Philly-I almost put Atlanta here…the Phillie lineup gives them the edge to snatch the Wild Card
Atlanta-This team is on back on track to their perennial playoff trip
Florida-Good young talent here, but their defense is weak
Washington-Should score more runs, but pitching is still lacking

NL Central-Should be competitive all year long
1. Chicago-Bradley’s health is the key and something tells me they will eventually snap up Peavy mid-season
2. St. Louis-As long as that drunk LaRussa is around, they will be solid
3. Cincinnati-Could contend for the Wild Card….don’t laugh
4. Milwaukee-Pitching is atrocious after Yovani Gallardo and Trevor Hoffman is 82 years old
5. Houston-Whiny babies. Should get wise and trade Oswalt while he still has value.
6. Pittsburgh-Different year, same crap. I’m looking forward to checking out PNC Park at the end of June.

NL West-Top heavy division
1. Los Angeles-Full year of Manny will help the whole lineup even if his numbers drop
2. Arizona-Most boring 2nd place team in the league
3. San Francisco-Should be better, but still light on power
4. Colorado-Clint Hurdle could be the 1st manager fired
5. San Diego-Trade Peavy! They need to start over.

AL East-As good as the NL East
1. Boston-They might have the best rotation in baseball and have Smoltz due back mid-season and Bucholz in AAA
2. New York-I wish them only the worst…
3. Tampa Bay-Too bad they play in this division
4. Baltimore-Pitching is maybe the worst in the league, but the lineup will score enough to keep them afloat
5. Toronto-Nothing to see here. When will they wise up and trade Roy Halladay, they could get a king’s ransom in return

AL Central-These teams will beat up on each other, just like the Ligue family
1. Cleveland-Offense back in a big way
2. Chicago-Sox fans will need lots of meth and Jager after falling short to the Tribe
3. Minnesota-Pitching will keep them in most games
4. Kansas City-Could finish as high as 2nd…don’t laugh. Lots of improvement in the offseason
5. Detroit-Trade any and all valuable pieces and start over.

AL West-Who cares
1. LA Angels-Pitching will get healthy in a month or so
2. Texas-Will crush the ball all year long, could contend if they get any pitching
3. Oakland-Holliday could be traded if they are out of it by July
4. Seattle-Evenflow…thoughts arrive like butterfliiiieees. Pearl Jam reference

Boston will beat Cleveland and NY will beat LA. Boston beats NY to advance to the World Series
LA will beat the Mets and the Cubs will beat the Phillies. Cubbies will beat the Dodgers and make their first WS trip since 1945
And the winner is…….Boston. I hope I’m wrong.