Sunday, April 04, 2004
Today is Opening Day, and that means it's time for The Crank to get in his predictions before reality makes monkeys out of all us pundits.
AL East
1. Red Sox
2. Yankees
3. Orioles
4. Blue Jays
5. Devil Rays
AL Central
1. Royals
2. Twins
3. White Sox
4. Cleveland's team
5. Tigers
AL West
1. Angels
2. Mariners
3. Athletics
4. Rangers
AL MVP: Vlad Guerrero
AL Cy Young: Curt Schilling
AL ROY: None of the Above
AL Wild Card: Yankees
ALCS: Red Sox vs. Angels
NL East
1. Phillies
2. Marlins
3. Braves
4. Expos
5. Mets
NL Central
1. Cubs
2. Astros
3. Cardinals
4. Reds
5. Brewers
6. Pirates
NL West
1. Padres
2. Dodgers
3. Giants
4. Rockies
5. Diamondbacks
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young: Roy Oswalt
NL ROY: Aaron Miles (he has that Pat Listach flavor to him)
NLCS: Houston vs. Chicago
World Series: Red Sox beat the Astros in seven, mirroring the close November contest between gentlemen from Boston and Houston.
Some quick comments:
Yankees-Red Sox will be a duke-out indeed, and note the Red Sox have now finished second to the Yankees six times in a row. I can't find another example of a 1-2 combination like this in baseball history. The age of the Yankees augurs against a repeat, despite the impressive array of talent, and I'm just going with probabilities here.
I hate to downgrade the A's like this, since I think the club still has the best rotation in baseball (Redman and Harden are no slouches in the 4 and 5 slots), but the bullpen is missing last year's strength and the offensive lineup needs much more.
I don't see anybody challenging the Phillies in the East -- hyping the Braves again is ludicrous. It's not just the mediocre pitching, it's that they lost Gary Sheffield, their OBP machine.
I like the Astros to win the NL via the Wild Card -- I think they're a deeper club than Chicago, but the Cubs have a somewhat easier schedule (the imbalance will show), and the Cubs will want to blow it in the post-season again.
As far as the shootout in the NL West, the weakest division in the NL and possible the majors this year, I've been picking the Padres to win for the last few years. Time for the monkey to throw the dart in the right place again; I like the young and improving pitching, and with a full year of Giles and Nevin and the youngsters they should be very good.
As I type this, Karl Ravech has just picked my matchup - Red Sox Astros -- for the World Series. Go figure.
It's time to post this up as the opening pitch of Red Sox-Orioles on ESPN2 is about to start. My son just turned seven weeks old and he's wearing his baby Red Sox outfit for the opener, even if it's 3000 miles distant. The name on the back of the jersey: Garciaparra.
posted by The Crank 4:47 PM
