AL East AL Central AL West
1. Yankees 1. Tigers 1. Rangers
2. Rays 2. Twins 2. Angels
3. Red Sox 3. Indians 3. Mariners
4. Blue Jays 4. Royals 4. A's
5. Orioles 5. White Sox
NL East NL Central NL West
1. Phillies 1. Reds 1. Dbacks
2. Braves 2. Brewers 2. Giants
3. Marlins 3. Cardinals 3. Dodgers
4. Nationals 4. Pirates 4. Rockies
5. Mets 5. Cubs 5. Padres
6. Astros
AL Wild Cards: Rays, Red Sox
NL Wild Cards: Brewers, Giants
AL MVP: Evan Longoria
NL MVP: Justin Upton
AL Cy Young: Jered Weaver
NL Cy Young: Josh Johnson
AL Penant Winner : Yankees
NL Penant Winner: Dbacks
World Series Winner: Yankees
Starting with the AL East, I like the Yankees because I am a Yankees fan. The more objective reasons are that the Yankees have a tendency to win and, in my opinion, are the most balanced team in that division. The Yankees have one of the deepest lineups in baseball and have several hitters who can drive the ball. Recently, the Yankees have also added speed with players like Brett Gardner and were near the top of the AL in stolen bases last year. Before any of you start ranting about how CC is overpaid and how the Yankees have no starting pitching behind him (which is especially true with the injury to Pineda), keep in mind the Yankees had one of the best bullpens in the American League last year and at times it was the Yankee's pen that carried them. The Yankees' defense, although mediocre last year, had the highest fielding percentage in the league in 2010. Keep in mind that the only different starter between 2010 and 2011 was catcher Russell Martin, so the Yankees have the potential to return to the top. I have the Rays behind the Yankees because I think the Yankee's offense is better, though I will openly admit the Rays have a better starting rotation. I have the Yankees ahead of the Rays because of experience and balance, but I would not be surprised if the Rays beat the Yankees. I have the Rays as a Wild Card because they always seem to be good and have a solid rotation and a very competent manager in Joe Maddon. I have placed the Red Sox third because of their suspect pitching at the back end of their rotation. However, their offense is good enough to carry them and they will find a way to sort out the pitching mess and make the postseason with the second wild card spot. The Red Sox also have the potential to win the division. The Blue Jays are ahead of the Orioles because they are by far the more consistent team while I believe the Orioles are going to have one of the lowest win totals in the league; not necessarily through any fault of their own, but because they are the worst team in the best division and will likely have to contend with three teams in contention for it all.
I have the Tigers winning the AL Central because they dominated it last year and all of the other teams seem to lack consistency (with the exception of the Royals who have been consistently bad). However, I do think the loss of Victor Martinez, who led the league last year in batting average with runners in scoring position, will hurt the Tigers even with the addition of Prince Fielder. Even though Martinez did not play defense, he was a quality bat in that lineup. I do believe the Tigers will still have a good offense. Its the Tigers rotation I am more concerned about. Yes they have Justin Verlander, but after him, they lack consistency. In the end, the Tigers will win a bulk of their games out slugging other teams, which can be inconsistent. While this is enough to win them a relatively weak division, I do not believe it can carry them to the World Series. The Twins coming in second might be surprising given they lost close to 100 games last year , but keep in mind they were a quality team before that and suffered many injuries last season. Getting Mauer and Morneau back will really help them, and they will surprise people this year. The Indians are next because of their solid rotation, and while they are probably good enough to beat out the Twins, I do not think they will be able to do so if Grady Sizemore continues to be injured. I have the Royals ahead of the White Sox because the Royals took great strides last year and have developed a solid offense. The acquisition of Jonathan Sanchez also gives them a pretty good, if inconsistent, pitcher. The White Sox on the other hand have lost their manager and their ace and I do not think they will perform well.
I have the Rangers beating the Angels because I believe the Rangers offense is better than the Angels. The Angels might have acquired Albert Pujols, but one hitter does not make an offense. They might also have good hitters in Mike Trombo and Tori Hunter and Kendry Morales might be coming back strong, but the Rangers still have much more depth in their lineup. The Angels do have better starting pitching and might have taken the Ranger's ace away, but the Rangers will still find enough pitching to win the division. I would not be surprised if the Angels won the division or a wild card and if they do make the playoffs, no one would want to face them with that rotation. I have the Mariners ahead of the A's for the sole reason that the Mariners have Felix Hernandez, one of the best pitchers in the league, while the A's just traded away their three best pitchers. Leave it to the A's to develop pitching prospects, but they will have a tough time bringing up someone as good as Hernandez. I would not be shocked if the A's did beat out the Mariners, but frankly, neither team is very good and I do not think either will be in contention very long.
I have the Phillies winning the NL East again. I know they have their injuries and are getting older, but their starting pitching is scary good. Keep in mind they won their 102 games last year primarily through pitching as their offense was not very good and suffered several key injuries. I have the Braves coming in ahead of the Marlins because I believe the Braves are more consistent. The Marlins will also have the attention of the media, something they might not be used to and something that might prove a distraction. I also tend not to believe in teams built through free agency, especially after the season the Philadelphia Eagles turned in. I also think the Braves and Marlins are good enough to compete for the wild card spots, but will not win them. I think the Nationals will finish far ahead of the Mets because the Nationals have an insurgence of young talent in players like Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg. I think the Mets will also be in contention for the worst record in the league.
I think the Reds will win the NL Central. Call it a gut feeling, but with the players and manager the Cards and Brewers have lost along with the distractions to Ryan Braun, I think the Reds are the best team in the division. The addition of Matt Latos will help their staff a lot. I also believe they have the best collective group of position players in the league. I think the Pirates will finish fourth because they made great improvement last year and played better than a team that lost 90 games. While I think they can build off last season, I do not think it will be enough to get them in the top half of the division. While Theo Epstein may prove to be the Cub's savior, I do not think they will be very good this year and they will have to suffer another year without a championship. I do not think the Astro's final season in the NL will be very eventful, unless you think a last place finish is worth much.
The Dbacks are young and talented and I think they will repeat by virtue of the Giant's inability to produce runs. The Dbacks also have a good offense themselves and their pitching should get better. The Giants, as previously mentioned, will have their struggles on offense even if Buster Posey is healthy. With that being said, the Giants have a very good pitching staff and will gain a playoff staff with their pitching depth. I think the Dodgers will finish ahead of the Rockies because the Dodgers have, in my opinion, the two best players in this division in Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw. This is also a bit of a gut feeling, because the Rockies have much more depth than the Dodgers and everything should indicate their beating out the Dodgers for third. The Padres, in my opinion, are the worst team in this division because for a second straight offseason, they traded away their best player. But three different teams have won this division over the last three seasons, and over the last decade this has been a wacky division and it is the only division in which every team has made the playoffs in the last ten years.
At first I had Robinson Cano winning the AL MVP, but I do not think he will because there will be other Yankees to consider and when it comes time to vote, teammates tend to hurt each other's chances. The honor will then fall to Evan Longoria, who will have a bounce back year and help carry the Rays to the playoffs. The NL MVP will be Justin Upton, who will be an instrumental part of the Dbacks winning the NL West and is a potential 30- 30 threat. I have him over Matt Kemp because Kemp will likely play for a team that is out of contention early. Jered Weaver, the ace of the best rotation in the AL, deserves to be the Cy Young and will have similar numbers to what he put up last year. Josh Johnson will rebound from last year's injury to take home this year's Cy Young. Keep in mind that when he has pitched in recent years, he has been dominant.
I think the Dbacks will win the NL Penant. This is somewhat of a gut feeling, but they good balance and a solid rotation that can shut down NL offenses that frankly are not as good as AL offenses. I think the Yankees will the AL Penant. This might be slightly biased, but the Yankees have as good a chance as any team in the AL. What has killed the Yankees in recent years has not been their pitching but actually their offense's inability to hit with runners in scoring position. In fact, the team that wins the World Series tends to have breakouts with runners in scoring position. This problem has nothing to do with any personnel or any other factor that can be predicted at the present and the Yankees have as good a chance as any other team in the AL to win the penant. For these reasons, I think the Yankees will beat out the Dbacks and take revenge for 2001.
