{"id":7144,"date":"2010-03-30T07:01:37","date_gmt":"2010-03-30T06:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=7144"},"modified":"2010-04-04T17:16:26","modified_gmt":"2010-04-04T16:16:26","slug":"mlb-2010-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=7144","title":{"rendered":"MLB 2010 Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MlbHlSq\"The long offseason is almost over, teams only have a few Spring Training games left to play and many of the roster decisions have now been made.\u00c2\u00a0 The 2010 Major League season begins on Sunday (early hours of Monday for us in the UK) and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s set to be another fantastic year of baseball.<\/p>\n

So, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to make some predictions.\u00c2\u00a0 As always, none of us really knows what is going to transpire over the next six months, which is precisely why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much fun.\u00c2\u00a0 Five of us have picked out the division winners and wild cards from the regular season and then took a shot at how we think the postseason may unfold.\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bit of personal bias in there, while Steve has decided to pick out the teams who have perhaps been undervalued by bookies and pundits alike.<\/p>\n

Feel free to pass on your own predictions in the comments section below.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

American League<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/td>\nEast<\/strong><\/td>\nCentral<\/strong><\/td>\nWest<\/strong><\/td>\nWild Card<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Joe<\/strong><\/td>\nYankees<\/td>\nTwins<\/td>\nRangers<\/td>\nRed Sox<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mark<\/strong><\/td>\nYankees<\/td>\nTwins<\/td>\nMariners<\/td>\nRed Sox<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Matt<\/strong><\/td>\nYankees<\/td>\nTwins<\/td>\nAngels<\/td>\nRed Sox<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Russ<\/strong><\/td>\nRed Sox<\/td>\nTwins<\/td>\nMariners<\/td>\nAngels<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Steve<\/strong><\/td>\nRed Sox<\/td>\nWhite Sox<\/td>\nRangers<\/td>\nYankees<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s difficult to see past the Yankees and Red Sox in the East and the loser of that personal battle is highly likely to take the consolation prize of the AL Wild Card.\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what conventional wisdom tells you and, aside from Russ tipping the Angels for the Wild Card, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a line of thinking followed by all of us. However what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not picked up in the table above is that we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s simply going to be a two-horse race.\u00c2\u00a0 Mark noted that the Tampa Bay Rays will finish \u00e2\u20ac\u0153very close behind the Red Sox\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, Steve has them down as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a reasonable outside chance\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and I thought long and hard about putting them down for the Wild Card.\u00c2\u00a0 I do think they could do it, but the safer bet is on the two powerhouses coming through yet again. In particular, if the Rays have a disappointing first half to the season, they are much more likely to trade free-agents-to-be Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena rather than bring in reinforcements.<\/p>\n

Both the Central and the West look like being very competitive divisions.\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of optimism around the Twins and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reflected in our predictions, but the White Sox and Tigers should put them under pressure and Steve has Ozzie Guillen’s team edging it.\u00c2\u00a0 The West is arguably the most competitive division in the Majors simply because there is no clear-cut favourite, as reflected in our picks.\u00c2\u00a0 The A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s are the outsiders and would need everything to go their way to pip the others.\u00c2\u00a0 The Rangers and Mariners get two votes each, while I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not quite ready to rule out the Angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/td>\nALDS<\/strong><\/td>\nALCS<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Joe<\/strong><\/td>\nRed Sox over Twins, Yankees over Rangers<\/td>\nYankees over Red Sox<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mark<\/strong><\/td>\nYankees over Twins, Red Sox over Mariners<\/td>\nYankees over Red Sox<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Matt<\/strong><\/td>\nYankees over Twins, Red Sox over Angels<\/td>\nRed Sox over Yankees<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Russ<\/strong><\/td>\nRed Sox over Angels, Twins over Mariners<\/td>\nTwins over Red Sox<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Steve<\/strong><\/td>\nRed Sox over White Sox, Rangers over Yankees<\/td>\nRangers over Red Sox<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for the postseason, all five of us have the Red Sox making the ALCS, which is perhaps at odds with some of the pessimism in Beantown due to the apparently lacklustre offence (it looks more than good enough to me).\u00c2\u00a0 Mark, Joe and I see a repeat of the 2003-2004 classics between the AL East rivals, while Russ and Steve are holding out hope for one of the so-called lesser teams getting the better of Boston and moving on to the Fall Classic.<\/p>\n

National League<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/td>\nEast<\/strong><\/td>\nCentral<\/strong><\/td>\nWest<\/strong><\/td>\nWild Card<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Joe<\/strong><\/td>\nBraves<\/td>\nCardinals<\/td>\nDodgers<\/td>\nPhillies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mark<\/strong><\/td>\nPhillies<\/td>\nCardinals<\/td>\nRockies<\/td>\nDodgers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Matt<\/strong><\/td>\nPhillies<\/td>\nCardinals<\/td>\nRockies<\/td>\nBraves<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Russ<\/strong><\/td>\nPhillies<\/td>\nCubs<\/td>\nRockies<\/td>\nGiants<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Steve<\/strong><\/td>\nBraves<\/td>\nBrewers<\/td>\nRockies<\/td>\nPhillies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the Senior Circuit, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no surprise that we all think the Phillies are going to make the postseason.\u00c2\u00a0 They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve played in the last two World Series and they do not appear to be any weaker in 2010; however, both Joe and Steve see the Phils progressing to October via the Wild Card rather than a fourth straight NL East title.\u00c2\u00a0 The Atlanta Braves are tabbed as the team to break that sequence and their competitiveness is underlined by my selection of them as the Wild Card.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

The St. Louis Cardinals re-signed Matt Holliday over the offseason and with Albert Pujols hitting in front of him and two genuine aces in Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright at the front of their rotation, they have to be seen as the team to beat in the NL Central.\u00c2\u00a0 Even Steve noted that they are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the clear favourites\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, but he countered that by stating that he thinks \u00e2\u20ac\u0153it would be wrong t0 write off the Brewers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and that seems a fair shout.\u00c2\u00a0 Russ sees a rebound from the Cubs, while there was a certain amount of optimism among us for the Reds outside of the actual predictions for the division winner.\u00c2\u00a0 The fact that none of us see the Wild Card coming from the Central is an indication that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not likely to be the strongest division, although it may still be one of the most exciting if the Cardinals don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fire on all cylinders and four teams enter the last month with a realistic shot at coming out on top.<\/p>\n

The Rockies are the favourites to win the NL West for the first time in their relatively short history. Joe bucks the trend by backing the Dodgers, with Mark taking L.A. as his Wild Card pick and Russ putting faith in his Giants.\u00c2\u00a0 Mark isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite so sure about that: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Giants will be the best fourth-placed team in baseball [he has the D-Backs in 3rd] but a lack of offense will waste some excellent pitching from Lincecum and Cain\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/td>\nNLDS<\/strong><\/td>\nNLCS<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Joe<\/strong><\/td>\nCardinals over Phillies, Braves over Dodgers<\/td>\nCardinals over Braves<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mark<\/strong><\/td>\nPhillies over Dodgers, Cardinals over Rockies<\/td>\nPhillies over Cardinals<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Matt<\/strong><\/td>\nPhillies over Cardinals, Braves over Rockies<\/td>\nPhillies over Braves<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Russ<\/strong><\/td>\nGiants over Phillies, Rockies over Cubs<\/td>\nRockies over Giants<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Steve<\/strong><\/td>\nBraves over Brewers, Phillies over Rockies<\/td>\nBraves over Phillies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

As with the AL postseason picks, the five of us have come up with four different World Series representatives.\u00c2\u00a0 Any of those potential NLCS match-ups would make for a great (and close) series.\u00c2\u00a0 The question then is whether the National League team will be strong enough to beat their American League opponent?<\/p>\n

World Series<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Joe<\/strong><\/td>\nYankees over Cardinals<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mark<\/strong><\/td>\nYankees over Phillies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Matt<\/strong><\/td>\nRed Sox over Phillies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Russ<\/strong><\/td>\nTwins over Rockies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Steve<\/strong><\/td>\nRangers over Braves<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not by our reckoning: we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all got the AL team emerging triumphant.\u00c2\u00a0 Joe, Mark and I have gone down the conservative, and arguably the most probable, route with two votes for a Yankee repeat (Mark thinks the Phillies will stretch it to a 7 game series this time but with the same result as \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc09) and my selection of the Red Sox.\u00c2\u00a0 Russ sees the Twins following the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwin it all with a new stadium\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 approach and Steve goes out on a limb with the Rangers securing their first ever World Series title, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ruining the fairytale ending for Bobby Cox in five or six games\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

Not that Steve is overly confident with that prediction: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00c2\u00b4ll never happen, my head tells me one of Red Sox\/ Yankees\/ Phillies again, but I\u00c2\u00b4m not tipping those sides. That would just encourage them\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 Joe took a similar line, signing off his predictions by stating \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Obviously – I hope none of that happens!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

When it comes down to it, like everyone else we all want our own teams to do well, meaning the Mariners (Joe), Dodgers (Mark), A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s (me), Giants (Russ) and Mets (Steve).\u00c2\u00a0 In order of the most likely to do just that, I would go for Dodgers, Mariners, Giants, Mets, A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, with the Dodgers being the only ones I would give a better than even chance of making the Championship Series.<\/p>\n

We’ll revisit these predictions at the end of the season to see how they turned out.\u00c2\u00a0 What we\u00c2\u00a0can predict with all\u00c2\u00a0certainty is that it’s going to be another exciting season.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let us know who you think will triumph in 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2010 Major League season begins on Sunday (early hours of Monday for us in the UK) and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s set to be another fantastic year of baseball. So, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to make some predictions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[107,101,133,125,132,121,110,553,108,98,128,99,134,127,119,126],"class_list":["post-7144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb-2","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb-2","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-oakland-as","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-texas-rangers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7144"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7405,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7144\/revisions\/7405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}