The
Possibilities & Probability of changes within the League
1.
Two
extra playoff teams
- Do I
really need to explain myself here?
Understanding that adding an extra playoff team in the AL & NL for a
one game win or go home situation sounds exciting, it also gives my faintly
beating heart one more pound as I dream of that extra chance for the Pirates to
have a shot…I also see and understand the bad in this idea.
The rule change is inevitable and will be a
part of this season. All true baseball
fans, by just looking at the facts and outcomes of the past five years can see
this is a bad idea. Yes, absolutely…this
is Bud Selig’s way of generating more revenue and commercial profit, we know
that, but can it really give us any more excitement then the last day of the
season in 2011? Not a chance. When Tampa Bay, Boston, Atlanta and St. Louis
were all battling it out for the final two spots (the original Wild Card game) it
was without question the best baseball can be.
The MLB season is a six-month dogfight and if you fail in September, no
matter what lead you lost hold of, you don’t deserve a second chance. It’s that simple. Hell, most old time fans can’t even wrap
their heads around the whole Wild Card idea that MLB installed in 1995. I enjoy it.
I respect it. I like the idea of
a five game series, but to give Boston and Atlanta an extra game last year to
prove they belong in the playoffs would erase the entire greatness of a team
collapsing…in this case two teams.
There shouldn’t be an extra gift under the tree
if you are naughty. There shouldn’t be
any sort of prize for failing when it counts the most…it’s just too bad
commercial revenue rules TV.
2. Houston moving to the AL (2013)
- This
change on the other hand makes so much sense you can’t seem to figure out why
the two leagues have been un-even for so long.
In 2013, it will be 15 teams in the AL and 15 teams in the NL. Finally making it a kosher five teams in all
six divisions. How’s my math? Another positive about this move is the
obvious, a new in-state rivalry as the Astros and Rangers will battle it out
every year for the pompous Lone-Star state.
“The stars at night are big and bright, [clap, clap, clap, clap] deep in the heart of Texas”. Or how I like to finish the song… “-We think
our states, a country!”
The
Doctor’s 2012 Predictions
“Outside
the Boroughs”
If we learned anything from this
blog in 2011 it was never to bet with the Doctor. I wanted and had St. Louis in the World
Series last year until news about losing Adam Wainwright for the season
surfaced and all the, what seemed to be, bad blood at the time between Albert
Pujols and the St. Louis “suites” in his
contract year. So I took them down and out
of the playoffs while putting my money behind Ozzie Guillen’s White Sox, who
sucked as bad as Adam Dunn’s batting average. It’s a common mistake for a man who usually
disregards his initial feelings and bets against himself. I also went with the Phillies who won 102
games in the regular season and once again couldn’t find their way in the postseason. All in all it was God-awful for the doctor
only hitting on a few teams and missing out on the rest. My one prediction I was happy about was the
thought of Atlanta winning 90 games and missing the playoffs…I was very close
as they won 89 and just missed out.
This year will be another clean
slate for embarrassing future thoughts that confirm the idea that Nostradamus never bet on a thing. It’s a guessing game with as much knowledge
and luck involved as possible. I hope I
don’t end up with Ozzie’s new team in Miami when I get to my picks for this
year’s World Series, but you never know…so keep scrolling down and enjoy the
contradictions…I mean read.
AL CENTRAL
It’s not 2013 yet correct? So the Royals pitchers aren’t out of the
minors in time to effect the season that is upon us. I love everything the organization has done
with their lineup and just like last year I’m convinced they will score plenty
of runs. With Moustakas, Hosmer, (newly signed w/ contract extension) Gordon
and Billy Butler this offense will wreak havoc on opponent’s pitchers. However, for now the pitching is still pretty
lame.
As I just reported earlier, I was
all high and mighty on the White Sox last year around this time and I was let
down as heavy as Precious…(see what I did there?) The Sox seem to be a mess with great
talent…yeah, I don’t get it either. Adam
Dunn is coming off his worst season in his 11-year career as he batted .159 and
hit only 11 HRs. He never batted for
average, but power was what he was about.
The Floyd/Danks situation on the mound has yet to work out. Two young guys with understandable talent
haven’t been consistent enough to matter.
Regardless, they are both back this year and the always-fiery Ozzie
Guillen is not. Possibly a managerial change
is what was needed, but personally I think they need the athletes like Jake
Peavy to last the course of a season without getting hurt.
The Tigers will be the team to beat,
by far as Jim Leyland runs the team like an Army ready for battle. The big pick up of Price Fielder will only
improve the teams record and Verlander’s winning percentage as well. The only thing I see going wrong in Detroit
is if they take too much of a lead they become soft in September and October
when it counts.
The Indians lead the division last
year for the first four months, but I don’t see this team repeating that
success. They will contend, but too
weak to succeed.
Minnesota still has that new out
door stadium, yeah for year two!
Tigers
White
Sox
Royals
Indians
Twins
NL CENTRAL
The World Series Champion St. Louis
Cardinals will enter 2012 with their star player ready to prove his
worth…that’s right people…David Freese!
The NL Championship and World Series MVP will be defending their title
in front of the sea of red, without Pujols the former St. Louis MVP. This division has lost two of it’s best power
hitters in Pujols and Fielder so I think the season spread open as far as Catherine Tramell’s legs in
that most memorable scene back in 1992.
The Brewers still hold all the cards with a wonderful pitching
staff. The Reds took over the best
offensive strike with their many weapons in Votto, Bruce and Phillips. It seems to be the same top three teams in this
division with a familiar bottom three as well.
Get
this…
The
Cubbies stadium and city is awesome, the team sucks like a Shark vacuum.
The
Pirates have some raw young talent, but their stadium will be talked about in a
better light for the 11th consecutive year. It’s getting real old boys and so is the
astonishing streak currently in the record books as they most likely will add
yet another year and move towards 20 loosing seasons in a row.
Finally
the Houston Astros…positive, this is the last year in the NL Central. Negative, they will be moving to the AL West.
Reds
Brewers (wild card)
Cardinals
Pirates
Cubs
Astros
AL EAST
The
toughest divisions in all of baseball again, with Boston and New York
sustaining their prowess of huge payrolls and Joe Maddon’s well-bellow average
payroll real deal Rays. Now with all
that jazz still going on you have to add the up and coming Toronto Blue Jays in
the mix as a considerate threat.
Boston’s
rotation and bullpen will falter the team’s success at the plate this year no
matter what people think Billy Valentine will do for them in the dugout and
clubhouse. I also will add that I think
Toronto can improve on last year’s .500 season to attempt to make it over the
hump…but will that hump be too tall and burn the youngsters out?
Going
into 2011 the Yankees biggest question mark was their starting pitching. In 2012 it seems Joe Girardi has all the
options in the world on who takes the mound everyday, plus a killer bullpen
with the “Big 3” – Soriano, Robertson and Rivera. For me, the Bronx Bombers have it. The tougher decision in this division is the
2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishes rounded out by
the overmatched Orioles.
Mmmmmm…let
me get out the magic 8-ball…
Yankees
Rays
(wild card)
Blue
Jays
Red
Sox
Orioles
NL EAST
Oh,
those aging Phillies. The 1, 2, 3 men
in the rotation will keep them in every game they take the hill, but with this
division getting stronger and increasingly competitive every year and the
questionable move on paying for Jonathan “show me your mean face” Papelbon, I
think 100 wins is a time of the past. Washington seems to be better every year and
Steve Strasburg will attempt a shot at his first full season. Miami is paid for with stars coming in and
Atlanta always plays top-notch at Turner Field.
With
Reyes, Hanley, Stanton and Morrison the speed/power combo killer of Miami will
set the South on fire. The addition of
Heath Bell over former disaster closer Leo Nunez is a 100% improvement. If Josh Johnson can last a season w/o missing
too much time a Marlin run can be made here as early as 2012 filling the new
ballpark towards the end of the season.
The
Nationals surprisingly won 80 games last season so thinking 8 to 10 more wins
in 2012 could be a reasonable conclusion as long as the inter-division games go
their way. Oh yeah Borough fans, the
Mets are in the NL East as well. After
slicing the payroll in half look for the release of Jason bay and the promise
of Duda, Davis and Tejada…that’s it. No
matter how good Johan Santana pitches he seems like trade bait come July.
Phillies
Nationals
Marlins
Braves
Mets
AL WEST
The
Texas Rangers won the West by 10 games last year and I don’t feel that they
will be giving all that back so soon.
Everyone knows the Angels improved with C.J. Wilson and Albert Pujols
and I love Mike Scioscia’s coaching ability, but 10 games is a lot. The rangers will go for the tri-fecta with a
bit more trouble, but regardless of what order the top two teams finish both
teams will have a chance in the “2nd” season. It comes down to what you do with that one
game gift.
Oakland
will flirt with 80 wins, but not score enough runs for those close games. Seattle will give headaches to King Felix and
the whole grunge scene up in the Northwest…just kidding; we all know grunge is
dead.
Rangers
Angels
A’s
Mariners
NL WEST
The
most underrated division, maybe because I’m over here on the East Coast, but
far away or not this division is tremendously competitive. Colorado, SF, LA and Arizona are all
contenders with the Padres acting as the Orioles, Mets, Twins, Astros and
Mariners of this division.
We
know the Giants (MO), great pitching/sub par hitting. Colorado is the complete opposite with great
hitting/sub par pitching. The Dodgers
are very even-Steven and were quietly four games over .500 last Season. They have a premier player in Matt Kemp and a
premier starting pitcher in Clayton Kershaw…will it or can it be enough?
In
a surprise even to myself, I like the looks of Arizona with kirk Gibson running
the roost. Then I lean back in my chair
to really ponder my thoughts… Can three teams in one division make the playoffs
by taking both wild card positions? No,
not in it’s first year of existence… It comes down to, if Arizona is going to
click as well as last year, they win out easy.
If the pitching doesn’t live up to 2011 with their “never-give-up” young
bats faltering under the pressure of last years over achievement, they loose
big. Last year was no question an
underdog story…this year they are supposed to be good. Confused yet?
Me too.
Giants
Dodgers
(wild card)
Diamondbacks
Rockies
Padres
American
League Championship
Tigers over Yankees
National League Championship
Giants over Reds
2012 World Series Champion
Detroit Tigers
follow @boroughbaseball on Twitter
Adam Hammer’S “loose Lips”
AL
East: The
Yankees will win the division. The Rays by far have the best rotation; the
Yankees the best bullpen and either the Yankees or Red Sox by far have the best
offense. The Red Sox rotation will cost them, and the Yankees rotation is solid
enough to hold off the Rays.
AL Central: Tigers will have this wrapped up by the second week of September. The Royals are better, the Indians exist, the Twins don't have a rotation and the White Sox are run by a bunch of rubes.
AL West: The Angels bullpen will cost them the division, but they will still take the wild card. The A's will make a strong push for the division though.....in 2015
NL East: It's the Phillies to lose. The Nationals are not nearly as good as people think they are. The Braves did nothing, but the Marlins have overhauled the whole franchise, and will win the wild card as long as Josh Johnson makes 30 starts.
NL Central: The Brewers will replace Fielder's numbers with the combo of Aramis Ramirez and Alex Gonzalez, a huge improvement over 2011's left side of the infield. The Astros are scheduled to play 162 games. There is a chance they will win some of those.
NL West: The Diamondbacks suddenly strong rotation and robust offense will get them the division. The Dodgers bad times are behind them, but wait until they get Cole Hamels before thinking they can win the division.
The Yankees win the AL and the Diamondbacks win the NL. History will repeat itself, but not 2001. When Kentucky wins, the Yankees win. Book it.
AL Central: Tigers will have this wrapped up by the second week of September. The Royals are better, the Indians exist, the Twins don't have a rotation and the White Sox are run by a bunch of rubes.
AL West: The Angels bullpen will cost them the division, but they will still take the wild card. The A's will make a strong push for the division though.....in 2015
NL East: It's the Phillies to lose. The Nationals are not nearly as good as people think they are. The Braves did nothing, but the Marlins have overhauled the whole franchise, and will win the wild card as long as Josh Johnson makes 30 starts.
NL Central: The Brewers will replace Fielder's numbers with the combo of Aramis Ramirez and Alex Gonzalez, a huge improvement over 2011's left side of the infield. The Astros are scheduled to play 162 games. There is a chance they will win some of those.
NL West: The Diamondbacks suddenly strong rotation and robust offense will get them the division. The Dodgers bad times are behind them, but wait until they get Cole Hamels before thinking they can win the division.
The Yankees win the AL and the Diamondbacks win the NL. History will repeat itself, but not 2001. When Kentucky wins, the Yankees win. Book it.
No comments:
Post a Comment