Cut me some slack, I am a little late on the second half predictions but I wanted to see how teams broke out of the second half gate. I have seen all I need to see and I am now ready to make “take it to the bank” predictions.
Let’s get started with the easiest division to predict, the AL West.
AL West
Champion – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Home field throughout Playoffs)
I think the Angels have already clinched the division, in fact the division was over when the A’s decided six games was too much to overcome in early July and started selling starting pitchers. For the Rangers playing .500 ball is a moral victory and you cannot top the Josh Hamilton story, but the pitching staff is still a joke. The Mariners were over-rated this season – adding Bedard did nothing to address the woeful offense.
AL Central
Champion – Minnesota Twins
The central is by far the weirdest division in baseball! It contains the most disappointing team, Cleveland, and another major underachiever, Detroit. I am not as surprised by Detroit, as I thought all along their pitching would be weak and the addition of Cabrera didn’t improve the hitting as much as it weakened the defense. They have also been ravaged by injuries and their bullpen is a complete mess.
So we are left with the White Sox and Twins battling it out for the right to get swept in the first round. The safe move is to pick the ChiSox that will save us another profanity laced tirade by Ozzie Guillen. I enjoy managerial tirades so put me down for the Twins. They have a solid club that “plays the game the right way.”
AL East
Champion – Tampa Bay Rays
AL Wild Card – NY Yankees
Why not Tampa Bay? The Rays remind me a lot of the 1991 Atlanta Braves – young, dominant pitching and a versatile lineup that has the power to post crooked numbers in a given inning but speed to manufacture a tying run late in the game. The downside is they are a horrible road team and the play the majority of their remaining games away from the Trop. The upside is the competition for the division is weak. Add it all up and we might be looking at the beat to beat in the AL East for the next 10 years.
The Yankees have the innate ability throw dog crap against the wall and have it stick more than all professional teams combined. From Aaron Small to Sindey Ponson this year, Jason Giambi’s (who looks a lot like the biker from the Village People) and Mike Mussina’s resurgence the Yankees seem to never crap-out. This really felt like the year the Yankees would fall short of the playoffs, but with help from the Pirates (Nady and Marte for the equivalent of a bag of batting practice balls), Red Sox (more on them in a minute) and the Tigers (bailing them out with Pudge Rodriguez) it looks like Yankee stadium will host one more playoff game.
The Red Sox are the third team in this division race. The Sox are leading the wild card at the time of this writing and are only three games back; however, this team has been so atrocious for the past month that making the post-season seems impossible. In fact these two quotes pretty much sum up the Red Sox:
“What can I say – they want to win the World Series this year.” – Dustin Pedroia when asked about the Angels trading for Mark Teixeira. Translation: Because of our success last year, our management is willing to sit back and watch this team implode rather than mix up the roster with a major acquisition. (NOTE: The Red Sox are rumored to parting ways with the cancerous Manny Ramirez, if that trade happens the Red Sox have a slight chance to bump the Yankees from the Wild Card, but I will stand by my picks).
“Flat, disinterested and not hungry, the Red Sox are” – Yoda
AL Division Series:
Angels 3 Yankees 1 – OK, so Yankee stadium gets two last playoff games and the added bonus of sending the Yankees off as losers!
Rays 3 Twins 2 – This will come down to home field advantage, which the Rays should own!
AL Championship Series:
Angels 4 Rays 2 – The Rays will fight them tooth and nail, but in the end I think the “Rally Monkey” will get in the Rays heads.
