Official 2005 MLB Prediction Thread

[flyer85]

NL East - Mets
Central - Cards
West - Padres
Wild Card - Phillies

NL MVP - Pujols Cy Young - Pedro Pennant - Mets

AL East - Red Sox
Central - Twins
West - A's
Wild Card - Yanks

Pennant - Red Sox AL MVP - Ramirez Cy Young - Santana

WS - Red Sox

[Moonlite Graham]

NL East-Marlins (Best Team in NL for 05)
NL Central- Cards (Not a whole lotta holes)
NL West- Padres (Pitching and extra year in Petco all the difference)
WildCard- Reds (More I think about it, better I like the pick)

PENNANT- Marlins

MVP-Pujols (The best hitter period in NL, maybe baseball)
Cy Young- Hudson

AL East-Yankees (To much $$ not to be)
AL Central-Tigers (In a heated 4 team race, a surprise!)
AL West-Angels (Whatever their called, just call em real good!)
WildCard-Sawks (They hit the ball wicked hahd)

PENNANT- Los Angeles/ Anaheim/ California/ Orange County/ Golden State/ ANGELS

MVP-Vlad
Cy Young- Halladay

WS-ANGELS


BTW- Did I read it wrong or did someone on here ACTUALLY pick Colorado to be in the WildCard hunt???

Have you seen that lineup?
The 03 Tigers may have competition!

[Jaycint]

NL East - Florida. Tough division but their pitching wins out.
NL Central - Cardinals. Murderer's Row keeps them atop the central even with what I think will be sub-par pitching.
NL West - Padres. Most under-rated pitching staff in baseball in my opinion.
NL Wildcard - Reds. We get just enough pitching to squeak into the playoffs, not nearly enough to make a deep run though.

NL Pennant - Florida. I think guys like Beckett and Burnett really turn in outstanding years, especially under the guidance of a vet like Al Leiter.

NL MVP - Adam Dunn. I think he has a very similar year to last year but people sit up and notice this season when we make the playoffs.

NL Cy Young - Josh Beckett. This is the year the blisters stay away.

AL East - Yankees. RJ and the rest of the revamped pitching staff get them back to the Series.
AL Central - Twins. Pitching pitching pitching.
AL West - Mariners. Ichiro flirts with .400 all year and Beltre and Sexson both come up big.

AL Pennant - Yankees. Ugh...

AL MVP - Ichiro, and by a lot. As good as he was last year, I think he really just has a monster season this year.

AL Cy Young - Randy Johnson. Wouldn't be a bit surprised to see 25+ wins with that potent lineup behind him.

WORLD SERIES - Marlins. In a rematch from a few years back the Marlins once again beat the Yanks.

[CincyRedsFan30]

"BTW- Did I read it wrong or did someone on here ACTUALLY pick Colorado to be in the WildCard hunt???

Have you seen that lineup?
The 03 Tigers may have competition!"

How about:

"Have you seen that pitching staff?" (At Coors)

[jmcclain19]

jmclain, how could Peavy win the AL Cy Young?

AL/NL

They are all the same anyway right?

Heh

[Raisor]

NL East-FLA
NL Cent-STL
NL West-LOS
NL WC-SDG

AL East-BOS
AL Cent-CLE
AL West-OAK
AL WC-SEA

[Red Leader]

NL East: Atlanta
NL Cent: St. Louis
NL West: San Diego
NL WC: Florida

AL East: NY Yankees
AL Cent: Minnesota
AL West: Anaheim
AL WC: Boston

NL Cy Young: Hudson
NL MVP: Pujols

AL Cy Young: Randy Johnson
AL MVP: Ichiro

Angels over Florida in WS

[Ravenlord]

NL East: Atlanta
NL Central: St. Louis
NL West: San Diego
Wild Card: Florida

AL East: Boston
AL Central: Minnesota
AL West: Anaheim
Wild Card: Cleveland

NL MVP: Pujols
AL MVP: Santana
NL CY: Oliver Perez or Carlos Zambrano
AL CY: Santana or Rich Harden

[KronoRed]

AL/NL

They are all the same anyway right?

Heh

NO

AL = lame fake baseball with some guy who doesn't play the field

NL = The real stuff

[Walkerforpres]

Oh heck, why not.

NL Central - Cardinals ( :thumbdown )
NL East - Marlins
NL West - Padres
NL Wild Card - Braves (if the pitching holds up...lots of injury history there)

NL Pennant - Marlins
NL MVP - Carlos Beltran
NL Cy Young - Pedro Martinez

AL East - Yankees
AL Central - Twins
AL West - Angels
Wild Card - Red Sox

AL Pennant - Angels
AL MVP - Vlad Guerrero
AL Cy Young - Johan Santana

World Series - Angels over Marlins

[M2]

NL EAST

Atlanta Braves - Every year we hear about how the latest Braves team doesn't look so good on paper. Then the team goes out and wins the division. This edition looks to have five starters primed and ready for the season and Andruw destroyed the baseball in Florida. He's got to have a career year one of these seasons, might as well do it in 2005. Main thing is that things will go right. Something always goes right for this team.

Florida Marlins - It's their Kill Arthur Dent team. It can't fail. It won't. The Marlins can get themselves a wild card, which is what they really want. They can't seriously be thinking about starting Scuffy Moehler, can they?

New York Mets - Could be a real fun team - power, runs, defense. The bullpen looks shaky and Kaz Matsui probably needs to get flushed, but the Carlos Beltran era could get off to a decent start.

Philadelphia Phillies - Maybe they'll score a zillion runs, but they're not a young team and the pitching looks to be in a backwards force march. At least Philly fans should have something to boo.

Les Nationals de Washington - Shouldn't Vinny Castilla be sent to the minors for the same reasons Endy Chavez was? Brendan Harris is a better player. Should be the best last place team in baseball. Tough division.

NL CENTRAL

St. Louis Cardinals - Mark Mulder sure looks healthy so far. If he is, this team skates. Looks like Bill Pulsipher will be reunited with Jason Isringhausen. Quick, trade 'em Paul Wilson!

Houston Astros - What? This has got to be a typo. Am I out of my mind? I must be. Looks like they've got their pitching in order and they'll figure out the offense, particularly when Lance Berkman returns.

Pittsburgh Pirates - All Graham Koonce all the time. Seriously, how can you bet against a team with guys named Oliver, Kip and Tike? It's like giving the cold shoulder to the Little Rascals.

Chicago Cubs - Nomar Garciaparra is going to have a huge year. So is Derrek Lee, but the starting pitchers outside of Carlos Zambrano are in various states of disarray.

Cincinnati Reds - Ramon Ortiz and Eric Milton attempt to impress NASA with their ability to get balls launched into orbit. P.S. (for the Reds front office) instead of looking for guys who "know" how to win, how about getting guys who can play well enough to win?

Milwaukee Brewers - The real question is how many guys in the opening day starting lineup still have starting jobs in Milwaukee when the season ends.

NL WEST

San Diego Padres - Somebody's got to win this division.

The Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles - And somebody's got to finish second.

Arizona Diamondbacks - And third.

San Francisco - Sure, they don't need Barry Bonds. They've got a great team without him.

Colorado Rockies - Good to know that Dan O'Dowd can finally be himself. For the longest time he was an incompetent trapped in a GM's body.

Wild Card - Florida Marlins
MVP - Albert Pujols
Cy Young - Jake Peavy
Rookie of the Year - Chris Burke

AL EAST

New York Yankees - They could fall apart, but I believe in angst and there isn't enough of it in Boston these days.

Boston Red Sox - I secretly suspect the Sox loved what Pokey Reese did defensively at 2B and their hope is, later in the season, Hanley Ramirez can approximate it and maybe have a clue at the plate too.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays - I typed Baltimore, then Toronto, then Baltimore, then Toronto, then thought, "What the hell, Tampa Bay."

Baltimore Orioles - Sammy's too legit to quit. Todd Williams and Bruce Chen could be in the pen. Someone locate Mark Kroon, stat!

Toronto Blue Jays - Unquestionably the best team in Canada.

AL CENTRAL

Minnesota Twins - Actually they've already mathematically clinched this puppy. The only real drama is whether Kyle Lohse turns into a pitcher. Corky Miller becomes a legend this October.

Cleveland Indians - Juan Gonzalez? Has his druggist cleared him to play? Jhonny Peralta looks like he's on the brink of a breakout season.

Chicago White Sox - At least people taunted the Red Sox about their World Series drought. I sometimes wonder if folks recognize the White Sox's existence enough to realize theirs just hit 87 years, 88 after this season.

Detroit Tigers - The organization sits down and, after agreeing all will be fine after all their prospects arrive, terror sets in when the realize they have no prospects.

Kansas City Royals - Swear to God I almost forgot to list them. This team is so bad should be contracted and the 1985 World Series trophy should be given to the Cardinals along with Don Denkinger's head.

AL WEST

Oakland A's - Yep, Billy Beane's just rebuilding. Can't compete this year. Nope. No reason to worry about the A's.

Anaheim Angels - Cast adrift without David Eckstein's mojo to guide them ... that and a really sucky team OB.

Texas Rangers - They'll hit better this year, Mark Texeira in particular, but they'll make sure to bow out of the limelight so nothing interrupts microscopic detail coverage of the Cowboys preseason.

Seattle Mariners - Hey Bill Bavasi, your team can't pitch. Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre are going to be two of the unhappiest multi-millionaires on the planet when they start playing in Safeco.

Wild Card - Boston Red Sox
MVP - Eric Chavez
Cy Young - Johan Santana, because he's the best pitcher alive
Rookie of the Year - Gabe Gross

[MWM]

Great stuff, M2. That's head and shoulders better than any of the pre-season stuff I've read on ESPN or any other media outlet for that matter.

But you're missing your playoff prediction.

Kansas City Royals - Swear to God I almost forgot to list them. This team is so bad should be contracted and the 1985 World Series trophy should be given to the Cardinals along with Don Denkinger's head.

[SirFelixCat]

NL East-Braves
NL Central-Cards
NL West-Padres
NL Wildcard-Marlins

NL MVP-Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young-John Smoltz
NL Pennant-Marlins

AL East-Yankees
AL Central-Twins
AL West-A's
AL Wildcard-Angels

AL MVP-Mark Texiera
AL Cy Young-Johan Santana
AL Pennant-Twins

World Series-Twins

[Reds/Flyers Fan]

NL Central - Cardinals
NL East - Braves (this is getting really old and boring MLB)
NL West - Padres
NL Wildcard - Fish

Cardinals over Braves
Fish over Pads

NLCS - Fish over Cards

AL East - Yank$
AL Central - Twins
AL West - Angels
AL Wildcard - Red $ox

Yank$ over Twins
Red $ox over Halos

Made for TV ratings ALCS - Yank$ over Red $ox

World Series - Yank$

And again baseball really doesn't matter anywhere but Boston and New York

[M2]

But you're missing your playoff prediction.

I try to avoid making those in the preseason. How the playoffs turn out is affected by how teams are playing late in the season and how well all their additions fit in with the rest of the team.

If I had to make a random guess, how about a Braves-Twins World Series with John Smoltz getting payback for 1991 by throwing a game seven classic (and winning)?