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Monday, October 04, 2004

Fearless predictions at the end

In my never-ending search for mad-props I made a set of predictions just prior to the season opener. When last I checked these predictions things were not going well at all- I had only successfully picked two of the six division leaders heading into the All-Star break (though my MVP selections were spot-on). Thankfully, things have gotten a little bit better as the season has gone along. I'm not sure I deserve props of any sort, but I'll let you be the judge of that (my predictions are listed in black, followed by the actual standings in italics):

American League:

East:

  1. New York Yankees
  2. Boston Red Sox
  3. Toronto Blue Jays
  4. Baltimore Orioles
  5. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
  1. New York Yankees
  2. Boston Red Sox
  3. Baltimore Orioles
  4. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
  5. Toronto Blue Jays
I'm afraid I can't take too much credit for picking the Yankees and Red Sox to go 1-2. That's like predicting that the sun will rise tomorrow.

Central:

  1. Minnesota Twins
  2. Cleveland Indians
  3. Kansas City Royals
  4. Chicago White Sox
  5. Detroit Tigers
  1. Minnesota Twins
  2. Chicago White Sox
  3. Cleveland Indians
  4. Detroit Tigers
  5. Kansas City Royals
Not too bad. Once again, picking the Twins to win the Central is a no-brainer, but you have to be impressed with my prediction that "Cleveland will be the surprise team of the season, and should finish near .500" (they finished three games under) and that the Royals would crash and burn. (That genius Frinklin picked the Royals to win the division! Everybody point and laugh at Frinklin!)

West:

  1. Anaheim Angels
  2. Oakland A's
  3. Seattle Mariners
  4. Texas Rangers
  1. Anaheim Angels
  2. Oakland A's
  3. Texas Rangers
  4. Seattle Mariners
At the ASB this division was all messed-up. I was a big, fat, o-fer at the time. Glad to see that things worked themselves out. So glad. Oh, and for the record, while I did pick the Mariners to finish ahead of the Rangers, I did not expect them to be in the playoff hunt: "The Mariners are too old and too inept to stay in it this year."

MVP: Manny Ramirez

Manny is certain to finish in the top-three at the very least. I think Vlad has locked it up at this point, but it wouldn't be a huge surprise if either Manny or Garry Sheffield snuck in there.

Cy Young: Kevin Brown

Nope. Not even close.

Div. Series: New York over Minnesota, Anaheim over Boston

Eerie, huh?

Champ. Series: New York over Anaheim

God I hope I'm wrong about this.

National League:

East:

  1. Philadelphia Phillies
  2. New York Mets
  3. Atlanta Braves
  4. Florida Marlins
  5. Montreal Expos
  1. Atlanta Braves
  2. Philadelphia Phillies
  3. Florida Marlins
  4. New York Mets
  5. Montreal Expos
That'll learn me to pick against Atlanta. Are these guys going to lose a division in my lifetime?

Central:

  1. Chicago Cubs
  2. Houston Astros
  3. St. Louis Cardinals
  4. Cincinnati Reds
  5. Pittsburgh Pirates
  6. Milwaukee Brewers
  1. St. Louis Cardinals
  2. Houston Astros
  3. Chicago Cubs
  4. Cincinnati Reds
  5. Pittsburgh Pirates
  6. Milwaukee Brewers
Cubs: disappointment of the year? Yeah, I'd say so. This division was probably the bracket-buster for most people. You had three teams that could easily go all the way (possibly the three best teams in the league going in), and one of them had to miss the playoffs. I must admit, I didn't give the Cards a whole lot of love, and they made me pay for it.

West:

  1. San Francisco Giants
  2. Arizona Diamond Backs
  3. San Diego Padres
  4. Los Angeles Dodgers
  5. Colorado Rockies
  1. Los Angeles Dodgers
  2. San Francisco Giants
  3. San Diego Padres
  4. Colorado Rockies
  5. Arizona Diamond Backs
As I said when I made this pick, "every team in this division has holes you can drive a truck through." That's what made it so hard to predict. It was quite possibly the worst division in baseball, without a single dominate team. I really felt that the Dodgers, Giants, Padres, and DBacks would all be right there at the end, and that they could finish in any order.

MVP: Scott Rolen

Well, Rolen is probably the NBBMVP (non-Barry Bonds Most Valuable Player, awarded to the best player not named Barry Bonds)- that's something at least.

Cy Young: Mark Prior

I gambled that Prior would get healthy, and he did- just too late for it to matter.

Div. Series: Philadelphia over Houston, Chicago over San Francisco

One out of four aint bad. Oh wait, yes it is.

Champ. Series: Philadelphia over Chicago

Nope.

WORLD SERIES: New York Yankees over Philadelphia

My series pick is still alive, and I guess that's all you can hope for. Also, picking five of eight playoff teams in a year which saw a 50% turn-over in the playoffs is pretty damn good. But man, did I ever screw up the NL.


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