Before I leave for Atlanta on Monday, I wanted to leave you with my predictions for the 2010 baseball season. I will be working at CNN for the next week, so I won't be posting again until Monday, April 12. However, there is the possibility of guest bloggers posting throughout the week, so keep checking in.
American League:
AL East: New York Yankees. Too much depth to be anything short of a division champion. I'm intrigued about how Joba Chamberlain will handle being a reliever though.
AL Central: Detroit Tigers. They were so close last year before they choked the title away to the Minnesota Twins, but they will finish the job this year behind their aces Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello.
AL West: Texas Rangers. The Angels' reign ends at the hands of Josh Hamilton. The Seattle Mariners are a sexy pick, but no team that has Milton Bradley as a cleanup hitter can win more than 85 games.
Wild Card: Boston Red Sox. I feel sorry for the team that has to play a three-game series against Josh Beckett, Jon Lackey and Clay Buchholz. Boston's starting pitching will ultimately prevail over Tampa's potent offense.
National League:
NL East: Philadelphia Phillies. The lethal combination of Roy Halladay and Ryan Howard will propel Philly to 97 wins and yet another playoff berth.
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals. They are fundamentally strong and will get an otherwordly performance from Albert Pujols as he nears free agency.
NL West: Colorado Rockies. Ubaldo Jimenez is the most underappreciated ace in the majors and he will be the difference in a tight division race with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.
NL Wild Card: Florida Marlins. No Braves, no Dodgers, no Cubs. The Marlins will emerge from the pack and, as always, nobody will know how the hell they did it. Ace Josh Johnson and shortstop Hanley Ramirez will have monster years, while second baseman Dan Uggla will be a consistent run producer for once in his life.
The Marlins will not make anywhere close to the playoffs this year. For one, their starting and relief pitching is no where near to a playoff caliber team. Josh Johnson may be the only decent pitcher there is, with several good outing from Nolasco. Second, the Marlins' offense is no where near as good as that off any other wild card team. As in pitching, there only only two viable hitters in the Marlins lineup. Hanely Ramirez and Jorge Cantu are the only ones who can provide the power and clutch hitting that is needed for the postseason, and as long as Uggla can keep his batting up, can get 25-30 homers. Not to mention the Marlins defense is dispicable. In 2009 the Marlins had 106 errors for sixth most in the MLB. We all know the solid defense will secure wins. In essence, this is not enough to provide even a thought for wild card. The Marlins cannot compete in contention with the wild card with teams such as the Reds, Giants, and Dodgers in the pick. Solid pitching + good offense + good defense= playoff contention; not ok pitching+ok offense+ok defense
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