Now seems like as good a time as any to finally do this thread, and I'm surprised it hasn't been created yet.
Here's my predictions for who will place where with a few notes on each division, and how the playoffs go. I didn't put too much thought into much of this beyond the first/second place teams in their divisions, I will admit beforehand.
AL East
1 Boston
2 New York (wild card)
3 Tampa
4 Toronto
5 Baltimore
Insane division... it's a shame that there will be an extremely talented team finishing third here (by all likelihood) with a great record, and missing out on the playoffs. I think Boston is the most solid team all around, and has a whole lot of depth. New York's acquisitions are just too good for me to see them finishing further down. I think Tampa will do well, but won't be able to make it to the top.
AL Central
1 Cleveland
2 Minnesota
3 Chicago
4 Kansas City
5 Detroit
The most competitive division in baseball, probably. I can see 8 or fewer games separating first and last. All the teams have question marks, and none of them look like world beaters. I like Cleveland. They picked up at the end of last season, and they've got enough talent to do it.
AL West
1 Los Angeles
2 Oakland
3 Texas
4 Seattle
I don't think the Angels' reign ends just yet, but I don't see them taking the West by more than maybe 3 games. This should also be a very competitive division, with the top 3 teams fighting it out until August or later, assuming that Texas gets at least decent pitching.
All in all, the AL looks great, and should be exciting to follow.
NL East
1 New York
2 Philadelphia (wild card)
3 Atlanta
4 Florida
5 Nationals
The Met bullpen won't blow the division for the third straight season. Philadelphia took a step back in the offseason, and seems to have some pitching concerns. Still, they've got a great lineup and a very good team all around. Atlanta should do decent this season, but still not well enough. Florida could go either way, but will have a hard time in yet another very competitive division.
NL Central
1 St. Louis
2 Chicago
3 Houston
4 Cincinnati
5 Milwaukee
6 Pittsburgh
I see Houston doing much better than expected, and I see the Cubs faltering and having trouble playing over .500. The Cards may have plenty of issues, but they've got the best player in baseball, and a potentially great bunch of guys hitting around him. If they can get pitching like they got in '08, I've got them at the top of this thing. Milwaukee falls, and Pittsburgh flounders again.
NL West
1 Los Angeles
2 San Francisco
3 Colorado
4 Arizona
5 San Diego
Arizona seems to have thrown in the towel for '09 all the way back late last season when they forgot how to play baseball. Los Angeles is easily the most talented team in this poor division, and is the clear favorite. The Giants' spectacular pitching and potential for an average offense has got them at #2 in my book, but probably not more than an 80 win team at the very most. Many of those 80 wins will come against the junk listed below them. The Padres will battle the Nats for the worst record in baseball, and will probably "lose" out on that on account of not having to face the AL East so much. Then again, the Padres are pretty much 3 major leaguers surrounded by flotsam and AAA talent.
Playoffs:
Red Sox over Indians
Yankees over Angels
Yankees over Red Sox (Yankees look better in a 7 game series thanks to that pitching)
Mets over Cardinals
Dodgers over Phillies
Mets over Dodgers (The Mets have too many good players not to win the NL, I feel)
World Series:
As much as I hate to be picking the Yankees, I'll take them over the Mets in this all New York series.
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Originally Posted by Joe12Pack
