American League

American League East

I'd like to boast about calling this division in early April exactly how it finished, but I think many expected it to finish this way, with the possible exception of flip-flopping the Yankees and Red Sox at the top. The Red Sox held the division lead for most of the season, and lost the division crown to the Yankees on the second to last day of the season.

American League Central

Despite being way off picking this division, I did note in my preseason rankings that if everything clicked for the White Sox they could be very dangerous. Considering that the White Sox led all of baseball in one-run wins with 35, I would say everything clicked for them. The Indians appear to be poised to contend for the playoffs for years to come given their talented base of youth.

American League West

This division also went pretty much as expected. The Angels and A's battled for first place for much of the second half of the season. The A's slumped in the last couple of weeks, but proved that they will be a team to contend with for years to come with an impressive group of talented, young ballplayers.

Wild-Card and Postseason Predictions
The Boston Red Sox won the American League Wild Card berth on the last day of the season, as the Cleveland Indians lost to the Chicago White Sox. In my preseason predictions I picked the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to win the American League Pennant, so I have to stick to that prediction. If I had to choose now, I would probably take the Yankees, as everything seems to be clicking well for them late in the season, and they have the playoff experience to back up their momentum.

Round One
Angels over the Yankees
Red Sox over the White Sox

American League Championship
Angels over the Red Sox

MVP

I thought Suzuki would explode with the acquisitions of Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre. He still had a fine season, and became the first player in MLB history to collect 200 hits in each of his first five seasons. While I don't like handing the MVP out to players that have teammates that are nearly as productive (Manny Ramirez), Ortiz' second closest competitor from another team was Alex Rodriguez, who was in the same situation with teammate Gary Sheffield. It doesn't matter that Ortiz is a DH, the numbers he accumulated this season were amazing, and he definitely has a knack for the big hit when needed.

Cy Young

Roy Halladay was making me look good on my pick up until he went down in July with a broken leg. This was a tough call to make, as there wasn't that clear-cut candidate that was at the top in wins, strikeouts and ERA. Colon gets the nod for going 21-8 on the season, the only 20-game winner in the AL, while leading the Angels as the AL West division champions.

Rookie of the Year

This was probably the toughest call to make, as Tadahito Iguchi had a great year for the White Sox and Scott Kazmir continued to mow down batters as he got accustomed to pitching to big-league hitters. Blanton gets the award for pitching over 200 innings for a team that was in playoff contention right up until the final week of the season. He had 12 wins and a 3.53 ERA, and did a good job limiting baserunners. If Kazmir didn't have 100 walks over 186 innings of work, I probably would have given him the ROY.

Manager of the Year

I was way off on this one, expecting the Tigers to have somewhat of a breakthrough season. That didn't happen, and Trammel was fired immediately after the regular season ended. What the White Sox did in 2005 entering the postseason was nothing short of amazing. As noted above, everything clicked for them, and when a team meshes and wins a high number of close games, you have to give the manager credit for that success.

National League

National League East
 

I'm telling you, don't bet against the Braves. Not during the regular season at least. This was the tightest division in baseball, as all five teams finished at or above .500. The Nationals fortunes reversed on them during the second half of the season, as they led all of MLB in one-run games during the first-half of the year. The Phillies gave the Astros a ride for the NL Wild Card right up until the last day of the regular season.

National League Central

The Astros were my pick to click entering the season, feeling that their pitching staff was far too good to allow the Astros to slide despite losing Carlos Beltran and Jeff Kent. I really, really underestimated the Cardinals pitching staff, as once again they had several arms step up and contribute. The Brewers finished at .500 for the first time since 1992, and appear to be heading in the right direction.

National League West

I was riding on Bonds being healthier than what he was for the 2005 campaign, and given how well the Giants played upon his return in September, and how poorly the entire division was, the Giants could have easily won this division with one more month of Bonds. The Padres win this division by default, as three NL teams finished the season with a better record yet missed the playoffs.

Wild-Card and Postseason Predictions
I chose the Florida Marlins to win the National League Wild Card berth based on their extremely talented roster. While they received several incredible individual performances throughout the season, the team seemed to fall apart in the clubhouse over the last couple weeks of the year. The Astros enjoyed an extremely strong second half of the season to step up and reach the playoffs. Most wrote the Astros off at the beginning of the season having lost Carlos Beltran and Jeff Kent, and while I was off in predicting them as the winners of the NL Central, I knew their pitching would carry them to the postseason.

Round One
Cardinals over the Padres
Astros over the Braves

National League Championship
Cardinals over the Astros

MVP

This was a tough call, because Derrek Lee had the best season statistically in the National League. Pujols numbers were still extremely impressive, and since he was so productive leading the best team in baseball, he gets the nod. Andruw Jones wasn't really a candidate in my opinion. While he led all of MLB in home runs with 52, the rest of his numbers just didn't stack up to Pujols' or Lee's, and his stellar defense in centerfield defense didn't make up for that gap.

Cy Young

Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens all are deserving for Cy Young votes. Dontrelle Willis also had a phenomenal season, and it's too bad one of these pitchers didn't pitch in the AL as either one of them would have been the clear-cut winner ahead of Bartolo Colon. The award goes to Chris Carpenter for finishing the season with a 21-5 record while finishing second in the league in innings pitched (241.2) and strikeouts (213) and fifth in ERA (2.83) while leading the best team in baseball during the regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Rookie of the Year

I picked the wrong Astros rookie. There weren't nearly as many contenders for the NL ROY as there were for the AL award. Jeff Franceour was considered given his incredible production in limited playing time, but Taveras nudged him out since he played almost the entire season, hitting atop the playoff bound Houston Astros' lineup. He batted .290 this year, and finished with 34 stolen bases, sixth best in the NL.

Manager of the Year

I may have been way off on the AL Manager of the Year, but I feel I hit this one right on. As noted above, no one gave the Astros much credit entering the 2005 season, and the team overcame quite a few injuries to key contributors during the course of the season. Several young players such as Willy Taveras and Chris Burke added valuable contributions, and Garner held the team together as the pitching carried the Astros to the postseason.

World Series: Cardinals
I also picked the Marlins to not only win the National League Pennant, but to win the World Series. Since that pick was way off, I'm going to give the postseason nod to the St. Louis Cardinals. No team in the National League is as strong as the Cardinals, and that strength will propel them as World Series victors.