We’re less than a week away from the beginning of Major League Baseball, which actually has already begun with the Boston Red Sox facing the Oakland Athletics in Japan.
We don’t spend too much time focusing on the big-leagues here at Perfect Game, but I like to take a stab each and every year how I think the season will shake out, predicting the playoff teams, eventual World Series winner and the individual recipients of postseason hardware.
AL East
1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Toronto Blue Jays
5. Baltimore Orioles
The biggest surprise stacking up this division is probably my placement of the Rays finishing third. They don’t have the talent to take out the big boys quite yet, but that talent is quickly pushing its way to the big-leagues. Their starting staff should be considerably better and they have one of the youngest and most dynamic lineups in all of baseball. The Red Sox continue to be arguably the most stacked team from top to bottom in all of baseball, and the Yankees will continue to score a ton of runs despite having some question marks with their pitching staff, although they do have a fair amount of young talent that could erase that concern if things fall into place for them. The Blue Jays should be a good but not great team while the Orioles have entered into a rebuilding phase, a phase they should have started more intently several years ago.
AL Central
1. Cleveland Indians
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Chicago White Sox
Last year I correctly predicted that the Indians would win this division, and I still think they’re the team to beat despite the amount of noise the Tigers made by acquiring several impact players. The Indians, similar to the Red Sox, are one of the deepest teams in baseball, with an exciting blend of youth, talent and veteran leadership in all aspects of the game. The soft underbelly of all teams, the bullpen, is likely going to be the Tigers’ most notable Achilles heel, although they are going to have no problem outscoring opponents. No matter how the top shakes out, I do believe both the Indians and Tigers will make the playoffs. The Twins will be better than people think, and the Royals are trending up. The White Sox may be getting too cute with some of their moves, and I think they could really struggle during the 2008 season.
AL West
1. Los Angeles Angels
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Oakland Athletics
4. Texas Rangers
Speaking of trying to be too cute, I felt the A’s would be the best of this fluid division a year ago, but it’s hard not to take the Angels as the team to beat given their talent, especially the depth in their pitching staff. From top to bottom, they’re the third deepest overall team in the American League and that should propel them to the division crown. The A’s after a flurry of somewhat surprising moves are in a rebuilding mode, and while they have some exciting young talent to look forward to, I doubt those pieces click all together at the same time in a division that always beats up on themselves. The Mariners are getting better, and have a couple of legitimate staff aces to turn to. The Rangers as always will score a lot of runs, and also have a lot of young talent to look forward to, but they don’t have enough pieces ready to help put them on top.
AL Wildcard: Detroit Tigers
As noted above, one of the teams from the AL Central will win the Wildcard.
AL Pennant: Boston Red Sox
It’s hard to imagine at this point in time that the Red Sox won’t claim the AL Pennant yet again this year.
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
Cabrera is going to post some incredible numbers hitting in the middle of the Tigers lineup with great table-setters ahead of him and proven sluggers behind him.
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers
No more Johan Santana to pick here, if Verlander takes another step forward this year he’s going to be pushing 20+ wins comes September.
AL Rookie of the Year: Joba Chamberlain, New York Yankees
Chamberlain still holds his rookie status haven not exceeded 50 big-league innings a year ago, and he’s going to once again prove to be an integral part of the Yankees success.
NL East
1. New York Mets
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. Atlanta Braves
4. Florida Marlins
5. Washington Nationals
I’m usually not a sucker for big-name acquisitions, but Johan Santana gives the Mets a legitimate ace, and if Pedro Martinez and the other Mets starters can offer a solid two through five, this team has the offensive firepower to win a lot of games, and their bullpen is strong enough to hold onto close games late. The Phillies will once again be very good, and this division likely could go right down to the end like it did a year ago. And never count out the Braves, who have a strong team of their own, with a good lineup outside of a few questions in the outfield to go along with a proven, veteran starting staff. The Marlins have some nice young talent but they’re not going to be able to compete the entire year with the Mets, Phillies and Braves, and the Nationals are even further away, although the Nationals may have arguably the best bullpen in all of baseball, which will help them scratch and claw more than their share of close wins.
NL Central
1. Milwaukee Brewers
2. Chicago Cubs
3. Cincinnati Reds
4. Houston Astros
5. St. Louis Cardinals
6. Pittsburgh Pirates
The Brewers and the Cubs should be tough teams in 2008, and the Reds will have some formidable talent as well, as these three teams will help erase the notion that the NL Central is the weakest division in baseball. I’m going to be a homer for once and pick my hometown Brewers to win the division, a team that has gone out and addressed all of their notable team-focused needs from last year by adding several arms to address their bullpen and Mike Cameron to solidify the team defense. The Cubs will be tough, as the two teams will likely be neck-and-neck for the entire season. The Reds have an improved team and are a dark-horse to claim the division. The Astros made a lot of noise but their improvements seem more cosmetic to me, while the Cardinals appear to be reloading. The Pirates are in a serious need of a talent overhaul.
NL West
1. Arizona Diamondbacks
2. San Diego Padres
3. Colorado Rockies
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
5. San Francisco Giants
Once again, this is the toughest division to pick and likely will end up being the closest, with the D-Backs, Padres, Rockies and Dodgers are bound to make a case to win the division. I really like the D-Backs acquisition of Dan Haren, as their strong starting staff gets that much stronger, and they have a young, talented lineup that is only going to get better. The Padres have good pitching with a strong enough lineup to win ballgames in their spacious ballpark, while the Rockies and Dodgers once again should be solid from top to bottom, as it pains me to rank either one of those teams somewhere other than first or second in this division. I think everyone is in agreement that the Giants would be better off stripping down and starting over, as they have an obvious organizational void in top-tier talent, and the sooner they recognize that the better off they’ll be five to seven years from now.
NL Wildcard: Chicago Cubs
The NL Wildcard chase is going to be extremely fun to watch at the end of September, with the Cubs claiming the honor since the NL East and West divisions are likely going to beat themselves up too much for any of the other teams to capture a playoff berth.
NL Pennant: Arizona Diamondbacks
The pitching staff, team defense and improving young offense will be too much for any other team in the National League to overcome.
NL MVP: Matt Holliday, Colorado Rockies
Spurned by this award a year ago, and entering a contract year, Holliday will have plenty of incentive and drive to improve upon his sensational 2007 numbers.
NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb, Arizona Diamondbacks
One of the best and somewhat underrated players in all of baseball, Webb’s greatest competition for this award may come from one of his own teammates, Dan Haren.
NL Rookie of the Year: Kosuke Fukudome, Chicago Cubs
People may not agree with the rules that allow a 30-year old outfielder to be eligible for the rookie of the year award, but his experience should allow him to put up some impressive numbers playing everyday in the Cubs outfield while batting in the middle of the lineup.
World Series: Diamondbacks over Red Sox
The D-Backs once again play giant-killers in the World Series after knocking out the Yankees in 2001.
The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.