Major League Baseball 2010

[Toe]

So...with the new season coming up, I figured it was time for a new thread.

Here is my first question. Which team or teams do you think are going to surprise us this season?

I think the Washington Nationals will be a much improved team. They won't be a division leader, but I could see them closing in on the .500 mark and surprising some teams. They don't have the best pitching staff, but I think their line-up continues to improve.

[Panni]

Here are my division winners

AL East - New York Yankees

AL Central - Chicago White Sox

AL West - Seattle Mariners

AL Wild Card - Boston Red Sox

NL East - Philadelphia Phillies

NL Central - St. Louis Cardinals

NL West - Arizona Diamondbacks

NL Wild Card - Atlanta Braves

World Series - New York Yankees over St. Louis Cardinals

CY Youngs - Felix Hernandez & Roy Halladay

MVPS - Mark Teixeira & Albert Pujols (boring pick but how do you go against him)

*Dark horse MVP picks Youkilis & Werth

[Meacon Keaton]

The way Halladay pitched in the AL East, I'd give that man the NL Cy Young right now, and just tell all the other pitches in the National League to go after a Gold Glove.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Planning on starting that Jays blog either tonight or tomorrow.

Taking name suggestions, the best I've come up with/been given so far:

Cito And The Boys

Kiss My Purple Butt

Blue Jays A.D. (After Doc)

Winfield Kills Birds

This Ship Is Sinking

Yeah I don't know.

[Ron]

Planning on starting that Jays blog either tonight or tomorrow.

Taking name suggestions, the best I've come up with/been given so far:

Cito And The Boys

Kiss My Purple Butt

Blue Jays A.D. (After Doc)

Winfield Kills Birds

This Ship Is Sinking

Yeah I don't know.

I personally enjoy Blue Jays, A.D. (After Doc).

As for the season, I could see a Yankees/Phillies rematch in the World Series. I think the Phillies are miles away from everyone in the NL right now (yes I'm a Phillies fan), but I think that the Braves, Marlins, Cards are all closing the gap.

Some surprise teams, Mariners look strong on paper, I think the Marlins could contend for the Wild Card, and maybe the Royals coming back to somewhat mediocre?

Edited March 19, 2010 by Ron

[livid]

Admitted or not, the fact that you think the Phillies are miles away better than the Cardinals proves your opinion is nothing more of a Phillies homer. They have equally good rotations (only if Hamels pulls his head out of his ass though), both lineups are brutal and both teams play good defense.

Granted, I, myself, am a Cardinals fan but I see the Phillies being 1a and the Cardinals as 1b.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

http://bluejaysad.blogspot.com/

Anybody who's interested, PM me with your e-mail and I'll get you set up (Y)

[Ron]

Admitted or not, the fact that you think the Phillies are miles away better than the Cardinals proves your opinion is nothing more of a Phillies homer. They have equally good rotations (only if Hamels pulls his head out of his ass though), both lineups are brutal and both teams play good defense.

Granted, I, myself, am a Cardinals fan but I see the Phillies being 1a and the Cardinals as 1b.

Sorry, but no. Granted if Matt Holliday didn't screw up last year, the Cardinals could have beaten the Dodgers and we would have seen in the NLCS. I'll give you the rotations being even, but the Phillies lineup is much more complete and solid than the Cards. Would I say the Cardinals are the 2nd best team in the NL, most certainly. But at this moment (and granted this is based off of last year) but the lineup is much better than what the Cardinals have currently. I mean yes, some of the Cardinals who are projected to start in key positions were only rookies last year, but as with all teams you need to be aware of the possibility of a Sophomore slump and can they hold up for a whole season. Can Ludwick come back to what he was in 08? These are all questions. And until they can be answered I'll continue to say the Phillies lineup, is miles ahead.

[MalaCloudy Black]

CUBS 2010

Someone's gotta hold out hope.

[SeanDMan]

Blue Jay Sad.

[gunnar hendershow]

Got tickets to the Orioles home opener. It tells you something when these tickets were easy to get a little over 2 weeks until the game itself. I'm still looking forward to the team this year, a fair amount of good young talent could finally give us some optimism after a decade of agony.

For 99% of Baltimore sports fans, it's 5 months until the Ravens season starts!

AL East: New York

AL Central: Minnesota

AL West: Seattle

AL Wild Card: Chicago

NL East: Philadelphia

NL Central: St. Louis

NL West: Colorado

NL Wild Card: Atlanta

World Series: New York over St. Louis

[Toe]

I've considered checking out tickets for the Jays opener. Could be fun.

AL East - Yankees

AL Central - Twins

AL West - Angels

Wild Card - Tampa Bay

NL East - Braves

NL Central - Cardinals

NL West - Dodgers

Wild Card - Phillies

[Trey]

Sorry, but no. Granted if Matt Holliday didn't screw up last year, the Cardinals could have beaten the Dodgers and we would have seen in the NLCS. I'll give you the rotations being even, but the Phillies lineup is much more complete and solid than the Cards. Would I say the Cardinals are the 2nd best team in the NL, most certainly. But at this moment (and granted this is based off of last year) but the lineup is much better than what the Cardinals have currently. I mean yes, some of the Cardinals who are projected to start in key positions were only rookies last year, but as with all teams you need to be aware of the possibility of a Sophomore slump and can they hold up for a whole season. Can Ludwick come back to what he was in 08? These are all questions. And until they can be answered I'll continue to say the Phillies lineup, is miles ahead.

The line-up's are a lot more even then you'd think. Schumaker was actually a much better lead-off hitter then Rollins last year with a .364 OBP compared to Rollins .296 a year ago. And while Rollins did have a down year, Schumaker has actually had the better percentage ever since he started working with McGuire. If Polanco is hitting 2nd and so does Ryan, the numbers once again point in favor of the Cardinals. Ryan had much better averages and you can't really compare the hard numbers as Polanco had twice as many at bats.

The three and four spots put Pujols and Holliday against Howard and Utley, I think that's an easy choice to make personally.

So the Cardinals have Rasmus, Molina, Ludwick, and rookie Freese to go up against Ibanez, Victorino, Werth, and Ruiz. I'll say Ruiz and Molina are washes, Werth and Ibanez will probably have slightly better years then Ludwick and Rasmus (but really, I wouldn't be surpirsed if that gets flipped with McGuire working with those two and Ibanez getting older) and Victorino will be better then Freese.

So that really gives the Cards the edge in the first four, the Phillies an edge in the bottom four, with a tie between the catchers. Again, it's all really just guesswork right now, but to say that the Phillies have clearly the best line-up top to bottom is crazy.

[DMN in the House]

Time to end 22 years of waiting.

Dodges/Yankees World Series.

[Meacon Keaton]

I Torre and Donnie Baseball. I'd love to see the Bombers and Dodgers go at it in the Series. I was convinced that was going to be the match-up last year.

[Vendetta]

Braves are going to have the best rotation in the national league. Guaranteed. The top prospect in the minor leagues will be making his MLB debut this year in Jayson Heyward. Their starting rotation is damn good with Hanson the number 1 and Jurgines a very good #2. They you have Hudson, Lowe, Kawakami, and Medlen who is going to be the spot starter. Add in both Wagner and Saito in the bullpen and the Braves will not blow games like they did last year. The key question is Chipper Jones and if he is going to be back to his usual or if he is going to have a repeat of this year. They also added a power hitter in Troy Glaus and good depth with Melky.

[Meacon Keaton]

The Braves look better than they were last year, but the East is the Phils to lose.

[DMN in the House]

Too bad the Dodgers have this idiotic divorce shit going on. McCourt has done a lot of good things for the team, but this is going to ruin a lot of it.

As long as the young guys stay together, we'll be competitive, though. Don't care about Manny.

[Lowerdeck]

Friend of mine is going to see the Sox home opener, Sox home regular season finale, two games vs. the Dodgers, and at least two games vs. Tampa. Yikes.

Predictions:

AL East: Yankees

AL Central: Twins

AL West: Mariners

AL Wild Card: Red Sox

NL East: Phillies

NL Central: Cardinals

NL West: Rockies

NL Wild Card: Braves

World Series: Empire over Cards

Edited March 28, 2010 by Lowerdeck

[GhostMachine]

Predictions:

AL East: Yankees

AL Central: Twins

AL West: Mariners

AL Wild Card: Red Sox

NL East: Phillies

NL Central: Cardinals

NL West: Rockies

NL Wild Card: Braves

World Series: Empire over Cards

Mine are pretty much the same, except I have the Dodgers winning the NL West and Cardinals over Red Sox in the World Series.

I can't wait for the season to start for one reason: Fantasy baseball. I have both Lincecum AND Halladay to strike fear in opposing batters. (My other starters right now are Adam Wainwright, Jon Lester and Hiroki Kuroda, though)