So we're getting ready for the 2015 baseball season. Let's see if anyone can predict who will win it all in October. I'm probably not going to go over specific win-loss records like I usually do for football, but I'll try to give an estimation and I'll say who'll finish in first and who will make the playoffs and not make the playoffs. Keep in mind this is just my own personal and unprofessional opinion.
Let's get started with the AL East. Looking at the depth charts, I think this is going to be one of those from first to last...to first again stories. The Boston Redsox look like they've turned it around to become one of the most prepared teams of the season. Their bats are solid all the way around. They could probably use a better catcher, I'm not sure how Vazquez is with his defense, but his bat doesn't stand out. However if Castillo and Betts pan out, their outfield could be the best in baseball with Hanley in the left corner. Then they have some power in the in field for sure, with guys like Mike Napoli and Pablo Sandoval at the corners, and then of course Ortiz playing DH. You've got Pedroia there at 2B, and the young but very talented Xander Bogaerts at shortstop. There's some young guys that need to live up to their potential to make this team as stacked as it needs to be to possibly win another series this season, but they have the pieces to go all the way.
Boston's rotation is it's weak spot, but even that is at least halfway decent. Ever since Koji Uehara took over their bullpen has been pretty solid. Junichi Tazawa is a great set up guy. Problem there is Uehara isn't getting any younger, and I think Farrell likes Edward Mujica better in the closer role if a replacement needs to be found fast...and Mujica sucks. Neither him or Tazawa are fit to be the long term replacements for Uehara at closer. Boston could very well try to get Johnathan Papelbon off the Phillies, and I'm sure they'd love to trade him.
So I'm predicting Boston to lead the AL East with around 90 wins. Baltimore Orioles will be right up there with them going for a wild card spot, and then Yankees and Blue Jays will be somewhere around that .500 spot. Rays will be last. They look awful, they have some good players but not enough to field a winning team that's for sure. Their bullpen is atrocious, and their rotation isn't anything that great anymore either with Matt Moore never staying healthy, and no more David Price.
AL Central could be a toss up between the Royals and Tigers again, but I'm going to go ahead and say the White Sox will jump in front of both of them and take it by a couple of games. They've got a great rotation, a great bullpen, and the bats to put it together. Tigers do have a good rotation too, but that's contingent on which Verlander we see. Joe Nathan's time as closer is about up one way or another, I think Soria will take over in the first couple of months. And I'm expecting Nick Castellanos to break out for the Tigers too and be a beast. For the Royals I think Ventura is going to have an even better season pitching than he did last year, but I think the Royals will fall behind the Indians this year. It's between Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland.
For the AL West, I'm going ahead and I'm gonna be a homer here and say the Seattle Mariners win it. They've been slowly putting together the pieces to have a great team. They had a good year last year, and this year looks even better. They have the best pitcher in the AL, and behind him some great young guys like Paxton and Walker, and then Iwakuma of course. Then they have Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz in the lineup, Austin Jackson, Dustin Ackley. They're not stacked, but they have a team. I'm going to give them the division win with somewhere between 88-92 wins. The Angels will be right behind them by a couple of games, because their team is just as good. Especially if Josh Hamilton ends up getting out of this situation, I think he could have a big year. He's got a lot to prove, and he's the type of guy who always does real good after something like that. A's will finish just above .500, but not enough to make the playoffs.
So for AL seeding, I'm going to make Boston the number one seed. With Seattle second, and the White Sox third. Then Orioles and Angels in the wild card. Angels beat Baltimore in the wild card game, and go on to upset Boston in the divisional round. Meanwhile Seattle beats the White Sox. So it's a battle of the west between LAA and Seattle. The Angels win it in seven games to go onto the WS.
National League time. We'll start with the NL East, because it's by far the easiest. I think the Nationals will win 100+ games this year. It won't even be close. The Braves got worse, they have no batting whatsoever. Their pitching is good, but their outfield is atrocious. They have Freddie Freeman, that's about it. Miami will finish over .500, maybe with 83-85 wins. The rest of the teams in that division I predict won't get over 80 wins.
For the NL Central, I'm going to go ahead and homer for my second team and say the Pirates win it. But that's not all bias, like the Mariners the Pirates have the pieces to go all the way to the end this year. The scary thing is they've got a lot of young talent in their farm that could make them one of the best teams in baseball when it's all said and done. But let's focus on this year. They have the best outfield out there with McCutchen, Polanco, and Marte. If Josh Harrison keeps it up, which I think he will, he'll do wonders for that lineup. Same thing with Walker assuming the Pirates don't trade him near the trade deadline, and also Pedro Alverez if he stays healthy and gets hot at the right times. With Cole and Liriano in the rotation, they should be able to handle things for the year until Glasnow and Tallion get up in 2016.
I'm predicting the Pirates and the Cardinals to swap records from last year. It could've been anyone's game last season, only came down to a couple wins and losses. We'll give the Pirates 92 wins and the Cardinals 90. Brewers and Reds will be there but they won't be in the race. They'll both finish at or around .500. Cubs might finish in front of the Reds and Brewers, but they're also not playoff contenders, they have a lot of good looking bats especially with how Kris Bryant looks so far, but their pitching just doesn't do it for me.
Last but not least the NL West. It belongs to the Dodgers, they're stacked. All the way around they are stacked. One of their worst spots is third base with Juan Uribe...who is solid but, now they signed Olivera who could take over by mid year as long as those UCL problems don't end up turning into TJ surgery, which is that's the case it halts his progression for a year and then he's back for the start of 2016 (he's not a pitcher, he'll be fine). That team is going to finish with around 98-100 wins. The Padres really pulled out the wallet, they are going all in for this season. I think it's only going to get them 85-88 wins though. Giants fall off a lot, they end up finishing a couple games below .500.
So how is the NL playoff seeds looking? I'm giving the Nationals the number one seed and the Dodgers right there behind them. So Pirates get number three, and then we have the Cardinals behind them. To spice things up, I'm going say just for kicks that the Padres and Marlins tie and have to play to determine who is the last wild card. Shields out pitches Latos, but then the next game the Padres blow up and get dominated by the Cardinals. So the Cardinals move on to play the Nationals, who ultimately go on to beat the Cardinals in five games. Then we have Dodgers and Pirates, and the Dodgers also win in five games. So it comes down to Dodgers and Nationals. The Nats win the first two games with Strasburg and Scherzer pitching, but then the Dodgers win the next four to take it in six games and go onto the World Series.
So it ends up becoming a battle for Los Angeles. It's the Angels vs Dodgers matchup. I actually predicted this in one of my threads last year, I can't remember if it was preseason or if it was midseason or right before the playoffs. But I predicted Dodgers vs Angels and it sadly didn't come true. Let's see if it comes true this time.
Who will win the 2015 World Series? You don't have to go all out like I did. Just say which team you think is better than the rest and why.
Let's get started with the AL East. Looking at the depth charts, I think this is going to be one of those from first to last...to first again stories. The Boston Redsox look like they've turned it around to become one of the most prepared teams of the season. Their bats are solid all the way around. They could probably use a better catcher, I'm not sure how Vazquez is with his defense, but his bat doesn't stand out. However if Castillo and Betts pan out, their outfield could be the best in baseball with Hanley in the left corner. Then they have some power in the in field for sure, with guys like Mike Napoli and Pablo Sandoval at the corners, and then of course Ortiz playing DH. You've got Pedroia there at 2B, and the young but very talented Xander Bogaerts at shortstop. There's some young guys that need to live up to their potential to make this team as stacked as it needs to be to possibly win another series this season, but they have the pieces to go all the way.
Boston's rotation is it's weak spot, but even that is at least halfway decent. Ever since Koji Uehara took over their bullpen has been pretty solid. Junichi Tazawa is a great set up guy. Problem there is Uehara isn't getting any younger, and I think Farrell likes Edward Mujica better in the closer role if a replacement needs to be found fast...and Mujica sucks. Neither him or Tazawa are fit to be the long term replacements for Uehara at closer. Boston could very well try to get Johnathan Papelbon off the Phillies, and I'm sure they'd love to trade him.
So I'm predicting Boston to lead the AL East with around 90 wins. Baltimore Orioles will be right up there with them going for a wild card spot, and then Yankees and Blue Jays will be somewhere around that .500 spot. Rays will be last. They look awful, they have some good players but not enough to field a winning team that's for sure. Their bullpen is atrocious, and their rotation isn't anything that great anymore either with Matt Moore never staying healthy, and no more David Price.
AL Central could be a toss up between the Royals and Tigers again, but I'm going to go ahead and say the White Sox will jump in front of both of them and take it by a couple of games. They've got a great rotation, a great bullpen, and the bats to put it together. Tigers do have a good rotation too, but that's contingent on which Verlander we see. Joe Nathan's time as closer is about up one way or another, I think Soria will take over in the first couple of months. And I'm expecting Nick Castellanos to break out for the Tigers too and be a beast. For the Royals I think Ventura is going to have an even better season pitching than he did last year, but I think the Royals will fall behind the Indians this year. It's between Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland.
For the AL West, I'm going ahead and I'm gonna be a homer here and say the Seattle Mariners win it. They've been slowly putting together the pieces to have a great team. They had a good year last year, and this year looks even better. They have the best pitcher in the AL, and behind him some great young guys like Paxton and Walker, and then Iwakuma of course. Then they have Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz in the lineup, Austin Jackson, Dustin Ackley. They're not stacked, but they have a team. I'm going to give them the division win with somewhere between 88-92 wins. The Angels will be right behind them by a couple of games, because their team is just as good. Especially if Josh Hamilton ends up getting out of this situation, I think he could have a big year. He's got a lot to prove, and he's the type of guy who always does real good after something like that. A's will finish just above .500, but not enough to make the playoffs.
So for AL seeding, I'm going to make Boston the number one seed. With Seattle second, and the White Sox third. Then Orioles and Angels in the wild card. Angels beat Baltimore in the wild card game, and go on to upset Boston in the divisional round. Meanwhile Seattle beats the White Sox. So it's a battle of the west between LAA and Seattle. The Angels win it in seven games to go onto the WS.
National League time. We'll start with the NL East, because it's by far the easiest. I think the Nationals will win 100+ games this year. It won't even be close. The Braves got worse, they have no batting whatsoever. Their pitching is good, but their outfield is atrocious. They have Freddie Freeman, that's about it. Miami will finish over .500, maybe with 83-85 wins. The rest of the teams in that division I predict won't get over 80 wins.
For the NL Central, I'm going to go ahead and homer for my second team and say the Pirates win it. But that's not all bias, like the Mariners the Pirates have the pieces to go all the way to the end this year. The scary thing is they've got a lot of young talent in their farm that could make them one of the best teams in baseball when it's all said and done. But let's focus on this year. They have the best outfield out there with McCutchen, Polanco, and Marte. If Josh Harrison keeps it up, which I think he will, he'll do wonders for that lineup. Same thing with Walker assuming the Pirates don't trade him near the trade deadline, and also Pedro Alverez if he stays healthy and gets hot at the right times. With Cole and Liriano in the rotation, they should be able to handle things for the year until Glasnow and Tallion get up in 2016.
I'm predicting the Pirates and the Cardinals to swap records from last year. It could've been anyone's game last season, only came down to a couple wins and losses. We'll give the Pirates 92 wins and the Cardinals 90. Brewers and Reds will be there but they won't be in the race. They'll both finish at or around .500. Cubs might finish in front of the Reds and Brewers, but they're also not playoff contenders, they have a lot of good looking bats especially with how Kris Bryant looks so far, but their pitching just doesn't do it for me.
Last but not least the NL West. It belongs to the Dodgers, they're stacked. All the way around they are stacked. One of their worst spots is third base with Juan Uribe...who is solid but, now they signed Olivera who could take over by mid year as long as those UCL problems don't end up turning into TJ surgery, which is that's the case it halts his progression for a year and then he's back for the start of 2016 (he's not a pitcher, he'll be fine). That team is going to finish with around 98-100 wins. The Padres really pulled out the wallet, they are going all in for this season. I think it's only going to get them 85-88 wins though. Giants fall off a lot, they end up finishing a couple games below .500.
So how is the NL playoff seeds looking? I'm giving the Nationals the number one seed and the Dodgers right there behind them. So Pirates get number three, and then we have the Cardinals behind them. To spice things up, I'm going say just for kicks that the Padres and Marlins tie and have to play to determine who is the last wild card. Shields out pitches Latos, but then the next game the Padres blow up and get dominated by the Cardinals. So the Cardinals move on to play the Nationals, who ultimately go on to beat the Cardinals in five games. Then we have Dodgers and Pirates, and the Dodgers also win in five games. So it comes down to Dodgers and Nationals. The Nats win the first two games with Strasburg and Scherzer pitching, but then the Dodgers win the next four to take it in six games and go onto the World Series.
So it ends up becoming a battle for Los Angeles. It's the Angels vs Dodgers matchup. I actually predicted this in one of my threads last year, I can't remember if it was preseason or if it was midseason or right before the playoffs. But I predicted Dodgers vs Angels and it sadly didn't come true. Let's see if it comes true this time.
Who will win the 2015 World Series? You don't have to go all out like I did. Just say which team you think is better than the rest and why.
