MLB 2006 Predictions

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

NL Cy Young: Pedro Martinez, New York Mets; Carpenter finishing 2nd. Players on garbage teams shouldn't win awards. Especially one like the Marlins.

It's one thing to make that argument for the MVP, but the Cy Young? Having great teammates is not a pre-requisite to winning an award. To cite an example, would you deny a Cy Young to Steve Carlton in 1972? He led the league in wins, ERA, innings and strikeouts despite playing on a team that lost 97 games. A bit of extreme example, but you get the idea.

 

Managers that might be on the hot seat?

 

Charlie Manuel is one. If the Phillies don't start fast out of the gate, he might get canned. I thought he was actually pretty lucky to survive the off-season.

I'm not a big fan of Manuel, but a franchise who would keep firing managers after 86 or 88 win seasons obviously has bigger issues than their choice of manager.

 

It's going to be extremely hard for the Wild Card winner to come out of the AL East because things are going to be so competitive. The Blue Jays, for all they have done, are still only the third best team in the division. The Yanks and Sox will be damn close.

 

Anyone see the potential for the Cardinals to fall off this year? I was almost going to pick against them in the central before realizing there isn't another team that could reasonably win that division (Brewers, maybe?).

I've seen that argument before, but I've never seen it work in the real world. Part of the reason is that the best teams overcome the schedule. Also, the Red Sox may have a toughter schedule, but when the Sox play the Yankees for example, someone has to win that game. I think the wild card comes from the East.

 

As for the Cardinals, as long as they have a healthy Albert Pujols they are a serious threat. They lost a few pieces but they still have Pujols, Edmonds, Rolen, their leadoff hitter (Eckstein), their ace starter (Chris Carpenter) and their closer.

[Guest]

I just don't like it for any award in general. If Dontrelle were to do that this year, he should win the award. He won't. IMO, the year has to be so outstanding that it completely overshadows the shortcomings of your team. That's gonna be hard.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Why is everyone blowing the Yankees? They don't have the pitching to go that deep into the playoffs.

 

AL East Winner: New York Yankees

AL Central Winner: Chicago White Sox

AL West Winner: Los Angeles Angels

AL Wild Card Winner: Clevland Indians

 

NL East Winner: New York Mets

NL Central Winner: St. Louis Cardinals

NL West Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers

NL Wild Card Winner: Atlanta Braves

 

AL:

ChiSox over Indians

Angels over Yankees

 

ChiSox over Angels

 

NL:

Cardinals over Braves

Mets over Dodgers

 

Cardinals over Mets

 

WS:

ChiSox over Cardinals

 

Yeah, pretty standard picks, but I see it happening all over again. I hope I am wrong and the BoSox make the playoffs, but I don't see that happening.

 

You're my new favorite poster.

[CanadianChris 0]

American League

East: New York

Central: Chicago

West: Oakland

Wild card: Toronto

 

Division series: Oakland over New York, Chicago over Toronto

ALCS: Chicago over Oakland

 

National League

East: New York (fuck it, the Braves are finally done)

Central: St. Louis

West: San Diego

Wild card: Los Angeles

 

Division series: St. Louis over Los Angeles, New York over San Diego

NLCS: St. Louis over New York

 

World Series: St. Louis over Chicago

[Guest Rrrsh]

AL East Winner: New York Yankees

AL Central Winner: Chicago White Sox's

AL West Winner: Oakland A's

AL Wild Card Winner: Boston RedSoxs

 

NL East Winner: Atlanta Braves

NL Central Winner: Chicago Cubs

NL West Winner: San Francisco Giants

NL Wild Card Winner: Houston Astros

 

Playoffs:

AL:

 

New York Yankees over Oakland A's

Boston Redsoxs over Chicago White Sox's

 

Boston over New York

 

NL:

 

Chicago Cubs over Atlanta Braves

San Francisco Giants over Houston Astros

 

Cubs over San Fran

 

World Series:

Boston Red Soxs over Chicago Cubs

[Precious Roy 0]

AL EAST:

1. New York

2. Boston

3. Toronto

4. Baltimore

5. Tampa Bay

 

AL CENTRAL:

1. Chicago

2. Minnesota

3. Cleveland

4. Detroit

5. Kansas City

 

AL WEST:

1. Anaheim

2. Oakland

3. Texas

4. Seattle

 

AL Playoffs:

NY b. Anaheim

Boston b. Chicago

NY b. Boston

 

NL EAST:

1. New York

2. Philadelphia

3. Atlanta (THIS IS THE YEAR!)

4. Washington

5. Florida

 

NL CENTRAL:

1. St Louis

2. Houston

3. Chicago

4. Milwaukee

5. Pittsburgh

6. Cincinnati

 

NL WEST:

1. Los Angeles

2. San Francisco

3. San Diego

4. Colorado

5. Arizona

 

NL Playoffs:

St Louis b. Los Angeles

New York b. Houston

St Louis b. New York

 

World Series

New York b. St Louis

[phoenixrising 0]

AL East Champion: New York Yankees

AL Central Champion: Chicago White Sox

AL West Champion: Oakland Athletics

AL Wild Card: Toronto Blue Jays

 

NL East Champion: New York Mets

NL Central Champion: St. Louis Cardinals

NL West Champion: Los Angeles Dodgers

NL Wild Card: Atlanta Braves

 

AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals

AL Cy Young: Johan Santana, Minnesota Twins

NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy, San Diego Padres

[Vampiro69 0]

AL East Winner: New York Yankees

AL Central Winner: Minnesota Twins

AL West Winner: Los Angeles Angels

AL Wild Card Winner: Cleveland Indians

 

NL East Winner: Philadelphia Phillies

NL Central Winner: St. Louis Cardinals

NL West Winner: San Diego Padres

NL Wild Card Winner: Houston Astros

 

Playoffs:

AL:

 

Indians over Yankees

Twins over LA Angels

 

Angels over Twins

 

NL:

 

Philadelphia Phillies over St. Louis Cardinals

Astros over Padres

 

Cardinals over Phillies

 

World Series:

Cardinals over Angels

 

Awards:

AL MVP: Travis Hafner, Indians

NL MVP: Albert Pujols Cardinals

AL Cy Young: Johan Santana Twins

NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy, Padres

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Proof that MLB prediction threads are pointless. The season's so long that anything can (and typically does) happen. Czech's comments in that thread are pretty funny in retrospect.

[Bored 0]

Here's 2004.

 

Lots of Cubs going to the World Series and the Royals winning the A.L. Central predictions. Of course the thread kinda drifted off into the usual nonsense from a certain Yankees fan.

[Guest]

Cy Young: Javier Vazquez (NYY)

What.The.Fuck.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I take it someone's entirely unfamiliar with Javier circa 2003.

[Guest]

Not me. I know he was good in Montreal and that Yankee fans were on his jockstrap when he came to New York, but still. I don't know anyone who thought that he would win a Cy Young.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

AL East: Boston Red Sox

AL Central: Chicago White Sox (One of these years they are going to remember that they have play the month of September)

AL West: Los Angelas Anaheim Angels of California

AL Wild Card: New York Yankees

 

NL East: Atlanta Braves (I learned my lesson from last year)

NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals

NL West: San Diego Padres

NL Wild Card: Los Angelas Dodgers

 

7 for 8 for playoff teams isn't bad. I admit that I screwed up that Dodgers pick, but it was just the Wildcard so cut me some slack.

[CanadianChris 0]

Predicting the White Sox near-collapse was strong, too.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/base...on/brewers.html

 

Get on board the bandwagon now, kiddies, there won't be room when the train leaves the station.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Proof that MLB prediction threads are pointless. The season's so long that anything can (and typically does) happen. Czech's comments in that thread are pretty funny in retrospect.

I'm afraid to look. I bet it was like "with Wood, Prior, Zambrano, AND Maddux, there's no WAY things can go wrong!"

 

I'll edit the post after recoiling in fear of my fermented wisdom.

 

 

EDIT:

Astros over Cubs?!?? Are you fucking high?

BREWERS over Cubs? Jesus, people. You're fucking killing me.

 

EDIT 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

They're two of the best front office men around. I trust their judgment.

The Cubs have concerns with Wood and Prior, and if those two miss significant time, it could be a long season, but who knows?

Sure did! Sure was!

[King Kamala 0]

AL East: New York Yankees

AL Central: Chicago White Sox

AL West: Anaheim Angels

AL Wild Card: Cleveland Indians

 

NL East: Atlanta Braves

NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals

NL West: San Diego Padres

NL Wild Card:Philadelphia Phillies

 

 

ALDS

Yankees over Indians

Angels over White Sox

 

NLDS

Cardinals over Phillies

Braves over Padres

 

ALCS

Yankees over Angels

 

NLCS

Cardinals over Braves

 

World Series

Yankees over Cardinals in 6

 

Awards

AL MVP: Alex Rodreiguz-New York Yankees

NL MVP: Albert Pujols-St. Louis Cardinals

AL Cy Young: Johan Santana-Minnesota Twins

NL Cy Young: Dontrelle Willis-Florida Marlins

[The Man in Blak 0]

The Brewers are going to cause problems for the Central teams, but I think they're probably one year away. St. Louis, Chicago, and Houston are all still very strong in the division, and there's still more than a few unknowns on their team. Does Turnbow hold up over another year? How badly does Capuano regress, if at all? Will Prince Fielder be an offensive factor?

 

As for "everybody blowing the Yankees", they won 100 games last year with Bernie and Womack playing in the outfield and plenty of injuries on the pitching staff. I don't think they'll win 100 this year, but they will still be very competitive: Damon is an improvement, and Cano may continue to get better.

 

And yeah, the A's look great on paper, but there's plenty of questions there as well. Does Huston Street keep performing at such a spectacular level? Do Milton Bradley and Frank Thomas hold up through the whole year? I think they'll have a real race on their hands in the West and, while I think they're good to enough to win, I'm not sure that they're really stacked enough to make a full push to the World Series.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

[

BREWERS over Cubs? Jesus, people. You're fucking killing me.

 

Were you watching last year? It happened in 2005, it's going to happen again in 2006.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

That was Czech's comment before the 2005 season. I don't make predictions, but I could easily see the Cubs finishing higher than the Brewers this season. Like MiB said, it may be a year or two before the Brewers take that next step. The Cubs meanwhile had an obvious weakness with their outfield and they've addressed that somewhat. They're not great but there is no horrific sinkhole this time around.

[The Czech Republic 0]

[

BREWERS over Cubs? Jesus, people. You're fucking killing me.

 

Were you watching last year? It happened in 2005, it's going to happen again in 2006.

You know what's fun? Reading posts. There's a lot you can pick up!

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

The Brewers are going to cause problems for the Central teams, but I think they're probably one year away. St. Louis, Chicago, and Houston are all still very strong in the division, and there's still more than a few unknowns on their team. Does Turnbow hold up over another year? How badly does Capuano regress, if at all? Will Prince Fielder be an offensive factor?

 

As for "everybody blowing the Yankees", they won 100 games last year with Bernie and Womack playing in the outfield and plenty of injuries on the pitching staff. I don't think they'll win 100 this year, but they will still be very competitive: Damon is an improvement, and Cano may continue to get better.

 

And yeah, the A's look great on paper, but there's plenty of questions there as well. Does Huston Street keep performing at such a spectacular level? Do Milton Bradley and Frank Thomas hold up through the whole year? I think they'll have a real race on their hands in the West and, while I think they're good to enough to win, I'm not sure that they're really stacked enough to make a full push to the World Series.

 

The Yankees won 95 games last year, the same as the Red Sox. Other than CF, they didn't really upgrade the team in any significant way this offseason. It's far from a sure thing that they will win that division.

 

The A's were really good last year, despite a horrendous start and breaking in a lot of young guys. They've added Thomas, Bradley and Loaiza. They are deep, play great defense and have fantastic pitching front to bottom. That's enough to make a World Series push.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Am I the only one who thinks Thomas could be a possible sleeper for the A's? I know he's got the health issues, but if he stays healthy even for a good chunk of the season, he's a sound investment.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

The Cubs meanwhile had an obvious weakness with their outfield and they've addressed that somewhat. They're not great but there is no horrific sinkhole this time around.

Part of me has this sinking feeling that Dusty's going to find a way to cut Murton's playing time with help from Grissom and Mabry.

 

And while it's too early to complain, Murton shouldn't be batting seventh or eighth again. Seems like a lineup that started with Pierre, Murton, Lee could put up some solid numbers. Neifi's presence wouldn't annoying if he were batting in a more appropriate spot in the order.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Am I the only one who thinks Thomas could be a possible sleeper for the A's? I know he's got the health issues, but if he stays healthy even for a good chunk of the season, he's a sound investment.

 

That's a pretty large "if", given that his ankle is held together by a couple of staples and some chewing gum. There could also be some significant impact for Thomas in moving from a hitter's haven in Chicago to Oakland, on top of the fact that he's a year older. But the real concern is health - I think Oakland would be very fortunate to get 250 at-bats and 10-12 homers from the Big Hurt this year.

 

The Yankees won 95 games last year, the same as the Red Sox. Other than CF, they didn't really upgrade the team in any significant way this offseason. It's far from a sure thing that they will win that division.

 

Thanks for the correction. I meant to have an "almost" in there, for "almost" winning 95, but I missed putting it in there.

 

And yeah, I agree with you on the Yankees. They're not going to win 100 games and just walk away with the division lead, but I would still consider them the favorite. Boston did not improve appreciably with their offseason moves; Crisp may outperform Damon in center field, and Beckett (along with a healthy Schilling) will undoubtedly bolster their rotation, but I have no idea what they're getting from the corner infield positions and there's virtually no outfield depth, should one of the starters get hurt. Toronto will probably do enough damage to both Boston and New York to make themselves a factor in the race, but I don't see them having enough offense to break through.

[MikeJordan23 0]

*= Wildcard

 

AL East

1) Redsox

2) Yankees

3) Bluejays

4) Devilrays

5) Orioles

 

AL Central

1) Indians

2) White Sox*

3) Tigers

4) Twins

5) Royals

 

AL West

1) A's

2) Angels

3) Mariners

4) Texas

 

 

N East

1) Braves

2) Mets*

3) Phillies

4) Marlins

5) Nationals

 

NL Central

1) Cardinals

2) Astros

3) Brewers

4) Cubs

5) Reds

6) Pirates

 

NL West

1) Giants

2) Dodgers

3) Padres

4) Rockies

 

5 extras

Jim Rollins will extend his streak to 45 games

Mark Prior will be traded by the deadline to the AL

Cardinals will win the World Series

Joe Torre will retire after this year

Bonds will break Hank Aaron's record

[megaadvice 0]

AL East: New York Yankees

AL Central: Chicago White Sox

AL West: LA Angels

AL Wild Card: Boston Red Sox

 

NL East: Philadelphia Phillies

NL Central: Chicago Cubs

NL West: San Diego Padres

NL Wild Card: New York Mets

 

 

ALDS

Indians over Yankees (not enough pitching to go all the way)

Angels over Red Sox

 

NLDS

Cubs over Mets

Phillies over Padres

 

ALCS

Indians over Angels

 

NLCS

Cubs over Philles

 

World Series

Indians over Cubs (in 7)

 

Awards

AL MVP: Alex Rodreiguz- Yankees

NL MVP: Derick Lee - Cubs

AL Cy Young: Johan Santana- Twins

NL Cy Young: Carlos Zambrano - Cubs

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

AL East: New York Yankees

AL Central: Chicago White Sox

AL West: LA Angels

AL Wild Card: Boston Red Sox

 

NL East: Philadelphia Phillies

NL Central: Chicago Cubs

NL West: San Diego Padres

NL Wild Card: New York Mets

 

 

ALDS

Indians over Yankees (not enough pitching to go all the way)

Angels over Red Sox

 

NLDS

Cubs over Mets

Phillies over Padres

 

ALCS

Indians over Angels

 

NLCS

Cubs over Philles

 

World Series

Indians over Cubs (in 7)

 

Awards

AL MVP: Alex Rodreiguz- Yankees

NL MVP: Derick Lee - Cubs

AL Cy Young: Johan Santana- Twins

NL Cy Young: Carlos Zambrano - Cubs

 

So you have White Sox winning the division and Red Sox winning the wildcard, and yet Cleveland wins it all? Huh?

[Precious Roy 0]

In September I'm going to come back to this thread and laugh at anyone who has the Indians winning the World Series or the Yankees not making the playoffs