Major League Baseball Preview.

Last night was opening night for MLB so here is my abbreviated preview for this year. I am not going to go into long in depth analysis of each team because nobody would read all of it. So what follows are my predictions for division races and playoffs as well as other things to watch for throughout the year.

National League East

1. New York Met
2. Atlanta Braves*
3. Washington Nationals
4. Philadelphia Phillies
5. Florida Marlins

National League Central

1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Houston Astros
4. Pittsburgh Pirates
5. Chicago Cubs
6. Cincinnati Reds

National League West

1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. San Francisco Giants
3. San Diego Padres
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. Colorado Rockies

MVP - Albert Pujols, Cardinals
Cy Young - Roy Oswalt, Astros
Rookie of the Year - Prince Fielder, Brewers
Manager of the Year - Ned Yost, Brewers


American League East

1. Boston Red Sox
2. Toronto Blue Jays
3. New York Yankees
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Tampa Bay Devil Rays

American League Central

1. Chicago White Sox
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Detroit Tigers
5. Kansas City Royals

Amercian League West

1. Los Angeles Angels
2. Oakland Athletics*
3. Seattle Mariners
4. Texas Rangers

MVP - Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
Cy Young - Roy Halladay, Blue Jays
Rookie of the Year - Felix Hernandez, Mariners
Manager of the Year - Mike Scioscia, Angels

*Wild card team

NL Division Series
Mets over Dodgers
Cardinals over Braves

AL Division Series
White Sox over Athletics
Angels over Red Sox

NL Championship
Cardinals over Mets

AL Championship
Angels over White Sox

World Series
Angels over Cardinals

Things to watch
- Offense will be down this year. The crack down on steroids will be widely recognized as the reason but the real reason will be the ban this year of amphetamines. "Greenies" have been used for decades by everyone in the league as a way to combat hectic travel, day games after night games, and hangovers.
- The greenie ban is going to cost older teams at least 5-10 wins a year. Look for older teams like the Yankees and Giants to lose a lot of Saturday afternoon games they should win to younger, fresher teams like Tampa Bay and Colorado.
- Teams in the AL East will have to win their division to make the playoffs. With the schedule now set up for so many interdivisional games, the teams in this division are going to beat up on each other and the division winner may only win 92 games. Meanwhile the Angels and A's will beat up on their own division as well as the pitiful NL West in inter-league play giving them a big advantage in schedule.
- The Blue Jays are a year and a corner outfield bat away from winning the division. But if Alex Rios blossoms this year they can knock of the Yanks and Red Sox. With Troy Glaus to protect him in the order, Vernon Wells will have a huge year and become an MVP candidate.
- The Yankees pitching will not hold up this year. Even if Randy Johnson stays healthy, Mike Mussina is well past his prime and Shawn Chacon and Carl Pavano can't take the pressure of playing in NY. The Yanks are also terrible defensively. ARod and Derek Jeter are the only two position players they have that are even average in the field. The outfield of Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, and Gary Sheffield is awful.
- The Yankees are going to score a hell of a lot of runs. With ARod moving to third in the order, and with Damon and Jeter in front of him, he is going to get 150 RBI's.
- Coco Crisp will hit for a higher average and be better this year than Damon for the Red Sox. He is a far better outfielder and will be a spark at the top of the lineup. Letting Damon go was a good step for the Sox.
- With Leo Mazzone as their new pitching coach, look for Baltimore to be a lot better than people think. Eric Bedard is going to blossom into a 17 game winner this year.
- All five White Sox starters will win 15 games.
- If Jim Thome can stay healthy, which I think he will, he will hit 40 home runs and win Comeback player of the year for the White Sox. Nobody is more competitive or has more pride than Thome.
- Cleveland will miss Kevin Millwood this year and take a small step backwards.
- Oakland has the best starting staff in baseball. Rich Harden will be the ace which means Barry Zito will be no.2 which I think he is far more comfortable with. The A's offense won't be able to score enough runs to win the division though.
- This is the Angels year to win it and they know it. Guys like Garrett Anderson and Darin Erstad probably won't be back next year. Their staff is deep, their lineup strong with Vlady Guerrero anchoring it, they are a great defensive club, and closer Francisco Rodriguez is lights out. Their only potential hole is starting a rookie catcher in Jeff Mathis.
- The Mariners Felix Hernandez is the real deal. His stuff is absolutely nasty. Think Dwight Gooden 20 years ago king of good. He seems to have his head on straight too. He is going to be unhittable by the start of next year.
- The Braves will not win the NL East for the 15th straight time. The key to the Braves run was never Bobby Cox, it was Leo Mazzone. Cox is a terrible game manager and one World Series title in 14 trips to the playoffs proves that. Leo Mazzone made winning pitchers out of complete retreads and guys nobody else wanted. Then those same guys signed other places and stunk again. The rest of the NL is so bad though that the Braves have enough to hold on to the wild card.
- Carlos Delgado, with Carlos Beltran and stud in the making David Wright, batting in front and behind him, will get 140 RBI's.
- Nationals manager Frank Robinson will be caught falling asleep in the dugout at least three times.
- Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria should be banned from baseball. He helped drive the Expos into the ground and is now trying to do the same thing with Florida. They will relocate to either Las Vegas or San Antonio within two years.
- The Cardinals will win the NL Central by at least 15 games. Pujols will continue to put up ridiculous numbers and will be recognized as the best hitter in the game.
- The Brewers are going to contend for the wild card this year. Their staff is young but good and Ben Sheets could win the Cy Young. Prince Fielder will hit for power and Cory Koskie will return to full health and have a good year.
- Despite Roger Clemens' likely retirement, Astros will still have a strong starting staff. It's just that their offense is going to be very bad. They won't score enough runs to make the wild card.
- The NL West is the worst division in baseball. The Dodgers will win it and may do it with only 85 wins.
- The steroid investigation will not bother Barry Bonds at all. Nothing bothers Bonds, he really doesn't care about anything and has the ability to completely block out the media on his march to 756 home runs.