Well it's that time of year again. Spring time in San Francisco. That means it probably raining and just starting to climb into the fifties. Of course, I should mention we complain that it's to hot when it reaches eighty. Before I get down to business let's congratulate Japan for winning the WBC. I really enjoyed the tournament but it needs some tweaking. I say ditch the second group stage and have a best of three elimination tournament. Two more whipping posts before the predictions. There are flat out too many teams in the top league. If the last place teams where forced to win to stay in the majors maybe they would try a little harder. I also still hate the Wild card. It sucks. Second place is still first loser. Well on to the picks in a random order.
The Designated hitter Central division features the defending champions who reloaded like evil team A usually does. The White Sox should be the favorites. The Tigers, Twinkees and some team I can't remember haven't got a prayer. Well maybe the twinkees if everything rolled their way. The Indians hung in there all year. This is an two team race. The Indians should win this year. The White Sox bullpen just sucks. They were lucky last year but this year it will hurt them. Their outfield is pretty week too. The Indians are ready this year.
The Senior circuit East. I am sticking with last year's pick. I am picking the Braves until they lose. One of these years I am going to jinx them. Let's hope it's this year. The Mets and the Phillies are the other contenders. The Nationals will soldier on under Robinson but they are headed to relegation. Whoops , I just read the Marlins depth chart. The Nats look a lot better now.
The National League 6. St. Louis. Any questions?
The designated hitter west should be really interesting as only Seattle is really a pretender. The inaptly named Angels have Vlad and a solid vetearn team. The A's have Billy Beane and Rangers look like they might actually have a pitching staff. As much as I hate Clear Channel and the fact that the plant once owned them I have to go with the Rangers. This is the year that Garret Anderson breaks down and they don't have any starters after Colon. The A's are headed for the sophomore jinx.
Evil Division East. Enough with Evil team A and Evil Team B. The Blue Jays spent a mint this winter to end up fourth. The Devil Rays still have no reason to be in the Majors but at least they finally sent LeMar packing. I like Miggy but the Orioles still need to get rid of Angelos to have any chance. So once again the two evil teams will play for the division. I think Real Madrid will beat Manchester United for the division. Sorry wrong juggernauts. Yankees by four.
That leaves my favorite division for last. Last year this was the statistically the worst division. The Rockies still suck and so do the Dodgers. The Diamondbacks are still to mediocre to take seriously. That leaves the Padres and Giants. They should battle to end of the year as both teams are flawed and both are old. The Padres have a good bullpen and they are going to need it with Shawn Estes and Chan ho Park in the rotation. The Giants have a lot of youngsters in the rotation and a lot of old guys in the field. I think los Giagantes win the division.
So to recap
Real Madrid (Evil Team A)
Cleveland
Texas
Atlanta
St. Louis
San Francisco.
Relegation
Devil Rays
Royals
Mariners
Marlins
Reds
Rockies
