A Few Thoughts on the Other Divisions

I'm not going to give a detailed breakdown of each team like I did for the AL Central, but here are my predictions for the other divisions, along with some thoughts.

AL East

Boston
Tampa Bay
New York
Toronto
Baltimore

The Yankees in third? Well, call me crazy, but I'm suspicious of a team that depends on a 37-year-old catcher, a 34-year-old shortstop and a 35-year-old left fielder without much quality depth behind those guys. Also, it looks like they'll start a rookie in center field. Oh yeah, their best player is going to miss the first month of the season, at least. And a team that expects A.J. Burnett to stay healthy is a team that is going to be disappointed. The Yankees will still contend, but I think the Rays and Red Sox are just a little better.

AL West

Los Angeles
Oakland
Texas
Seattle

I really want to pick the Rangers to do better, but I just can't see it with that pitching staff. I really want to pick the Athletics to win the division, but I just can't see it with that pitching staff. So I'll stick with the Angels for this season.

NL East

Philadelphia
New York
Atlanta
Florida
Washington

Ho hum. Another year, another Mets team that can't quite win the division. At least they fixed up the bullpen, or tried to. The good news for the Phils and Mets is that the other three teams here are varying degrees of bad, so this is likely a two-team race.

NL Central

Chicago
Cincinnati
St. Louis
Milwaukee
Houston
Pittsburgh

The Cubs are pretty clear favorites here, but the Reds are most intriguing team to me. They might have more good young players than any team outside Tampa Bay. I doubt they can catch the Cubs, but I think they might be a little better than the Cardinals and Brewers. The bottom two teams in this division are pretty much trainwrecks.

NL West

Los Angeles
Arizona
San Francisco
Colorado
San Diego

A full season of Manny Ramirez ought to give the edge to the Dodgers here. I might be giving the Giants' offense too much credit, but their pitching looks pretty good to me. If they had any sort of hitting, they could be contenders.

Postseason

AL playoffs: Boston vs. Minnesota, Tampa Bay (wildcard) vs. Los Angeles
ALCS: Boston vs. Tampa Bay

NL playoffs: Philadelphia vs. Chicago, New York (wildcard) vs. Los Angeles
NLCS: Chicago vs. Los Angeles

World Series: Boston defeats Los Angeles, while sports fans everywhere pray they never hear about Manny Ramirez facing his old team again.