A Modern-Day Nostradamus
Season's over, let's see how wonderfully astray my predictions went.
In the AL I had:
East: Yankees
Central: Indians (OOPS!)
West: A's
Wild Card: Los Soxes (OOPS!)
I had the Twins 3rd and the Tigers 4th. (I'd love to see anyone who had the Tigers higher -- I was impressed with their defense, but didn't expect the pitching to emerge, even though those two go hand-in-hand)
In the NL, I had:
East: Mets
Central: Cardinals
West: Dodgers
WC: Braves (OOPS!)
Not toooo bad, I guess.
I had the Nats pegged for 75 wins. Close enough, even if A Wary Fan's guess in comments was better.
So now that I've demonstrated my incompetence and stupidity, how 'bout them playoffs?
AL:
Twins over A's in 4. This is a helluva matchup with two teams that are pretty evenly matched. I like Minnesota's bullpen a lot better than Oakland's, and they'll be key in any starts that Silva or Radke make, keeping the Twins close enough.
--Gleeman's series preview
--Some nameless, faceless corporation's A's-sanctioned series preview
Yankees over Detroit in 4. Detroit seems to be running on fumes, and they have a pretty mediocre offense -- one that might not be able to abuse the Yankees pitching staff the way a good team could. All you need to know about the Yankees offense is that any one of their players could be batting cleanup on the Nats (or, hell, most any NL team). ARod, the choking dog, is batting sixth!?
--Friend to Distinguished Senators and Ain't-I-Cool glasses-wearing Dayn Perry's series preview
NL:
Padres over Cardinals in 5. If the Cardinals were playing anyone but SD, I'd pick them. As we know, you're rarely as bad as you look when you're losing, and the Cardinals still do have Pujuols, Edmonds and Rolen. With Carpenter going twice, they've got a great chance. But, the Padres, to me, are the best team in the NL. Their pitching is certainly the deepest from front to back, and I love their defense (when Piazza isn't catching). Their offense seems worse than it is, simply because Petco Park is a bigger offensive drain than RFK. Take a look at Mike Cameron's numbers. Why isn't he in the MVP discussion -- at least as one of those down ballot guys.
--If you're allergic to capital letters, here's the must-read Cards preview.
--Here's the Padres-blogger Ducksnorts' look at the offense and pitching.
LA over Los Mets in 4 -- The Mets have the better offense, but their pitching is pretty mediocre, thanks to all the injuries. The offense can certainly knock the crap out of mediocre pitching (as Ramon Ortiz can attest), and they're going to need a strong performance from their bullpen, which is perfectly capable of doing so, to keep them in some of these games. With LA, you never know what you're going to get. For a time, they looked like the best team in baseball -- but that was immediately after a 40-game (or so it seemed) losing streak. This one's pretty evenly matched. Look for Marlon Anderson to be the difference! ;)
--Dodger Thoughts series preview
--The Eddie Kranepool Society is nervous.
What say you?
In the AL I had:
East: Yankees
Central: Indians (OOPS!)
West: A's
Wild Card: Los Soxes (OOPS!)
I had the Twins 3rd and the Tigers 4th. (I'd love to see anyone who had the Tigers higher -- I was impressed with their defense, but didn't expect the pitching to emerge, even though those two go hand-in-hand)
In the NL, I had:
East: Mets
Central: Cardinals
West: Dodgers
WC: Braves (OOPS!)
Not toooo bad, I guess.
I had the Nats pegged for 75 wins. Close enough, even if A Wary Fan's guess in comments was better.
AL:
Twins over A's in 4. This is a helluva matchup with two teams that are pretty evenly matched. I like Minnesota's bullpen a lot better than Oakland's, and they'll be key in any starts that Silva or Radke make, keeping the Twins close enough.
--Gleeman's series preview
--Some nameless, faceless corporation's A's-sanctioned series preview
Yankees over Detroit in 4. Detroit seems to be running on fumes, and they have a pretty mediocre offense -- one that might not be able to abuse the Yankees pitching staff the way a good team could. All you need to know about the Yankees offense is that any one of their players could be batting cleanup on the Nats (or, hell, most any NL team). ARod, the choking dog, is batting sixth!?
--Friend to Distinguished Senators and Ain't-I-Cool glasses-wearing Dayn Perry's series preview
NL:
Padres over Cardinals in 5. If the Cardinals were playing anyone but SD, I'd pick them. As we know, you're rarely as bad as you look when you're losing, and the Cardinals still do have Pujuols, Edmonds and Rolen. With Carpenter going twice, they've got a great chance. But, the Padres, to me, are the best team in the NL. Their pitching is certainly the deepest from front to back, and I love their defense (when Piazza isn't catching). Their offense seems worse than it is, simply because Petco Park is a bigger offensive drain than RFK. Take a look at Mike Cameron's numbers. Why isn't he in the MVP discussion -- at least as one of those down ballot guys.
--If you're allergic to capital letters, here's the must-read Cards preview.
--Here's the Padres-blogger Ducksnorts' look at the offense and pitching.
LA over Los Mets in 4 -- The Mets have the better offense, but their pitching is pretty mediocre, thanks to all the injuries. The offense can certainly knock the crap out of mediocre pitching (as Ramon Ortiz can attest), and they're going to need a strong performance from their bullpen, which is perfectly capable of doing so, to keep them in some of these games. With LA, you never know what you're going to get. For a time, they looked like the best team in baseball -- but that was immediately after a 40-game (or so it seemed) losing streak. This one's pretty evenly matched. Look for Marlon Anderson to be the difference! ;)
--Dodger Thoughts series preview
--The Eddie Kranepool Society is nervous.
What say you?
posted by Chris Needham at
9:30 AM
8 Comments:
I don't see how the Tigers can beat the Yankees unless they magically return to their earlier form. But, the same is true of the Cards. If Detroit's on fumes, the Cards are on empty. SD in four if not three.
By
Anonymous, at 10/03/2006 10:09 AM
Just to be pedantic, the Dodgers didn't actually win the West.
By
Anonymous, at 10/03/2006 10:47 AM
Dayn Perry?! Hey, Scott Long has a fascinating and not at all crappy and idiotic post about steroids up. You going to link to that, too?
By
Ryan, at 10/03/2006 2:13 PM
Hey, it got you out of the bat cave, didn't it?
Besides, he has a new picture up. Did you click?
By
Chris Needham, at 10/03/2006 2:26 PM
If he thinks those glasses are making his ken look any reconditer, he's wrong.
By
Ryan, at 10/03/2006 3:49 PM
Dayn's ken is already sufficiently recondite.
Good post, Chris!
By
Anonymous, at 10/03/2006 4:33 PM
today was a bloodbath!!!! astacio, lawrence, day, eischen, rodriguez, drese....all gone!!
probably good choices all around. but knowing our luck, lawrence will get picked up and have a monster year. i guess they really are serious about rebuilding.
By
Anonymous, at 10/03/2006 8:44 PM
Well, you got all four wrong! Want to try for the LCS's?
By
Anonymous, at 10/10/2006 7:09 AM
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