Baseball 2011: A Brief Forecast

Here we are at the precipice of yet another glorious baseball season, and here I am making informed but likely wrong predictions about the coming campaign. The loss of Adam Wainwright makes me even more terrified of the Cardinals' chance in the Central, and I begrudgingly have to admit that I like the Reds to head back to the playoffs again. If only Brandon Phillips could just not get to go. I hate Brandon Phillips. He's mean. Below you will find my predictions on the final 2011 standings and major individual awards. I won't predict the Manager of the Year awards because, a) they're stupid, and b) I have no crystal ball that will tell me which team will go on a September tear to win 82 games.

*wild cards

American League:

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

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

WEST
1. Texas Rangers
2. Oakland A's
3. Los Angeles Angels
4. Seattle Mariners

AL MVP: Adrian Gonzalez
AL Cy Young: Max Scherzer
AL Rookie of the Year: Jeremy Hellickson

NATIONAL LEAGUE

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

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

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

NL MVP: Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young: Josh Johnson
NL Rookie of the Year: Freddie Freeman

Once again, these predictions will probably only serve to show my idiocy after the season is over. I didn't do anything that was really surprising with the exception of picking Scherzer, who just keeps getting better and was lights-out in the second half of 2010, to win the AL Cy Young award. I went Red Sox over Yankees because they added like 1,000 wins in the off-season and the Yankees pretty much only helped themselves by adding a dominant reliever for $12 million a year. I went ahead and picked Pujols to take home his fourth MVP because, hey, he's pretty much a better bet than taking the field at this point.

I'm guessing that the World Series will wind up containing Boston and the Phillies, and I think Boston will go ahead and win as they do every three or four years now. I'll probably be rooting for the Phillies because the taste of the 2004 World Series comes back every time I see the David Ortiz in October.

Baseball in a few hours! I hope to be back on here typing about how the Cardinals looked so good that I'm throwing all my predictions out the window and picking them to win 140 games. If that sort of delirium sets in, there's a good chance they won by a touchdown and Albert hit a ball to Illinois.