Saturday, March 14, 2009

Part 1 of Ben's Uber Baseball Preview 2009

It's that time again folks. Time for me to prove that I have no life.

Baseball!

Once again it should be a great season as the most perfect sport continues to weather any and every storm and issue that arises.



With the words of Darth Earl Jones in our hearts and minds, I give you my brief overview and predictions for the upcoming 2009 Major League Baseball season.

Standings:
AL East-
1. Boston Red Sox
2. Tampa Bay Rays
3. New York Yankees
4. Toronto Blue Jays
Ben's Despair. Baltimore Orioles

AL Central-
1. Detroit Tigers
2. Kansas City Royals (WHAT?!?!?!?!?!)
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Cleveland Indians
5. Chicago White Sox

AL West-
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim von Porkenstench del Rocca Turlingtonshire
2. Oakland Athletics
3. Texas Rangers
4. Seattle Mariners

NL East-
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. New York Mets
3. Atlanta Braves
4. Florida Marlins
80. Washington Nationals

NL Central-
1. Chicago Cubs
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. St. Louis Fightin' Pujolses
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. Houston Astros
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

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

Playoffs:
ALDS-
Boston over Detroit
Tampa Bay over Los Angeles

NLDS-
Philadelphia over Los Angeles
Chicago over New York

ALCS-
Boston over Tampa Bay

NLDS-
Chicago over Philadelphia

World Series-
Boston over Chicago

AL MVP- Evan Longoria, 3B, Tampa Bay Rays
NL MVP- Albert Pujols, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals
AL Cy Young- Josh Beckett, RHP, Boston Red Sox
NL Cy Young- Johan Santana, LHP, New York Mets
AL Rookie of the Year- Matt Wieters, C, Baltimore Orioles
NL Rookie of the Year- Cameron Maybin, CF, Florida Marlins
AL Manager of the Year- Trey Hillman, Kansas City Royals
NL Manager of the Year- Joe Torre, Los Angeles Dodgers

Some extra thoughts:
  • My beloved Orioles will show a lot of improvement, and are still destined to be dead last in the AL East
  • The Royals will compete until the end of the season because 1) they've quietly improved themselves and 2) the AL Central is a terrible division...like really terrible, every team in the AL East would win the division except the Orioles, who would probably place second
  • The Boston Red Sox didn't make as much noise as the Yankees, but got a lot better over the offseason
  • The A's are very close to challenging the Angels, don't be surprised if they win the division, especially with Ervin Santana out
  • All my Phillies related predictions are contingent upon Chase Utley being healthy. If he's out, so are the Phils.
  • The Braves are also really close to competing...keep an eye on them.
  • If Wieters doesn't win ROY, it will be because he simply didn't qualify due to plate appearances. The other option is Elvis Andrus, SS, Texas.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you underestimate the Nationals. They have Dimitri Young, Austin Kearns, and Willy Mo Pie Pena at the heart of the order. Throw in Nick Johnson and watch out. 80th place is way too low. They could rise to 6th in their Division.

If only they had kept Paul LoDuca and Chad Cordero. They might move up even more.

Ben Johannes said...

well brady, if you say it, it must be so

Anonymous said...

I do say so. And I would like to see them bring back Frank Robinson.