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.