Well, folks, that time of year has once again come upon us. That’s right, baseball. America’s pastime has started, and here are my predictions for the upcoming season.
First of all in the A.L. West, the Los Angeles Angels will win the division because their pitching is better than everyone else’s in the division and their defense should be better this year. Defense was the Angels big problem last year.
The Oakland Athletics should be good enough to get second place in the division, even though they lost Mark Mulder to the St. Louis Cardinals and Barry Zito to the San Francisco Giants.
The A’s pitching will no doubt be weaker because of this, but Rich Harden and the youngsters should be fine.
The Texas Rangers, with new manager Ron Washington and Sammy Sosa, should get third in this division and, if the pitching comes around, who knows? The Rangers might even get second in the division.
But the pitching is still suspect and, for that reason, an 86-76 record is probably all the Rangers can realistically hope for. .
In the A.L. East, the Boston Red Sox are going to win this division this year with the New York Yankees coming in second and being the A.L. Wild Card team in the playoffs. The Toronto Blue Jays could be in the hunt, but overtaking Boston or New York seems to be one year away.
In the A.L. Central, I’m going with the Detroit Tigers to win this division over the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox.
In the N.L. West, the Los Angeles Dodgers are my pick to win this division, but watch out for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
In the N.L. Central, this is going to be the year of the Brew Crew. Milwaukee will win the division, and St. Louis, Houston, and the Chicago Cubs will battle for second. Whoever gets it should be the N.L. Wild Card team in the playoffs.
In the N.L. East, the New York Mets will win the division and Philadelphia will once again be the team disappointed. The Phillies will come close, but not quite clinch the division.
My pick to win the World Series: The Milwaukee Brewers.
If they do win, I’ll go to Milwaukee, eat four or five Bratwursts (or Brats as they say in Milwaukee) and drink a gallon of Old Milwaukee Beer.