Annual Baseball Prediction Thread...2013 Edition

[Dwight Strawberry]

Here we go...Finals standings, champions, yearly awards, and 1 prediction for a player on each team...

AL East

Toronto Blue Jays - Brett Lawrie brings it all together and goes 25/25
TB Rays* - Matt Moore wins 19 games
NY Yankees - Kevin Youkillas loves Yankee Stadium. Returns to .300/25/90 line
Boston Red Sox - Stephen Drew has a surprising 1st half. Gets traded at the deadline and then busts out.
Baltimore Orioles - Manny Machado struggles big time. Growing pains.

AL Central

Detroit Tigers - Austin Jackson goes 20/20 and clips at a rate of .300
Cleveland Indians - Michael Brantley has a big year, and the Indians are in the Wild Card race until the last 3 days of the season.
KC Royals - Eric Hosmer continues to struggle and gets sent to AAA for a few weeks mid season
Chicago White Sox - Paul Konerko will retire after the season as one of the most underrated/under the radar players of the past 15 years
Minnesota Twins - Joe Mauer is good.

AL West

LA Angels - Josh Hamilton misses the hitters park he came from in Texas. .270/28/88
Oakland A's* - All 5 starters in the A's rotation win at least 13 games
Texas Rangers - Profar dosn't get much playing time in 2013 to make him fantasy relevent
Seattle Mariners - Jason Bay has incredible spring and wins starting OF spot. Hits .300 and 5 HR in April. Gets hit by the Orioles team bus on May 1st and has right leg amputated.
Houston Astros -

NL East

Washington Nats - Entire team just dominates in 2013
Atlanta Braves - Upton/Hayward/Upton will be best MLB OF for the next 4 to 5 years
Philadelphia Phillies - Team continues to show it's age. Chase Utley does give the fans a full season a respectable line .275/23/81/16
NY Mets - Future is now. d'Arnaud is a May call up and Zack Wheeler is manning the 5th rotation spot in July. Met fans have a team to get excited about again.
Miami Marlins - Giancarlo Stanton will hit a lot of homeruns and shit.

NL Central

Cincinnati Reds - Aroldis Chapman flames out in the rotation. Heads back to closer role by August
St. Louis Cardinals* - Matt Holiday continues to be one of the most consistent hitters in baseball, and one of the worst LFers in baseball. Makes another bonehead play in the playoffs that cost STL a crucial game
Milwaukee Brewers - Carlos Gomez has another good season and will get a nice payday in December
Pittsburgh Pirates - Starling Marte almost has a better season than McCutchen
Chicago Cubs - Starlin Castro will be first SS off the board in 2014 fantasy drafts

NL West

LA Dodgers - Kershaw/Grenkie win a combined 43 games. Gonzo and Crawford bounce back. Give Nationals toughest challenge in playoffs.
SF Giants* - Timmy L bounces back to career norms and has himself quite a solid season
Arizona Dbacks - Who the fuck did they get for Bauer?
San Diego Padres - Chase Headly regresses back to careers norms .270/13/70
Colorado Rockies - Walt Weiss is their manager and he won the 1988 AL ROY award. I also caught a foul ball hit by Walt Weiss at a Marlines game in 1993. Joe Magraine was the pitcher. In fact, thanks to the beastliness of baseball-reference.com; here is the boxscore from that game: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes ... 5150.shtml


AL Champion: Toronto Blue Jays
NL Champion: Washington Nationals

WS Champion: Washington Nationals

AL MVP: Jose Reyes
NL MVP: Adrian Gonzalez

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander
NL Cy Young: Steven Strasberg

AL ROY: Wil Myers
NL ROY: Travis d'Arnaud

AL Comeback POY: Mariano Rivera
NL Comeback POY: Carl Crawford

[citizen]

2013...Joey Votto

[peanut butter]

AL East

Toronto Blue Jays - Joey Bats is a top 3 MVP candidate
TB Rays* - Joe Maddon wins manager of the year
Boston Red Sox - Injuries will ruin what could have been a playoff run
Baltimore Orioles - They are who we thought they were
NY Yankees - Steinbrenner goes Loria on the club after a season ruined by too little pitching, too many injuries and not enough depth. Michael Pineda is the sole bright spot this season.

AL Central

Detroit Tigers - The return of Victor Martinez turns out to be one of the biggest offseason acquisitions in the AL
Cleveland Indians* - Carlos Santana is an all star
KC Royals - Hosmer starts to figure it out and begins to look like the allstar he is pegged as
Chicago White Sox - Sale misses 40 games with arm injuries
Minnesota Twins - Morneau is back and effective

AL West

LA Angels - Finish the year with the best record in the AL
Oakland A's - Cespedes is an allstar
Seattle Mariners - Montero is such a bad defensive catcher that he forces the team to move him to DH and call up Zunino
Texas Rangers - Darvish is a top 3 Cy Young candidate
Houston Astros - Kevin Goldstein commits suicide before the all star break

NL East

Washington Nats - Said this in the other prediction thread, but Harper finishes with a higher WAR than Trout
Atlanta Braves* - Chipper comes back at the end of the regular season like Pettite in hopes of winning another ring
Philadelphia Phillies - Ryan Howard supplants Barry Zito as the baseball player recognized as having the worst contract in the game
NY Mets - Johan Santana is traded to a contender at the deadline
Miami Marlins -

Passan and Loria consummate their relationship

NL Central

Cincinnati Reds - Aroldis Chapman finishes with more saves than starts, Mat Latos comes out of the closet
St. Louis Cardinals - Oscar Tavares rakes after getting called up when Holliday gets injured
Pittsburgh Pirates - Team finally finishes over .500
Milwaukee Brewers - Ryan Braun hires Greg Anderson as his personal trainer, yet continues to deny steroid allegations
Chicago Cubs - Theo Epstein calls the Red Sox front office every day with trade offers that involve him being shipped back to Boston in return for a player to be named later

NL West

LA Dodgers - Magic gives everyone AIDS
SF Giants* - The Franchise further solidifies itself as the class of the baseball universe
Arizona Dbacks - Gibby charges the Bauer on the mound when facing the Indians during interleague play
San Diego Padres - Ignoring the lack of collective talent, the front office again blames the team's anemic offense on park dimensions and continues to bring the fences in until Petco looks like a fucking wiffle ball field
Colorado Rockies - Fouling a ball off to Dwight continues to be the highlight of Walt Weiss' baseball career


AL Champion: Angels
NL Champion: Braves

WS Champion:


AL MVP: Pujols
NL MVP: Votto

AL Cy Vogelsong: King Felix
NL Cy Volgelsong: Madison Bumgarner

AL ROY: Does Bauer still have rookie eligibility? If so, him. If not, Myers
NL ROY: Oscar Tavares

AL Comeback POY: Victor Martinez
NL Comeback POY: Chase Utley




PEACE

[Philaflava]

AL Champion: Detroit Tigers
NL Champion: Philadelphia Phillies
WS Champion: Philadelphia Phillies

AL MVP: Mike Trout
NL MVP: Ryan Braun

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander
NL Cy Young: Steven Strasberg

AL ROY: Jurickson Profar
NL ROY: Shelby Miller

AL Comeback POY: Victor Martinez
NL Comeback POY: Chase Utley

[Tommy Bunz]

AL East

Toronto Blue Jays - Hate to jump on the bandwagon but they should pitch, hit and play defense very well. Dickey wins 19 games and finishes top 3 Cy.
TB Rays - Fun Fact: James Loney is the highest paid player on this team. Read that again. Chris Archer becomes a nice #3 pitcher.
NY Yankees - Agree about Youk loving Yankee stadium. Almost put them 2nd because I always regret doubting them and they have really great pitching depth.
Boston Red Sox - Out of all of baseball, I think the Sox have the biggest ability to surprise. Lots of talent and guys who could bounce back.
Baltimore Orioles - Don't even sniff a winning record. Wieters finally has his breakout offensive season. Brian Roberts finally retires at year end now that he's collected his whole contract.

AL Central

Detroit Tigers - Also bullish on VMart this year. Sanchez is a bust.
Chicago White Sox - Perenially doubted and yet they always compete. Rios forgets how to hit again.
Cleveland Indians - Still can't pitch.
Kansas City Royals - Don't see how the changes they made are going to make them win 20 more games.
Minnesota Twins - Worley sucks and makes me not miss him.

AL West

Texas Rangers - Best all around team in the division still.
LA Angels - Trout wins the MVP he should have won last year.
Oakland A's - I love them but they still can't hit very well and strikeout way too much. Brett Anderson comes back and pitches like a #2.
Seattle Mariners - Only team with shittier defense than the Phillies. At least 6 DH's on one roster.
Houston Astros - Chris Carter hits 30 homeruns (while hitting under .250).

NL East

Washington Nationals - Harper is caught fucking Gio in the shower.
Atlanta Braves - Medlen is not the ace everyone wants him to be.
Philadelphia Phillies - Halladay teaches everyone to never doubt him and that he is god.
NY Mets - Dwight stops watching baseball by mid-June.
Miami Marlins - Logan Morrison finally comes out of the closet.

NL Central

St. Louis Cardinals - Wainwright returns to beast mode. (and dwight, Matt Holliday is a good fielder fyi)
Cincinnati Reds - Aroldis Chapman establishes himself as the hispanic Randy Johnson and makes Dusty look like a dumb faggot for burying him in the bullpen. The Choo in CF experiment fails horribly.
Milwaukee Brewers - Braun goes 40/40 just to piss everyone off.
Pittsburgh Pirates - I have nothing to say about the Pirates. Feel bad for McCutchen.
Chicago Cubs - Samardzija becomes a great #2 with 200Ks

NL West

LA Dodgers - Too much talent for something to not come out of it. Hanley hits 30 homeruns again but can't play short.
SF Giants - Have a good chance at the division title but still don't like their lineup and Lincecum will probably break his arm picking his boogers.
Arizona Dbacks - Kirk Gibson and Kevin Towers both get fired after the year is over.
San Diego Padres - Headley is not a fluke.
Colorado Rockies - Tulo returns to MVP levels.

AL Champion: Texas Rangers
NL Champion: Washington Nationals

WS Champion: Washington Nationals (kill me now)

AL MVP: Mike Trout
NL MVP: Joey Votto

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander
NL Cy Young: Cole Hamels

AL ROY: Bruce Rondon
NL ROY: Adam Eaton

AL Comeback POY: Kevin Youkilis
NL Comeback POY: Chase Utley

[Myjah]

AL Champion: Detroit Tigers
NL Champion: Philadelphia Phillies
WS Champion: Philadelphia Phillies

You are too cute.

[Myjah]

Pretty much all I know is Justin Morneau is going to have a stellar year and I am going to cry buckets if/when the Twins trade him and he is literally the only Twins player I have an irrational attachment too. It will absolutely break my heart.

[jredd109]

AL East

Toronto Blue Jays - will be hella disappointed if they don't win the division. if they stay relatively healthy, they should make the playoffs. should just go for broke and trade for morneau sooner rather than later.
TB Rays - every year i look at their team and think their line-up sucks, and then they always contend. pitching obviously carries this team. no shields might hurt, but they're the rays. they'll find a way. longoria is awesome. maddon is rad.
NY Yankees - not sure what to think. line up was gutted and now grandy is out for awhile too. like the rays, they'll probably still contend. even though i hate them, i'm a huge cano fan. he might need to have an mvp season to keep them in it.
Boston Red Sox - could leap past both tampa and ny if everything breaks right for them. farrell is a lying sack of shit though, and i wouldn't mind if they fall on their face again just for his sake.
Baltimore Orioles - someone's gotta finish last in this division. can they actually be good again or was last year a fluke?

AL Central

Detroit Tigers - They should run away with this division. but probably won't.
Chicago White Sox - Was last season's year end collapse the start of a trend, or can they bounce back?
Kansas City Royals - can finish third if all their young talent puts it together. butler is underrated. sheilds was a pretty solid pick up for them. if it goes to shit, they might be battling the twins and indians for last.
Cleveland Indians - Still can't pitch. - agreed. might be able to hit their way to 2nd or 3rd in the division.
Minnesota Twins - willingham, mauer and morneau is a pretty solid 1,2,3 punch but not really much beyond them. should trade morneau to the jays for adam lind and whatever prospects the jays have left and stock up for 3-4 years from now.

AL West

LA Angels - i think they overtook the rangers by stealing hamilton. should finish first in the division
Texas Rangers - should still finish 2nd and contend for a wildcard.
Oakland A's - i think they'll fare a little better than the o's as far as last year's surprise teams go. unless the rangers end up sucking, probably won't sniff the playoffs this year.
Seattle Mariners - Agree that the defence might stink, but pitching could be great and offence could surprise. gonna call them my dark horse for this year.
Houston Astros - how do you type out a fart noise? how bout pppppppppffhththfhththfhthhh p ppp pppp pp.

NL East

Washington Nationals - over 100 wins for sure. 3 closers at the back end of the bullpen. not a huge harper fan, but a consistent season = big numbers.
Atlanta Braves - should take one of the wildcards. bullpen is unreal. outfield is unreal. no chipper is going to be weird. how long before beachy gets back?
Philadelphia Phillies - Halladay and lee bounce back. hamels is still great, but beyond howard, utley and rollins what do they have left? and can all three play the whole season without getting seriously hurt. only finish third cause the mets and marlins suck way worse.
NY Mets - gonna need ike davis to actually hit better than .220 to have any chance. even if he batted .300, they still suck balls though.
Miami Marlins - Giancarlo is a fucking monster. i feel sorry for him stuck in that shithole.

NL Central

St. Louis Cardinals - since they won the ws, always seem to find a way to win. can't bet against them.
Cincinnati Reds - joey votto has a monster comeback year. chapman watch will be interesting.
Milwaukee Brewers - came on strong at the end of last year. might sneak into 2nd.
Pittsburgh Pirates - Even if they're good, they're going to have a hard time overtaking the top three teams in the division.
Chicago Cubs - how do you type that fart noise again??

NL West

LA Dodgers - should take this, but might need a season to get everyone on the same page before they really break out.
SF Giants - will contend for the division/wild card. defending champs. not much else to say.
San Diego Padres - if they had anyone beyond headley they'd be a pretty decent squad. third might be pushing it though.
Arizona Dbacks - no upton. traded their best pitching prospect for what? who is even on this team anymore aside from aaron hill?
Colorado Rockies - Tulo and cargo are as nasty a 1-2 combo in baseball when they're both 100%. team still sucks though. should just change their name to the mile-high marlins...

AL Champion: Toronto Blue Jays
NL Champion: Washington Nationals - unless they decide to shut stras down again...

WS Champion: Washington Nationals - it pains me to type it.

AL MVP: Mike Trout
NL MVP: Joey Votto

AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez or Justin Verlander - will be a toss up.
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw

The fuck do i know about rookies...
AL ROY: wil myers
NL ROY: travis d'arneaud

what are the qualifications for this? is it just guys that get hurt and miss time? if so, my pics are as follows:
AL Comeback POY: jose bautista
NL Comeback POY: joey votto

[Philaflava]

As for individual predictions, I think Trout regresses a bit. He won't do 40/40 with a full healthy season. I actually think Harper might have a slightly better year at the plate.

I also think Howard will surprise a lot of people with his new found patience at the plate. He won't hit .300 but he'll be over .275 with close to 35+ HR if he has no set-backs.

On paper the Angels look like the team to beat, yet I'm not sure Oakland doesn't surprise folks again with their crafty team.

I see B-More coming in 4th and not any higher in their division. The the emergence of the new Blue Jays and a healthy Rays team, plus whatever NY or Boston does, I just don't see B-More being as dominate this year.

[alpha]

The Jays are gonna do some things this year.
Stras may get close to 300 K's this year.

[Philaflava]

If he has no restrictions, 300 is a def a realistic number.

[Dwight Strawberry]

Here we go...Finals standings, champions, yearly awards, and 1 prediction for a player on each team...

AL East

Toronto Blue Jays - Brett Lawrie brings it all together and goes 25/25 -
TB Rays* - Matt Moore wins 19 games - Close
NY Yankees - Kevin Youkillas loves Yankee Stadium. Returns to .300/25/90 line -
Boston Red Sox - Stephen Drew has a surprising 1st half. Gets traded at the deadline and then busts out. -
Baltimore Orioles - Manny Machado struggles big time. Growing pains. -

AL Central

Detroit Tigers - Austin Jackson goes 20/20 and clips at a rate of .300 - No
Cleveland Indians - Michael Brantley has a big year, and the Indians are in the Wild Card race until the last 3 days of the season. - Hey, not bad!
KC Royals - Eric Hosmer continues to struggle and gets sent to AAA for a few weeks mid season - Poop
Chicago White Sox - Paul Konerko will retire after the season as one of the most underrated/under the radar players of the past 15 years - Win!
Minnesota Twins - Joe Mauer is good. -F Mauer

AL West

LA Angels - Josh Hamilton misses the hitters park he came from in Texas. .270/28/88 - Hamilton can eat a dick
Oakland A's* - All 5 starters in the A's rotation win at least 13 games - Pretty close!
Texas Rangers - Profar dosn't get much playing time in 2013 to make him fantasy relevent - Check!
Seattle Mariners - Jason Bay has incredible spring and wins starting OF spot. Hits .300 and 5 HR in April. Gets hit by the Orioles team bus on May 1st and has right leg amputated. - Bay has AIDS
Houston Astros - -

NL East

Washington Nats - Entire team just dominates in 2013 - Fail
Atlanta Braves - Upton/Hayward/Upton will be best MLB OF for the next 4 to 5 years - BJ Upton is awesome!
Philadelphia Phillies - Team continues to show it's age. Chase Utley does give the fans a full season a respectable line .275/23/81/16 - Pretty close on the Utley line despite the DL stint
NY Mets - Future is now. d'Arnaud is a May call up and Zack Wheeler is manning the 5th rotation spot in July. Met fans have a team to get excited about again. - More like, D'Arnaud comes up and can't hit his way out of a wet paper bag, and Matt Harvey has the year of a lifetime derailed by possible TJ Surgery. Mets gonna Met
Miami Marlins - Giancarlo Stanton will hit a lot of homeruns and shit. - Giancarlo Stanton should change his name back to Mike.

NL Central

Cincinnati Reds - Aroldis Chapman flames out in the rotation. Heads back to closer role by August - This pussy never even wanted to be a SP this year.
St. Louis Cardinals* - Matt Holiday continues to be one of the most consistent hitters in baseball, and one of the worst LFers in baseball. Makes another bonehead play in the playoffs that cost STL a crucial game. - TBD
Milwaukee Brewers - Carlos Gomez has another good season and will get a nice payday in December. - Gomez vs. McCann on PPV
Pittsburgh Pirates - Starling Marte almost has a better season than McCutchen - F Me
Chicago Cubs - Starlin Castro will be first SS off the board in 2014 fantasy drafts - Eat a dick Castro!

NL West

LA Dodgers - Kershaw/Grenkie win a combined 43 games. Gonzo and Crawford bounce back. Give Nationals toughest challenge in playoffs. - Only off by 13 wins, Gonzo and Crawford were busy sissoring each other while Puig and Hanley said F the World!
SF Giants* - Timmy L bounces back to career norms and has himself quite a solid season - Timmy L, Mr. Fantasy Baseball Irrelevant
Arizona Dbacks - Who the fuck did they get for Bauer? - Paul Goldschmidt is one powerful Jew
San Diego Padres - Chase Headly regresses back to careers norms .270/13/70 - I knew Headly was a fraud
Colorado Rockies - Walt Weiss is their manager and he won the 1988 AL ROY award. I also caught a foul ball hit by Walt Weiss at a Marlines game in 1993. Joe Magraine was the pitcher. In fact, thanks to the beastliness of baseball-reference.com; here is the boxscore from that game: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes ... 5150.shtml - Please trade Cargo to the Mets!


AL Champion: Toronto Blue Jays -
NL Champion: Washington Nationals -

WS Champion: Washington Nationals -

AL MVP: Jose Reyes - No
NL MVP: Adrian Gonzalez - F No

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander - No
NL Cy Young: Steven Strasberg - No

AL ROY: Wil Myers - Maybe!
NL ROY: Travis d'Arnaud - Cock

AL Comeback POY: Mariano Rivera - Miss you pal
NL Comeback POY: Carl Crawford - Vagina

[Gregg Popabitch]

Dwight, I told you about Starlin Castro.

[Philaflava]

I might have gotten 2, maybe 3 right when this is all over.

[peanut butter]

AL East

Toronto Blue Jays - Joey Bats is a top 3 MVP candidate- Shoulda spit up that Kool-Aid I was drinkin
TB Rays* - Joe Maddon wins manager of the year- Still in play, I suppose
Boston Red Sox - Injuries will ruin what could have been a playoff run- Even tho I was wrong, this is still a reasonable prediction
Baltimore Orioles - They are who we thought they were- Yup
NY Yankees - Steinbrenner goes Loria on the club after a season ruined by too little pitching, too many injuries and not enough depth. Michael Pineda is the sole bright spot this season. - Nope, but they shoulda blown it up

AL Central

Detroit Tigers - The return of Victor Martinez turns out to be one of the biggest offseason acquisitions in the AL- Whatever
Cleveland Indians* - Carlos Santana is an all star- Nailed it. Santana should have been in the ASG
KC Royals - Hosmer starts to figure it out and begins to look like the allstar he is pegged as- Nailed it
Chicago White Sox - Sale misses 40 games with arm injuries- This is a safe bet every year til it happens
Minnesota Twins - Morneau is back and effective- He is back and effective, just for another team

My predictions for that division tho

AL West

LA Angels - Finish the year with the best record in the AL- derp
Oakland A's - Cespedes is an allstar- oof
Seattle Mariners - Montero is such a bad defensive catcher that he forces the team to move him to DH and call up Zunino- Not a bad call. Montero just happened to be completely awful
Texas Rangers - Darvish is a top 3 Cy Young candidate- Never bet against the Rangers. Yu tho
Houston Astros - Kevin Goldstein commits suicide before the all star break- Is KG still with us?

NL East

Washington Nats - Said this in the other prediction thread, but Harper finishes with a higher WAR than Trout- Ugh
Atlanta Braves* - Chipper comes back at the end of the regular season like Pettite in hopes of winning another ring- Whatever
Philadelphia Phillies - Ryan Howard supplants Barry Zito as the baseball player recognized as having the worst contract in the game- Hey now...
NY Mets - Johan Santana is traded to a contender at the deadline The fact that I even had a prediction about this Mets team at all is a win in itself
Miami Marlins -

Passan and Loria consummate their relationship- Still in play

NL Central

Cincinnati Reds - Aroldis Chapman finishes with more saves than starts, Mat Latos comes out of the closet- Fuck Mat Latos
St. Louis Cardinals - Oscar Tavares rakes after getting called up when Holliday gets injured- Reverse injury jinx?
Pittsburgh Pirates - Team finally finishes over .500- I just had no idea how far over .500 they would finish
Milwaukee Brewers - Ryan Braun hires Greg Anderson as his personal trainer, yet continues to deny steroid allegations- OK
Chicago Cubs - Theo Epstein calls the Red Sox front office every day with trade offers that involve him being shipped back to Boston in return for a player to be named later- Can't prove this didn't happen

NL West

LA Dodgers - Magic gives everyone AIDS- Nailed it
SF Giants* - The Franchise further solidifies itself as the class of the baseball universe- Nailed it. Except for the whole making the playoffs thing
Arizona Dbacks - Gibby charges the Bauer on the mound when facing the Indians during interleague play- See the problem is that Bauer isn't good enough to even make it to the mound
San Diego Padres - Ignoring the lack of collective talent, the front office again blames the team's anemic offense on park dimensions and continues to bring the fences in until Petco looks like a fucking wiffle ball field- Don't believe me? Just watch
Colorado Rockies - Fouling a ball off to Dwight continues to be the highlight of Walt Weiss' baseball career- Damn I'm good


AL Champion: Angels- OK maybe not so good
NL Champion: Braves- Still very much in play

WS Champion:

God I hope I'm wrong

AL MVP: Pujols- I get half credit for having the right team
NL MVP: Votto- Sure

AL Cy Vogelsong: King Felix- Sure
NL Cy Volgelsong: Madison Bumgarner- I knew a lefty in the NL West would win Cy

AL ROY: Does Bauer still have rookie eligibility? If so, him. If not, Myers- So wrong, yet so right
NL ROY: Oscar Tavares- Damn it

AL Comeback POY: Victor Martinez- Terrible call. They could have given Mariano this award in March
NL Comeback POY: Chase Utley- Yup




PEACE

The best I can say is that I've made much worse predictions



PEACE

[jredd109]

got three of six division winners. prob nl cy and al roy.