April 11, 2007

Baseball Picks 2007

Alright boyos, you asked for it - now ye shall receive it. In honor of the Cardinals' fourth straight win, I've decided to go ahead and post my picks for the season. I've sat by too long as Bourbon and McJew have touted their picks. Brownsox has made his opinions known even if he hasn't posted official picks. And Dubs seems to be too busy ranting about musicals and his own complicated (albeit hilarious) version of Christianity known as Catholicism to take time to stand up for the men who wear the birds on the bat. But no more. I am here to champion the cause of the defending World Series Champions - since the rest of the world will find any plausible excuse to write them off. My only disclaimer: I no longer play fantasy baseball as I've realized the time I spent doing so in the past was greater than or equal to the time spent on my own research. And research is the thing that will allow me escape this pitiable existence known as graduate school. That being said, I am much less aware of what is going on in other divisions than I used to be. So to some extent, all picks not regarding the NL Central are a crap shoot.

AL East
  1. Red Sox
  2. Blue Jays
  3. Yankees
  4. Orioles
  5. Devil Rays
I have to make surprise predictions somewhere right? So I'm saying the Big Hurt has a big year and somehow the evil empire gets brought down. Basically I just wanted to hate on the Yankees so I picked them 3rd - even if it's not likely.

AL Central
  1. Tigers
  2. Indians
  3. Twins
  4. White Sox
  5. Royals
I really wanted to put the Indians on top but I just couldn't do it. Maybe next year.

AL West
  1. Angels
  2. Athletics
  3. Mariners
  4. Rangers
Most of you know I love hating on the Cubs above all other teams. Want proof? I put the Rangers last solely because they've got Sammy playing for them now. Wait - are we supposed to predict what will happen? or what we want to happen? Ah, screw it.

NL East
  1. Mets
  2. Phillies
  3. Braves
  4. Marlins
  5. Nationals
You have to hand it to them, the Mets are a pretty solid team. Witness the beating the Cards took to open the season. (I think they'd still trade that series for a trip to last year's Fall Classic though...suck it Beltran!) And I know the Phillies have started off rough, but I think they'll turn it around.

NL Central
  1. Cardinals
  2. Brewers
  3. Reds
  4. Cubs
  5. Astros
  6. Pirates
Ok, so I agree with everyone that this division will be close once again this year. Neglecting the Pirates (a fair assumption) I'm betting around 8 games between 1-5. It's gonna be a wild one. But come on - the Brew Crew, while lovable, is not ready to take down the Cards. And I reject the theory that the division will be close because every team is mediocre. Sure these teams have holes, every team in baseball does. It drives me nuts that the NL Central gets so little respect. Never mind the fact that the 2 central divisions have supplied 5 of the last 6 WS teams. I think it boils down to three simple, perhaps controversial words: East Coast Bias. That's right, I said it. I'm a firm believer. The freakin media loves to play to the coasts. But if something exciting is going on in the Midwest they're like, let the AM radio stations cover it. I'm going to stop myself now in the interest of time.

NL West
  1. Padres
  2. Dodgers
  3. Rockies
  4. Giants
  5. Diamondbacks
Does anyone else wish Barry would just hit 20 home runs over the next 6 games so that the record - hallowed though it be - is *broken* already and we can proceed to ignore Bonds for the rest of our lives?

2 comments:

memi said...

Are you saying the Braves and the Nationals suck? How dare you.

Jared and Beth said...

I dare quite carelessly.