My MLB Predictions (July edition)

Since we’ve reached July, its time for me to review my baseball picks, this should be interesting…

First a quick thought on the All-Star game. The home run derby was solid, even though it took way too long. How did Josh Hamilton not win that after hitting 28 home runs? They need to change the rules. The actual game was also way too long. I actually stayed up and watched that thing.

The problem is that now that since the game has an affect on who is going to have home field advantage in the playoffs, there’s no room for a tie, which wouldn’t have been the worst thing to happen in this year’s game.

Remember, this game is SUPPOSED TO BE AN EXHIBITION!

I usually don’t watch the all star game and will definitely not do it now.

Let’s get to the picks.

Here were my choices before the season started for the National League:

NL East- Phillies (So far, so good, but barely)
NL Central- Milwaukee (a month ago, this looked like a bad pick. They still have some work to do for this to happen.)
NL West- Arizona (They looked good in the beginning of the season but have struggled)
Wild Card- Colorado (not a good choice.) The current wild card leader is St. Louis with Milwaukee right there. One of these two teams will be the wild card team at the end of the season, I’m calling it now.)
NL Champions- Arizona (I have to stick with this pick, even though I like some other teams more now)
NL MVP- Prince Fielder/Ryan Howard (neither one of them is winning it, even though both of them are good players. This is still an open race with lots of candidates. Bring on Chase Utley, Lance Berkman and Larry Jones, among others)
NL Cy Young- Johan Santana (Johan is doing well and may actually steal this award if he has a monster second half, but I still think this is Brandon Webb’s award to lose, maybe Volquez)
NL Manager of the Year- Bob Melvin (The Diamondbacks were doing so well, but they’ve hit some tough times. I don’t like the guy’s attitude, but you have to look at LaRussa at St. Louis for this award at this stage.)
NL Surprise Team- Cincinnati (They started off well, stumbled a little bit and are only a few games below .500. I like the youth movement led by Jay Bruce, Cueto and Volquez, who’s a stud. They’re not going to make the playoffs, but if they may have a future. All they need to do now is get rid of Griffy and Dunn and just start over. The Marlins were the obvious choice here a month ago, but you have to look at the Cardinals as well.)
NL Disappointment- Chicago and San Diego (I was wrong on the Cubs of course, but San Diego was a good call. I’ll get to the rest of the disappointments later.)
NL Worst Team- San Francisco (even worse than Pittsburgh) The Giants are still terrible. The scary thing is that they aren’t the worse team in the league. They have a better record than Washington, San Diego and Colorado. The National League is terrible.

My standings predictions for each division and the current ones:

My NL East:

1) Philadelphia
2) New York
3) Atlanta
4) Washington
5) Florida

Current NL East:

1) Philadelphia
2) New York
3) Florida
4) Atlanta
5) Washington

Thoughts: I’m starting to get somewhat closer with this division. I think Philly will still win the division. They have good pitching, the best lineup and a solid bullpen. The Mets are still confusing to me just as much now as ever. They fire a manager unfairly and are now currently on a nine-game winning streak and half a game out of first place. I still say that the Mets don’t make the playoffs. Florida has been surprising, but it’s a long season. I always thought Atlanta would be an average team and they are doing that. Washington is Washington.

My NL Central:

1) Milwaukee
2) Cincinnati
3) Chicago
4) St. Louis
5) Houston
6) Pittsburgh

Current NL Central:

1) Chicago
2) St. Louis
3) Milwaukee
4) Cincinnati
5) Pittsburgh
6) Houston

Thoughts: Brewers, I go out on a limb for you and you do this to me? Actually, they are playing much better now and with the pickup of Sabathia, things are looking up. The Natti’, well, they aren’t going to finish in second place. However, as stated earlier, I like their future. St. Louis has been a shocker for me, because I thought that they would be terrible this season. Respect to them. Houston and Pittsburgh have done nothing special worth discussing.

Much love to the Cubs. I thought that they would be a disappointment, but they have delivered. Once again Meggie, you were right. However, there’s a long way to go and the Cubs tend to find a way to blow it. Not to show bias, the Mets do the same thing. However, I’m looking forward to Cubs vs. Mets in the first round. Sometimes hope is all that you have.

My NL West:

1) Arizona
2) Colorado
3) Los Angeles
4) San Diego
5) San Francisco

Current NL West:

1) Arizona
2) Los Angeles
3) San Francisco
4) Colorado
5) San Diego

Thoughts: Arizona was doing so well and then something happened. The Dodgers are the team that I think is going to pull this division out. This is the worst division in baseball, pathetic play and I don’t want to discuss it anymore.

On to the American League:

AL East- Boston (good call and I’m sticking with them)
AL Central- Cleveland (oy vey as in the second worst record in the AL)
AL West- Seattle (terrible pick)Wild Card- Toronto (bad pick as well)
AL Champs- Cleveland (my AL picks were terrible, weren’t they!)
AL MVP- Manny Ramirez (Manny is too inconsistent and J.D. Drew has actually been more valuable to them since Ortiz has been hurt. Josh Hamilton is doing great right now and no one else has been distinguishing themselves. K-Rod from Anaheim is a sleeper here.)
AL Cy Young- Roy Halladay (this is an open race so far, but watch out for K-Rod once again. )
AL Manager of the Year- Terry Francona (this is Joe Maddon’s award, manager of Tampa Bay, right now)
AL Surprise Team- Kansas City (terrible choice by me)
AL Disappointment Team- Yankees and Anaheim (Yankees, yes…Anaheim’s in first place and cruising. Mixed bag.)
AL Worst Team- Baltimore (the Orioles are showing some spunk, not much but something. Plus, Cleveland, Kansas City and Seattle each have worse records)

My AL East:

1) Boston
2) Toronto
3) New York
4) Tampa Bay
5) Baltimore

Current AL East:

1) Boston
2) Tampa Bay
3) New York
4) Toronto
5) Baltimore

Thoughts: The story of baseball has been Tampa Bay, however, as I’ve said, it’s a long season. I think they will stick around through the whole race and from a selfish prospective, I want them to do well because David Price is probably going to be pitching for them in the next few weeks and I always represent for my Commodores. Boston is still going to win this division.

The Yankees weren’t going to make the playoffs before the season started and I’m sticking to it. Toronto has disappointed me a little and Baltimore is actually not a terrible team.

My AL Central:

1) Cleveland
2) Detroit
3) Kansas City
4) Chicago
5) Minnesota
Current AL Central:

1) Chicago
2) Minnesota
3) Detroit
4) Kansas City
5) Cleveland

Thoughts: The White Sox are doing well right now, but how about the Twins! I thought that they would be terrible this year, but respect to them. The Twins have been doing all of this without Liriano and if he can make any positive contribution this season, they can definitely make the playoffs. Detroit seems to be an enigma. I don’t know if they have enough to make a major run. Kansas City is acting like they always to and Cleveland, well there’s always hope…maybe.

My AL West:

1) Seattle
2) Anaheim
3) Oakland
4) Texas

Current AL West:

1) Anaheim
2) Oakland
3) Texas
4) Seattle

Thoughts: First, they will always be Anaheim or California and not this LA crap. Next, you know that I will always resent the Angels and hope that they lose because of their manager. If you need a reminder, http://pourtoutpancakes.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-five-saddest-moments-as-sports-fan.html

Second, I was wrong about Seattle, way wrong. They have talent on that roster, but I don’t know what the heck has happened to them. I thought that Anaheim’s pitching would be weak but they have been good, especially the bullpen. K-Rod is no joke. Oakland has been a surprise, Billy Beane does it again. I just think that they aren’t going to win the division, even though they are only six games out of first place.

Texas is a fun team to watch because they can score some runs. I hope that Josh Hamilton can keep it up because it’s a great story. I liked Josh before the season began, but I didn’t expect this. I’ll have a more detailed post about Josh tomorrow.

I’ll keep reviewing my picks every month and see where I’m at.

I watching BET while doing this post and the new Ashanti video, Good Good, came on. She’s definitely a winner because of this:




Her performance in John Tucker Must Die was tremendous and now this video. The message of the song may be post-worthy. I’ll have to think about it. Until then, enjoy the video.