Man saying Yankees are going to win more the BoSox! I like the Braves/Cubs and BoSox/Detroit for there respective leagues

This is long, if you don't want to read my reasons why, just skip to the end. Some of my reason are a lot better than others, but I am an ESPN junkie so even though not all of it will make sense, I believe my conclusions will be correct.

The Angels aren't going to win because they have three of their best pitchers hurt (Lacky, Escobar, Shields). Lacky is out for the first month, Escobar could be out for the year, and possibly his career, and Shields I believe is out for 6 weeks (not sure about him of the three). The M's adding Bedard, who was one of the best pitchers in the league last year in Baltimore, now going to Safeco where he doesn't have to worry about the home run as much and has a significantly better defense behind him meaning he doesn't have to strike out everyone will make him better. Also the M's get better in default as they don't have Jeff Weaver handing games over to the other team and killing the bullpen for the first couple months of the season. So the M's are my pick in the AL West.

The Tigers won't win the AL Central, they just don't have the pitching. They have a couple good starters and some good pitchers in the bullpen but they don't have as deep a pitching staff as the Indians who will win the Central, Detroit will win the Wild Card. The Indians don't have the best offense, but good enough and they have two Cy Young contenders in the rotation to win them a lot of games.

Boston, even with injuries to Schilling and Beckett will win the AL East. They have most of the team from last year coming back. They will score runs, there pitching, though not as deep because of injuries is still better than the Yankees, who can also score a ton of runs. The bullpens of either team are not the greatest, but Papelbon is entering his prime while Rivera, though still great, is past his. The Yankees, I believe, have 3 rookies/second year players in their starting rotation compared to one for Boston.

I don't know as much about the NL, since I don't watch much of it, but the D-Backs got outscored last year and still made it to the playoffs. That is not the sign of a good team, they should step back this year in that tough division. The Rockies have the tough draw of playing 82 games in Denver, good for hitter, but pitching wins championships. The Padres have pitching, but no hitting and so they are going to win a good amount of games, but not enough to win the division. I have no idea what to expect from the Dodgers. They seemed to have all the pieces last year but couldn't hold it together, Joe Torre should help that. They are old in some places, really young in others and that makes it hard to see their future. But I think they win this division out of default, I have nothing concrete to back that up but I stated I think the D-Backs will fall back and the Rockies will get killed by their ballpark and the Padres can't string together hits.

The Central is a bit easier to see. It is a race between the Cubs and the Brewers. I just think the Brewers are still too young and will be a serious contender next year, and their ace, Sheets, has a knack to catch the injury bug and the Brewers struggles last year when he got hurt. The Cubs with Lou Pinella as their manager and Zambrono and Lee and Soriano will have enough to outlast an up and coming Brewers team. Don't forget about Lilly in that Cub rotation either. He doesn't put up sexy numbers but he is a good pitcher.

The East is between three teams, Mets, Phillies, and Braves and since I don't like to watch the Braves it makes this hard to predict. The Mets have quite possibly the best pitcher in the game in Santana, and he got that reputation pitching in the AL. Going to the weaker NL where he gets to face the pitcher a couple times a game along with weak teams that haven't seen him before (unlike the Royals and the Rays) he should be great. They are also pretty loaded, but kind of old in some places as well. I think their age will catch up to them at the end of the year and they will get the Wild Card. Even though I don't know why I think the Phillies will win the division. They play in that hitters ball pack but center field is big and the pitchers seem to just allow the big power hitters to hit it to center field to die out there. I think Jamie Moyer had a lot to do with that, I got to see him a lot when he played for Seattle and that guy, like Maddox, just out thinks hitters giving them a curve when they are looking fast ball and a fastball when they are looking change etc and he doesn't try to strike everyone out, he puts his defense to work for him. The Braves, though improved, have some guys who are old in their pitching staff or injury prone and that is never good. They may contend for a while but probably will fade towards the end of the year.

To conclude for those who didn't read. Mariners, Indians, Red Socks and Tigers for the Wild Card in the AL. Dodgers, Cubs, Phillies and Mets for the Wild Card in the NL.

Bye bye Pedro?

Personally, I still think fate isn't done torturing the Mets yet...we'll see. 

Yeah, if it wasn't for bad luck, Pedro would have no luck.

Phillies-Mets tommorow.

Good Times! 

the mets will blow it again this year

Hey, I resent that about my home team! Surely we're good enough to win at least 70 games this year, no?

Oh well, 5-1 start one week into the season is pretty good. I don't expect the Orioles to keep it up, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

If the 7th inning is any indication the Mets may still be cursed from last September

Go Yankees!