It’s Prediction Time as Season Starts Sunday
By Scott Allen
Spring training, you were good to us. The Cactus League brought in more fans than expected last month. Now, it’s time for the real thing. The Arizona Diamondbacks and the rest of Major League Baseball are now ready to start the regular season. The season kicks off with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox on Sunday night, then the Dbacks will open on Monday against the San Diego Padres at Chase Field, 2 pm.
Of course, you can’t start a season without having predictions. Here are mine.
I will start with the NL West. This division is going to be well up in the air. I don’t believe the Los Angeles Dodgers are as strong as they were a year ago. Listen, when you have Vicente Padilla as your ace, your opening day starter, you have clear weaknesses. Dodgers will still be a force to be reckoned with though on offense and still have a decent bullpen. The Dbacks are the biggest question marks in the division in my eyes. They brought in some really good talent in the off-season, but how will that translate into production on the field? The Colorado Rockies are still the Rockies and didn’t do a whole lot to improve, but then again, why would they need to? The Giants are the up and coming team and anyone with a Tim Lincecum in their rotation is scary. The Padres will probably still bring up the rear in the division.
My predictions:
NL West – 1. Los Angeles 2. Arizona 3. Colorado 4. San Francisco 5. San Diego
NL Central – 1. St. Louis 2. Milwaukee 3. Cincinnati 4. Pittsburgh 5. Chicago 6. Houston
NL East – 1. Atlanta 2. Philadelphia 3. Florida 4. New York 5. Washington
NL Wild Card – Arizona
NL Champs – St. Louis
AL West – 1. Los Angeles 2. Seattle 3. Oakland 4. Texas
AL Central – 1. Detroit 2. Minnesota 3. Cleveland 4. Chicago 5. Kansas City
AL East – 1. Boston 2. New York 3. Tampa Bay 4. Toronto 5. Baltimore
AL Wild card – Minnesota
AL Champs – Detroit
World Series Champ – St. Louis
It’s all a crap shoot I know. I hope the Dbacks win the NL West of course. Of course I’d also like to see the Yankees finish last in the AL East. I just don’t like the odds of either happening, at least not right now.
Go Dbacks!!
Scott Allen