With the first game of the season starting tonight I thought it would be a good idea to write up a couple of predictions, just for fun. First off, some Phillies predictions:
Pitching:Most wins: Brett Myers, 16 wins
Most losses: Cory Lidle, 13 losses
Lowest ERA: Ryan Madson, somewhere around 3.25
Most strikeouts: Brett Myers, at least 190
Most saves: Tom Gordon (I have to throw in an easy one for myself)
Most shutouts: Brett Myers, 2
Batting:Most home runs, Ryan Howard: 42
Most hits: Jimmy Rollins. 202
Most runs: Jimmy Rollins, 114
Most RBIs: Chase Utley, 120
Most stolen bases: Rollins: 45
Highest batting average: Bobby Abreu, .310
Really, a lot of these can go many different ways. Howard, Utley, and Burrell could all lead the team in home runs and RBIs. Abreu and Rollins could both lead the team in runs. What this means is that the Phillies offense will be impressive and definitely the best part of their team.
There are plenty of features of this team that I'm not looking forward to. Gordon hasn't had a season being the closer since 2001. The rest of the bullpen could be iffy, though I like Fultz and Geary. Bell and Lieberthal are both too old. While Lieberthal will be starting, hopefully Bell will spend most of his time on the DL. The starting pitching on paper looks shaky too, but I saw them play in Clearwater and feel that they could be a little better than people expect.
National League Division Winners:NL East: New York Mets
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals
NL West: San Francisco
NL Wild Card: Philadelphia Phillies
The Mets have so much talent that they should be able to knock off the Braves. I don't think the Cardinals will be nearly as much of a threat as years past. The Milwaukee Brewers should play much better than everyone expects, especially if Ben Sheets stays healthy. Speaking of healthy, I don't think the Cubs will ever get a full season from Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. It's sad because if they did, they'd be the team to beat. Finally, I think the Phils might pull the wild card (if not then the Brewers or Dodgers) just because most of their team is back from last year. Team chemistry can be a big help.
American League Division Winners:AL East: New York Yankees
AL Central: Chicago White Sox
AL West: Oakland Athletics
AL Wild Card: Cleveland Indians
I really hate the Yankees, but their lineup is stacked full of hitters. Their pitchers should do better than last year too. Chicago's pitching is amazing. Their number 5 pitcher Freddy Garcia would be a number 1 here in Philadelphia. Cleveland will be fun to watch too because of all of the young players they have.
Playoff predictions:I wrote out playoff predictions, but I didn't like how they turned out. Neither of the teams I saw in the World Series were ones I liked. So I'm not including playoff predictions. I'm probably not close to how it will really turn out anyway. That's the beauty of baseball. You never know which teams will emerge from year to year.
So that's all I've got right now. The Phillies are playing the Red Sox right now in their final exhibition game. They're looking good too. Howard already has two RBIs. The Phils' first game is tomorrow and I will definitely be watching. It'll be a fun season
P.S. One last thing to watch for this season (I didn't know where to put this). Look for Sal Fasano's new hair. He went from
this to
this. Definitely one of the funniest things I saw in Florida
