Friday, September 1, 2006

Labor Day Picks

It's almost Labor Day and I have decided to humiliate myself once again by attempting to predict baseball's playoff teams. I've done this twice already (during the season) and my picks have been horribly off the mark. So I'm trying again. And I'm sure I'll still be wrong, even though there's only a month left in the season.

Here we go...

American League
East - New York Yankees
Central - Chicago White Sox
West - Oakland A's
Wild Card - Minnesota Twins

That's right, I'm calling for a collapse of the Tigers. There it is; I said it. And yes, I'm probably being a homer. If someone's going to usurp the Tigers, it's more likely to be the Twins, especially if Liriano is close to coming back. But I'm still going with the Sox.

If the Tigers and Twins make up the Central champ and the Wild Card, the playoffs shape up great. That gives you three David's and one Goliath (Yankees) in the playoffs. George will hate to lose to any of those clubs -- possibly as much as the Red Sox -- if only because those three clubs are doing more with less.

National League
East - New York Mets
Central - St. Louis Cardinals
West - Los Angeles Dodgers
Wild Card - San Francisco Giants

The Mets are in. They're locks. But I don't think they'll reach the World Series. They've been on coast for too long and they have holes.

Everyone in the Central is weaker than the Cardinals. That will start to show in the next few weeks. Eventually the Cards are going to have to start beating up on their weaker sisters.

The West is a mess. But I think the Dodgers will hold on. I also think that the Giants will get hot, because they'll be carried by Barry. He's been hot the past few weeks and I think that will continue through September. The Phillies are a fun story, but they're just too flawed. And no matter what, I'm not buying into the Reds until I have to. If I didn't take the Giants, I'd probably take the Astros for the Wild Card. Maybe the D-backs after that.

Whatever happens, the West and the Wild Card (in both leagues) are going to be a lot of fun.

1 comment:

Mike said...

Well, I didn't see the Phillies getting better after they moved Abreu, but that already happened.

I think the Phils and Marlins made their moves too soon. My guess is that we've seen the last surge out of both.

I think the Giants are getting ready to surge. Barry could carry them the rest of the way. It's probably too optimistic of thinking on my part, but stranger things can happen.

Plus, I think it would be awesome if Barry ended the year that way. It makes the offseason much more interesting because there will be demand to sign him over the winter and it will mean he has a realistic shot at Aaron's number next year. Whether you think he deserves the HR record or not, that will make for good entertainment. Plus it force's Bud's hand with the investigation and all like that.