2013 MLB Predictions

Alright well it's that time again, or close enough. Each team is done with at least 95% of their offseason moves, all the big free agents around the league have been signed to play somewhere.  

So have some fun making your 2013 predictions, here's mine...


AL West

x-Blue Jays
y-Orioles
Rays
Yankees
Red Sox

AL Central

x-Tigers
Indians
Royals
White Sox
Twins

AL West

x-Angels
y-A's
Rangers
Mariners
Astros

NL East

x-Braves
y-Nationals
Phillies
Mets
Marlins

NL Central

x-Reds
Pirates
Cardinals
Brewers
Cubs

NL West

x-Dodgers
y-Giants
Padres
D'Backs
Rockies 


Suppose some of these teams could get tweaked up or down before April depending on injuries or unlikely trades/pickups before the season starts. The way teams look now this is what I predict.

I see some fairly good improvement for the Indians, Pirates, Royals. These teams could be surprise teams. Even though I didn't pick any of them to make the postseason this year, I have a feeling they're each gonna wreak some havoc.

I think the strongest teams in the AL, at least on paper, are the Blue Jays and Tigers. Some people don't believe in Baltimore but I predict they will be good again, or good enough to grab a WC. Angels are probably good enough now to take their division. Got the A's grabbing a WC. 

In the NL I think the strongest teams are the Dodgers, Nationals, Braves, Giants, and Reds.


I won't predict how far I think all the teams that I picked to make it to the postseason will go, but I am picking the Dodgers to make it to the WS and probably to win the WS.

AL East: Toronto, Tampa, NY, Boston, Baltimore

AL Central: Detriot, KC, Cleaveland, Chicago, Minnesota

AL West: LA, Texas, Oakland, Seattle, Houston

NL East: Washington, Atlanta, Philadelphia, NY, Miami

NL Central: Cincinatti, St Louis, Pittsburgh, Milwakee, Chicago

NL West: LA, SF, Arizona, Colorado, SD


In the AL: Toronto, Detriot and LA all win their divisions and Texas, Tampa, NY, KC and Oakland battle for the wild cards.

In the NL: Washington, Cincinatti and LA win their divisions while Atlant, SF and St Louis battle for the wild cards.



 

NL East   Nationals, Braves, Phillies, Mets, Marlins

NL Central   Reds, Pirates, Brewers, Cardinals Cubs

NL West   Diamondbacks, Giants, Dodgers, Padres. Rockies

Wild Card   Braves over Giants

Division Series   
Nationals over Braves,   Reds over D’Backs

NL Champion   Reds

 

AL East    Blue Jays,
Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles

AL Central   Tigers,
Royals, Indians, Twins, White Sox

AL West   Rangers,
Angels, A’s, Mariners, Astros

Wild Card   Rays over
Angels

Division Series   Rays
over Tigers,   Rangers over Jays

AL Champion    Rays

World Series Champion 
Reds

 

 Going out of the Box.

 

Pretty close to my predictions Yogi, i think you made some good picks.  

I was torn between choosing Atlanta or Washington to take the division, I gave it to the Braves with the Nats taking the WC... but I think if the 2 teams were to face eachother in the postseason the Nats would advance.

I see that you picked the Rays to win the AL pennant. Still a decent team, but I'm not so confident in them going that far this season. They lost Shields from their rotation, got Loney at first, and while I think Wil Myers will eventually be a good OFer he'll still have to adjust to the majors first, his rookie year will have bumps affecting the team a bit.

Tigers and Blue Jays are strong teams.

I see that you picked the Rays to win the AL pennant. Still a decent team, but I'm not so confident in them going that far this season.-ATW


Losing James Shields is a concern, but a full season of Alex Cobb and Chris Archer should be up by mid-season to make up some of the Shield's innings.  The Rays won 90 games last season with Pena and his sub mendoza line BA at 1B.  I think Loney will be on the bench and Ben Zorbist will get the lion's share of time at 1B.  Wil Myers has the tools to be the next Trout or Bryce Harper. 

My real reaches are the Diamondbacks and the Rangers in the West upseting the  Dodgers, Giants, Angels, and A's.  Either I'm a genius or an idiot, but that is not a poll question.    

The Rays will have the pitching as always...
I think the key for this team will be Jennings and Myers...if they both shine, the team will go a long way...

Longoria, Myers, Loney, Zobrist, Myers, Jennings, Joyce, Roberts, Escobar is a good lineup in my opinion..

I also see the Yankees and Orioles taking a step backwards this year...the Yankees are thin and the Orioles starting rotation is not going to scare anyone...The Red Sox seem destined for 4th or 5th place this year...

I think the A.L. Crown goes through Los Angeles as they have a killer lineup and the top 3 starters...Weaver, Wilson, Hanson is very strong...The Tigers should win 100 games this year as their division still has two teams, the Royals and the Indians, that have improved but they are not ready yet.

In the NL, I can easily see the Nats and the Braves both win 100 games this year but I think the Reds go to the World Series.  The Dodgers don't have enough behind Kershaw and Greinke and I don't see the Giants winning back to back...

World Series- Reds vs Angels

Winner-Reds

Losing James Shields is a concern, but a full season of Alex Cobb and Chris Archer should be up by mid-season to make up some of the Shield's innings. 

I wouldn't overlook Jake Odorizzi.  He could be in the rotation also at some point this year.  I really think Tampa won that trade.  As good as Shields is, Myers and Odorizzi could make Rays fans forget about Big Game James.   Myers seems to fit between Harper and Trout, with more power than both but not the speed of Trout.

Yeah, the Orioles are really a mystery team this year.  They had a ton go right last year, winning almost every close game.  Still though they have a lot coming up or just arrived in the majors.  Machado is already there and Bundy and Schoop could be there this year to give them help just where they need it.

Still though a lot of question marks there.  I gave them the positive side of the equation but it could easily go badly for them this year also. 

World Series- Reds vs Angels

Winner-Reds-MrB

Going with the Reds is a longshot, this is a team that has not won a home playoff game since 1995.  Now,  I did pick them to win, but I also said that I might be an idiot.
  

The Reds are very formidable with a rotation of
Cueto
Latos
Chapman
Bailey
Arroyo

Their bullpen is still strong with Chapman moving into the rotation and you have to love a lineup that includes:

Votto, Bruce, Phillips, Cozart, Frazier, Ludwick, and Choo


All of the pieces are there...they should win 100+ games and glide into the playoffs in that division as the Cards are weaker without Lohse and Carpenter, the Pirates are still not ready, the Brewers don't have the depth in their rotation, and the Cubs are the Cubs. 

JUST MY OPINION...AND UNLIKE YOGI...I AM AN IDIOT

AL East- Rays-x, Yankees-y, Blue Jays, Orioles, Red Sox
AL Central- Tigers, Indians, White Sox, Twins, Royals
AL West- Angels-x, Rangers-y, Mariners, A's, Astros

Wild Card-Yankees over Rangers
Divisional Round- Angels over Yankees/ Rays over Tigers
LCS- Angels over Rays

NL East- Nationals-x, Braves-y, Phillies, Mets, Marlins
NL Central- Pirates-x. Reds-y, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs
NL West- Dodgers, Giants, Padres, D-Backs, Rockies

Wild Card-Reds over Braves
Divisional Round- Dodgers over Reds, Nationals over Pirates
LCS-Dodgers over Nationals

WS-(Yup the dreaded all Cali WS) Angels over Dodgers

JUST MY OPINION...AND UNLIKE YOGI...I AM AN IDIOT-MrB


And Honest. 

NL Central- Pirates-x. Reds-y, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs- NAVY


The Pirates, really.  You have to stop drinking the saltwater.    
   

Yogi, everyone has to go out on a limb somewhere.  I mean, I did pick the most probably WS matchup available if you compute all season predictions when the time rolls around.  Dodgers-Angels is pretty safe and generic.

Sorry Navy but, anyone that thinks the Yankees are making it to the playoffs this year is not paying attention and predicting based on the names and backs of the baseball cards of the players...

No catcher, no bench, a brittle Jeter and Rivera, no A Rod, Ichiro, Kuroda, Pettitte all over 40, and their best two players not named Cano...Teixeira and Granderson both in decline...they might fight the Red Sox for the cellar in that division...

Hey nothing wrong with taking a chance with a team or two.  Last year there were surprises and there will be more this year.  Pirates?  Sounds crazy but you just never know...

As far as our cross-town rivals go, unfortunately although I see them slipping (and part of that might be subconscious wishful thinking) you unfortunately can't rule them out.  They've still got the best 2B in the game, a fairly strong rotation, the best all-time closer (if he comes back) and a pretty good OF.  I'd love to write them off for this season but it's just hard to do with any certainty. 

I think the Yankees are in trouble for all the reasons listed above, plus look at their schedule. They face the Jays, Rays, and Orioles for 18 games against each of those good division teams plus 18 against the Red Sox who aren't good but usually play with a little extra against the Yankees due to the rivalry. That's already 72 tough games against tough opponents. Then looking at the rest of the schedule the Yankees only really have 30 games all season against lousy teams(4 total games against the Mets included but there's a rivalry there also so those games may actually be tough as well)

I'm predicting the Yankees only win around 82-84 games and miss the playoffs. Finish 3rd or 4th place in a tough division. Next offseason they'll be thinking hard about reverting back to their signature "buy the best free agents" approach.

I could definitely see that happening, but I think there's also a lot of Met fan bias there.  The AL East is as tough as ever this year with Toronto finally making a move to win now and Baltimore finally having some prospects start to pay off.  I think the Yankees will start feeling their age also, but let's see what happens.

That's the whole reason they are where they are in my predictions.  I've, at my own foolishness apparently, written them off in other seasons where I still ended up watching them in October.  Fool me once.........   To that end, I'll be sticking the Yankees on any one of these lists until they show otherwise when all the games are up.

There haven't been too many predictions posted, but most are not drinking the Oriole kool-ade.  the 2012 season was based on smoke and mirrors and 2013 should return find them in a scrum with the Yankees and Red Sox for a third place finish.   Bill James, the pioneer of sabermetrics retrospectively concluded this was an 82-80 team.  The 29-9 (.763) a Major League record for one run games is part of the magic.  The Orioles statistical position in relation to the rest of the league cements the unsustainable nature of the offense.  Their slashline position of Avg./OBP/SLG was 20th/23/11th.  The O's were 2nd in HRs, but 12th and 15th in Runs and RBIs.  With all those HRs came the expected Ks, and the Orioles were 6th in the majors in strikeouts while middle of the league (16) in BB.  More evidence of a fall is the Orioles won 18 of the 47 games that they did not have a single hit with a runner in scoring position, and won 14 of 32 games they had only a one hit with a runner in scoring position.  That is 32 wins and over .400 ball in 79 improbable winning situations.  Adam Jones had a career year, Mark Reynolds did not.  Reynolds is now gone along with the team leading 159 K, but he also take 23 Hrs, 65 runs and 69 RBIs with him.  Baltimore made no significant addition to an offense that finished in the middle. 

AL West

x-Blue Jays
Rays
Orioles
Yankees
Red Sox

AL Central

x-Tigers
y-Royals
Indians
White Sox
Twins

AL West

x-Angels
y-Rangers
Mariners
A's
Astros

NL East

x- Braves
y- Nationals
Mets
Phillies
Marlins

NL Central

x- Reds
Pirates
Cardinals
Brewers
Cubs

NL West

x- Giants
y- Padres
Dodgers
D'Backs
Rockies