Time to start up the baseball thread with some predictions for the season ahead.
Let me know your thoughts.
All Star Game winner: American League
American League winner: New York Yankees
National League winner: LA Dodgers
World Series winner: New York Yankees
AL MVP: Evan Longoria (Jeter is due)
NL MVP: Troy Tulowitzki
ASGW - AL - They win it every year! NL won it a few years in a row from 1994, but that's it!
AL Pennant - Tampa Bay Rays - but only if Upton does what he can.
NL Pennant - Los Angeles Dodgers - they're my team - Ethier, Kemp, Manny, Loney (with some power) plus Kershaw, Billingsley & Broxton = a top side!
World Series - Rays - they will beat LA with their speed! Martin is a fading D and O catcher - sad to say, but the Rays running game, with Crawford, Bartlett, Upton + power of Pena, Longoria, Zobrist, Burrell & Joyce. With Shields, Garza & Price, the Rays are built for the short series.
NL MVP - Poo Holes - He has it all, icluding the nasty name. No pitcher wants to taste his stuff. Otherwise, take a Holliday.
AL MVP - Grady Sizemore - The sheilas love him, and if he gets healthy and raises his BA by 50 points, he's there. A move to #2 in the order will help.
(Pedroia gets my vote for worst MVP ever. Ugly player, surprising offensive stats appeared good, based on his position, and in a year when everyone else failed. Default MVP!)
NL CY - Adam Wainwright - I was going to pick a reliever, but 15 wins was good enough for the CY last year... I have NFI!
AL CY - King Felix - He has got IT! Not much run support though, so Fausto Carmona as a smokey - even with the 6.32 ERA last year... he has a bit more experience than the 'King'.
Story of the year - The Rookie/2nd Year crop! - Jason Heyward, Stephen Strasburg, Andrew McCutchen, Brian Matusz, Pedro Alvarez, plus any Marlins players! No-one has heard of any of the Marlins players, and they will all be stars by the end of the year. KLO4 their pitching!
