North Dakota Preps

What's everyone's take on this season...below are my predictions:

American League
EAST
1. Boston Red Sox
2. NY Yankees*
3. Baltimore Orioles
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Toronto Blue Jays

CENTRAL
1. Minnesota Twins
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Cleveland Indians
5. Kansas City

WEST
1. Texas Rangers
2. Oakland A's
3. Los Angeles Angels
4. Seattle Mariners

National League
EAST
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Atlanta Braves*
3. Florida Marlins
4. NY Mets
5. Washington Nationals

CENTRAL
1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Milwaukee Brewers
5. Houston Astros
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

WEST
1. San Francisco Giants
2. Colorado Rockies
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
4. San Diego Padres
5. Arizona Diamondbacks

* = Wild Card Team

AL Playoffs:
Boston Red Sox over Texas Rangers
Minnesota Twins over NY Yankees (finally break the "curse")
AL Championship:
Boston Red Sox over Minnesota Twins

NL Playoffs:
Philadelphia Phillies over St. Louis Cardinals
Atlanta Braves over San Francisco Giants
NL Championship:
Philadelphia Phillies over Atlanta Braves

WORLD SERIES: Boston Red Sox over Philadelphia Phillies

American League
EAST
1. Red Sox
2. Yankees
3. Rays
4. Blue Jays
5. Orioles

CENTRAL
1. Twins
2. White Sox
3. Tigers
4. Indians
5. Royals

WEST
1. Texas Rangers
2. A's
3. Mariners
4. Angels

National League
EAST
1. Phillies
2. Braves
3. Marlins
4. Mets
5. Nationals

CENTRAL
1. Cardinals
2. Brewers
3. Reds
4. Cubies
5. Astros
6. Pirates

WEST
1. Rockies
2. Giants
3. Dodgers
4. D-Backs
5. Padres


ALDS - Red Sox over Twins, Yankees over Rangers

ALCS -Red Sox over Yankees

NLDS - Phillies over Cardinals, Rockies over Braves

NLCS - Phillies over Rockies

World Series - Phillies over Red Sox

AL
East - Red Sox and Yanks both make playoffs. Bottom three spots could go in any order.
1. Red Sox
2. Yankees
3. Orioles
4. Blue Jays
5. Rays
Central - I think this division comes down to who stays healthy.
1. Twins
2. White Sox
3. Tigers
4. Indians
5. Royals
West - Not a very strong division. Lots of older talent.
1. Rangers
2. A's
3. Angels
4. Mariners
NL
East - Phillies, Phillies, Phillies. Braves also strong
1. Phillies
2. Braves
3. Marlins
4. Mets
5. Nationals
Central - 3 team race, but Cubs could make it a 4 team race.
1. Reds
2. Cardinals
3. Brewers
4. Cubs
5. Astros
6. Pirates
West - Comes down to defending champs vs Tulo and Cargo led Rockies.
1. Rockies
2. Giants
3. Dodgers
4. Padres
5. Diamondbacks

AL MVP - Robinson Cano
NL MVP - Carlos Gonzalez
AL Cy Young - David Price
NL Cy Young - Roy Halladay

Playoffs
ALDS - Twins over Yankees, Red Sox over Rangers
NLDS - Phillies over Reds, Rockies over Braves
ALCS - Red Sox over Twins
NLCS - Phillies over Rockies
World Series - Red Sox over Phillies

scc wrote:MLB Network had a prediction show on yesterday. Al Leiter, Mitch Williams, and Sean Casey all picked the Twins to finish third in the AL Central.

With a pretty sketchy bullpen I agree with that prediction.

Maybe I'm drinking the Kool-aid, but I don't think their bullpen is as sketchy as the pundits think. They are in better shape at the back of the pen than last year - Nathan/Capps is better than Rauch/Guerrier and even better than Capps/whoever from last year. Mijares is still there, Slowey is a quality pitcher, I look for Hughes to have a solid year, and Manship and Perkins should be adequate for long relief or spots here and there.

Seriously, when they get to the 8th with a lead, Capps to Nathan or vice-versa will be pretty much game over. And I think the rest of the guys are as good as anybody else has. Nobody has 8 studs in their pen, so I don't see the Twins any better or worse off than anyone else.

AL East
Red Sox
Yankees
Orioles
Rays
Jays

AL Central
White Sox
Twins
Tigers
Royals
Indians

AL West
Rangers
Angels
A's
Mariners

NL East
Phillies
Braves
Nationals
Marlins
Mets

NL Central
Reds
Brewers
Cardinals
Astros
Cubs
Pirates

NL West
Giants
Dodgers
Rockies
Padres
Diamondbacks

AL Playoffs
Red Sox over White Sox
Yankees over Rangers

ALCS
Red Sox over Yankees

NL Playoffs
Phillies over Dodgers
Giants over Reds

NLCS
Phillies over Giants

World Series
Phillies over Red Sox

AL East
Red Sox
Yankees*
Rays
Orioles
Blue Jays

AL Central
White Sox
Twins
Tigers
Indians
Royals

AL West
Rangers
A's
Angels
Mariners

NL East
Phillies
Braves*
Marlins
Nationals
Mets

NL Central
Brewers
Cardinals
Reds
Cubs
Astros
Pirates

NL West
Rockies
Giants
Dodgers
Padres
Diamondbacks

ALDS
Red Sox over Rangers
Yankees over White Sox

NLDS
Phillies over Brewers
Braves over Rockies

ALCS
Red Sox over Yankees

NLCS
Phillies over Braves

World Series
Phillies over Red Sox

honestly the twins bullpen isnt that bad perkins, manship, and slowey have all started and done well so they will be fine. mijares has been up for 3 seasons. capps and nathan are lights out. and joe mauer told the organization to get hughes so if joe sees something he likes about the kid then he probably isnt bad. slowey could have even given the twins a 6 man rotation and they still would win consistently. and im predicting that the twins get back to being the piranhas again instead of being the 2nd worst team in the AL in steals. twins break the curse this year. possible world series appearance.
GO TWINKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To think they will become the piranhas again is absurd. They have two legitimate base stealers and one of them hasn't played a regular season mlb game yet. Casilla have some speed but both are poor base stealers.

cubsfan wrote:To think they will become the piranhas again is absurd. They have two legitimate base stealers and one of them hasn't played a regular season mlb game yet. Casilla have some speed but both are poor base stealers.

agreed...they basically only have Span, Nishioka and Casilla as base stealers...Span probably being the only legitimate base stealer. I do think we will see lots of hit-and-runs this year with the contact hitters the Twins have now..especially when at Target Field.

AWARD PREDICTIONS:
AL MVP: Adrian Gonzalez, Boston Red Sox
AL CY YOUNG: Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
AL ROY: Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Minnesota Twins

NL MVP: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds
NL CY YOUNG: Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies
NL ROY: Brandon Belt, San Francisco Giants

Japanese players have a hard time adjusting to the long season. I think he'll get off to a good start but will struggle down the stretch.

cubsfan wrote:Japanese players have a hard time adjusting to the long season. I think he'll get off to a good start but will struggle down the stretch.

I'm optimistic

ok maybe saying they will become the piranhas again was a stretch but i do love the twins lineup. have a little power which is good especially if morneau is healthy thome will get 600 and beyond and kubel will hit 20-30 homers. i think delmon will start playing up to his potential and they have finally gotten an everyday 3rd baseman since they had corey koskie in like 2004. cuddy and joe will hit with a little more power than last year. rotation is good, i am a little iffy on blackburn. i honestly thought that slowey should have been in the rotation over blackburn. all in all the twins have a very solid lineup

how about them red sox? not looking so hot