MLB 2010 Season

[GL]

Well, taking a cue from 7th back in the Non-Horror Watched thread about a baseball thread, here's the one for the official 2010 season. Share thoughts, picks, predictions, comments or whatever on the upcoming season.

To get the ball rolling, here's my predictions for the year:

AL East-Boston
AL Central-Minnesota
AL West-Seattle

Wild Card-Still not sure who, but I see a five-team race here: Anaheim, Texas, Detroit, Chicago and Tampa Bay.

NL East-Philadelphia
NL Central-St. Louis
NL West-Colorado

Wild Card-Another big race, but only here I see four teams: L.A., Chicago, Florida and Atlanta.

My World Series-Colorado vs Minnesota, but I'm torn on who's going to win as I don't know which storybook ending I want to see happen, Colorado get it's first ever title or Minnesota christen it's new ballpark.

Anyone else's thoughts?

[HNT]

lol, you are such a biased fan. I can see picking the Sox to win the AL East (although I personally don't see it). There is no way, however, that you can suggest to me that you aren't even including the Yankees in the wildcard race. That is just laughable and is related only to your bias and not the likely outcome of this season. I also don't know that I buy Seattle winning the AL West. Philly is the safe pick for the NL East, but I am gonna go with Florida. Also, I am gonna bump Atlanta from the Wildcard race and include the Mets (gotta pick at least one surprise). Other than that, you and I see it fairly similarly

[GL]

Beyond the bias, there is a lot of reasons to dig on the Yankees this year:

-The rotation, beyond the big four, is a complete question mark. They spent the whole year without a viable fifth stater last year and the same remains this year. As for their options, Hughes is better in the pen and Joba is totally untested. The rules they had him on last year were a joke and he doesn't know what to do with the batting order the third or fourth time around because of his inexperience in the area. Plus, like Hughes, he had a lot of effectiveness out of the pen in the postseason so again, unproven.

-The bullpen is in complete shambles without Mariano. Marteo is fine as is Escobar, but the rest of it is rookies or unproven journeymen who gave up a ton of leads last year that their bats were able to get themselves out of.

-I will give you that they have perhaps as good a front-line on the field as anyone in the game, but there's no depth there. They're getting older and are starting to break down (A-Rod, Jeter, Posada and others) spent time on the DL last year and they were catchable during that period, so again, if they break down again, they have no depth in order to refill the hole.

Besides that, PECOTA (Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm) which is a ranking system used to determine performance or statistics, is in agreement with me that the Sox and the Rays are going over the Yankees this year. They'll get 90 wins, but they won't win it.

As for the Mets, get Reyes, Beltran and Murphy on the field and someone other than Santana on the field and I'd consider them somewhere. Right now, they're in a prove-to-me state, where they have to prove to me that they can stay healthy before I consider them.

And enough of that for now, yesterday was opening day so share your thoughts about what happened. Anything jump out at you so far or go beyond what you thought? Share, share share!

[CT]

I used to follow MLB quite closely but stopped several years back because I was sick of being tortured by the Reds. God they fucking suck. We lost on opening day.

And HNT, as if your bias didn't cause you to put the Mets as your wildcard?!

[GL]

Yeah, but you faced Pujols on Opening Day, and I doubt many teams would be able to overcome his two homers. Maybe the Phills but you have to open in your division.

[HNT]

Apr 6, 2010 17:53:58 GMT -5 CT said:

And HNT, as if your bias didn't cause you to put the Mets as your wildcard?!

Well, maybe it did, but I didn't pick them to win the wildcard. I only picked them to finish ahead of Atlanta and be one of four other teams with a shot at the wildcard in August and September. I don't think they'll win it either. I just think that they will be more competetive this year than in the past.

[CT]

Oh, I misunderstood, thought you said they'd win the wildcard, my mistake.

[GL]

They do have a history of opening strong in the past (they're opening day record is absurd, I think it's 8-2 in the decade now) so it looks promising, but after what I've seen Atlanta do to the Cubs, I'm thinking Atlanta might be the one.

[CT]

Watched a Reds game on tv for the first time in a couple of years last night. They lost.

I'll probably keep watching though, it was fun and I missed it. They're playing right now as I type but I'm at work!

[GL]

Indeed, they did and they won as well. I've liked what I've seen from Gomes in the past, he's pretty good at the plate but really needs work on the field. He's still young though, so he's got time, but get him, Votto and Bruce performing to expectations and with Chapman in the majors, they'll be a contender in a few years. If not for the division then the wildcard. I definitely see that for them in the coming years.

[CT]

I hope you're right.

Tonight we took the lead in the 8th with a grand slam and won! Whoo

[GL]

Pretty good game, too. I saw the highlights but didn't catch it all the way through.

I think I've seen at least 25 teams play now in the first week, just missing a couple but I can't think of any I missed. I'll try to look through again and see which ones I've missed so I can see them, since I'd love to be able to see at least one game featuring all 30 teams in the game.

[HNT]

Have you seen the Royals? How about the Rangers? Those are two that I usually completely forget about.

[GL]

Yeah, I saw games of both over the weekend.

Here's the official tally so far:

Giants
Dodgers-2 games
Diamondbacks
Rockies
Cardinals
Pirates-2 games
Astros
Cubs
Brewers-2 games
Phillies
Braves-2 games
Marlins-2 games
Mets
Mariners
Rangers
Athletics
Angels-2 games
Royals
Indians
Tigers
Twins
Red Sox-2 games
Blue Jays
Yankees
Orioles-2 games
Rays

So, it looks like I need the Nationals, Padres, Red and the White Sox.

[GL]

Well, finally got a White Sox game in, an 11-1 route of the Blue Jays. Looks like all I need now are the three NL teams. Here's hoping I can catch a series with them together sometime soon.