2016 Baseball

This spring, I did not write my usual set of baseball predictions.  However, after being called out by my former college roommate for falling down on the job, I decided that I needed to get back on track.  The major league season is now about ten percent completed, so maybe that will help me figure what is going to happen.  Without further delay, here are my 2016 predictions:

American League
East
Baltimore
Tampa Bay (WC)
New York
Toronto
Boston

Central
Kansas City
Detroit
Cleveland
Chicago
Minnesota

West
Texas
Los Angeles (WC)
Oakland
Houston
Seattle

Wild Card:
Angels over Rays
Division Series:
Royals over Angels in 4
Orioles over Rangers in 5
LCS:
Orioles over Royals in 6

National Legaue
East
Washington
New York (WC)
Philadelphia
Atlanta
Miami

Central
Chicago
Pittsburgh (WC)
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Milwaukee

West
Los Angeles
Arizona
Colorado
San Francisco
San Diego

Wild Card:
Pirates over Mets
Division Series:
Nationals over Pirates in 5
Cubs over Dodgers in 4
LCS:
Nationals over Cubs in 7

WORLD SERIES:
Washington Nationals over Baltimore Orioles in 6 games

M.V.P.
A.L.: Mike Trout
N.L.: Bryce Harper

Cy Young:
A.L.: Chris Sale
N.L.: Jake Arrieta

Other Notes/Thoughts:
If I was a player, I would wear the uniform in the way that shows the socks almost to the knee.  Baseball pants down to the shoes i snot nearly as good of a look, in my opinion.

The last of couple of years has been among the greatest eras for baseball.  There is a true abundance of talented players in the early or prime portions of their careers: Harper, Trout, McCutchen, Stanton, Kershaw, and many others.  It's a great time to be a fan.

It's also great that the pitchers have had the chance to have some dominant moments.  A pitchers' duel can be at least as exciting as a slugfest.  Unfortunately, I fear that soon MLB will make some rule changes to try and increase offense.

That's all for now.  Happy baseball everyone!

Baseball Playoffs

As the calendar turns to October, it is time to get ready for the Major League Baseball playoffs.  My preseason prediction of a Nationals-Mariners World Series was quite a bit off, as neither team qualified for the postseason.  Before I get into my predictions, I will rank the ten teams in order of who I want to win it all:

1. Yankees  My favorite team.  They haven't played well the last week or so, here's hoping they can turn it around.
2. Pirates  Haven't been to the World Series since 1979.
3. Royals  They came agonizingly close to a championship last year; losing Game Seven of the World Series by a run with the tying runner stranded on third base.
4. Cubs  Maybe they are finally due to win their first World Series since 1908.  Also, this would make one 2015 prediction from Back to the Future Part 2 come true.
5. Dodgers Nice to see a strong pitching team do well
6. Mets Even though they are the cross-town rivals of the Yankees, they are an young, exciting team.
7. Astros Had a breakthrough season after several terrible years.
8. Blue Jays Great pitching staff, nice to see a team not afraid to make some trades to improve.
9. Rangers Honestly, I don't have much feeling one way or the other about them.
10. Cardinals  I never liked this team, going back to the days when Tony LaRussa was manager.

Here are my actual predictions:

American League

Wild Card Game: Yankees over Astros

Division Series:  Royals over Yankees in four; Blue Jays over Rangers in four

ALCS: Blue Jays over Royals in seven

National League

Wild Card Game: Pirates over Cubs

Division Series: Pirates over Cardinals in five; Dodgers over Mets in four

NLCS: Dodgers over Pirates in six

World Series:  Blue Jays over Dodgers in seven

2015 Baseball Predictions

It's that time of year again - Opening Day is right around the corner.  Hard to believe that it's been five months since the World Series and the Royals' exciting run that came up just short.  As per tradition, I will now make my predictions.

American League East
1. Red Sox
2. Blue Jays (WC)
3. Orioles
4. Rays
5. Yankees

American League Central
1. Tigers
2. White Sox (WC)
3. Royals
4. Indians
5. Twins

American League West
1. Mariners
2. Athletics
3. Angels
4. Rangers
5. Astros

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

National League Central
1. Pirates
2. Cardinals (WC)
3. Cubs
4. Brewers
5. Reds

National League West
1. Dodgers
2. Padres (WC)
3. Giants
4. Diamondbacks
5. Rockies

Post-Season
AL Wild card: Blue Jays over White Sox
ALDS: Red Sox over Blue Jays, 3-1
ALDS: Mariners over Tigers, 3-0
ALCS: Mariners over Red Sox, 4-1

NL Wild Card: Padres over Cardinals
NLDS: Nationals over Padres, 3-2
NLDS: Pirates over Dodgers, 3-1
NLCS: Nationals over Pirates, 4-3

World Series: Nationals over Mariners, 4-2

Awards
AL MVP: Mike Trout
AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez
AL ROY: Rusney Castillo

NL MVP: Andrew McCutchen
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw
NL ROY: Kris Bryant

Notes
The Nationals will have the best overall record in MLB, with 101 wins.
Worst overall record will be th eTwins, with 99 losses.
The Yankees will finish in last place in the East.  (As a fan, it pains me, but there are way too many "if's" on that team).

All Aboard!

Recently, my son's Cub Scout Pack had a sleepover on the U.S.S. New Jersey, a battleship that is now permanently docked in Camden, N.J.  It was held from Friday night until Saturday morning, and included a tour of the various parts of the ship, and the chance to eat and sleep where the sailors did.

It was snowing when we arrived, so our Friday activities were restricted to the inside portions of the tour.  The highlight was the room where the missiles were launched.  Obviously, all of the computers and other devices are no longer operational, but the kids were able to sit there and pretend to shoot.  Needless to say, they enjoyed this quite a bit.  We also saw where the captain slept, the mess hall, the infirmary, and a lot of machinery.

Friday dinner and Saturday breakfast were held in the mess hall where the sailors ate.  The food was surprisingly good.  Dinner was chicken and macaroni and cheese.  As an added bonus, since it was a Friday during Lent, many people didn't want to eat the chicken, so us Protestants got to eat more.

Sleeping was on actual bunks.  They were triple bunks, so it was a bit claustrophobic.  The distance from my face to the bottom of the bunk above me was only about eight inches.  It made tossing and turning a bit difficult.  That, combined with a rather firm mattress, limited me to about two hours sleep.  Fortunately, my son had no such issues and slept all through the night with no problem.

On Saturday morning, the weather was clear (but cold), so we got to tour the decks of the ship.  As an added bonus, one of our Pack leaders served in the Navy for four years, and he was able to give us a lot more information about life onboard a Navy ship.

Overall, it was a very interesting and enlightening experience.  I'm very glad that we took advantage of the opportunity to do it.

2014 Post-Season Baseball

Now that the 2014 regular season is complete, it's time to make some predictions.  I promise not to spend too much time talking about a certain retiring player.  (After all, no one really wants to hear my thoughts on Paul Konerko.)

We will start with listing the ten teams in order of how much I would want them to win the World Series:
1. Pirates: broke their long postseason drought last year, but haven't been to the Series since 1979
2. Royals: this year's version of the Pirates; broke a long streak - they haven't been to the postseason since they won it all in 1985
3. Nationals: one of only two franchises (along with the Mariners) that has never reached the World Series.  I generally prefer strong pitching over offensive slugfests, and the Nats have some great arms
4. Orioles:  even though they are divisional rivals of the Yankees, they haven't had much success recently, and they play in a great ballpark
5. Tigers: they have come close a couple of times in the past decade, but haven't won it all since 1984
6. Dodgers: would be great to see Clayton Kershaw work on the biggest stage
7. Athletics: their last championship was in 1989
8. Angels: some great players, especially Mike Trout
9. Giants: Have won two of the last four World Series.
10. Cardinals: have won a couple of titles in recent years.  I admit to not liking this team, ever since Tony LaRussa was their manager.

Now, for my actual predictions:

Wild Card Games:
Royals over Athletics
Pirates over Giants

Division Series:
Orioles over Tigers, 3-1
Angels over Royals, 3-2
Dodgers over Cardinals, 3-1
Nationals over Pirates, 3-1

League Championship Series:
Angels over Orioles, 4-3
Nationals over Dodgers, 4-2

World Series:
Nationals over Angels, 4-2

Play ball!

2014 NFL Predictions

Once again, we have reached the start of a new football season.  Even though I'm a couple of days late (the Seahawks beat the Packers on Thursday night), I will now reveal my predictions:

AFC East
New England
Miami
New York
Buffalo

AFC North
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati (wild card)
Baltimore
Cleveland

AFC South
Indianapolis
Houston
Jacksonville
Tennessee

AFC West
San Diego
Denver (wild card)
Kansas City
Oakland

NFC East
Philadelphia
New York
Washington
Dallas

NFC North
Green Bay
Chicago (wild card)
Detroit
Minnesota

NFC South
New Orleans
Tampa Bay
Carolina
Atlanta

NFC West
Seattle
San Francisco (wild card)
Arizona
St. Louis

Wild Card Games
San Diego 24, Denver 21
Cincinnati 26, Indianapolis 13
Philadelphia 31, San Francisco 30
New Orleans 16, Chicago 7

Divisional Games
Pittsburgh 23, Cincinnati 19
San Diego 30, New England 10
Seattle 28, Philadelphia 3
New Orleans 14, Green Bay 10

Conference Championships
Pittsburgh 21, San Diego 14
Seattle 24, New Orleans 14

Super Bowl
Pittsburgh 17, Seattle 13

MVP: Jamaal Charles
Best overall record: Seattle
Worst overall record: Oakland

Hall of Fame

Now that the new year is upon us, it is almost time for the results of the Baseball Hall of Fame voting to be revealed.  I wrote extensively about the process about a year ago, so feel free to check out that post if you want some background information.  Last year, no one received the minimum 75 percent of the votes needed for induction, so over a dozen deserving candidates are back, along with a few very deserving newcomers (a player must be retired at least five years in order to be eligible).

I believe that there are at least 15 players on this ballot who are worthy Hall of Famers, but each voter can only vote for a maximum on ten.  Therefore, if I had a vote, my ballot would be as follows (in alphabetical order):

Jeff Bagwell - feared hitter with a career cut short by injuries
Craig Biggio - Bagwell's long-time teammate; has 3,000 career hits and just missed induction last year
Barry Bonds - all-time leader in home runs for career and single season;
Roger Clemens - one of the best pitchers of all time
Tom Glavine - 300-game winner
Greg Maddux - won over 350 games
Mike Mussina - great pitcher; won 20 games in his last season
Mike Piazza - best offensive catcher of all time; didn't throw well, but was fine in other aspects of defense
Tim Raines - excellent leadoff hitter and base stealer
Frank Thomas - one of the most  feared hitters of his generation

Note: Glavine, Maddux and Thomas are all eligible for the first time this year.

Others who I feel are deserving include Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa and Alan Trammell.

Based on what I'm reading, it looks like Maddux, Glavine, Thomas and Biggio will all get enough votes to be inducted this summer.