2008 is About to Begin!

With the 2008 Major League Baseball season about to begin, I am here to give my predictions for the upcoming season.

I will preface my predictions for this year with my boasting of correctly predicting the NL ROY in Ryan Braun. I was way off most of the others, so I need to take all the victories I can get.

NL MVP: Prince Fielder. I think they will be a playoff team this year, and having Ryan Braun behind him in the lineup, pitchers will give him something to hit. Another 50 homer season is not out of the question, and I think if the Brewers had made the playoffs last season he would have won the award.

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera. He hit .320 in a bad Florida lineup with 119 RBI. I can see 140-150 RBI in this lineup if Sheffield and Magglio don't knock in everyone ahead of him. This guy could have the best season since Barry hit 73...

NL Cy Young: Dan Haren. He was great last year for a disappointing Oakland team. Moving to the NL and a great pitcher's division will only help him.

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander. I just don't think Sabathia will have another season like last year and Beckett will have a blister problem sometime this year. Verlander is one of the best young pitchers in the game and will win plenty of these awards.

NL ROY: Clayton Kershaw. He will start the season in the minors, but if he is half as good as he has been in spring training, he will not be there past May 1st. This kid is only 19 and he could be a stud for numerous years.

AL ROY: Evan Longoria. This year's Ryan Braun. The Rays are deciding whether to wait until May to bring him up as to delay his major league clock starting, but even so he will have a monster year when he is called up.

NL Batting Champ: Hunter Pence. This guy was in line to win the ROY last year before he was injured. A pure hitter in a great hitters park with plenty around him in the lineup, he will get good pitches to hit and will jump into the national spotlight this year.

AL Batting Champ: Ichiro Suzuki. I would like to pick someone more obscure here like Robinson Cano or Howie Kendrick, both of whom I believe will win a batting title eventually, but Ichiro is just too good and continues to prove it every year.

NL Cy Young in Waiting: Tim Lincecum. Last year I put his partner in crime Matt Cain here, and I firmly believe these two will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. This year however, they will have a long season ahead with a terrible team around them.

AL Cy Young in Waiting: Francisco Liriano. Try to imagine if he wasn't thrown in the Pierzynski deal. San Francisco would have Liriano, Cain, Lincecum and Barry Zito in its starting rotation.

Now on to the predictions of standings.

NL East:
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Atlanta Braves
3. New York Mets
4. Washington Nationals
5. Florida Marlins
J-Ro, Utley and Howard will be so much offense that I could pitch and still get a victory. The Mets are aging and even though I love David Wright, I don't think they have enough to overtake the Phils. Atlanta will also be much improved, and will compete for the wild card if not the division. Florida and Washington can compete for a better draft pick next year. They don't have a chance in this division.

NL Central:
1. Milwaukee Brewers
2. Houston Astros
3. Chicago Cubs
4. St. Louis Cardinals
5. Cincinnati Reds
6. Pittsburgh Pirates
The Brewers have one of the best lineups in baseball, and a very deep rotation to go with an improved bullpen. They lead the division for most of the year in '07 and they should make a good run in the post-season. I think the Astros are much improved offensively, and will be very scary, but they do not have enough pitching behind Roy Oswalt to beat the Brewers. The Cubs will be the Cubs this year, and St. Louis will be missing Mulder and Carpenter for a good chunk of the season to go along with their young inexperienced outfield. Cincy bolstered their bullpen with the addition of Francisco Cordero, but they didn't really do anything else to improve. The Pirates just stink. If you don't believe me, ask Jason Bay.

NL West:
1. Arizona Diamondbacks
2. Colorado Rockies
3. San Diego Padres
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
5. San Francisco Giants
I believe this is the best division in baseball. I give the edge to the D'Backs because of the addition of Dan Haren. They have question marks in their lineup as do the Padres, and the Rockies have an inexperienced rotation, but any one of those three can win the division or wild card. The Dodgers should be better than last year because they will be healthier and will have a full season of Matt Kemp and James Loney, but they still have Juan Pierre (one of, if not the, most overrated player in baseball) and also have a questionable rotation. The Giants are going to be terrible aside from Cain and Lincecum.

AL East:
1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Baltimore Orioles
I like the Yankee's staff overall better than the Sox, and currently I am so tired of hearing about nothing other than Boston. I would love to see someone shove it down their throats and them not even make the playoffs (sorry Ken). Toronto is destined to be a third place team forever, and I keep thinking that this year will be the year Tampa makes it out of the cellar. It could be with the fire sale that is the Baltimore Orioles.

AL Central:
1. Detroit Tigers
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Chicago White Sox
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Minnesota Twins
The Tigers probably have the best lineup in all of baseball, and with Verlander and Bonderman at the top, a very solid rotation. The Indians should compete for the division and/or the wild card this year with pretty much the same team that won the division last year. The White Sox upgraded their offense with Swisher and Cabrera, but I don't think they have enough depth or much of a rotation. The Twins should be pretty pathetic this year, and the Royals are making strides. I think they can find their way out of the cellar this year too.

AL West:
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Texas Rangers
4. Oakland Athletics
Seattle got Bedard, but he has not thrown 200 innings in a season in his career and wore down at the end of the season last year. I think Anaheim's lineup is way more potent and they have enough pitching to win the division again. The A's will be practicing falling down this year as they might have the worst record in the bigs. Texas will have another decent year with the stick, but their pitching staff is atrocious so there is no way they will compete.

The Playoffs:
Division Series: Tigers over Yankees, Angels over Indians, Brewers over Phillies, Braves over Diamondbacks
LCS: Tigers over Angels, Brewers over Braves
World Series: Tigers over Brewers in 6. Magglio Ordonez is WS MVP.