Hey there, Cardinals fans of Baseball Digest! I’m Andrea, one of the new Cardinals contributors. I currently reside in Chicago. In fact, I swear to God that Jim Edmonds could throw a ball from the Wrigley gates and hit my building. That’s how close I am. But I just gaze at the corner of my bedroom where I hung my 2006 World Champions flag and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
For my debut article at BD, I’m taking part in the United Cardinals Bloggers March project. Each day this week we will be predicting how the divisions will finish. Today we cover the entire AL. Why don’t they get 3 separate days? Because the AL is filled with godless DH-loving heathens and they’ll take their one day and like it.
Tomorrow we’ll cover the NL East, Wednesday is NL Central day (the best day), Thursday is NL West and Friday is postseason and awards. I’m going to *try* not to be a total homer, but I can make no promises. Without further ado, here are my predictions for the AL in 2009.
AL East
New York Yankees 97 65
Boston Red Sox 96 66
Tampa Bay Rays 90 72
Toronto Blue Jays 84 78
Baltimore Orioles 70 92
The Yanks picked up Sabathia and Texeira and will be back to the Yankees form we all knew and hated in the early aughts. The Red Sox will be nipping at their heels and the Rays will be a contender, though I don’t see them doing as well as last year. The Blue Jays will have a record that would let them contend for a title in either league’s West Division. The Orioles… would lose to my high school.
AL Central
Minnesota Twins 90 72
Cleveland Indians 83 79
Chicago White Sox 81 81
Kansas City Royals 79 83
Detroit Tigers 72 90
I like the Indians adding Mark DeRosa, but I don’t think Cliff Lee can repeat the amazing year he had last year. I think the Twins will ride Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer to a playoff spot. The White Sox will content but ultimately finish behind the Twins and Indians. And I think the Tigers’ horrible 2008 was not an anamoly. They will finish behind the Royals and we will all laugh.
AL West
Los Angeles Angels 82 80
Oakland As 75 87
Texas Rangers 70 92
Seattle Mariners 68 94
It’ll be just like last year. The Angels will devour the rest of the division and then totally crap the bed in the playoffs. It’s really a shame we have to include any teams from the West division.
Topics: Lady Andrea, NL Central, St. Louis Cardinals, United Cardinal Bloggers
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For the Twins to get to 90 wins, Mauer’s kidney/vertabrae/sideburns are going to have to be really healthy. And I think the Yankees are just a wild card team, but I agree with leaving the Rays out of the playoff mix.
Call me a heathen but we really need to expand the playoffs to 6 teams per league so the top 2 teams can get wild-card round byes. We play 162 games and then it comes down to a 5-game crapshoot, I’m not a fan.
Can’t wait for more posts from you!
Andrea! Welcome to BD!
Now we know the real reason that Jimmy Ballgame was so determined to play on the Northside, seems you may have a famous stalker, ma’am.
I’m going to play a bit of a “homer” card myself here and discuss our “other” Missouri team in the boys in blue in KC.
The Royals have a solid, young rotation; have made huge improvements in the bullpen and have put together a decent lineup. I think you have to look to this team to win 85 – 90 games this year and really be poised for a playoff run in the next few seasons.
Good stuff, look forward to more!
I think the AL Central is going to be the most wide-open division in all MLB this season.