Well, with the start of the baseball season quickly approaching, it's time for predictions and discussion of the upcoming season. Talk about anything related to the 2006 season here.

These are my predictions of the divisions and playoffs:

* = Wild Card

AL East
1.) NY Yankees
2.) Toronto Blue Jays
3.) Boston Red Sox
4.) Tampa Bay Devil Rays
5.) Baltimore Orioles

AL Central
1.) Chicago White Sox
2.) Cleveland Indians*
3.) Minnesota Twins
4.) Detroit Tigers
5.) Kansas City Royals

AL West
1.) Oakland A's
2.) Anaheim Angels
3.) Texas Rangers
4.) Seattle Mariners

ALDS:
NY Yankees over Cleveland
Chicago White Sox over A's

ALCS:
NY Yankees over Chicago

NL East
1.) NY Mets
2.) Atlanta Braves
3.) Philadelphia Phillies
4.) Washington Nationals
5.) Florida Marlins

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

NL West
1.) LA Dodgers
2.) SF Giants
3.) San Diego Padres
4.) Arizona Diamondbacks
5.) Colorado Rockies

NLDS:
Astros over Dodgers
Cardinals over Mets

NLCS:
Cardinals over Astros

World Series:
Cardinals over Yankees


What are everyone else's picks?

* = Wild Card

AL East
1.) NY Yankees
2.) Boston Red Sox *
3.) Toronto Blue Jays
4.) Tampa Bay Devil Rays
5.) Baltimore Orioles

AL Central
1.) Cleveland Indians
2.) Chicago White Sox
3.) Minnesota Twins
4.) Detroit Tigers
5.) Kansas City Royals

AL West
1.) Oakland A's
2.) Anaheim Angels
3.) Texas Rangers
4.) Seattle Mariners

NL East
1.) NY Mets
2.) Atlanta Braves
3.) Philadelphia Phillies
4.) Washington Nationals
5.) Florida Marlins

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

NL West
1.) LA Dodgers
2.) SF Giants
3.) San Diego Padres
4.) Arizona Diamondbacks
5.) Colorado Rockies

ALCS: Red Sox (If Schilling & Beckett are healthy and good) vs. Yankees
NLCS: Dodgers vs. Cardinals (Unless the bracket breaks down another way)

WS 06': Sox vs. Dodgers - Sox in 6

This is if the Sox stay healthy. If not it'll either be the Indians or Yankees in their place.

I'm not gonna go through the entire standings but I'll just thow out some points. I still see the Sox, Yanks, and Sox being the major players in October, Blue Jays still have some holes. White Sox and Indians will be fighting it out in the Central and I can see either one taking it. The WS's only problem is seeing that all these pitchers can keep their form from last year, and show that they are not one year wonders. With the RS and Yanks it all comes down to staying healthy. If Schill, Beckett, Lowell, Loretta, ect. revert back to 2004 form and Johnson, Moose, Pavano, Sheff etc. can all stay healthy I can see either of these teams in the World Series.

The National League is tougher. Dodgers, Mets, Cardinals, and Astros should be the major players. If Clemens comes back I see the Astros in the World Series again. If not the Mets can sneak in if they can stay healthy. It's not really worth talking about the NL since they don't have a shot in the WS anyway.

MVP for each league will be the usual suspects. A-Rod, Ortiz, Manny, with Haffner, Teixeria, and Konerko sneaking in and Pujols, Bonds, with Berkman making a run in the NL. Cy Young is all depending on who stays healthy. Johnson, Schill, Moose can all make runs if healthy, with Halladay, Santana, Garland, Buerhle, Colon, and Lee looking like the front runners. In the NL it's Clemens, Willis, Schmidt, Pedro (if healthy), and Carpenter.

I'm really looking forward to this season. Damon should provide for some fun in the Yankees outfield and I can't wait to see him come up for the first time in a Yankee uni at Fenway. The two most important things this year for every team, which is the same thing that is said every year, is pitching and staying healthy.

i'll go ahead and bump this thread. the season is about a week away and everyone should be getting a better idea of how all the teams are shaping up

Phillies will supprise alot of people.

Watch!

the indians' offense is looking very good this spring. jason michaels is hitting above .300 (he's the guy we got to replace crisp), and blake, boone and broussard are actually hitting the ball. i just hope it carries over to the regular season. andy marte was impressive too, even though he was sent to the minors. my guess is that if aaron boone struggles at any point this year, marte will be brought up quickly.

How did the Indians do in the offseason? I got somewhat of an impression that they got worse. But all I know they lost was Millwood and Covelli Crisp (which is so much cooler than Cocoa Crisp, what an idiot!).

As a White Sox fan, I am always skeptical of their prospects of an upcoming season (especially after a season where we make it to the playoffs!). No matter how good the team looks, I am hesitant to say anything! BUT, they did improve over the offseason, so Im hoping they dont suck this year! Though they won the world series in my lifetime, and I have the DVD, so Im content! As long as they still stay competitive.

Weird having Jim Thome, now. Next up of old Indians players... Manny Ramirez.

well yeah, they lost millwood and crisp....also scott elarton. they got paul byrd to replace millwood. he might not produce the same era, but i guearantee he'll be a workhorse who will win 10-12 games. and jason johnson is fully capable of producing as well as elarton. jason michaels had me very worried when we first got him but he has been tearing the cover off the ball in spring training and i doubt there will be much of a dropoff between he and crisp. i don't think the indians will be much, if any worse this year. people forget they had an awful april and may last year. if they can avoid the slow start this time they can easily win in the neighborhood of 90 games again and fight for that wild card. broussard, blake and boone have to produce better than they did in '05, which i think they will.

so are the favorites, per the above

Yankees
White Sox or Indians
A's
Mets
St Louis Cardinals
Los Angeles Dogers

American League
American League
Team W L PCT GB
Cleveland 18 9 .667 -
Kansas City 14 9 .609 2.0
LA Angels 14 9 .609 2.0
Detroit 17 11 .607 1.5
Minnesota 14 13 .519 4.0
NY Yankees 13 13 .500 4.5
Tampa Bay 11 13 .458 5.5
Texas 10 12 .455 5.5
Oakland 12 15 .444 6.0
Seattle 9 15 .375 7.5
Toronto 10 17 .370 8.0
Baltimore 9 16 .360 8.0
Boston 8 16 .333 8.5
Chi White Sox 7 18 .280 10.0

lol, lets hope that translates over to the regular season.

I think the main reason the Indians choked at the end of last year is they relied on the home run too much. It must've saved them 50 games last year and the power just went out that last week.

Blake and Broussard both had a few good moments last year. Boone really picked it up toward the end of the season. I think he'll be good enough this year. That will give Marte more time to develop into the player we all want him to be.

Is that spring training?

heh, it wont. White Sox spring training is always terrible.

yeah, you can never take spring records too seriously, because most teams are using rookie prospects and other players who normally won't be on the team in the regular season

I don't see the White Sox over the Indians this year.

The White Sox just really, really started well. They were slipping at the end, to the point that Cleveland almost had a better shot getting into the playoffs by winning the division instead of winning the wild card.

Of course, they pulled through in the end, but...

(Go Tribe!)

Every team has a slump, and then the Sox pulled out of that slump in the end winning a lot over the last couple of weeks. And then, of course, 11-1 in the playoffs.

Oh, and the Tribe of course has to prevent the White Sox from totally crushing them in the Division series, too.

Hey now, we beat you in one series (the best series of the year. seriously, ESPN had 24/7 coverage on it).

Can't wait till Sunday. Finally starting the year with a good game rather than Sox/Yankees.

Pretty sure its CC vs Buerhle, let the game's begin

And ironically, that one series was hailed as a turn-around for the White Sox because of Joe Crede's walk off home run.

Tigers all the way this year!!!

the tigers might win 75 games, but i don't think they're quite ready to compete

WOOHOO!!! The Indians sign Grady Sizemore to a 6 year, $24 million dollar contract with an option for year 7.

OPENING DAY IS TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get to see the White Sox get their rings! Woooooooooo!!

GO CLEVELAND.
GO CLEVELAND.
GO CLEVELAND.
GO CLEVELAND.
GO CLEVELAND.
GO CLEVELAND.
GO CLEVELAND.
GO CLEVELAND.
GO CLEVELAND.
GO CLEVELAND.
GO CLEVELAND.
GO CLEVELAND.

Um, go Nationals.

let's go bucs

let's go bucs

let's go bucs

let's go bucs


.500 this year


gotta believe it.

Nice banner put up by the Chi Sox, but kind of an awful place to put it.