MLB Preseason Picks

Opening day is upon us! The long awaited beginning of opening day since we saw the St. Louis Cardinals dog pile after a game seven win against the Rangers. With that being said, it’s time to make my pre-season picks!

AL EAST

Pick: Boston Red Sox

Contender: New York Yankees

Dark Horse: Tampa Bay Rays

Despite the Red Sox managing to blow their Wild Card spot in the playoffs last year, I believe changing skippers will give the BoSox the AL East this year. They have the weapons on offense to do it with Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellisbury, and Dustin Pedroia to name a few. I think it will depend a lot on their pitching staff and bullpen to give them the division. The Yankees aren’t far behind (if at all) with the bat of Mark Texeria amongst many more. The Tampa Bay Rays provide a different approach with not as much offense, but still a lot of potential with the bats. The Rays probably have the best pitching in the division behind James Shields and David Price. James Shields led the majors with 11 complete games last year, while David Price provides a solid quality start percentage of 62%. Flip a coin and enjoy the excitement with the Bronx Bombers and the BoSox, but keep an eye on Madden’s Rays.

AL CENTRAL

Pick: Detroit Tigers

Contender: Chicago White Sox

Dark Horse: Cleveland Indians

The American League Central Division is going to be an interesting division to watch. To Sports Illustrated readers, I extend my apologies for not including the Kansas City Royals to my picks. I think the Royals have the best farm system right now that is loaded with talent. This being said, I think they need a year or two.  The Detroit Tigers seem to be loaded with two possible MVP’s on the corners in Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder. To top that they have the AL MVP winner Justin Verlander as their starter. They are going to be a tough team to beat. The Chicago White Sox will be riding the bat of Paul Konerko who has hit over .300 and 30+ Home Runs in the last two seasons. Adam Dunn shed some weight in the off season ,and is looking to be much more productive than he was last year. The one BIG question in the south side of Chicago is who the man on the hill will be ,and how will the bull pen fair in this division. The Cleveland Indians are my dark horse pick because I think they will be a consistent team. They can be more than a consistent team if their pitching pitches to its potential with Ubaldo Jiminez, Justin Masterson, and the newly-aquired Derek Lowe. I think their consistency makes them dangerous.

AL WEST

Pick: Los Angeles Angels

Contender: Texas Rangers

Dark Horse: Seattle Mariners

With the signing of Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson, the LA Angels greatly increased their chances to win this division. I think they have the weapons to clearly do so. They took a good team and made them into a potential giant. The line-up has great bats, and the pitching is there. They just have to win. The Rangers have a hole to fill with CJ Wilson leaving that they  are hoping Darvish Yu to step into. The power numbers of Josh Hamilton don’t lie, as most of the World Series team comes back for 2012. I have Seattle as the dark horse because I had to pick between them and Oakland. Don’t think either of them put up too much of a fight with Texas or LA.

NL EAST

Pick: Philadelphia Phillies

Contender: Atlanta Braves

Dark Horse: Miami Marlins

I really like the Atlanta Braves this year. However, I can’t pick against the Phillies with Halladay, Lee, and Hamels in the rotation. I think this would be the Braves best chance to win it this year ,but there is a few conditions that have to be met. They have some of the best young pitchers in the game that have to deliver for them ,and help Tim Hudson and Tommy Hanson out.  Jason Heyward has to be 2010 Jason Heyward and not 2011 Jason Heyward. The Phillies will have to fill around the absences of Ryan Howard and Chase Utely who both will be out for a while. With that being said the Miami Marlins will also be in the mix behind the signing of Jose Reyes. It will be interesting to see how Jose and Hanley Ramirez work together and mesh. The Marlins have an ace in Josh Johnson who will be looking to rebound off an injury plagued 2011.

NL CENTRAL

Pick: St. Louis Cardinals

Contender: Milwaukee Brewers

Dark Horse: Cincinnati Reds

The Cardinals look to repeat as World Series champs in life after Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa. They do bring a piece back with Adam Wainwright ,and the signing of center fielder Carlos Beltran can’t hurt. The Brewers are going to be an interesting team without Prince Fielder ,and will be riding the bat of Ryan Braun. The Brewers rotation is pretty solid with Grienke, Marcum, and Wolf. They will also have Francisco Rodriguez out of the bullpen. These two teams will provide good battles throughout the year. It will be interesting to see if St. Louis goes through their August slump as they have in the past two seasons. The dark horse pick in this division is the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds return a pretty solid lineup with Joey Votto’s bat leading the way. The Reds have a pretty solid rotation led by Johnny Cueto. They have a decent chance at making a run in this division.

AL WEST

Pick: San Francisco Giants

Contender: Arizona Diamondbacks

Dark Horse: Los Angeles Dodgers

The San Francisco Giants were the World Series champs of 2010. They look to get back on track this year after losing the division to the Diamondbacks. The Giants will bring a dominant pitching rotation led by the “Freak”, Tim Lincecum. The interesting thing here will be to see how they will manage to score runs. If the Giants can find ways to score runs through the bat of Pablo Sandoval, Aubrey Huff. Buster Posey’s return will vitally help the run scoring. The Giants also added Melky Cabrera to add more consistency to the lineup. The Diamondbacks will also be a team with a great rotation. Ian Kennedy tied for second in the Majors with 21 wins. I really like JJ Putz coming out of the bullpen and saving games for this rotation. Justin Upton leads the lineup and hit 31 homeruns last year. Jason Kubel’s signing in the off season will add a little more pop to the lineup. I have the LA Dodgers as the dark horse in this division. The 1-2 punch of Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley makes for a good rotation along with the arms of Ted Lilly and Aaron Harang. Matt Kemp led the majors last year with 126 RBIs ,and Andre Ethier’s bat isn’t too bad either. The Dodgers will definitely be a team to watch in 2012 after all the ownership issues in the offseason.

AL WILDCARD: Rangers over Rays
NL WILDCARD: Braves over Brewers
NL PENNANT: Cardinals over Braves
AL PENNANT: Angels over Tigers
World Series Champions: Los Angeles Angels over St. Louis Cardinals

Hate to pick this, but I think St. Louis will get beat by the LA Angels for the World Series title. The Angels just have way to many weapons hitting and pitching.

So there you have it, my preseason picks. I hope you enjoyed the blog. If there’s any sports topic you’d like me to blog about please shoot me a tweet @griffaldo or drop me an email at JCGriffin13@yahoo.com .