We are now officially two months into the 2011 MLB Season and I wanted to provide an update on my preseason predictions.
Here were my predictions:
NL East: Atlanta
NL Central: Milwaukee
NL West: Colorado
NL Wild Card: Philadelphia
NL Pennant Winner: Colorado
NL MVP – Ryan Braun, NL Cy Young – Roy Halladay
AL East: Boston
AL Central: Detroit
AL West: LA Angels
AL Wild Card: Oakland
Al Pennant Winner: Boston
AL MVP – Robinson Cano, AL Cy Young – Jon Lester
World Series Winner: Boston
So far not too shabby. My NL selections are looking pretty good and have the potential to be spot on. Atlanta is 5 games above .500 and in 3rd place just 4 games behind the Phillies. Colorado mired in a bit of a slump are 2 games under .500 at home and overall, but just 3 games out of first behind of all teams Arizona. The Phillies are good and they just got Utley back from the DL.
The AL is out of control. My selection to win it all started 0-6 and on April 29 the Red Sox were in last place in the AL East with an 11-14 record. They have since gone 19-8 and are 2 games up on the Yanks and Rays. They are hitting and pitching like I thought they would. After the obvious, we have the AL West where I chose the Angels and A’s as playoff teams. The ‘Punch and Judy’ Angels are 2nd in AL behind Boston in hits, but 11th in RBI while the A’s are offensively pathetic hovering around in 12th place out of 14 AL teams in most offensive categories. The up side is LAA is only 1 Game out and Oakland is 1.5 games out. Then there is the wacky AL Central. Through May 15 the Cleveland Indians had the best record in baseball and Detroit had just won 7 straight. Now after going 3-8 since they are 6.5 games behind the Indians and other than Verlander have some major pitching woes.
Biggest Disappointments thus far:
Cincinnati Reds – Pitching is killing them, but only 4.5 games out.
Minnesota Twins – Mauer been on DL since first week of April and worst record in MLB.
NY Mets – Aside from Jose Reyes who they will trade soon, Bay, Beltran and Wright cant produce up to their salaries.
There it is as of Memorial Day Sunday so enjoy the weekend and we will check back at the All Star game.