Rich
NL MVP – Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
AL MVP – Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians
AL Cy Young – Daisuke Matsuzaka, Boston Red Sox
NL Cy Young – Johan Santana, New York Mets
NL Rookie of the Year – Cameron Maybin, Florida Marlins
AL Rookie of the Year – David Price, Tampa Bay Rays
AL East – Boston Red Sox
AL Central – Cleveland Indians
AL West – Anaheim Angels
Wild Card – Minnesota Twins
NL East – New York Mets
NL Central – Chicago Cubs
NL West – Los Angeles Dodgers
Wild Card – Milwaukee Brewers
World Series winner – New York Mets
World Series loser- Boston Red Sox

Games by Milton Bradley before Lou Piniella punches him – 62. Three games after Piniella is found chasing Kosuke Fukudome around the clubhouse with a steak knife, and five games after Alfonso Soriano dislocates his shoulder trying to hit a lead-off Grand Slam.

Over/Under on games played by Joe Crede and Joe Mauer – Will they change the rules so Mauer can win the Batting Title with 95 at-bats?

Starts made by CC Sabathia before Hank Steinbrenner rips him – 3. Then CC will straighten himself out. By September, Hank will be praising CC, and blaming the failings for the year on his real mistake, AJ Burnett. So, of course, he’ll fire Brian Cashman.

Summary: The World Series will go seven games, and at least one – if not two – games will feature the two Cy Young winners facing off against each other. I like the Mets for no other reason than they have the best pitcher in baseball without a ring. Johan Santana will be on a mission, and he’ll carry that team to the promised land.

Andy
NL MVP – Manny Ramirez, Los Angeles Dodgers
AL MVP – Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
AL Cy Young – CC Sabathia, New York Yankees
NL Cy Young – Francisco Rodriguez, New York Mets
NL Rookie of the Year – Colby Rasmus, St. Louis
AL Rookie of the Year – Matt Wieters, Baltimore
AL East – New York Yankees
AL Central – Minnesota Twins
AL West – Anaheim Angels of Anaheim
Wild Card – Tampa Bay Rays
NL East – New York Mets
NL Central – Chicago Cubs
NL West – Los Angeles Dodgers
Wild Card – Florida Marlins
World Series winner – New York Mets
World Series loser – New York Yankees

Games by Milton Bradley before Lou Piniella punches him – 162. Piniella sees a lot of himself in Bradley. He takes the temperamental outfielder under his wing. They start a lifelong friendship and make several appearances on Oprah and Dr. Phil together.

Over/Under on games played by Joe Crede and Joe Mauer – 224

Starts made by CC Sabathia before Hank Steinbrenner rips him – 4. CC will start hot, but will blow one in April. Hank will explode. Hal will then have Hank stuffed and put on display in the new Monument Park.

Summary: Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers explode out of the gate, dominating the West Coast while Francisco Rodriguez and JJ Putz make all the difference for the Mets who go from crapping themselves to beating the crap out of their opponents. They meet in a dramatic NLCS that is decided when the stopper strikes out Manny Being Manny to send the Mets to the Series.

The American League also features an East coast vs West coast matchup, but East coast bias wins out. The Steinbrenners succeed in buying their way back to the Series, largely because no other team is good enough to stop them. All those of us who bitch and moan about inflated East coast salaries are proven correct and we are subjected, much to the joy of ESPN and Fox, to a Subway Series, during which F-Rod comes up big again with four saves and a big three-inning save in game seven.

Tony
NL MVP – David Wright, New York Mets
AL MVP – Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians
AL Cy Young – Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays
NL Cy Young – Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants
NL Rookie of the Year – Cameron Maybin, Florida Marlins
AL Rookie of the Year – Matt Wieters, Baltimore Orioles
AL East – Boston Red Sox
AL Central – Cleveland Indians
AL West – Anaheim Angels
Wild Card – New York Yankees
NL East – New York Mets
NL Central – Chicago Cubs
NL West – Los Angeles Dodgers
Wild Card – Philadelphia Phillies
World Series winner – New York Mets
World Series loser – Boston Red Sox

Games by Milton Bradley before Lou Piniella punches him – 87

Over/Under on games played by Joe Crede and Joe Mauer – 235, and I take the under

Starts made by CC Sabathia before Hank Steinbreener rips him – 9

Summary: The usual suspects in the AL, with Cleveland surprising the Twins (injuries & bullpen), and Rays coming back to reality.  Yankees will have bought there way back into the playoffs, but not all the way to the series, sending Hanky Steinbrenner into another offseason spending fit.

NL features some usual suspects as well—Cubs streak of blowing their best chances will continue, though, and the Mets will (finally) take advantage.
In a World Series that I will be able to (once again) completely ignore, the Mets acquisition of Johan Santana will kill the Red Sox, and put the Mets over the top.

The Phillies will be competitive enough to get their fans hopes up (again) only to instead crush them to the point where the debauchery in the stands explodes into 374 fights.

I’d be surprised if it gets quite that raucus, though I guess Philadelphia Eagles did have a jail in the basement of Veteran’s Stadium to house any fans that got more violent than booing Santa Claus.

But I do think the Tampa Bay Rays have all the momentum in the world heading into the World Series. A fantastic pitching performance by Matt Garza kept the Boston Red Sox from repeating history and staging an improbable but fantastic comeback. Knocking off the defending world champions proves just how for real the Rays are. And the Phillies will have been off for nearly a week since disposing of the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.

The layoff allowed the Fightin’ Phillies to set their pitching rotations the way they like but the rests have often times proved more detriment than help to World Series combatants.

I like the Rays pitching rotation depth slightly more than I like Philly’s and I’ve become a huge fan of the mix of offensive weapons the Rays possess.

Rays in five, maybe six.