Major League Baseball 2015!!!

[RockyRaccoon]

IT'S OPENING DAY GUYS.

It is the high holy day of the year. So many games, so many things to watch, so many statistics to be created.

Masahiro Tanaka's ridiculous splitter, Sonny Gray's mind-bending curveball, Jose Abreu's bionic-like strength, Aroldis Chapman's bullet of a fastball, Russell Martin's pure-gold fielding ability, Yoenis Cespedes' actual canon for an arm, Charlie Blackmon's beard IT'S ALL HAPPENING GUYS.
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[Mercury]

Woooohooooo!!!!!


And let's not forget about the Cubs inevitable let down, the Cards eventual shallackinh of the central, and all that! It's finally here guys! Last night was a religious day for us here.
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-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[meccalecca]

[sp4cetiger]

[meccalecca]

[RockyRaccoon]

I'll be honest, I have literally 0 confidence in Wainwright's ability to stay healthy this year. I don't think this is gonna be a great year for him.
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2023 Chart

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[Mercury]

[RockyRaccoon]

[ShaneSpear]

I guess it's still kosher to post predictions even though we are 1.5 days into the new season already.

NL East: Washington, Miami, NY Mets, Atlanta, Philadelphia
NL Central: St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee, Cincinnati
NL West: LA Dodgers, San Diego, San Francisco, Colorado, Arizona
NL Cy Young: Kershaw
NL MVP: McCutchen

AL East: Boston, Baltimore, Toronto, NY Yankees, Tampa Bay
AL Central: Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City, Minnesota
AL West: Seattle, LA Angels, Houston, Oakland, Texas
AL Cy Young: Price
AL MVP: Cano

Pittsburgh over San Diego
LA Dodgers over St. Louis
Washington over Pittsburgh
LA Dodgers over Washington

Baltimore over LA Angels
Seattle over Boston
Detroit over Baltimore
Seattle over Detroit

Seattle defeats the LA Dodgers in the World Series

[Saoirse]

Shanespear you're my hero for the Seattle choice


Anyways I guess here's a quick rundown anaylsis

AL West

Seattle: You're used to perenial dissapointment with Seattle, but this is the best team they've had since the early 00s. As long as the top and the bottom of the lineup can still produce reasonably next to the terrific middle-of-the-order and the great pitching holds up, they are the dark horses for their first ever (being a Mariners fan is never easy) World Series birth

LA Angels: On paper sounds the best but the team looks a little flimsy. Like every year, if the pitching manages to at least keep them in games and the lineup stays healthy they're still the favorites, but their window seems to be narrower each year

Oakland: They always know how to compete and you gotta think there's a brilliant reason for trading away their top stars (and their pitching is still excellent), but it could be difficult to make the playoffs in a much deeper AL West

Houston: Definitely getting there but they're not quite contenders yet.

Texas: More rotten luck with the Rangers, and they were a team already rife with plenty holes and question marks before Darvish went down. Another down year expected unless a whole lot of things go right.


AL Central:

Detroit: May still win the division on their offense alone but the pitching is questionable. Could be easily unseated now that the central division is much stronger

Chicago White Sox: Made a lot of saavy moves in the offseason and have a much more loaded team than year's past, may have the best chance of usurping the mighty Tigers this year

Cleveland: Probably the most complete team in the division, if their free agent busts are at least serviceable this year they could slip into the playoffs again.

Kansas City: Barely made the postseason last year, while they're defintely built for the playoffs, in a stronger division it's questionable if they're going to grind out enough wins to make it there this year.

Minnesotta: Torri Hunter, came back, nice. Better team than past years but unless Joe Maeur is like 09 they're clearly the bottom dwellers this year. Future looks bright, though


AL East:

Boston: May just win this by default, easily the weakest AL East has been since the early 90s. Will score a lot of runs but their erratic pitching staff will probably give up nearly as much. Boom or bust this year.

Baltimore: Lost a lot of players, but still pretty sold, could be competitive in this year's weaker division.

Toronto: This seemed like their now-or-never season in a weaker AL east, but with injuries to their already shallow-depth pitching staff, it's unlikely they'll be contendors this year. They have a lineup that seems capable of scoring a thousand runs, but it's unlikely they'll be able to prevent any from scoring, either.

New York Yankees: If everything goes right and their past-their-prime players have career years, they could contend. Don't count on it. Boo A-rod.

Tampa Bay: Back to the drawing board.



NL West:

Los Angeles Dodgers: Again the strongest lineup with the best pitcher in baseball, but can they actually win when it matters?

San Diego: Go-for-broke offseason could make them one-year-wonders.

San Francisco: Odd-number-year syndrome. Could still be competitive if their pitchers rebound but I don't see how they'll score enough runs to win games.

Colorado: If they stay healthy they'll be decent. More likely if they don't, they'll just be trying to fight off 100 losses.

Arizona: In re-building mode. They got a great player to build around in Goldschmidt, but it's doubtful he'll be around long enough when their prospects actually have experience to be competitive.


NL Central

Pittsburgh: Perhaps the best, most complete team in the National League central. A darkhorse for their first world-series appeareance in generations.

St Louis: They always find ways to be successful and got the lineup to make yet another postseason appereance.

Chicago Cubs: The hype is a bit overblown. They'll be better, likely flirt with a winning season but they're not quite there yet. In two years however they will probably be the best team in baseball.

Milwaulkee: Lots of question marks, likely overachieved last year. Need to improve their farm system.

Cincinatti: Could be better if they stay healthy but I don't see them being competitive in a tougher division like this one.


NL East

Washington: An even better rotation than the 2011 phillies and wowsie lineup make them easy favorites for the NL crown. Still questionable if they can actually eke out wins in october, though.

Miami: Strongest lineup in a decade, if they do well until their injured pitchers come back and Giancarlo stays healthy, could easily sneak into the wild card race.

New York Mets; Better than the yankees? That dream actaully seems possible this year. Perhaps a winning season but questionable if they can actually make it into the postseason with their lineup.

Atlanta: Lost a lot and brought little in. Down season or two until they move, expected.

Philedalphia: Waited too long to re-tool and now have several miserable seasons ahead. Need to get aggressive and move on from their veteran icons if they don't want a lost decade.


And yeah Seattle and Nationals in the world series, the only two franchises not to make an appearence yet. Seattle won today so only 90 wins or more to go.