MLB Predictions

Hello all,
Here are my predictions for the 2013 season of Major League Baseball. This season, all of the divisions are looking wide open at the beginning of the season. The Yankees are in decline ( :D ), and the Blue Jays are on the rise because of a major fire sale by Miami. The Reds look like the top of the class in the NL Central but you can never count out the Cardinals. And the AL West looks to be wide open again, with the exception of the Mariners and Astros. So, without further adue, here are my predictions for this season.

AL East
Baltimore Orioles
Toronto Blue Jays
Tampa Bay Rays
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees

The AL East is a fight between two teams, the Orioles and the Jays. The Rays should be competitive throughout most of the year, but I don't think they will be in the thick of the division race when September comes around.

AL Central
Detroit Tigers
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Kansas City Royals
Minnesota Twins

The Detroit Tigers are at the top of the class in the AL Central. With a pitching staff consisting of Justin Verlander the Tigers should be able to keep AL Central offenses at bay at least once every five days. But, the Tigers offense with Prince Fielder and the Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera should be enough to carry the team those other four days. The White Sox, Indians and Royals all have a shot at second place with the Twins doomed to the cellar.

AL West
Los Angeles Angels
Oakland Athletics
Texas Rangers
Seattle Mariners
Houston Astros

This division could come down to the final day of the season... again. I expect Albert Pujols to actually show up in April and help out the newly acquired Josh Hamilton in the offensive department. The A's will have the upper hand when it comes to the pitching staff due to Zack Greinke's from Los Angeles to Los Angeles. The Rangers, with the losses of Michael Young, Josh  Hamilton and Mike Napoli seem to be assured the third place finish for the second straight year. And there seems to be no need to mention how bad the Astros will be this year, which means that the Mariners may finally rise out of the cellar.

NL East
Washington Nationals
Atlanta Braves
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Miami Marlins

The NL East will be a fight between two teams, the Nationals and the Braves. The Nationals will bring back almost the same team as last year while the Braves made the Uptons their big free agent acquisitions. The Mets, without R.A. Dickey seem to be stuck in third place with Philadelphia and Miami bringing up the rear.

NL Central
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
St. Louis Cardinals
Pittsburgh Pirates
Chicago Cubs

The NL Central will be won by the Reds this year. Joey Votto and company are too good not to. The big fight will be for second place with Milwaukee, St. Louis and Pittsburgh vying for that spot and a probable spot in the playoffs. With the offseason upgrades in the bullpen that allowed 29 blown saves for the Brewers and their acquisition of Kyle Lohse, I believe that the Brewers have gon from 83 wins last year to a 88-89 win season assuming the bullpen can be much better than last year's awful performance. I am not going to count out the Cardinals because they are always a dangerous team to play. The Cubs will almost certainly remain the lovable losers for the foreseeable future.

NL West
San Francisco Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies

The NL West is essentially a two team race this year. Last year, the San Francisco Giants came out on top of the division and the MLB by winning the World Series. This offseason, the Dodgers started spending like the Yankees usually do. I am rather skeptical of how well teams that spend that way fare. We saw this formula fail the Red Sox a couple of years ago and the Marlins last year. The Giants brought the majority of their players back from last year's championship team which is why I am picking them to win the division.

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander, Detroit
AL Rookie of the Year: Wil Meyers, Tampa Bay
AL Manager of the Year: Bob Melvin, Oakland
AL Champion: Baltimore Orioles

NL MVP: Ryan Braun, Milwaukee
NL Cy Young: Stephen Strasburg, Washington
NL Rookie of the Year: Tyler Skaggs, Arizona
NL Manager of the Year: Bruce Bochy
NL Champion: Washington Nationals

World Series Champion: Baltimore Orioles