2005 Predictions: AL Revised

AL East

1. New York Yankees (100-62)
2. Boston Red Sox (92-70)
3. Baltimore Orioles (80-82)
4. Tampa Bay Devil Rays (70-92)
5. Toronto Blue Jays (68-94)

Revised

1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Baltimore Orioles
4. Toronto Blue Jays
5. Tampa Bay Devil Rays

The Yankees are just simply the best team in baseball, end of story. Their only weakness last year was pitching, and they substantially upgraded their bullpen and rotation.

The Red Sox improved too, but losing Pedro Martinez will be more of a loss than Boston faithfull want to believe. The Red Sox essentially dealt Martinez and Derek Lowe for David Wells, Matt Clement and Wade Miller, while that upgraded thier depth, it took away two "stoppers" and guys you could really count on. I'm not sure thats the case with any of those three.

The Orioles upgraded an already good offense, but again have very little pitching, stop me if you've heard that before. The Devil Rays should be fun to watch, their managed well and have a lot of young guys on the horizon. I'm not saying anything about the Blue Jays because they don't even deserve that much recognition.

Okay, so I was way off on the Yankees synopsis, but I did pretty well on the Orioles. My appologies to the Blue Jays, I thought you would be one of the worst teams in baseball, man was I wrong.

AL Central

1. Minnesota Twins (89-73)
2. Cleveland Indians (85-77)
3. Detroit Tigers (78-84)
4. Chicago White Sox (72-90)
5. Kansas City Royals (63-99)

Revised:

1. Chicago White Sox
2. Minnesota Twins
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Cleveland Indians
5. Kansas City Royals

This division improved, well two teams did, but the Twins are still the class of the Central. I like the Indians a lot, but didn't have the guts to pick them ahead of the Twins. They have a good young offense (Boone, Haffner, Martinez, Bard) and a good young staff which got the addition of Kevin Millwood, but the Twins are solid.

Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer will be the best players at their respective positions in the next few years, Santana is one of the best pitchers in the league, and Lew Ford is the best player you've never heard of.

The Tigers will be interesting to watch. For the second straight year they made a big splash in free agency (last year it was Ivan Rodriguez, this year it's Magglio Ordonez). They have a very good offense and now a good bullpen to match (Ugeth Urbina, Kyle Farnsworth, Matt Ginter and Troy Percivil). Too bad they don't have good starting pitching, or they'd compete for the division crown.

The White Sox took a big step back by trading Carlos Lee for Scott Podsednik (Don't you have to get more for a young power hitter than a journeyman minor leager who is a one trick p0ny?) They also brought in Jermaine Dye, good luck with that. A.J. Pierzynski is one of the most hated teamates in the league and the Sox are embracing him with open arms. Mark Buhrle, Freddy Garcia, Jose Contrares and Orlando Hernandez (besides being the top 4 guys in their rotation) are all Jeckyl and Hides, Frank Thomas is hurt, Paul Konerko wants a new contract, the bullpen is shaky, I could keep going on. Sounds like a long year for Ozzie and the southsiders.

Man was I way off on that one, but in fairness, did any of you expect the White Sox to play like they have so far? No, you didn't. You thought they would be as bad as I thought they'd be. I may have overhyped the Twins and especially Indians a bit, but hey, I was dead on when it comes to the Royals.

AL West

1. Oakland A's (88-74)
2. L.A. of Anahiem Angels (87-75)
3. Seattle Mariners (81-81)
4. Texas Rangers (70-92)

Revised:

1. Oakland A's
2. L.A. of Anahiem Angels
3. Texas Rangers
4. Seattle Mariners

It would be too easy to pick the Angels to win this division, plus I have a hard time picking against Billy Beane. The A's pitching is still good, They improved their offense, and the bullpen will get a big shot in the arm when Huston Street becomes the closer at midseason.

I don't know what it is, but I just don't buy the Angels. The pitching staff is still suspect, they lost some key guys in the bullpen and are replacing the left side of their infield and their centerfielder. Yes, the new starters are better than what they had last year, but you still have adjusting to do. That, and I'm waiting for Steve Finley to break down.

The M's offense will be very good, but just like the Rangers and Orioles, they don't have any pitching to keep them from getting into 10-8 games.

This division was my work of art, I may have nailed it including the records. Not much to add besides that, you can't really argue with anything in the above paragraphs.

Wild Card: Boston Red Sox

Playoffs

ALDS: Yankees over A's
Twins over Red Sox

ALCS: Yankees over Twins

AL MVP: Eric Chavez
CY Young: Johan Santana
R.O.Y.: Nick Swisher (OF Oakland A's)

First Player Traded: Ugeth Urbina
First Manager Fired: Tony Pena

Don't Be Surprised If: The Royals are retracted during the season

Revised:

Wild Card: Angels

Playoffs

ALDS: Boston over A's
Angels over White Sox

ALCS: Boston over Angels

AL MVP: Manny Ramirez (who knows, Chavez does have a legitimate shot)
AL CY Young: Mark Buehrle
AL R.O.Y.: ? (Gustavo Chacin, Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, Rubin Gotay, all these guys have played well, but I can't really name any AL Rookies besides them)

First Player Traded: I think it may have been Urbina, who knows
First Manager Fired: Technically he resigned, but Pena was the first gone