How's My Prognosis?

Friends,

At the beginning of this baseball season, I made some predictions on how I thought the season would play out. So, as we are close to the halfway point (81 games played), I present to you know an update for how things are really shaking out in the MLB. (My predictions are in the white text, how the divisions exist now are in yellow)

AMERICAN LEAGUE
East
Boston///Boston
Toronto///Tampa Bay (Wild Card)
New York///New York
Tampa Bay///Baltimore
Baltimore///Toronto

Central
Detroit///Chicago
Cleveland (Wild Card)///Minnesota
Chicago///Detroit
Minnesota///Cleveland
Kansas City///Kansas City

West
Seattle///Los Angeles
Los Angeles///Oakland
Oakland///Texas
Texas ///Seattle


NATIONAL LEAGUE

East
New York///Philadelphia
Atlanta///Florida
Philadelphia///New York
Florida///Atlanta
Washington ///Washington

Central
Milwaukee///Chicago
Chicago///St. Louis (Wild Card)
St. Louis///Milwaukee
Cincinnati///Pittsburgh
Houston///Houston
Pittsburgh ///Cincinnati

West
Arizona///Arizona
Los Angeles (Wild Card)///Los Angeles
Colorado///San Francisco
San Diego///Colorado
San Fransisco///San Diego

So, as you can tell, I don't know a damn thing. But, I'm willing to bet a lot of experts feel the same way, especially about the Cardinals being in the lead of the NL Wild Card, Detroit stinking so bad, Los Angeles Dodgers not living up to expectations, Cleveland underperforming, Tampa Bay suddenly coming around, Seattle collapsing under all those bad contracts and Bedard not being all that great, and Toronto being a hotbed of turmoil (which has nothing to do with Scott Rolen, but clubhouse troubles follow him like dirt clouds around Pigpen), plus the Blue Jays have no offense (Rolen does have some of the blame here as he is slugging .50 points below his career norm, and has only 5 homeruns on the year).

Of course I am thrilled that the Cardinals are doing so well. Experts, people who get paid for thsi kind of thing, were predicting a 90 loss season for the Cardinals, and a fifth place finish. As it stands, they have the fourth best record in all of baseball. Right now, they have a roster decimated with injuries and are still winning games. For god's sake, last night second basemen Adam Kennedy (yes, that Adam Kennedy who barely hit .200 last year) started at 1B because Pujols is hurt, and they still put up 8 runs on the surging Tigers. Shit, they just got through taking 2 of 3 from the Red Sox in Fenway without Pujols in the lineup, which is unheard of, especially this year when the Sawx have a .800 winning percentage at home. Oh, and did I mention the bullpen situation stinks for the Cardinals (their lefties are pathetic) but yet they still win games (there are bright spots, but it is no strength). And what I find really interesting is that they will improve throughout the year when Pujols comes back, and Wainwright comes back, and there's a chance Chris Carpenter might come back in August, not to mention any deals to be made to improve the ailing bullpen because they have a lot of tradeable commodities in the minor leagues right now (especially in the outfield) that could land servicable bullpen parts (like an effective lefty). I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of this season plays out for sure. And next year, they are supposed to get better with the return of two good bullpen arms, an All-Star caliber outfielder coming up from the minors, and some debilitating contracts coming off the books so money will be available to fill holes they couldn't before (like shortstop). But, of course, I don't have a track record of being right about these things, and there are 80+ games to go.

I know Cubs fans, or at least anti-Cardinal people, don't like to see the Birds on the Bat do well. But, come on, wouldn't you like to see a Cardinals-Cubs NLCS? Hell, I don't care if the Cubs win the division, but if the Cardinals get the wild card...how much fun would that series be if it happens? Two storied rivals going head to head, with one of them angling to break a 100 year curse while the other is a fantastic underdog that has beaten the odds to make it that far? And how great would it be to watch those games at a bar in Carbondale...so long as you have body armor. And even my anti-Cub heart would find an all Chicago World Series an interesting spectacle, but only if the ChiSox won.

Oh, and to cap off this post, here's how I predicted the playoffs to shake out. And I will show you what the playoff tree would look like if the season ended today (home team listed first...I won't make predictions about how the playoffs would shake out if the season ended today though...again, my ideas are in white, the way things are will be in yellow...it really helps illustrate how wrong I was about this...I only got one team right in both leagues...and both my World Series teams suck this year).

PLAYOFFS
Divisional Series
American League:
Boston vs. Cleveland: Boston in 4///Los Angeles vs. Tampa Bay
Seattle vs. Detroit: Detroit in 5///Boston vs. Chicago

National League:
New York vs. Los Angeles: Los Angeles in 5///Chicago vs. Arizona
Milwaukee vs. Arizona: Arizona in 3///Philadelphia vs. St. Louis

League Championship Series
American League: Boston vs. Detroit: Detroit in 6
National League: Los Angeles vs. Arizona: Los Angeles in 7

World Series
Detroit vs. Los Angeles: Detroit in 5

viva beisbol! viva los cardinals!