2008 Postseason Predictions

Well, this 2008 season has been a roller coaster to the postseason. In my previous article I said that some players could be the key to making it to the postseason. I will break it down like a bracket. Now these are predictions these may not happen.

The American League East

In the AL I have the Tampa Bay Rays winning that division because of the young players such as Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, etc.. and their pitching staff is probably the strongest in their division and maybe even the league. Pitchers such as Matt Garza who has an era of 3.56 and has 80 strikeouts. James Shields who is carrying a 3.36 era. That's not really good but to makeup for that Shields has 116 strikeouts. Scott Kazmir who is the ace of the Rays has an era of 2.89 and to go  along with that he has 110 strikeouts.

The winner of the Wild Card is going too be the New York Yankees. Now the Yankees are in third place behind the Minnesota Twins and then the Boston Red Sox.

Now I know that sound crazy but the Yankees have made small trades and very good players that will play a very good role in the Yankees. The Yankees went out and acquired Xavier Nady from the Pirates to complete their outfield and add a bat in the Yankees lineup. They also acquired pitcher Jose Veras from the Pirates in the Xavier Nady trade. Veras has an era of 2.78 and 30 strikeouts in 3 starts that's an average of 10 strikeouts per game and that's pretty good. The Yankees also signed Richie Sexson from the Seattle Mariners. He has a batting average of .225 and has 11 HR and 32 RBI's. That stat fits in perfectly with Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter the heart and soul of the Yankees.

Now everybody thought the Yankees' season was over because the catcher Jorge Posada had to have season ending shoulder surgery, the Yankees didn't panic they went out and acquired catcher Ivan Rodriguez from the Detroit Tigers. Rodriguez has a .292 batting average. He is not a power hitter he only has 5 homers but he has 32 RBI's. These numbers would be higher if he played more games he has been a bench warmer and then on the DL.

The American League Central

        The winner of the AL Central is going to be the Chicago White Sox. The reason I chose the White Sox and not the Minnesota Twins is because to pull a win from the Twins the White Sox went out and got slugger Ken Griffey Jr. from the Cincinatti Reds. He fits in perfectly with Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome.

Griffey is the player that just won the division for the White Sox. What the Twins should have done because everyone knew that Griffey was going to the White Sox the Twins should have gone out and got a pitcher. I think the Twins have the weakest rotation in the league. They had many pitchers they could have taken a run at such as C.C. Sabathia, Rich Harden. If they got one of those two the Twins might pull away with the division.

The American League West

The winner of the AL West is of course is the Los Angeles Angels. The closet team to first place is the Texas Rangers and they are 12.5 games out of first. Now the Angels are a very smart baseball team. They knew that they needed a little fix-up in their lineup so they went out and got Mark Texieria for Casey Kotchman. Texieria is I think the key to having success in the postseason. They needed him to keep up with the Ken Griffey Jr.'s, or the Xavier Nady's.

The National League East

In the NL, the winner of the NL East is going to be the Philadelphia Phillies. The reason I think this is because they are currently sitting in first. The two teams that are close to first are the New York Mets and the Florida Marlins. In order for these two teams to take the league they had to go out and get that key player to pull in first place.

The Phillies will win this division because of 4 players. Ryan Howard who has a .237 batting average to make up for that he has a MLB leading 30 home runs and 95 runs batted in. Now the second player is Chase Utley he started off the season on fire because of that he has a .293 Batting average and to go along with that stat he has 27 home runs and 76 RBI's and 10 stolen bases. The third player is Jimmy Rollins. The lead off  hitter for the Phillies. He has speed and strength. He has a .270 batting average and only 8 home runs but has 40 RBI's.

Now lead off hitters usually have a lot of speed he has 25 doubles this season and 5 triples. Now that fits well with the 27 stolen bases he has. The fourth player is Shane Victorino. He has a .288 batting average and only 9 home runs and then 38 RBI's. Victorino does have wheels he has 20 doubles, 5 triples and 26 stolen bases.

The National League Central

   The winner of the Wild Card is going to be the Milwaukee Brewers. Now to go along with pitcher Ben Sheets. Sheets has an era of 3.14, but a record of 10-5, which is not very good. But he does have 119 strikeouts.

To go along with him, the Brewers went out and got the AL Cy Young Award winner C.C. Sabathia the ace of the Cleveland Indians before the trading deadline. He currently has a record of 10-8 with a 3.33 era. Now you think that's not very good at all but the biggest statistic is his 157 strikeouts. He uses that 97 mph fastball and his outstanding curve ball.

Now in order to keep up with the Brewers, the Cardinals had to make a move that can match the Brewers. So who did the Cardinals get? Nobody.

They needed a Rich Harden in that pitching rotation. It is pitching that the Cardinals need to work on they have the hitting in Albert Pujols, Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick. But instead of acquiring a pitcher the Cardinals got their ace, Chris Carpenter, back in the rotation. Carpenter hasen't pitched since 2007 because of Tommy John surgery, which takes about a year to heal.

The winner of the NL Central is of course the Chicago Cubs, who have a safety lead by 4 games. When the Brewers went out and ot Sabathia the Cubs knew they had to do something and they did. They went out and got Rich Harden from the A's. He fits into the strongest rotation in the NL and maybe even the league.

They have pitchers such as Carlos Zambrano who has a era of 2.80 and has a record of 12-4 and 96 strikeouts. They also have Ryan Dempster who has an era of 2.90 and a record 12-4 but 126 strikeouts. They also have pitcher Ted Lily a very quiet player but talks in his pitching. His era is not the best in 4.49 and he has a record of 10-6 and 124 strikeouts. That makes up for those numbers.

Then there is Rich Harden who has a ERA of 2.04 and a record of 6-2 and has 131 strikeouts. That what makes the Cubs the strongest pitching rotation in the majors.

The National League West

  The winner of the NL West will be the Los Angeles Dodgers. The reason behind this is because at the trading deadline the got Manny Ramirez from the Red Sox. He is going to be the Andruw Jones who was supposed to be the Dodgers best player but right now he is the worst player in the majors with a .167 batting average.

Now the Arizona Diamondbacks had a chance to get Mark Texieria from the Braves but the Braves wanted Chad Tracy and i'm thinking that the Diamondbacks didn't think that Texieria was worth it so they folded and that game. I think the Diamondbacks made a bad move I personally think that Texieira is better than Tracy even though Tracy has a batting average .297 and Texieria has a batting average of .284 that's good but Texieria beats him in everything else Tracy has 6 home runs, Texieria has 20.

Tracy has 29 RBI's, Texieria on the other hand has 79. Texieria is a better player than Tracy and because the D-backs didn't acquire Texieria that cost them a spot in the postseason.