freshly copied from Foolsh's diary ...

AL West
3-way tie: A's, Rangers, Halos * (see below)
Mariners

AL Central
Cleveland
Detroit
Minnesota
Chicago
Kansas City

AL East
Boston
Yanks (WC)
Tampa
Toronto
Baltimore

NL West
D-Backs
Rockies
Padres
Dodgers
Giants

NL Central
Cubbies
Cards
Brewers
Reds
Astros
Pirates

NL East
Mets
Phillies (WC)
Marlins - I agree, but the Phillies are a darn good team
Braves
Nats

MVP
AL - Hafner
NL - Pujols

ROY
AL - Dice K (even though he's not a rookie)
NL - Chris Young

Cy Young
AL - Santana
NL - Sheets

(*) As far as the AL West, Bud Selig's head explodes after having to make a decision of importance without any opportunity for scapegoating or responding in such a way that no one is offended and no problem is actually solved.

After a brief period of euphoria, the three teams meet to discuss how the problem should be sorted out. The meeting got off to a good start, with a three game round robin tournament proposed to be held in Seattle. Excellent progress was being made until John Lackey mouthed something to Jason Kendall (no one else saw it). Kendall jumped over the table and began choking Lackey. A fight breaks out between the A's and the Angels, while Ron Washingtoon keeps his cool and sneaks the Rangers out the back door.

49 suspensions are handed out, with John Lackey being sentanced to time already served, as his hearing cannot commence until he recovers from his comma and the play-in games are deemded forfit with the Rangers the beneficiaries, thanks to Washingtons cool, calculated in game management.

Seriously, I predict each of the three teams will win 87 +/- 2 games, the division winner will probably be the team that stays healthiest. I think the Rangers have the best chance of staying healthy, so there ya go.

Isn't Kenny Rogers out for 3 months w/ a Blood Clot?  I think that might hurt the Tigers chances a little bit, no?

AL WEST (all that matters to me):

A's        89-63
Angels     87-65
Rangers    83-79
Mariners   78-84

But I don't know how anyone could think the A's could finish last. Way too much talent on that roster to finish behind both the Rangers and M's. You're right to say pitching wins ballgames. But you seem to over look the fact the A's have one of the best bullpens in baseball.

But I thought Ozzie the Genius was going to fix their offensive woes from last year by "manufacturing" more runs and by starting Podsednik and Erstad at the top of their order.

I essentially use the same rationale (pitching, pitching, pitching).

NL East: Mets, Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Nationals.  I'm not that sold on the Marlins yet -- maybe in '08.

NL Central: Brewers, Cardinals (wild card), Astros, Cubs, Reds, Pirates.  Peter Gammons also has the Brewers winning this division (which is good), as does Steve Phillips (which is bad).

NL West: Dodgers, Padres, Diamondbacks, Giants, Rockies.  It's L.A. and everyone else.

By the way, you have the Marlins as the big surprise, the Brewers as the upset special and the Diamondbacks as the surprise pick.  That's a lot of special surprises! :)

AL East: Red Sox, Yankees (wild card), Blue Jays, Orioles, Devil Rays.  Some of the reasoning I've heard for picking the Yankees is that they'll swing a deal for another arm.  I think they'll need more than one deal, and they won't be able to do it.  They'll whip up on their lesser East counterparts to take the wild card, though.

AL Central: Tigers, Indians, White Sox, Twins, Royals.  And I really hated to put the Twins fourth.  You can pretty much jumble second through fourth, but it's still Detroit's rotation and lineup keeping them in first.

AL West: Angels, Athletics, Rangers, Mariners.  Ditto.

Playoffs are insane to predict at this time, but if I had to...I'll say Dodgers over Tigers -- just to be a little different. :)

The Angels have a lot of health problems, a lot of ifs, and I really think that Jared Weaver's going to go 9-13 with a lot of adjustments to make.

Seattle's a little better, but not that much better, and Texas will be better, but not that much better.

I still see the A's winning the west, something like 93-69, as long as Harden's healthy all year.  If Harden goes down, so do the A's...

and pick my nose.  Then I'm going to hope that Mark Kotsay travels to the year 2089 and gets a spine implant, DJ gets Jordi LaForge's visor to fix his vision problems, and Selig institutes an NFL-ish fine and suspension policy for excessive celebration by closers in goggles.  Then I'm gonna go see Haren pitch at Angelheim stadium on Saturday.  YIPPEEE!!!!!!!

upon reading that our fearless leader, Blez picked the Angels....a co-worker rushed over to ask what was wrong.  (I said I have pain, and might have to leave work early.)

I have had this feeling for a while, but I really think this is going to be a very strange summer. Lots of surprises, a lot of things that people will be going, "Now who in the world would have predicted THAT!"

I still have all the faith in the world that our boys will be in the hunt till the very end, but I think that we are going to be in for some major surprises around all of baseball.

2007 has just been a very strange year and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Why does everyone keep saying things like, "Well, you know we won't do that again ... Seattle's really gonna be after us this year ... Going 17-2 vs. Seattle won us the division ... etc.?"  I mean, I know this is kind of silly, but it almost sounds like we ought to feel bad about it or something.  The fact of the matter is this -- the A's played Seattle 19 times and kicked their ass 17. I'm not sorry about it. I'm glad they sucked, we beat the snot out of 'em, and we ought to do it again if we get the chance.
I would love to hear an Athletic proclaim, "I'm kinda pissed they managed to beat us twice!!"

to tip the scales of predictions. of course there are always surprises.

I also think the Angels have an edge here, unfortunately. I think between the Angels and A's whoever has the least amount of injuries to its pitching staff will probably win the division.

I don't see either Texas or Seattle winning, due mainly to their rotation -- at least as they are now.

By the way, it's 1:50 pm -- I can't find Mrty Lurie on the radio. Anyone know when his show starts?

LET'S GO OAKLAND!!!!

I don't know which teams will meet (like everyone else) but I am very very 90-10 confident about the following re the playoffs:

Television scheduling will dictate the time of games, with allowances for football over most everything baseball.

The weather will be quite cold, and rainouts will occur.  

The level of play will be sub-par, with the weather and cross-country travel as the ultimate cause.

===========================================

Just reminding everyone of my =heavy= wild-ass opinion (wild-ass, but hugely sober sensible and better) that the playoffs prior to the World Series should be all eight teams in Las Vegas, all four AL teams in round-robin with each other, all four NL teams in roud-robin with each other.  Weather and travel is enough reason why.

The World Series schedule would look the same as the past 100 years of World Series, but played back as it used to be, the first week in October... not Halloween!!

IF this team stays healthy over the season...

IF this team plays to their offensive potential...

...the A's win the ALW divison by mid september.

AL EAST
New York 96
Boston        91
Toronto        82
Baltimore 75
Tampa Bay 72
AL CENTRAL
Minnesota 90
Cleveland 88
Detroit        84
Chicago        75
Kansas City 65
AL WEST
Los Angeles 87
Oakland        85
Texas        76
Seattle        73
NL EAST
Philadelphia 89
New York 88
Atlanta        84
Florida        79
Washington 60
NL CENTRAL
Milwaukee 86
St. Louis 85
Chicago        82
Houston        78
Pittsburgh 73
Cincinnati 73
NL WEST
Arizona        88
San Diego 86
Los Angeles 82
Colorado 79
San Francisco 79

Yankees over Angels, Twins over Red Sox
Brewers over Phillies, D-backs over Mets

Twins over Yankees, D-backs over Brewers

Twins over D-backs

MVP: Pujols, Sizemore
Cy Young: Sheets, Harden
RoY: Young, Matsuzaka