Predictions from the Commissioner's Desk

I know the season has already officially started, but here are my 2015 season picks, along with a few bold predictions:

5 Bold Predictions that will reduce Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise to a pile of ruble

This is the season that we've been awaiting for more than 25 years, ever since Back to the Future 2 predicted the outcome of the World Series. SPOILER ALERT! I'm hear to tell you they got it wrong. You can throw out they Gray's Sports Alamanc in favor of what's below, my annual predictions.

2015 MLB Predictions

Kristi's picks:
NL East - Nationals
NL Central - Cardinals
NL West - Dodgers
NL WC1 - Padres
NL WC2 - Braves

AL East - Red Sox
AL Central - Royals
AL West - Mariners
AL WC1 - Tigers
AL WC2 - Orioles

World Series:

5 bold predictions for the year of the horse

With the Major League Baseball season more than a week old at this point, it's a little too late to predict that Adrian Gonzalez will lead the majors in stolen bases entering day 4 of scheduled play. And it's too late for the Phillies to change their names to the Fillies in hopes of garnering any luck associated with the Chinese zodiac. However, it's not too late to publish my annual prognostications.

.@YasielPuig, @Trouty20, and Kentucky Derby winning jockey, Victor Espinoza. #HorsePower pic.twitter.com/L0MegrkWcT

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 28, 2014

2014 MLB Predictions: Why Not?

OR: A Wild Stab in the Dark.

As always, my predictions are about 33% who I think will win, 33% who I want to win, and 33% teams I of which I am fond.  Here goes nothing:

AL East:

Thoughts about April

Today is May 1, 2013.  Today, the Colorado Rockies are in first place:

Because of that, recent history says the Rockies have a coin flip's chance of winning the division.  I'll take that!  It's a far cry from what I expected--or anyone else for that matter.

Still, the month of April doesn't mean that much . . .

OSITF Links: Awesome 2013 Predictions

Which is crazier: picking the Colorado Rockies to make the playoffs or picking the Minnesota Twins to make the playoffs?

The answer is

Bay of Pigs 2013

Cuban defectors will be the story of the year in the MLB as they take the league by storm winning several coveted awards.  Finally, the World Series will culminate in back to back championships for the San Francisco Giants.  Bay of Pigs 2013; coming soon.


NL West
SF Giants
LA Dodgers*
Arizona Diamondbacks
SD Padres
Colorado Rockies

NL Central

I'm feelin' lucky today...

Without much further ado, my picks:

*********************** SPOILER ALERT ***********************

NL West

2013 Commissioner's Picks

Shortly after I saw, Jefe's post, I received a text that my SI Baseball Preview was on the way. Before looking at either, I quickly made my own 2013 predictions.  Here they are:

5 Bold Predictions for an Unlucky Year

For any of you that suffer from Triskaidekaphobia, it may ease your mind to catch a glimpse of what lies ahead for this year.

AL EAST

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

AL Central

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

Projecting the 2012 World Series

On paper, the Detroit Tigers have the better offense, but since falling down three games to one in the NLCS, the San Francisco Giants outscored the Cardinals 20-1, so they seem to be firing on all cylinders.  With Valverde's playoff implosion, the Giants have the edge in the bullpen, but since game four of the ALDS, the starters for the Tigers have pitched well enough to go deep into the game, and Jim Leyland hasn't had to rely on his reliefers.  The 2012 World Series will probably come down to the starting pitching matchups.  Let's take a look, shall we?

Disclaimer: pitching matchups are subject to change.  The Giants have announced their plans going forward, and the Tigers have only announced their rotation through game four. The longer the Series goes, the more likely we can see changes.

Game 1: 10/24 - Justin Verlander v. Barry Zito

Edge: Tigers.  Verlander is a beast at the top of his game, and Zito will be facing a lineup with a lot of potent right handed hitters (Miguel Cabrera, Delmon Young, Austin Jackson, Omar Infante, Jhonny Peralta and Avisail García).

Game 2: 10/25 - Doug Fister v. Madison Bumgarner

Edge:

POLL: MLB Playoff Predictions

What do you think?

Who will win the 2012 World Series?

Here are my picks.  These are sure to go wrong.  As with all my predictions, these are determined in part by who I think will win, and in part by who I want to win.

Wild Card Round
Baltimore def. Texas
Atlanta def. St. Louis

NLDS/ALDS

Draft chat predictions

David Freese: Kung Fu Master.  Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images.

Hosmer & Record 6, quoted verbatim: "I know it's early, but for the record, I just want to make sure it is in writing what I said about Freese during the draft.  Over .300, 30 home runs, 100 RBIs, Albert Pujols type of year.  It's going to happen."

So far, David Freese has 29 plate appearances in 7 games.  He is batting .429 with 3 HR and 10 RBI.  After 4.3% of the 2012 season, Freese has completed 10% of H&R6's prediction.  Way to go out on a limb, Nate.

But that wasn't the only prediction made during the draft...  

5 Bold Predictions for an Election Year Season

AL EAST

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

AL Central

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

Deja Vu All Over Again

Here are Jay's pick's (posted on the PFBL website before the season opened).
2002 anyone?

More Picks!

Before the first regular season game (in this hemisphere) begins, I will go on the record with the following picks:

AL East - Rays
AL Central - Tigers
AL West - Angles
AL WC1 - Yankees
AL WC2 - Red Sox

This smells like the year...

What a beautiful picture. A clean slate. In little over five hours, the umpires will declare 'Play Ball' or ボールを演じてください！But for right now, the score is tied. Nothing-Nothing. I'm sure some of you out there are thinking who's winning???

Prediction time!

Since the season is set to start in a few hours here are my 2012 MLB predictions.

Projecting the final standings

"What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun."

--Ecclesiastes 1:9

It isn't the Hunchmaster 3.0, but it is one rudimentary way to project the final PFBL standings. I went over each team's 2011 roster and added up the total points each player accumulated in 2010. Just a gross sum, bench players and all. For pitchers, I rounded any decimal to the nearest whole point. This projection model (if you can even call it that) predicts the final standings as follows:

Colorado TumbleWeed - 8323 points

Left Outs - 7830 points

KC Comebacks - 7692 points

Normal Baseball Inc - 7691 points

Record 6 - 7604 points

One Bad Pitch - 7448 points

Pioneer Skies - 7368 points

Bo Knows - 7169 points

Devil wears Prado - 6778 points

Bizarro Royals - 5970 points

Well there you have it, folks. Jeff is the manager to beat. LBM will have a monumental turnaround season. And once again, I will languish in seventh place. ...as I said, rudimentary.