Two-thirds of the 2011 baseball season is in the books, and in the spirit of Talented Mr. Roto aka Matthew Berry, I have compiled my own list of bold(ish) predictions for the season's final two months. These are not ranked in any particular order. Some of them seem guaranteed, whereas others are nearly impossible, but I'll check back in October and see where I was right and wrong.
One disclaimer; I am assuming, of course, that all players mentioned remain healthy for the remainder of the season. If Joey Bats takes a heater in the ear and is knocked into a coma because David Price wanted to bust him inside, then prediction #6 is off
1.The Red Sox and Phillies will both win at least 100 games
2. The Diamondbacks will overtake the pitching-rich Giants and win the NL West
3. Cleveland and Pittsburgh will both finish below .500 despite their trade deadline efforts and hot starts
4. Washington, Cincinatti, Colorado and the White Sox will finish above .500 despite disappointing first halves
5. Mike Stanton will finish with at least 40 big flies in just his second big league season
6. Jose Bautista will surpass 50 (again) assuming he actually gets a decent pitch to hit every now and then
7. Excluding Carlos Beltran, the Giants will not have any players with more than fifteen home runs but will still make the playoffs thanks to Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Ryan Vogelsong and Brian Wilson
8. Multiple teams will lose 90+ games, but none will match Houston's exceptional futility or 100 defeats
9. Ryan Howard's typically impressive power numbers will help mask his continued regression
10. Jim Thome will hit his 600th career blast before the end of August
11. Jacoby Ellsbury will reach 30 bombs and 100 RBI out of the leadoff spot for Boston
12. Curtis Granderson will threaten to score 150 runs (it's always nice hitting in front of Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano on a daily basis)
13. Albert Pujols and Carlos Gonzalez will pull their averages up over .300
14. Todd Helton and Melky Cabrera will watch theirs slip below .300
15. Matt Kemp will become the fifth player ever to go 40/40 (The others? Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, A-Rod, and Alfonso Soriano) but few will notice because the Dodgers are playing worse than the Clippers this year
16. Clayton Kershaw (sorry Roy Halladay) will win the NL Cy Young without the national recognition he deserves. See Kemp, Matt
17. CC Sabathia will win 24 games exactly
18. None of the Pirates' starting pitchers finish with 15 wins or a sub three ERA
19. John Lackey will record as many or more wins from this point forward than Josh Beckett despite finishing with an ERA over five
20. The Red Sox will have three players (Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia, amd Jacoby Ellsbury) eclipse 200 hits
21. Kyle Farnsworth will finish with more saves than stud closers Neftali Feliz and Joakim Soria
22. Alex Rodriguez will not be suspended for his poker antics, but will hit .300 with 30 doubles, 25 longballs and a .500 slugging percentage
23. Iron Man Prince Fielder will miss a game at some point
24. Brett Gardner beats Derek Jeter in every significant offensive category (runs, hits, doubles, obp, etc.)
25. There will be another no-hitter before season's end
so you think the Braves are going to crash and burn? the inferred prediction is the boldest of them all.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Atlanta's rotation and bullpen are overachieving and its lineup is nothing special.
ReplyDelete...And I was right
ReplyDelete