June 6 of last year, I wrote in my personal blog about my predictions for the end of the '08 season and the '09 season. Really brief, mostly focused on the Yankees (who, if you haven't figured out yet, I despise on principal as a Red Sox fan). For those that don't wish to go read it, here's the predictions.
- (Part of the '08 season) The Yankees will finish no better than 3rd... 4th if Toronto steps their game up.
- Shortly after the '08 World Series gets over with (
c'mon, Red Sox/Cubs matchup), Hank Stinebrenner will be ousted and George will come and take his rightful place back. - Serious rebuilding will happen for the Yankees. Jaba will get more practice as a starter, and the Yankees will be good. (I should define good in this case as "having a lot of skill", not necessarily "win a lot of games".)
- Fast forward a bit... the Yankees will win the 2009 World Series.
#2... not so much. Not only did my dream of a Red Sox/Cubs series fall through, but Hank is still in charge. This is both a great thing and a bad thing for me... as an avid Red Sox fan, there's nothing that I enjoy watching more than a Red Sox/Yankees series, especially those that are close, energetic, and true to the rivalry that we've held for so long. I personally feel that the George-less Yankees are losing their direction. In the past, they would go out and buy the best players, but they would all fit within their system. (Oh look, a #3 sighting!) This offseason, I just feel like they are buying the best players, with no regard for whether these players will fit into the Yankees system or not.
#4... I'm withdrawing this statement. I'll get to this later.
So let's start fresh, with all the things that we've witnessed in this offseason. We've seen the Manny saga working its way along the California coast (now you all know what we went through in Boston), we've seen a crazy amount of legal drama (what is this, the Cincinnati Bengals?), and we've seen the kind of money thrown at players that could buy a small country, or at least work towards getting our country out of this recession that we're in. Ugh, politics... I'm getting out of that realm right now.
So, here we go. 2009 MLB predictions... not exactly as you might expect them.
- We are not done with this whole steroid saga, not by a long shot. This season alone, I'm guessing no fewer than 3 big-time players are going to come out/be forced out, admitting to their use of steroids or performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs, for the sake of this article). Whether it was an old usage back when it wasn't illegal, or a current usage that causes a suspension, I don't know.
- We are going to see a crazy amount of people doing stupid things at ballparks this year. Streakers, fights in the stands, and things of that sort.
- Out of these stupid things... we're going to have 2 cases of players doing something so ridiculous that the league will have no choice but to suspend him (think Randall Simon and the sausage race, then kick it up a notch).
- Home runs are going to be down, down, down. Steroid and PED usage are going to be down for fear of getting ousted now, and I believe we are going to see a lot more "small-ball" being played... hit and runs, sacrifice bunts/flys, steals, squeeze plays (please?!?), and the like.
- Also to that effect... we will not be seeing some of the "overpowering pitching" that we may have seen in the past. Fewer strikeouts overall this season, especially from the power pitchers. There's going to be less emphasis on swinging for the fences, and more on just making good contact this season. Crafty pitchers (or those that don't rely on power to do their work) will not see a big dip in their stats.
- The Tigers, Royals, Reds, and Padres will not be "joke" teams this year. While they won't make it to the playoffs, they will be a tough out, hovering just above .500, and at least one of these teams will kill some playoff pushes for another team.
- NL Division Winners - Mets, Cubs, Diamondbacks (WC: Phillies)
- AL Division Winners - Red Sox, Twins, Angels (WC: White Sox)
- NL Playoffs - Cubs over Phillies, Mets over Diamondbacks - Mets over Cubs
- AL Playoffs - Red Sox over White Sox, Twins over Angels - Twins over Red Sox (man, that hurt to type)
- 2009 World Series Champion - Minnesota Twins over the New York Mets
Something tells me that I'm going to want to change my picks as soon as I hit "publish", but I'm sticking with this.
On a side note... I heard someone talking somewhere about how MLB stadiums may have to cut staff due to the recession, while they're paying the players crazy amounts of money to play a game. Whoever was talking about it had a great idea... players, take a 1/2 of 1% paycut... so for a player making $20m, that's $100k. Take all that money you're pulling back, and put it towards your workers and your fans. Keep all the hot dog, cracker jack, and ballpark beer vendors in their places, and have some more "fan days" so that your paying customers get a little something out of coming to watch a ball game at $100 a ticket (or whatever amount they may be paying). The whole point of this game that you play, besides "winning it all", is as a form of entertainment for me and the rest of America and the world. Why not show how much you, the players, care about us, the fans? Do your part, help out the community you're a part of, and do some good for this country. Again... ugh, politics. I thought I was gonna stay out of this.
So there you have it. Your not-so-normal 2009 MLB Predictions, from a guy who doesn't get paid to analyze this stuff all off-season. There's no facts to back up any of this, only my thoughts.
Who's ready for Fantasy Baseball???
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