FW Baseball Thread 2014

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FairWarning

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Picks, interesting things i find along the way, and other musings.

Time to get started with some team rankings from Joe Sheehan:

Rankings from 30-21

30. Chicago Cubs (62-100; fifth, NL Central; 610 RS, 751 RA). As with the 2013 Astros, the 2014 Cubs' record doesn't really matter, and in fact, each additional win could prove costly, potentially chipping away at draft position and draft budget while providing no additional playoff chance and minimal additional 2014 revenue. This should be where the Cubs bottom out, with Javier Baez sure to be up at the start of the 2015 season and Kris Bryant and Albert Almora joining him during the year. However, this year's team lacks OBP, will be suspect defensively and is going to lose a lot of games in the bullpen. Starlin Castro is one of the most interesting players in the game, having been thrown violently off his Edgar Renteria track last year. With Baez coming, the Cubs need Castro to define himself. They also need 15 good starts from Jeff Samardzija so that he can be a trade asset in July, and if Edwin Jackson could become one, that would be a boon as well.


29. Houston Astros (63-99; fifth, AL West; 640 RS, 828 RA). For the first time since 2010, the Astros will not be the worst team in baseball. By the end of the season, in fact, they'll even start to be an approximation of "good," as first George Springer and then potentially some other young players make their way to Minute Maid Park during the year. The Astros are vastly improved up the middle, having integrated Jonathan Villar last season and traded for Dexter Fowler over the winter. The bullpen is comprised of more experienced and somewhat better pieces, though it's still far from an asset. The starting rotation will continue to be the biggest problem, as it's just not major-league caliber. The Astros will continue to be blown out a bit too often, but the improved group of position players and better bullpen mean that they'll have a better chance to win the games in which they get a decent start.


28. Colorado Rockies (67-95; fifth, NL West; 740 RS, 857 RA). If you look only at the left side on the field, where Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado stand, the Rockies look like a 100-win team. Everywhere elsenot so much. Especially on the mound, where they have assembled a rotation of back-end starters who put the ball in play far too much in an environment that demands strikeouts. The decision to leave Gonzalez in left field does create the potential for a strong outfield defense, with Drew Stubbs taking over in center, but Michael Cuddyer's veteran presence in right field undercuts the idea. Trading Cuddyer in his walk year would put Charlie Blackmon on the field and save Rockies' hurlers some doubles. Even that wouldn't be enough. The Rockies can look to Jonathan Gray and Eddie Butler a year from now; for now, they're going to trail 6-1 in the fourth inning a lot.


27. New York Mets (69-93; tied for fourth, NL East; 613 RS, 710 RA). They'll draw 2.6 million fans, though, because Curtis Granderson. The Mets are a little like Mariners East, in that they haven't been able to turn their prospects into players. Ruben Tejada and Ike Davis looked like secondary, maybe even core, pieces two years ago. Now, they're trying to hold on to jobs. Kirk Nieuwenhuis never even got that far. Travis d'Arnaud arrived and immediately got hurt. The Mets don't have the resources to patch over that kind of failure, running a below-average payroll despite playing in a nearly-new ballpark in the largest market in baseball and owning most of their own regional sports network. This is a bad situation that may get worst before it gets better, even as the farm system produces a bumper crop of young pitching over the next two years.


26. Philadelphia Phillies (69-93; tied for fourth, NL East; 632 RS, 744 RA). This is one that surprised me. The offense just doesn't project well due to having five players 34 and older in the starting lineup, and the rotation both falls off a bit at the back and is at risk for age and health reasons at the front. The Phillies' Opening Day lineup will include five players who played in the 2009 World Series, despite the fact that this group hasn't won a playoff series since 2010. It's time to move on, Phillies.


25. Chicago White Sox (71-91; fifth, AL Central; 629 RS, 712 RA). i was initially more pessimistic about the White Sox. They've had a good spring, not necessarily in terms of performance -- which is irrelevant -- but choices. Marcus Semien will start the season at second base in place of the injured Gordon Beckham, and should play well enough to stay in the lineup somewhere after Beckham returns. Adam Eaton is in center field. Jose Abreu looks like a major-league cleanup hitter, if one with plate discipline issues. Felipe Paulino earned a rotation spot. Leury Garcia lurks as an infield option. There's a long way to go for an organization that hasn't drafted well for years, but the 2014 version should be a little better -- and a lot more watchable -- than last year's.


24. Minnesota Twins (72-90; fourth, AL Central; 635 RS, 741 RA). I'm encouraged by the decision to start Aaron Hicks in center field, after Hicks' terrible 2013 season in which he was rushed to the majors. Hicks showed good secondary skills for most of his time in the lineup last year; more importantly, he's a true center fielder, and the Twins need to put a good defense on the field behind the worst strikeout staff in baseball. Hicks is also good support for Ricky Nolasco and Philip Hughes, both of whom should help keep runs off the board. I was a little surprised the Twins came out so poorly, as i'd been talking about them pushing .500. Unfortunately, the rotation is improved but still not good, and they could be OBP-challenged at half the lineup spots.


23. Miami Marlins (74-88; third, NL East; 550 RS, 620 RA). As with the Twins, I thought the Marlins would come out better. There's only so much you can do with a team that brought in Garrett Jones, Rafael Furcal and Casey McGehee and called it an infield. It's a shame, because the starting rotation, led by sensation Jose Fernandez, could be well above average, and the outfield of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna is young and exciting. A team that starts with Stanton and Fernandez should do better than 74 wins, and it's an indictment of the scam that is the Miami Marlins that they don't project better.


22. Seattle Mariners (77-85; fourth, AL West; 671 RS, 702 RA). Like the Marlins with their stars, the Mariners start about 15 wins above replacement level with Felix Hernandez and Robinson Cano, yet don't even project to finish .500. They do have some upside, if all of the young pitchers -- Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, Erasmo Ramirez -- were to get healthy and be effective for a season. There might be one major-league outfielder on this roster, and that gives full credit to Michael Saunders that he may not deserve. The Mariners are the first team in these rankings that can make a case as a postseason team, the first with Bud Selig's famous "hope and faith".


21. San Diego Padres (78-84; fourth, NL West; 641 RS, 667 RA). They've made it easy for me to not get roped in, with injuries to Cameron Maybin, Josh Johnson and Carlos Quentin meaning they'll start the season short-handed. Cory Luebke is already done for the year, too. I'm losing a bit of faith in the Josh Byrnes-led front office as well; the Padres' big investments of late have been in two third-tier one-inning relievers and a DH. It's not easy running a team in San Diego -- walled in on four sides with no secondary market -- but that doesn't mean you just throw money away.
 
As opposed to the bottom ten covered in yesterday's newsletter, all of these teams could make the postseason with the right set of breaks.


20. Cleveland Indians (78-84; third, AL Central; 700 RS, 734 RA). The Indians were 30-8 against the Twins and White Sox last year, 62-62 against everyone else. Those two teams will both be better this season, which is just one of a number of reasons I'm down on the Tribe. There's the amazing way in which they went through 2013 with just 13 position players, along with the risks involved in moving one of their best players, Carlos Santana, to a new position. The bullpen, Chris Perez aside, was a huge asset, and I wonder if Cody Allen, Brian Shaw and the rest will repeat last year's performance, collectively. It's no one thing with the Indians that has them down here; just a bunch of little nagging things that have me seeing a big Plexiglass effect. I'm curious to see if last year's success helps them on the business side, as the crowds late last year weren't stupendous, and they need to turn that playoff trip into a revenue boost.


19. Toronto Blue Jays (80-82; fifth, AL East; 734 RS, 740 RA). They made a huge bet on 2013-14, and after injuries wiped out the first half of that, it's just not clear that they're good enough to do anything in the second half. The rotation includes two pitchers coming off injuries, including Dustin McGowan, who was a prospect alongside Jesse Barfield and Lloyd Moseby. There's Brandon Morrow, who almost looks reliable next to McGowan. The theoretically reliable hurlers are 39 and 35 and have combined for one season in the last five at the level of "ace". The Jays are going to need to score 800 runs, at least, to support this staff, and they would need everything to go right for that to happen. Already, Jose Reyes is having a problem with his left hamstring and Casey Janssen is heading for the disabled list. They're not good enough to overcome injuries.


18. New York Yankees (82-20; fourth, AL East; 704 RS, 683 RA). Remember that last year's team was outscored by 21 runs; this prediction expects them to be a fundamentally better team, thanks in part to all the money spent on free agents. There were critical losses, though, in Robinson Cano, in Mariano Rivera, hell, even in a month of Alex Rodriguez, that cancel out a lot of the gains. The Yankees need half the roster to stop the clock and arrest steep declines, the ravages of age, and that's asking too much. Even the position players they signed are risks for age-related decline. It all adds to up to far too much downside risk, and even 82-80 feels like an overbid.


17. Pittsburgh Pirates (83-79; fourth, NL Central; 630 RS, 627 RA). The Pirates had a lot of contributions last year from veterans who won't be part of the team in the long term, guys like Francisco Liriano and Jason Grilli and Russell Martin. They should take a step back last year, and I suspect their quiet winter shows that they know this. The Pirates are still integrating the products of a much-improved player development process. That should mean Gregory Polanco by the summer, and Jameson Taillon by the fall, and Alen Hanson next year. The Pirates' defense, along with a star in Andrew McCutchen, will keep the regression year from getting out of hand, from 2013 from seeming like a fluke. It wasn't.


This is where you might draw the line between the teams that need a lot of things to go right, and the teams that need fewer things to go right. The Pirates might be on either side of the line; the Yankees, I'm sure, are where they belong.


16. Cincinnati Reds (84-78; tied for second, NL Central; 654 RS, 634 RA). I keep coming back to this: the only Red who is better than even money to post a .330 OBP is Joey Votto. Jay Bruce has developed a different way, and no one else on the roster is an OBP asset. The transition from Shin-Soo Choo to Billy Hamilton atop the lineup may be successful, but there will be a shock from losing that .420 OBP in the leadoff spot, and no one is around to make up for that. The Reds will have to rely on run prevention, and there are health questions up and down the rotation, just enough to create concern as to whether the rotation will be the rock it was in 2012, when five pitchers combined for 161 starts.


15. Milwaukee Brewers (84-78; tied for second, NL Central; 703 RS, 679 RA). The flip side of the Phillies, the Brewers came out much better than I expected them to. The deep rotation -- Marco Estrada and Wily Peralta are stathead favorites, and I think highly of Matt Garza -- drives this projection, as does a full, healthy season from Ryan Braun. There are questions about the bullpen, especially leading into Jim Henderson, and it remains a mystery to me how a major-league baseball team can punt first base two years running. These are two relatively simple things to fix on the fly, though, as opposed to having to build out a rotation. The Brewers could be a surprising entry into the wild-card race deep into September.


14. Los Angeles Angels (85-77; third, AL West; 790 RS, 751 RA). You understand that, because the Angels have been burnt by spending money the past few years, they might have been reluctant to do so again. But with no farm system to speak of and a core that, Mike Trout aside, has to win now, the Angels' refusal to throw money at starting pitchers to fill out their rotation is a real mystery. The Mark Trumbo deal may help, but I'm not at all convinced that Hector Santiago and Tyler Skaggs are ready to provide 60 starts to a good team. There's no internal depth, and while the Angels project to score a lot of runs as Albert Pujols comes back to full health, they also project to give up a lot. The Angels' path to 90 wins may come down to the bullpen holding on to a lot of 6-5 leads. Are Ernesto Frieri and Joe Smith up to that?


I'll write about the Trout contract during the week, once the preview material is out.


13. Kansas City Royals (85-77; second, AL Central; 682 RS, 633 RA). There is, once again, a Ned Yost penalty built in here. Yost is a very bad game and roster manager, something that came up time and again last summer, as the Royals were playing their most relevant games in nearly 20 years. I see no reason to think that will be any different this year, and presumably this year he won't be managing the best bullpen in the modern era, which served to cover up a lot of his mistakes a year ago. The Royals now have the talent base of a contender, which is why it's a shame they're run by people who give four-year deals to Jason Vargas and bat Alcides Escobar second and think running a competitive payroll while being richer than Croesus is some kind of burden.


12. Baltimore Orioles (85-77; third, AL East; 723 RS, 688 RA). This one surprised me as well. The Orioles, though, have such a strong core of talent that they project well, even if they're a few steps behind the best teams in the league. One of the things we may see this year is a fall-off on defense, as they have chosen to bring in Nelson Cruz and Delmon Young for left field, and Steve Lombardozzi to help patch second base. It's not clear that the gains they'll get at the plate will justify that trade-off. The Orioles have a lot of starting pitching, and have spent the last couple of years trading on that depth in-season. What they really need is some pitchers to emerge as #1/#2 starters, whether that's Chris Tillman taking a step forward or Ubaldo Jimenez holding his gains from last season or Kevin Gausman getting the chance he deserves. It's actually not that hard to see the Orioles getting over 90 wins and pushing the Red Sox and Rays, because the talent base here supports that kind of optimism.


11. Arizona Diamondbacks (85-77; third, NL West; 691 RA, 668 RA). Separate the team from how they got there. For the second straight offseason, the Diamondbacks made trades that didn't make the team better. However, the team that took the field in Sydney featured a good starting rotation -- with a potential #1 in Archie Bradley waiting for a call-up -- a very strong defense led by two of the best outfielders in the game, and enough offense to support what should be good reun prevention. There are questions about the latter; will Martin Prado hit .300, which is what he needs to do to be a contributor? Will A.J. Pollock hit just enough to keep his glove in the lineup? Will Miguel Montero bounce back? There's a pretty wide range of outcomes with this offense that could be the difference between a division title and another .500 season. Good news to start: The decision to go with Chris Owings at shortstop rather than Didi Gregorius is worth a win all by itself.
 
Holy Jesus Cubs last wow

At least there are no expectations :lmao:
 
Look at my Phils! No team has fallen further than them in such short span of time! I need a backup team to root for!
 
Yankees are playing only 102 games. Interesting..
 
I would expect to see the nationals at the top of that list, probably the best pitching rotation in baseball but expectations were high last year and they didnt even make the playoffs. They need to score some runs, hitting was dismal last year but pretty excited about seeing them this year, nl east is crap ,Braves rotation in trouble

may check out some orioles games, camden and inner harbor one of the best places to see a game and they should be pretty good if pitching improves.

The only team I really count on for futures is betting on the cardinals, I dont see any weaknesses in this team and watching Wacha this year will be great. Nationals, Red Sox and Tigers dont inspire in me the kind of confidence for futures like the Cardinals do.

I am calling it right now, lol , has to happen soon and I dont trust verlander and that detroit rotation to live up to expectations

royals to win division

:royals:
 
LOL at the writer neglecting to mention that the Marlins added Salty at catcher and Jones will only be batting vs RHP's and he crushes them.

Obnoxious and careless journalism.

:bowdown:
 
Sheehan hopefully will have the last 10 teams up tonight.
 
Win totals/props played:

Goldschmidt most HRs +1000
Braun most HR's +3000

Atl under 87.5 -130
CWS under 75.5 +100
Cinn over 84.5 +100
Phil under 76 +125
Pitt over 83.5 -115
Wash over 90 -115

Wanted Miami, can't lay -130.
 
All plays 1 unit and listed pitchers unless noted

Phillies -103
 
Good stuff FW. Good luck this season.:chickendance:
 
The top 10 teams from Sheehan:

10. Atlanta Braves (86-76; second in NL East, wild-card team; 705 RS, 648 RA). The loss of two starting pitchers in March chipped away at their projection. What boosts them into a wild-card slot is the offense, which even absent Brian McCann is likely to be good this year. I have both Uptons, Justin and B.J., improving on their 2013 lines, with the second-base situation improving either through Dan Uggla bouncing back or being replaced. The Braves might be better, all told, at five or six lineup spots, making up for allowing more runs -- through both the weakened rotation and regressing bullpen. If you think this is all a front to predict that we get at least one extra game of Andrelton Simmons this year, well, you might be right. Simmons could be the most watchable player in baseball, and he'll improve at the plate this year.

9. Oakland Athletics (86-76; second in AL West, wild-card team; 699 RS, 651 RA). Another team that suffered pitching losses in April, the A's will have to draw upon their depth early. They've converted Jesse Chavez to starter with some early success, and will rely on Tom Milone in the early going as well, until A.J. Griffin returns. This projection is in no small part an endorsement of Bob Melvin, who has done an excellent job of working with the movable-parts roster handed to him by the A's front office. This will be a good defensive team that could get better in-season if Addison Russell is allowed to take the shortstop job from Jed Lowrie. The defense will be the hedge against the pitching losses and the swap of Grant Balfour for Jim Johnson at the back end of the bullpen.

8. Los Angeles Dodgers (86-76; second in NL West, wild-card team; 623 RS, 597 RA). The largest payroll in baseball history didn't buy a center fielder or a second baseman. It did buy a 32-year-old leadoff man with a .308 OBP from ages 29-31, a $10-million setup man coming off two seasons with a total of 15 2/3 innings pitched, and $27.5 million worth of old and slow on the infield corners. What bugs me about this projection isn't that it's out of sync with everyone else's; what bugs me is that I don't think the Dodgers are even this good. The laser focus on the lack of maturity displayed by a 23-year-old -- as if that's a unique story in baseball, sports or world history -- has distracted from just how flawed this roster is. It is entirely possible that it comes together, that I'm wrong about the patchwork center-field situation, too down on Wilson, and that Alexander Guerrero emerges at second base. What I see, though, is a team that's one serious Clayton Kershaw injury from collapse.

7. Boston Red Sox (89-73; second in AL East, wild-card team; 786 RS, 715 RA). I like what the Red Sox did this winter, letting Jacoby Ellsbury and Stephen Drew leave despite their contributions to a championship team. The Sox needed to get younger where they could, and clearing the way for Jackie Bradley Jr. and Xander Bogaerts was the way to do that. The Sox once again trolled the lower sections of the free-agent pool, filling up the bullpen and bench. Just as has been the case the past three seasons, their season will probably come down to how well and how often the roster stalwarts -- David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and John Lackey -- play. My read is that they're enough worse than they were last year to cede the division to the Rays.

The Grady Sizemore situation is strange. Sizemore has been a physical wreck, basically forced out of the game by his injuries. The last time Sizemore was durable, America had never elected an African-American as president, no one knew what "sub-prime mortgages" were, and AMC was a movie channel. The idea that this guy is going to be a player in the majors, a contributor to a winning team, is in itself a stretch. That he's going to be an everyday one is ridiculous. That the Sox are making this kind of commitment to Sizemore is silly; if you think Sizemore can help you, fine, but help him by managing his workload sensibly. Sending Bradley to the minors and handing Sizemore an everyday job is just asking for what should be a great story to end badly.

6. Detroit Tigers (89-73; first in AL Central; 750 RS, 661 RA). This surprised me, largely because I expect their position-player injury issues -- and frankly, their terrible offseason -- to knock them down a bit more. The thing is, the Tigers have five above-average starting pitchers, and three who are among the best 15-20 starters in the game. They start so far ahead of the field in this category, and then they get boosted by what should be the game's softest schedule, with 76 contests against a weak division that at times over the past few years has been completely overmatched against the Tigers' rotation. The gap between them and second place -- the Royals, this year -- is as narrow as its been in years. The Tigers are one injury to a starter from being an underdog to repeat. As long as the rotation is intact, however, they're the favorite.

5. San Francisco Giants (89-73; first in NL West; 679 RS, 628 RA). Madison Bumgarner is about 90% of Clayton Kershaw, and I say that as someone who thinks Clayton Kershaw's sweat should be bottled and used to heal the sick. Bumgarner is the centerpiece of a core that's as good as any in the game: him, Buster Posey, Brandon Belt, Matt Cain and Brandon Crawford are young veterans who should combine for 20 WAR this year, and the secondary pieces -- Pablo Sandoval, Hunter Pence, Sergio Romo -- are pretty good as well. The two-year deal for Tim Hudson was one of the best transactions any team made this offseason. The Giants don't have a lot of internal options should things go sideways, which means they need Angel Pagan to squeeze out a healthy year and Tim Lincecum to arrest his decline. I'd rather have their set of questions, however, than the Dodgers' set.

4. Texas Rangers (90-72; first in AL West; 800 RS, 685 RA). This is largely a double-down on the improved offense, which even with half a season of a hole at second base will be significantly improved. The Rangers got a huge OBP boost and a lot of balance by adding Shin-Soo Choo and Prince Fielder, and the synergy of adding two hitters like that in the #1 and #3 spots in the lineup -- one gets on base for the other, one drives in the other, the two combine to turn the lineup over more often for extra PAs -- will put runs on the board. With Jurickson Profar hurt, I can even live with Elvis Andrus batting between the two (but stop buntf***ing yourself, Ron). The implicit assumption here is that the rotation will reach full strength by midseason; if some combination of Derek Holland, Matt Harrison and Colby Lewis aren't pushing out the likes of Nick Martinez and Tanner Scheppers by June, there's a lot to worry about.

3. Washington Nationals (91-71; first in NL East; 713 RS, 621 RA). Last year's team won 86 games, which is a disappointment only to someone who, say, projected them to win 102. Not getting a full, healthy season from Bryce Harper was only part of the problem; the wildly productive bench from 2012 crashed and burned, and the bullpen was not nearly as effective, even after bringing in Rafael Soriano. Reset everything for 2014, and you find that the core of young studs led by Harper and Stephen Strasburg returns, with Wilson Ramos stepping up to become an excellent secondary core player. The back of the rotation is a bit of a mystery, especially with Doug Fister on the DL to start the season, and there's not much at the upper levels to help out if the team needs to make a move in-season. As with the Royals in the AL Central, the Nationals have been the beneficiaries of a lot of bad news from their closest rivals -- and that, as much as anything else, pushes them to the front of the division.

2. Tampa Bay Rays (94-68; first in AL East; 697 RS, 611 RA). The difference between keeping David Price and letting him go is that with David Price, the Rays are one of the very best teams in baseball. Keeping Price helps to smooth over the lack of a third big hitter, the question as to whether Desmond Jennings will develop, and the decision to go with gloves at first base and catcher rather than bats. The Rays would have been down in the wild-card muck had they traded their #1 starter, a pitcher I consider to be the best in the AL. With the best starter and the best manager and maybe -- maybe -- the best third baseman, the Rays should be able to both win the division and advance to the World Series.

1. St. Louis Cardinals (99-63; first in NL Central; 748 RS, 586 RA). It's not as if there aren't issues here. Oscar Taveras' legs are starting to become a real concern, and the downstream effect of his injuries mean that Allen Craig is a right fielder, and that's a poor use of resources that puts an important player at risk, while weakening an outfield defense that was supposed to be upgraded this offseason. The Cards have put Carlos Martinez into an eighth-inning role that will actively hinder his development as a starter and, if Mike Matheny is like every other manager in the past 30 years, create some eventual pushback on the idea of moving Martinez into the rotation when it comes time to do so.

It is, nonetheless, a tremendously deep roster with frontline stars -- Yadier Molina, Matt Carpenter, Matt Holliday, Adam Wainwright -- and no holes. The Cardinals' worst everyday player is either Bourjos or Kolten Wong, and there's every chance that both will be league-average players this year. The fifth starter throws 95. The bullpen misses bats from both sides, can match up, can get a double play when needed. The manager showed tremendous year-over-year tactical improvement in his second season, if his postseason decisions were a bit hard to understand. The bench has been improved, although some early-season owies (Taveras, Mark Ellis) will leave it a bit short for a while. No team goes as deep as the Cardinals do, and that depth gives them a leg up on everyone else.


Projected standings, postseason and awards picks:

Team W-L Pct GB RS RA

Rays 94-68 .580 -- 697 611
Red Sox* 89-73 .549 5 786 715
Orioles 85-77 .525 9 723 688
Yankees 82-80 .506 12 704 683
Blue Jays 78-84 .481 16 734 740

Tigers 89-73 .549 -- 750 661
Royals 85-77 .525 4 682 633
Indians 78-84 .481 11 700 734
Twins 72-90 .444 17 634 741
White Sox 71-91 .438 18 629 712

Rangers 90-72 .556 -- 800 685
Athletics* 86-76 .531 4 699 651
Angels 85-77 .525 7 790 751
Mariners 77-85 .475 13 671 702
Astros 63-99 .389 27 640 828

AL MVP: Mike Trout, Angels
AL Cy Young: David Price, Rays
AL Rookie of the Year: Jose Abreu, White Sox
AL Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon, Rays

Athletics win Coin Flip Game
Rays win ALDS over Athletics, 3-1
Tigers win ALDS over Rangers, 3-2
Rays win ALCS over Tigers, 4-2

Team W-L Pct GB RS RA

Nationals 91-71 .562 -- 713 621
Braves* 86-76 .531 5 705 648
Marlins 74-88 .457 17 550 620
Phillies 69-93 .426 22 632 744
Mets 69-93 .426 22 613 710

Cardinals 99-63 .611 -- 748 586
Brewers 84-78 .519 15 703 679
Reds 84-78 .519 15 654 634
Pirates 83-79 .512 16 630 627
Cubs 62-100 .383 37 610 751

Giants 89-73 .549 -- 679 628
Dodgers* 86-76 .531 3 623 597
D'backs 85-77 .525 4 691 668
Padres 78-84 .549 11 641 667
Rockies 67-95 .414 22 740 857

NL MVP: Yadier Molina, Cardinals
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
NL Rookie of the Year: Kolten Wong, Cardinals (again!)
NL Manager of the Year: Bruce Bochy, Giants

Dodgers win Coin Flip Game
Giants win NLDS over Nationals, 3-2
Cardinals win NLDS over Dodgers, 3-0
Cardinals win NLCS over Giants, 4-3

Cardinals win World Series over Rays, 4-2
 
LOL at the writer neglecting to mention that the Marlins added Salty at catcher and Jones will only be batting vs RHP's and he crushes them.

Obnoxious and careless journalism.

:bowdown:

If there ever was a Cub-Killer, it's Garrett Jones. Thank god he's out of the division.

Thanks, IAG.
 
All plays 1 unit and listed pitchers unless noted

Phillies -103

Nice call FW! No runs scored last 3 exhibition games and they go out and get 14 1st game! Unreal! Probably score 7 in next 7 games and from your Under wager you think it could happen!!