MLB Season Preview 2020 Part 2

Continued from Part 1.

My Postseason Picks

I suppose I could go with the standard pick here to save time.  It’ll be the Dodgers versus the Yankees in the World Series.  FOX will be so happy anticipating great ratings.  However, this marquee matchup will be a disappointing quick four-game sweep by the boys in blue.  The Yankees will think that they’re going to be handed a World Series trophy for showing up, but will be shocked by an angry Dodger team that thinks they were cheated out of the last two World Series championships.  Let’s break it down though and see if I change my mind by the end.

AL East

The Yankees now have the missing piece, a true ace pitcher in Gerrit Cole.  They’re destined to win, this time for sure.  Unfortunately, the team has already been beset with injuries.  This delay in the season may help them.  All that said, I think there’s going to be some underperformance this season from their star players.  Management will panic at the trade deadline and giveaway the farm to acquire the “missing piece” once again.  The way the sports media obsesses over the slightest perceived weaknesses in these kind of overloaded teams is pathetic homering for the big market teams and lazy sports reporting to boot. 

As for the rest of the division, the Rays would seem like a good candidate to reach the postseason.  They’ve got the pitching and defense.  They picked up bopper, Hunter Renfroe, but did they trade away their heart and soul in Tommy Pham to get him?  With Chris Sale in denial about needing a TJ and Mookie Betts gone, the Red Sox aren’t going anywhere for another season.  The Blue Jays are a year away with their pitching and their all-legacy team of infielders.  The O’s will be playing Triple-A ball next year with the contraction of the minor league baseball. 

AL Central

I’m going to put my toe out on the limb and say the White Sox will win this division.  They’ve got the talent and made some good pickups in the offseason.  What about the Twins?  Last years’ home run barrage was a fluke brought on by the manufacture of tennis balls that only looked like baseballs.  This error was corrected in the postseason.  The Twins will come back down to earth and not be able to compete without better pitching.  The Indians have some good players, but anxiety over moving Francisco Lindor will hobble the team as a unit.  I wish I had some good news for the Royals and Tigers, two teams I like, but all they’re going to do is inflate the win totals of the other teams in their division.

AL West

Whew!  This one is interesting.  Let’s start with the teams who won’t be winning: the Rangers and the Mariners.  At least the Rangers will be breaking in a new stadium with air-conditioning, so their fans won’t be complaining too much.  They did upgrade their pitching staff, but until their batters learn how to hit for average better (especially in a new park that may or may not be hitter-friendly), they’re irrelevant.          

On to the contenders.  The A’s will pull their usual smoke-and-mirrors trick to be competitive and maybe make it into the playoffs only to flame out.  (At least the Twins can usually blame meeting the Yankees in the division series all the time for their postseason problems.)  Let’s sidestep any comments about the Astros not being able to hit without cheating.  Unless the chip on their shoulder from being called “cheaters” gets in their head and causes them to try too hard, they can still hit.  However, Zack Greinke is still on the team and Dusty Baker has been named the new manager.  Bluntly, these two guys win games, but don’t win championships.     

Meanwhile, the Angels spent a huge amount of money to bring in Anthony Rendon and we all know that paying a player more makes them play better.  Right?  Of more import, Shohei Ohtani should be able to pitch this year and the best player in baseball, Mike Trout, still plays for the team.  Still, they’ve got pitching issues and there’s always that curse of Albert Pujols’ contract hanging over management’s heads.  This is a tough one, but the Angels will somehow win the division, if the Baseball Gods decide to humble the Astros out of the playoffs altogether.  (If they don’t, the Astros win instead with the Angels as a wild card contender.)

NL East

This feels like another three-team division.  The Nationals lost Bryce Harper last year and won a World Series.  This time they lost Rendon, but kept their tremendous pitching staff together.  Even with young star, Juan Soto, it feels like their main opponent this season will be Father Time catching up with this generally older team after playing all those games in October.  The late start to season may help them to get another wild card berth. 

The Braves have been winning the division in an unheralded fashion because nobody believes they’re real contenders.  This is a team needing a “missing piece” to put them over that division series hump.  They don’t have it yet.  I’m picking the Mets to win in a season-long dogfight with the Nats and Braves.  They’ve got the hitting and pitching.  All they have to do is stay healthy.  (I’m pretty sure I just jinxed it there.) 

As for the other two teams, the Marlins are hopeless and what the F is wrong with the Phillies?  There’s easily enough theoretical talent on this team to win the division.  In practice, there’s only been a lot of injuries, underperformance, and excuses.  Maybe it was all manager Gabe Kapler’s fault, but now he’s the Giants’ problem.  New manager Joe Girardi was run out of New York because of the overly high expectations that go with managing the Yankees, but Philadelphia fans are much less demanding.  He’ll likely thrive in this pressure-free environment.  (I’m just kidding.  They boo you even when you win in Philly.)

NL Central

I can’t make a case for anybody winning this division.  The Cardinals (particularly Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew Miller) disappointed me badly enough last season to keep me from picking them this time.  The Cubs’ window has closed (but not before winning a World Series, the biggest sports story of my lifetime).  The Brewers did nothing but bleed out good players over the offseason.  They kept Christian Yelich, who must like brauts and beer a whole lot to stay on in Milwaukee.  The Pirates are still in the league?  Yeah, I gotta give it to the Reds.  At least they’re trying to put together a good team, albeit in a very haphazard scattershot fashion.         

NL West

Groan.  It’ll be the freaking Dodgers by 20 games.  By picking up Mookie Betts, they not only got a great player, but a great clubhouse presence.  The Diamondbacks and Giants are rebuilding, which is management’s way of saying “sucking.”  If the Rockies don’t somehow start off the season on fire, look for Nolan Arenado to have his best season ever to force ownership to trade him. 

I have seen so many good position players go through the Chihuahuas’ organization for the Padres and then get traded for nothing.  Their big free agent acquisitions have underperformed and don’t pitch, which is what they really needed.  This team does have Fernando Tatis Jr. though and their pitching does have some potential.  We just hope that they still have the hitting to go with it.  I’ll tentatively pick them as a wild card.

How does it all end?  

A chronic toilet paper shortage shuts down the entire country for good, but not before baseball finishes a truncated season.  The Dodgers beat the Reds in the National League championship.  The Angels beat the Rays, who took out the Yankees in the divisional round, for the AL crown.  The Dodgers still win it all in a four-game sweep.  Unfortunately, in the middle of LA’s celebration/TP riots, a somewhat superfluous-in-destruction earthquake swallows the city whole beneath the Pacific Ocean.  The good news is that NL West will finally be wide open for a new winner next season.

Okay, I may have to explain this pick.  Realistically, the Yankees should win it all with their massive hitting and tough pitching.  The Dodgers also have a great lineup and pitching and an even easier path to the playoffs.  The best teams tend to come through into the playoffs, but seldom all of them, even over the course of a shortened season.  Misfortune and missteps will claim at least one of these teams.  I think it’ll be the Yankees, because they’re already going into the season hurt.  The Angels will add pitching during the season and somehow sneak into the World Series with Mike Trout carrying them on his back.