Winter has been acting like quite an ass this year, but take heart! The greatest season of the year has begun: baseball season. Anything can happen during a baseball season, but the best way to assess teams at the beginning of the year is to count the number of “ifs” a team has. If a number of things have to go right for a team to win, then they probably don’t stand much of a chance. As I will be giving my predictions on Gordy’s Sports World this Thursday on ESPN 1380 AM, I thought that I would commit them to print. Wild-card winners are marked with an asterisk. We’ll see how I did come October.
American League
East
Baltimore—great offense, great defense, good enough pitching
*Tampa Bay—great pitching, great defense, decent offense
Boston—solid pitching, good offense
Toronto—great offense, not enough pitching
New York—despite some solid additions, the Yanks have four ifs on the infield alone.
Division note: Any of the first three teams could win this thing. It would be a big surprise if the Blue Jays or Yankees captured first place.
Central
Detroit—great starters, but spring injuries make them more vulnerable than past seasons
*Kansas City—young club on the rise, they could challenge the Tigers this year
Cleveland—Terry Francona had this team overachieving in ’13; the Tribe will retreat in ’14
Chicago—rebuilding
Minnesota—rebuilding, but not as fast as the White Sox
West
Oakland—Parker injury a problem, but a solid all-around team
Texas—if they can overcome injuries, they could still take the West. If not . . .
Los Angeles—bounce-back season from Pujols & Hamilton could push them into playoffs
Seattle—on the rise and not inconceivable that they could finish second
Houston—assembling some good young talent, and they won’t lose 100 games this year
National League
East
Washington—plenty of pitching with a good offense; should bounce back after last season
Atlanta—Braves usually find a way, but injuries to Medlen & Beachy hurt. A lot.
New York—Mets on the rise.
Miami—like Houston, the Marlins are assembling young talent to go with Stanton & Fernandez.
Philadelphia—Lee & Hamels could keep them in 3rd; old position players put them in last
Central
St. Louis—I’m done picking against these guys.
*Pittsburgh—solid pitching could overtake the Cardinals
Cincinnati—more ifs than the Cards or Pirates
Milwaukee—a little better than the Cubs; not nearly as good as the Reds
Chicago—building, but not enough pitching to pull them out of last place
West
Los Angeles—great pitching and a solid offense
*San Francisco—enough pitching to hold onto second
Colorado—my surprise pick in the West; they could challenge the Giants for second
San Diego—injuries to Josh Johnson and Carlos Quentin hurt, but could finish third
Arizona—injuries to Corbin & Hernandez this the pitching; D’backs giving off a bad vibe.
Austin Gisriel 
Sent from my iPhone
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Glad you checked in, Darren.
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Being dedicated Orioles fans as we are, I would like to think they would win the A.L. East. However, “Good enough pitching” will come up a little short unfortunetly. We would need to kick that up a notch, for this prediction to happen.
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Don, I see the Orioles “good enough” pitching as being better than Tampa’s not quite good enough offense. Boston had almost all their ifs break favorably last year and they’re coming back to the pack. I’m not trying to be a homer, here, it’s really the way I see it.
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That’s what make this blog interesting, different opinions, I feel that not making the playoffs last season to winning the A.L. East is a stretch, but hey, Boston went from last place to winning the World Series, so anything is possible. I hope you are right come October.
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Yeah, me, too!!
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Finally someone who knows something about baseball giving a true assessment of the upcoming season. I’m in ageement with Don about the suspect Oriole pitching but if the hitting comes on this year with Jones and Davis belting 40+ homers each, Harding 30+, Manny hitting north of .300 and if Matt Weakly can hit at less .250 this year we got a shot.
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To me, it’s not only what the Orioles can do, it’s what the other teams can’t do. Really though, those top three teams in the East you can shake ’em up, roll ’em out and see where they land.
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While I have to say that Baseball is my favorite sport, next to golf that is, I have to admit that I do not follow closely enough to have even a semi-informed opinion on final standings. However, since I was a Brooklyn Dodger fan as a yunker, I’ll go out on that proverbial limb and pick the LA Bums in 6 over the Tigers in October.
Austin, here’s a freebie idea for a future offering: It’s about time to reinstate Pete Rose. What he “did to the game” pales by comparison to the chemical boys of recent past. Commute his sentence to time served and put him back on that bus to Cooperstown.
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I meant to offer another “if” burdening da Yanks: The A-Rod circus is going to take a lot of air out of their balloon
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The Yankees’ balloon is too old to hold air. I’m inclined to think that the character consideration for HOF membership needs to be dropped.
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While it is still early in the season, your prediction of the Orioles “Good enough pitching” is taking a big hit. If the bleeding doesn’t stop shortly, October may not be in the picture for us. We had been counting on Tillman being our # 1 starter, but his consistency, as well as the rest of our rotation has really been disappointing. Also, with the exception of Cruz, our big guns are more like water pistols. Yeah, we have injuries, but so do other teams in our division. I will weigh in again at the all star break.
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It’s still early, Don! Toronto is better than I thought, but they still have a great deal to prove.
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I hope baseball fans like myself will not forget this post come October. Man am I enjoying the ride even though we have a way to go! If we continue to win series, and avoid a big skid, Buck & the Boys could very well be heading to the big Dance!
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I hope fans forgot that I picked the Orioles to win the division in 2013. I agree, Don, the Orioles appear to match up well with the other potential playoff teams.
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Congratulations! You nailed your prediction, although at first I was skeptical. You should send out a new post, reminding people (like myself), that the Orioles are back! Now It’s time for your playoff predictions.
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Thanks, Don. Don’t worry, prognosticators always remind people when they got something right! I’m going to wait until the last minute for my playoff predictions though. Still time for injuries, slumps, etc.
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