MLB predictions

Aside from a couple games over in Japan last week, and the opening game in North America last night, today is the opener for most teams, so seems like a good time for my predictions

AL East:
1) Yankees
2) Sox
3) Blue Jays
4) Rays
5) Orioles
Yankees are the Yankees, their old but they'll be fine.  Sox have a new manager, GM, but are Yankees light and want to rebound from last year's 3rd place finish.  They'll be without a closer as they traded their closer last year to Philadelphia, and the one they traded for Andrew Bailey is out until at least July.  Blue Jays and Rays could be flip flopped, both are young, both could surprise and challenge for the playoffs, but both play in the wrong division.  The Orioles are a shoe-in for last.

AL Central:
1) Tigers
2) Indiana
3) Royals
4) Twins
5) White Sox
Tigers won the division in a landslide last year as they were the only team that finished at or above .500 last year, and they just got better with the addition of Prince Fielder.  Since going into the 2010 All Star game 15-1, Ubaldo Jiminez is a pedestrian 14-20 since and in order to catch the Tigers, Jiminez needs to get back to his first half form from 2010.  Last place finishes and high draft picks seem to have paid off the Royals with the likes of Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordan in the big leagues.  Season ending injury to closer Joakim Soria will hurt.  Twins got bit by the injury bug last year, and if they can stay healthy they may pass the Royals.  White Sox are rebuilding, but can still finish as high as 2nd just because 2-5 are so jumbled.

AL West:
1) Angels
2) Rangers
3) Mariners
4) A's
Angels added C.J. Wilson from Texas and Albert Pujols from St. Louis, while Texas replaces Wilson with Japanese import Yu Darvish.  Both the Mariners and A's will be horrible offensive teams; Mariners made better moves over the winter so they get the higher spot.  This will be the final year with only 4 teams in the AL West as the Houston Astros move from the NL Central to the AL West next year

NL East:
1) Phillies
2) Nats
3) Braves
4) Marlins
5) Mets
Phillies have to survive until June when they'll get their big hitters Ryan Howard and Chase Utley back in the lineup.  Nats phenom Bryce Harper should be in the major leagues sometime around June 10, if the Nats can hang around until then they'll have a great team.  Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzales the 2 ace pitchers are 22 and 24 respectively and Harper is 21, they'll be good for a while with Harper and Strasburg anchoring the team.  This is the final year for Chipper Jones, who hopes he has a better October then last year; Braves were up 11.5 on August 30 and missed the playoffs.  The Marlins have a new name, new park and new faces, but in order to even be successful they have to have Josh Johnson pitch a whole season which hasn't happened in 4 years.  Mets are still recovering from Bernie Madoff, don't have enough to challenge with the other 4.

NL Central:
1) Brewers
2) Reds
3) Cardinals
4) Pirates
5) Cubs
6) Astros
The Brewers don't have a great bullpen, but they have a great offense and a pretty good rotation.  I think that's enough to get them past the Reds.  Reds have a terrible bullpen, ok rotation, but great offense, how will they handle expectations?  Cardinals are the reigning World Series Champs, but will be hard pressed to get back there without Pujols.  Pirates haven't had a winning season since 1993, that should change this year, but still not enough to compete.  Theo Epstein, new president of the Cubs will have a tough year, that team needs a complete makeover.  They were able to get rid of Carlos Zambrano, but they still have a couple other bad contracts to get rid of.  The Astros are awful and will be shocking if they didn't get to 100 losses.

NL West:
1) Giants
2) D'Backs
3) Rockies
4) Dodgers
5) Padres
If the Giants can actually score some runs with Tim Lincecum on the mount this year, they should win the division with that great rotation.  D'Backs were the division winners last year, but came as a surprise, not sold on them this year.  Troy Tulowitski and Carlos Gonzales are great players for the Rockies, but they need some pitching to win which they don't have much of this year.  Magic Johnson just purchased the Dodgers, so hopefully he can turn them around.  Matt Kemp needs to compete for a triple crown to give them a chance.  Padres may not have a player hit 20 home runs this year and traded away their best player

Wildcards:
Red Sox and Rangers in the AL, D'Backs and Reds in the NL. Red Sox and D'Backs get eliminated in that Wildcard series.

Division series:
AL: Yankees over Rangers and Angels over Tigers
NL: Phillies over Giants and Reds over Brewers

Championship series:
AL: Angels over Yankees
NL: Phillies over Reds

World Series:
Angels over Phillies in 6 games.