2011 Final MLB Standings Prediction
Posted by Steve L. on March 26th, 2011 · Comments (14)
OK, here they are…
AL EAST
1. Red Sox
2. Rays
3. Yankees
4. Orioles
5. Blue Jays
AL CENTRAL
1. Twins
2. Tigers
3. White Sox
4. Royals
5. Indians
AL WEST
1. Athletics
2. Rangers
3. Angels
4. Mariners
AL WILDCARD WINNER: Rays
NL EAST
1. Phillies
2. Braves
3. Marlins
4. Mets
5. Nationals
NL CENTRAL:
1. Brewers
2. Reds
3. Cardinals
4. Cubs
5. Pirates
6. Astros
NL WEST:
1. Rockies
2. Giants
3. Padres
4. Dodgers
NL WILDCARD WINNER: Giants.
Take ‘em for what they’re worth…not a lot.
I can see the headline: “Mitre the propels Brewers to postseason!”
Steve, you really feel the rays will finish in front of the rays? I know I’m in the minority but I feel somewhat optimistic about our rotation (then again I’m a very positive person haha). Just interested in your thoughts on that…
@ jgueli:
Didn’t the Rays finish in front of the Yankees last season? And, that was when the Yankees had Pettitte. Rays lost some FAs, yes. But, they added Damon and Manny to help with the bats. Their SP is still as good as it was last year – if not better. Sure, they lost a lot in the pen. But, as the Yankees have shown us, you can figure out the pen during the season. What did the Yankees do? They got older and added Russell Martin who looks this Spring like the dud he turned into back in LA. And, they did nothing to replace Pettitte or take away from the risk associated to AJ and Hughes.
It will be close – maybe just a matter of one win or two – but, I can see the Rays finishing above the Yankees for the second year in a row.
I think like the Yankees’ rotation issues, the Rays’ bullpen issues are a bit overstated.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Fair and reasonable assessment.
I think the Yankees will find a way to finish ahead of the Rays. Manny and Damon are nowhere near the players they once were. I would be surprised if they both stayed healthy. The Yanks only finished 1 game behind the Rays last year and that was with terrible seasons from Burnett and Vazquez and almost half the season without Petitte. And I still think the Yanks would have finished ahead of the Rays if they didn’t back off the last month of the season.
LMJ229 wrote:
Exactly. Your last sentence says it all. Girardi’s final month of the season was absurd and I’ll never be convinced otherwise.
Now, in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t really matter if we won the division or the Wild Card. But the fact remains that Girardi tried to play the Almighty and steer his team to an ALCS date with the Twins. In my opinion, you should try to win every game whenever possible and let the chips fall where they may. There’s no reason to believe that the Yankees couldn’t have beaten Texas in a short series just because they lost to them one round later.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Agree to disagree. The Rays don’t have a single bat outside of Longoria’s that I respect. Not a single one. I agree that bullpens can be rebuilt on the fly…as long as you have at least some bedrock of stability (like Rivera). Turning over an entire bullpen isn’t the same thing as moving around one or two arms.
As for their rotation…meh…Shields is still a guy that gives up too many HR’s and Neimann is honestly not better than Ivan Nova. More seasoned, perhaps. But they’re both back-end starters. David Price is a stud but, beyond that, the Rays get far too much respect.
LMJ229 wrote:
Then again, if they had played better before that point, then they never would have been in a position to mull that option of backing off versus going toe-to-toe to try and pass.
So, to me, that tells me that they were not better than the Rays, up until that point to make the call to back off or not.
@ MJ Recanati: Since 2008, who has one the AL East the most – the Rays, Yankees, or Red Sox? I believe that Tampa has won two of three, no? Never discount the Rays. They know what they are doing.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Not sure I see what that has to do with it. The Rays aren’t a better team in 2011 just because they were a better team in 2008. By that logic, the Yankees are a better team than the Rays and Red Sox because they’ve won two more playoff series (4) than the Rays in the same period of time (2).
Steve, I just don’t get the infatuation with Tampa Bay. They lost a lot of production in Crawford (.307, 19HR, 90RBI) and Pena (28HR, 84RBI) and their second best starting pitcher in Garza. Not to mention their devastating losses in the bullpen. Can they really replace the productiveness of Soriano, Cormier, Benoit, Balfour and Wheeler? Particularly Soriano, Benoit, and Balfour who had outstanding seasons last year?
The Yanks only real loss was Petitte. Granted, that is a big loss, but still, Petitte only started 21 games for us last season.
You are not the only one to pick the Rays over the Yanks. But still, I just don’t see it.
http://www.rlyw.net/
Do we look at all predictions or just those that pick NYY 3rd?
White Sox in 3rd? Curious as to what you’re thinking there.
I still think the Yanks are about 3-4 games better than the Rays.
Well within error bars, but the converse of that is that the Yanks are just as likely to be 7 games better as they are to be 1 game worse.