Annual Preseason Baseball Picks

Welcome to The Nose Knows Baseball: 2008 Preview (disclaimer: these predictions are completely inaccurate)

I've done this for three years now. I predicted the Cards to win in 2006. It worked. I predicted them again in 2007. Not so much.

I will not be predicting the Cardinals to win it all this year. At some point, being a homer just gets ridiculous. It was ridiculous of me to predict them either year (even if it worked in one of them). But now they seem to be an even worse team. Baseball Prospectus, which makes much more scientific projections than I do, predicts a 72-90 record this year. They were right about the White Sox demise that caught so many by surprise last year and made people like this look foolish.

So onto my predictions.

AL East: Red Sox. This is the year they officially become more hated than the Yankees.
AL Central: Tigers. They should rebound this year, especially with Miguel Cabrera at the plate.
AL West: Angels. Nothing more to say.
AL Wild Card: Indians. So yes.....

That leaves the Yankees out.

AL Champs: Tigers. I think their offseason moves put them over the edge.
AL Cy Young: C.C. Sabathia.
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez. And Yankees fans will STILL hate him.

NL East: Mets. They just got the best pitcher in the game in Johan Santana, and should bounce back from last year.
NL Central: Cubs. As hard as it is for a Cards fan to make this prediction, they're clearly the best team in the division.
NL West: Diamondbacks. Dan Haren was another nice offseason pickup.
NL Wild Card: Brewers. I've predicted them to win the Wild Card 3 years straight. Is this finally the year?

NL Champs: Mets.
NL Cy Young: Johan Santana.
NL MVP: David Wright. A Mets hat trick. Will it be enough for the World Series?

Nope.

Your 2008 World Champion Detroit Tigers.