It felt like a long winter for most of baseball since the Yankees won their first World Series since 2000. Free agency dragged out a little longer than usual with teams becoming increasingly more fiscally responsible and no real superduperstars.
The 2010 season will have strong teams like the Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, Cardinals and Rays as World Series favorites, but I count no fewer than 17 or 18 teams who legitimately have a chance to at least make the postseason. As we have seen frequently in the past, the playoffs become a crap-shoot and anything can happen.
Below are my predictions for how each division will pan out with links to each team's respective season preview.
AL East
1.
New York Yankees
2.
Tampa Bay Rays
3.
Boston Red Sox
4.
Baltimore Orioles
5.
Toronto Blue Jays
AL Central
1.
Detroit Tigers
2.
Minnesota Twins
3.
Chicago White Sox
4.
Cleveland Indians
5.
Kansas City Royals
AL West
1.
Seattle Mariners
2.
Los Angeles Angels
3.
Texas Rangers
4.
Oakland Athletics
NL East
1.
Atlanta Braves
2.
Philadelphia Phillies
3.
Florida Marlins
4.
New York Mets
5.
Washington Nationals
NL Central
1.
St. Louis Cardinals
2.
Chicago Cubs
3.
Milwaukee Brewers
4.
Cincinnati Reds
5.
Houston Astros
6.
Pittsburgh Pirates
NL West
1.
Arizona Diamondbacks
2.
Los Angeles Dodgers
3.
Colorado Rockies
4.
San Francisco Giants
5.
San Diego Padres
LDS
Yankees over Tigers
Mariners over Rays (WC)
Braves over D-Backs
Cardinals over Phillies (WC)
LCS
Yankees over Mariners
Cardinals over Braves
World Series
Yankees over Cardinals
AL MVP: Evan Longoria
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander
NL Cy Young: Ricky Nolasco
NL ROY: Jason Heyward
AL ROY: Brian Matusz
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