It’s Opening Day 2015! Baseball is upon us and it’s time for SU’s fearless and occasionally accurate MLB predictions. See our 2014 forecast below from a year ago:
“OK, here are SU’s fearless baseball predictions. The Nationals and the Dodgers seem to be the hot picks in the NL but SU disagrees. The Dodgers have too many out-sized personalities and Don Mattingly will be hard-pressed to manage the chaos. The San Francisco Giants win the World Series on the even years now and SU says they will beat the Cardinals in the NLCS to get to the World Series. The Mets, despite their rare opening day loss yesterday, will surprise and win 82 games as the fans return after the All-Star break to see if they can grab a wild card (which they won’t). In the AL, there is way too much gloom and doom associated with my Yankees. They have great starting pitching this year (says SU) and Phelps is there as insurance if one of the starters does down. The experts are hot on the Rays but SU says their offense always makes it so difficult in the end. Plus, you know they are going to deal David Price at some point before the trade deadline. The Yankees will be major players for talent in July and SU says their infield will look very different by the end of the season as they pick up someone of major league pedigree to play 3rd base. They will win the wild card if not the division in the East. The Red Sox will have a letdown and who knows if Big Papi can summon yet another big year? By the way, why doesn’t he ever get booed for having failed (or being suspected of it) a PED test? The keys for the Yankees are Teixeira and whether he can regain his form and not be terrible all the way into June, and of course Tanaka and if he is the real deal. Either way, Hal Steinbrenner will be resembling his father this year as the season unfolds.
SU will take Oakland over the Tigers in the ALCS, and then the Giants over the A’s in an all-Bay area World Series. The good news is that no one, not even SU, will remember these fearless predictions come October.”
OK, respectable and certainly better than SU’s NCAA Tournament prediction. By the way, you have to think John Calipari’s NBA stock just dropped a whole lot as his end of game coaching left something to be desired (3 shot clock violations in a row?). But I digress. So, here goes:
In the American League, this feels like a wide open field. Many of the experts are picking Seattle but SU is not feeling that. They are still offensively challenged and while Nelson Cruz is a big addition, you know he will immediately go into a funk hitting in spacious SafeCo Field. The AL East actually has a fair amount of parity. Many are high on Toronto but they seem to always come up with some unexpected injuries and fade by June. The Red Sox added offense but their pitching has lots of question marks including a season starting hamstring injury to the world’s most annoying closer (Uehara). The Rays are truly bad and the Yankees, well, we will get to them in a second. The Orioles lost some guys but get others back from injury. SU sees them taking the division.
Watch out for the White Sox in the Central with the pick-ups of David Robertson and Melky Cabrera (long-time SU fave). Out West, the A’s are worse and Texas is terrible which helps to have a Wild Card come out of that division. SU will go with the Angels. Wild cards will be Seattle and Detroit. Look for the Tigers to add some pieces come trade deadline and make it to the World Series this year.
As for the Yankees, Tanaka is already saying his velocity will be down this year. Not a good sign. By his 2nd start, that will go out the window and he will be throwing full throttles which will then lead to injury. There is just no way he is finishing the season. CC was rocked all spring, Pineda never makes all of his starts and SU believes the bullpen without Robertson is not a sure thing. Offensively, blecch. A-Rod is the most interesting aspect of the line-up. By the way, he will win the Comeback Player of the Year Award (or MLB’s newest award: “Best Season by a Former PED User”). Look for an 82-80 record and tons of empty seats by July.
In the National League, SU is intrigued by the Mets. Many say they are still a year away and have lots of holes offensively and in the bullpen. But those can be plugged as the season unfolds and if Granderson can go back to his AL hitting ways, this team can win some low scoring games with strong starting pitching. SU sees an 88-74 season and more importantly, a Wild Card in their future as they finish behind everyone’s favorites, the Washington Nationals. And yes, the Mets take over the town and the back pages. This is the year as the Yankees are truly, truly uninteresting.
The Giants win in the even years and it’s St. Louis in the odd ones. Cardinals take the Central and the Dodgers win the West. The Pirates will grab the other wild card spot. St. Louis over Detroit in the World Series. OK, enough of that – too exhausting. SU has never liked doing the preseason stuff but feels obligated to help the intergalactic fan base.
New blog format. Feel free to add your comments!
Sports Update Intergalactic 
I like the format! Good start.
Yes, will be a work in progress as we add some bells and whistles.
Howard,
The blog looks good. Did I miss your pick for tonight’s Wisconsin/Duke game ? UConn women look unbeatable.
Yes, the fans are demanding SU to weigh in on these NCAA championship games. My take:
Men’s Game: I see this one as a toss up. Duke does not have the bench that Wisconsin does and if the reffing is as bad as it was on Saturday night, it’s hard to know how that will go. In a close game like this, you don’t want to have the refs determine the outcome. My sense is that Wisconsin expended a lot of energy beating Kentucky and they were really driven to beat them for months and months. Duke had the easier game and could be a little fresher. I see Duke prevailing 73-70.
For the women tomorrow night, UConn is just too good. Notre Dame is a bit young this year but well coached. The challenge for UConn is that Geno has only been playing 5 or 6 players. Any foul trouble in the first half could be a factor if he has to go deeper into his bench. But I would see UConn winning by double digits. And they continue to be the best “team” to watch in basketball year in and year out.