FanNation

On paper, this is shaping up to be an excellent year for baseball pennant races. There are several teams in each division that are serious contenders and there is always a surprise team rising from the ashes that the "experts" plugged in as a 4th place team, such as the Cubs last season. And you know that baseball is a marathon, midway in 2007 things looked good for the Mets, Brewers and Dodgers but we know how that worked out. The Rockies were not even discused on September 1 last year.  Cleveland had the Sox down 3-1 in the ALCS but did not prevail.  The Cards in 2006 were the last team of the 8 playoff teams you would have picked to win. This change in baseball, the new competitive balance is why the popularity is rising, the days of Yanks and Atlanta every year is changing. Also, teams built for the regular season often fair poorly in the post season. Playoff baseball is won by great starting pitching, good defense and a great closer.  Teams can slug their way to 90+ wins as regular season offers ample opportunity to feast on mediocre pitching. In the post season, teams with two aces can take a 7 game series on the performance of just two great staters, like the 2001 Diamondbacks did. I thought that the Inidans were posed to do that last year but both aces pefrmed poorly in the ALCS. So lets take a stab at predicting the 8 playoff teams in 2008:

American League:

Yankees- Many questions, great lineup but Rivera is old and not the sure save any longer, Petite and Mussina must be solid, Wang is good for 18-20 wins, and if Hughes and Kennedy perfom to their potential, Yanks will take a slot.

Boston- Red Sox have more young arms in the minors if they need them and have a nice supply of young talent to call up if necessary, I expect Manny to have a huge season (contract year) and the Sox should grab a spot.

Indians -The combination of Carmona and CC along with solid 3-5 starters, great bullpen and excellent hitting and defense should give the Indians another division. Detroit has a great lineup and will be inthe race the whole way but their pitching will let them down late September.

Angels- they have holes but are so well managed and play such solid baseball, and have a great minor league system to help, they should eeek out a close race with Seattle, mayvbe win by 2 or 3 games.

National League:

East - The Mets added Santana, Pedro will contribute, Maines and Perez are very good, so they have the pitching to hold off an excellent Phillies lineup, who will pucsh the Mets but they just don't have enough starters after Cole Hamels.

Central - Cubs will slug their way to a division despite mediocre pitching after Zambrano. A weak division will allow them to win it with 93 wins. The Brewers and Reds will be in this race util late.

West - Two playoff teams come out of the very competitive west. Arizona with Webb and Haren have a great 1-2 punch that will make them dangerous in the playoffs. San Ddiego aslo has the same 1-2 punch and will be in this until the end aand grab the wild card. Colorado and LA will stay very close but neither has the #2 starter to stay with the Padres and D-Backs.