MLB 2009

It is that time of year again....Major League Baseball is going to kick off their 2009 regular season when the Atlanta Braves visit the defending World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies on the night of April 5.

In the spirit of the season, I am going to give you my 2009 standings predictions. I will follow this up with playoff and World Series predictions, and possibly predictions for award winners, before the start of the season.

I won't predict records, as that is a bit of a crapshoot, but I have included each teams' record from last year for comparison.

AL East

1. NY Yankees (89-73)
2. Tampa Bay Rays (97-65)
3. Boston Red Sox (95-67)
4. Toronto Blue Jays (86-76)
5. Baltimore Orioles (68-93)

-->With the Yankees off-season acquisitions of Burnett, Texeira and Sabathia, I think this is their year to win back the AL East. The Rays and Red Sox will be close, in my opinion, but i'll give the edge to the Rays. A full year with Longoria and that dominant pitching staff can't hurt.

AL Central

1. Cleveland Indians (81-81)
2. Chicago White Sox (89-74)
3. Detroit Tigers (74-88)
4. Minnesota Twins (88-75)
5. Kansas City Royals (75-87)

-->The Indians are way too good of team to finish in 3rd again. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict a jump right to the top of the division for them this year.

AL West

1. LA Angels (100-62)
2. Oakland A's (75-86)
3. Texas Rangers (79-83)
4. Seattle Mariners (61-101)

-->I don't think anyone is good enough to challenge the Angels here yet, but the A's could be a much better team. Any time you have Matt Holliday, it can't hurt - the guy is a game changer.

NL East

1. Philadelphia Phillies (92-70)
2. NY Mets (89-73)
3. Florida Marlins (84-77)
4. Atlanta Braves (72-90)
5. Washington Nationals (59-102)

-->No big surprises here. I tossed around the idea of putting the Mets ahead of the Phillies, but I think the Phillies are just too good. They are a perfect example of an all-around solid team.

NL Central

1. Chicago Cubs (97-64)
2. Milwaukee Brewers (90-72)
3. Cincinatti Reds (74-88)
4. St. Louis Cardinals (86-76)
5. Houston Astros (86-75)
6. Pittsburgh Pirates (67-95)

-->It pains me to put my beloved Astros so low here, but their starting pitching is just too full of question marks. The surprise here could be the Reds - they are an exciting young team with stars such as Votto, Bruce, Volquez, Cueto and (eventually) Homer Bailey.

NL West

1. Arizona Diamondbacks (82-80)
2. LA Dodgers (84-78)
3. San Francisco Giants (72-90)
4. Colorado Rockies (74-88)
5. San Diego Padres (63-99)

-->The D-Backs should have won this division last year, and this year I think they will take it. They added Jon Garland to an already excellent rotation. The Dodgers scare me a bit with Manny though, the guy is still a beast. I dropped the Rockies down - no Matt Holliday and a weak starting pitching staff = little chance of success.