2006 Predictions = Playoffs & Awards

If you've kept yourself up-to-date on my preseason predictions then you should know who I've chosen to win each division. If you're popping in for the first time and don't feel like reading through each post, here's a recap:
AL East: New York Yankees
AL Central: Cleveland Indians
AL West: Oakland A’s
NL East: Atlanta Braves
NL Central: Houston Astros
NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers
Having decided on the division winners, all that leaves to predict is the each league's wild card winner. It's only logical that the wild card winner is one of the teams I chose to finish 2nd in their division and starting in the NL that would leave the New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, and the San Francisco Giants. Now if you've read my NL West prediction, you shouldn't be surprised I'm dismissing the Giants right of the bat. There just won't be enough wins there to give them the 4th best record in the league. So that leaves the Brewers or Mets? The Brewers are my surprise team for 2006, but I still think they're a year away from the postseason. So that would mean:
NL Wild Card: New York Mets
Jumping to the AL, we're left with the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. There are no clear cut reasons why any of these teams can't field the 4th best record in the AL. In my opinion, there is better competition in the AL East and AL West which will cost the Red Sox and Angels some wins. The White Sox won it all last year and are certainly capable of winning it all again. I don't the think the White Sox face as many tough opponents and they'll field a better record than the Angels or Red Sox (Sorry Beantown, you have quite a while until you win again! Click here for the Beantown Victory Counter)
AL Wild Card: Chicago White Sox
The next questions to answer are: Who earns the home field and who will play who in the Division Series. I think in the American League, the best record will be earned by the New York Yankees (their offense is just too strong) and they'll be followed by the Cleveland Indians and the Oakland A's respectively. The National League's top team will be the the Atlanta Braves, followed by the Astros, then the Dodgers. Taking all things into account the Division Series matchups would look like:
ALDS: Chicago White Sox @ New York Yankees
ALDS: Oakland A’s @ Cleveland Indians
NLDS: Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves
NLDS: New York Mets @ Houston Astros
For the Yankees to win their series with the White Sox, they'll need to be able to overcome the White Sox rotation in a short series, which we saw last year how dominant they could be. The Tribe will have the same obstacle to deal with in their series with the A's. Each series will be close but I think that the Indians and Yankees will survive to meet up in the ALCS.
ALCS: Cleveland Indians @ New York Yankees
In the NL, the Dodgers will need to get big performances from their rotation to hold the Braves at bay because Atlanta's staff will make it hard to score runs. The Astros need "White Sox-esque" starts from Oswalt, Pettite, and possibly Clemens to shut the down the Mets potent lineup. One team will be successful, the other won't.
NLCS: New York Mets @ Los Angeles Dodgers
The final four! Man this a tough. While another Subway Series would be nice, I don't think it will happen. Either of the 4 teams have the potential to win the series, so I'm going with my gut on this one. And the AL will win the All-Star game (again) giving them the home-field advantage in the World Series. I'm thinking old-school so:
World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers @ New York Yankees
I know some of you are wondering how I can pick the Dodgers to make it to the Series when I've dogged the NL West in my prediction posts. Call it a gut feeling. It just feels right. As for the Yankees, it all comes back to the lineup. It's just too potent. They should be able to overcome any pitching woes they may encounter.
World Series Champion: New York Yankees
And again, I'm not picking them because I'm a Yankee homer. They have everything needed to win it all. From top to bottom the lineup is stacked. The bullpen is going to be awesome. The Big Unit will have an awesome year. Even every major oddsmaker is making the Yankees almost 2 to 1 favorites to win it all. And they will, for the 27th time, ending the current drought. It'll be awesome.
So now that I've laid it all out for you there is no reason to play the season, right? I wish it were that easy. One of the common phrases I've used throughout my predictions is "if healthy." Who knows what will happen to whom and when? Health is important to any team's success. Any injuries could certainly jeopardize that success. And that's why they play the games, because you just never know. I could be totally way off base with my predictions. It'll be fun come October to see how I fared.
At the conclusion of every postseason, they hand out the hardware to the league's best. Why not try and predict those as well? I'm not going to justify the selections, just throw them in a list:
MVP: Travis Hafner (AL) + Albert Pujols (NL)
Cy Young: Roy Halladay (AL) + Roy Oswalt (NL)
ROY: Ian Kinsler (AL) + Josh Barfield (NL)
Manager of Year: Eric Wedge (AL) + Ned Yost (NL)
One last prediction: If Jimmy Rollins can get through his first 9 games with a hit, he'll have a shot at DiMaggio's record. He won't make it.
We're just about 6 hours away from the opener!! Hope you enjoy the season. Baseball is back!!
J