Major League Baseball 2006 Preview

All of a sudden now that football is officially over, pitchers and catchers report to training camp next week, which means the 2006 Major League Baseball season is just around the corner. The first few months of the season don't really matter with teams warming up and trying to find their chemistry, which works out well considering we've got March Madness and then the playoffs in the NHL and that league where they pretend to play basketball.

Also, with the joke of a tournament called the World Baseball Classic taking place in March, it'll take a little bit of extra time for the players to get into their team chemistry because they'll have to change mindsets quickly from national pride to the reasons they're getting paid seven and eight figures a year.

In the next coming weeks and months, you'll have people on different websites and in magazines and newspapers making their predictions for this season, so let me be the first to tell you what is going to happen this season in the major leagues in a division-by-division breakdown followed by breakdowns of the playoffs all the way up until the World Series.

NL East

1. New York Mets
2. Atlanta Braves
3. Washington Nationals
4. Philadelphia Phillies
5. Florida Marlins

The NL East has moved up significantly in the standings of best division in the league as the Mets will finally be the team that unseats the Braves as division champs. They gained a lot of good players as they unloaded the players that hurt the team and as long as the players mesh, this team could push 95 wins this season.

The Braves didn't pickup enough after losing five good players, with their biggest signing being Edgar Renteria. If he can manage to anchor the infield and be as good as he was two years ago, then they should be good to compete for the wildcard.

The Nationals will be hard up to do anything special with the Mets and Braves in their division. They didn't lose anyone that they couldn't afford to replace and they finally might have some offense, but it'll be hard to make noise this season because of their division.

The Phillies have lost a bit from last season after losing too much and not picking up anyone noteworthy, and they should have a hard time finishing above this spot. The Marlins should be replaced with a triple-A team because that's pretty much all this team is. I'd be surprised if they won 50 games this season.

NL Central

1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Houston Astros
4. Chicago Cubs
5. Pittsburgh Pirates
6. Cincinnati Reds

There is no team in this division that really separated themselves in terms of offseason preparation. It will be hard for any of these teams to catch the Cardinals because they've managed to stay at about the same quality compared to last year. They lost some quality players, but managed to replace them with players that are capable of playing to the same ability and it will be hard for any team to match their offensive power this season.

The Brewers are coming off of their best season in a long time and are poised to make a postseason run. They lost one notable player and managed to solidify their pitching to make it better than last season. If the chemistry can stay solid throughout the season, then they should be even better than last season.

The Astros will be here if Roger Clemens retires. He was the anchor of the rotation when Andy Pettitte was struggling in the beginning of the year and neither Pettitte nor Roy Oswalt look to be able to be a good number one in a rotation.

The Cubs did a little bit of positive work this winter, but it was all voided when they stupidly signed Juan Pierre. The reason that they're here is because they can never manage to have their big two pitchers pitching to their potential at the same time when they're both healthy. The Pirates have a good core of young players, but they're not good enough to make any noise in this division. They picked up some good players, but they lost too many good ones to increase their possibilities from last season.

The Reds have underachieved for the past few seasons and this season will be different. The reason that it will be different is because nobody should expect the Reds to do anything special this year and they won't be disappointed.

NL West

1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Arizona Diamondbacks
3. San Francisco Giants
4. San Diego Padres
5. Colorado Rockies

Last season, the NL West should have had their automatic playoff berth taken away. Saying that the Padres limped into the playoffs is an understatement, which means that the NL West seems to be up for grabs this season. The Dodgers are the team that will move up and take control of the division. They have the pitching potential and the solid infield play that can seize control of the division early on and just hold on enough that the other teams in the division will fall around them. Good for the Dodgers that that's all that's necessary to win this weakest of the divisions this season.

The Diamondbacks are going to stay in second place this season because of the lack of quality on the other three teams. They lost some core players from last season's second place team, but they also managed to replace the lost players well enough that they can stay close to the Dodgers, but not close enough for a wildcard.

This season will show Barry Bonds' true colors. He's lost a lot of weight supposedly to help his knee, and there's no way that he'll break the career home run record this season. He's not as imposing as he was two years ago and with an above-middle-aged outfield and with only Matt Morris worth talking about in the rotation, they'll struggle and underachieve this year before needing to resign Bonds to a $4 billion contract or something like that.

The Padres are a mess: they have no pitching outside of number one and they lost more than they gained. They luckily limped into the division title last season and they should limp into a 65-win season this year. Pitching and defense win championships and a good ERA in Colorado being around 4.50 doesn't ever bode well for the Rockies.

AL East

1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Let the "buying the division" talk start. The Yankees will yet again be the class of the AL East. They have the best lineup in the league and their underachieving rotation from last year should be better this year. As long as Joe Torre can understand that Mike Mussina isn't a number two pitcher anymore and if the young pitchers can stay healthy and solid, the Yankees have the middle relief to complete their pitching staff and rival the White Sox of last year.

A lot of ifs surround Beantown this upcoming season. Those ifs include if the veteran pitching holds up and if the new pitching plays to their potential and if the new players can hit like they have in the past. The truth is, though, they lost too many of their core from their World Series team from two years ago to contend for the division. They should still be good, though, and will be in a close race for the wildcard. Mark my words, though, David Ortiz will never win AL MVP as a DH.

The Blue Jays made some very good yet expensive moves. They improved their pitching marginally, but I'm still not sold on crowning them number two considering their two big moves are a combined 65-69 with 42 career saves. They're going in the right direction, but they don't have the money to keep up with the Red Sox and Yankees. Look for them to make a serious push for the AL wildcard and only lose out on it by one or two games.

The Orioles took a serious step back this season. They started off strong last year and then lost a lot of steam at the end of the season. They haven't done anything in the offseason to make anyone in the country think that they will finish within five games of last season.

You have to feel bad for the Devil Rays for being in this division. They have no hope in competing in this division for the next 10 years at least. There's nothing really more you can say about them.

AL Central

1. Chicago White Sox
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Detroit Tigers

This division is hard to judge in terms of the second-place team. Neither team did too much to shore up a serious advantage and all the defending World Series champions had to do to stay in control was lose some excess weight and fill in a couple of gaps. The White Sox will not repeat this season, they're not that good. They'll win the division because it's the second-weakest one besides the NL West, but after that, you can't expect the pitchers to be the same as they were last year. They'll make some noise and make some teams sweat, but they won't put together another great year.

The same sort of thing can be said for the Indians. They went 46-28 after the All-Star Break while winning 17 of 19 at one point and I guarantee you that won't happen again. The reason for that is that they lost their two top starters from last year's team that helped them win all those games. What did the Twins do this past winter? Absolutely nothing. They shored up a little bit of offensive help, but they sacrificed a solid, young pitcher to do that. The offense will still be pretty anemic and now they won't be able to hold a lead, so this is going to be another season of ho-hum baseball in the Twin Cities.

The Royals did a phenomenal job in bringing in new talent to Kansas City, but don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying they'll contend. Last season, they lost 106 games and have lost 100 or more in three of the past four seasons. I wouldn't be surprised to see a seven in the tens column of the wins at the end of the year for this team, though, as they should be a scrappy bunch.

The pitching for the Tigers got marginally better over the winter and you can expect Pudge Rodriguez to have just as bad of a season as he did last year (well, maybe not that bad) because he's done in the league. I give him two more years, tops.

AL West

1. Oakland A's
2. Los Angeles Angels
3. Texas Rangers
4. Seattle Mariners

This could be the best division in baseball this year. The A's are looking for their new big three pitchers to lead them to a great year this season with Barry Zito, Rich Harden, and Dan Haren. They need solid relief pitching again this season from their rookie of the year closer, and they have to have chemistry in the clubhouse for this young but very good team to stay in the hunt, which might be hard with Milton Bradley in the clubhouse this year. They'll be good, though, so watch out.

The Angels are again a very good team that will be in the playoff hunt all season long. Don't expect Bartolo Colon to retain his form of last year's Cy Young campaign, but even with the pitchers they've lost they'll have a great rotation and will be in desperate need for offense as the trade deadline approaches.

The Rangers finally have some pitching, even though they had to give up some of that good offense to get it. They'll have a very solid infield and good hitting yet again this year, but this time, they'll have the pitching to lead them to a lot of victories. They'll be looking for some relief pitching at the trade deadline and that's what will keep them out of the playoffs.

The Mariners have some bad fortune this year again. Their pitching is either too young or too old and we can see now that they grossly overpaid one of their big free agent signings from a year ago. They need an overhaul of the bullpen in order to mold their star 19-year-old into the league's next great pitcher, and they'll sacrifice this season to do it.

Playoffs

NLDS — Cardinals over Braves and Mets over Dodgers
ALDS — Yankees over Angels and A's over White Sox

NLCS — Cardinals over Mets
ALCS — Yankees over A's

World Series — Yankees over Cardinals, 4-2

Notes

* Another fearless prediction — UConn will not win the national championship this season.

* The new SI swimsuit issue is out. Go buy it.