mlb.com staff's 2013 predictions

[gurn67]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130328&content_id=43434754&c_id=

 

20 predictions that I think are pretty fair.

 

15% Winning the World Series

75% Winning the AL West

10% Watching the playoffs on TV

 

Seems the Angels poor spring training and abysmal pitching in Arizona has made the Tigers the new darlings and I'm totally fine with that.

Nationals are still the darlings of the NL.

[maximus p]

As the pitching now stands, no way the Angels sniff the WS.  Be interesting to see what Jedi can do about that prior to the trading deadline.

[Troll Daddy]

My pick would be Washington as of right now ... it's going to be a fun season.

 

 

Go Angel baseball

[Jason]

This pitching staff will not put them in contention for the AL West.

[Brent Maguire]

I still think the Nats are the favorites. If Strasburg and Harper both take big steps this year, that team could be scary good. 

[Punk]

Nats or Tigers.

 

Go Angels!

[LBHalos17]

I like the Nats with my pal Espinosa.  If he can keep his bat hot from ST, they'll be scary.

The Angels will be scoring runs just to keep-up with teams this season.

[Chuck]

The Angels were paper champions last year and that's without Trout going in and uncertainty with Morales.

[Docwaukee]

I think the SPs will be better than expected.  A few blowups here and there will inflate their ERA so on paper it won't look great, but I think by and large, they will do their job and keep us in games.  The offense will do it's thing so the big determining factor will be the pen.  three guys need to be very good and two more at least solid.  Frieri, Jepsen and Downs or Burnett are so important.  Then one of Burnett/Downs and Lowe/Richards need to be good enough not to turn small deficits into big ones.  If they can do this, the team will win 92-97 games as expected.  If the pen fails, 85 wins.  Yes, I am saying that there is  10 win delta between a very good pen and what they did last year. 

 

On top of that, even if the starting pitching doesn't perform all that well, as long as the pen does well, they will still win a lot of games.  A average pen last year and we win the division.  I am confident that the offense will be just as good and the starters might be better as last year's crew wasn't great. 

[ineedanap]

I think the SPs will be better than expected.  A few blowups here and there will inflate their ERA so on paper it won't look great, but I think by and large, they will do their job and keep us in games.  The offense will do it's thing so the big determining factor will be the pen.  three guys need to be very good and two more at least solid.  Frieri, Jepsen and Downs or Burnett are so important.  Then one of Burnett/Downs and Lowe/Richards need to be good enough not to turn small deficits into big ones.  If they can do this, the team will win 92-97 games as expected.  If the pen fails, 85 wins.  Yes, I am saying that there is  10 win delta between a very good pen and what they did last year. 

 

On top of that, even if the starting pitching doesn't perform all that well, as long as the pen does well, they will still win a lot of games.  A average pen last year and we win the division.  I am confident that the offense will be just as good and the starters might be better as last year's crew wasn't great. 

 

Yeah, I really think the bullpen is more important than most people realize. A major part of the Angels' success during the 2000s was due to the awesomeness of their BP. I might be wrong, but for the first time in a long time I really like the Angels' BP. 

 

I guess I'm in the minority, but I really think the bullpen is a strength of this team. There isn't a lot of depth, but the guys we have should be lights out.

[Glen]

I've been bitching in my last few posts, but the last few days gives me some hope for the bullpen.  

[shellback]

Yeah, I really think the bullpen is more important than most people realize. A major part of the Angels' success during the 2000s was due to the awesomeness of their BP. I might be wrong, but for the first time in a long time I really like the Angels' BP. 

 

I guess I'm in the minority, but I really think the bullpen is a strength of this team. There isn't a lot of depth, but the guys we have should be lights out.

 

 

MAN, i hope your right!

Watching the bored, apathetic, preoccupied millionares club the entire summer sounds pretty ugly.

[Blarg]

I think if they pinch run for Pujols every time he is in scoring position they win the World Series.

[Sully151]

I expect a lot of 8-5, 7-6 type games. This offense is pretty sick and can put up a ton of runs really quickly, but on the same note, our pitching staff can give up a lot of runs pretty quickly too.

I know some purists hate high scoring games, but I dig them.

Hopefully last night was just one of those nights and our defense will keep us in a lot of games.

If we don't make the Playoffs, I think Scioscia take the fall. You can't have that payroll and that offense and miss the playoffs again.

[gotbeer]

Kiss of death.  The "experts" are never right.

 

CBS 2012

Yahoo 2012

SI 2012