Well, the 2016 regular season is
over. It was, without a doubt, the most
disappointing season I can remember...ever.
At least as an Astros fan.
They've had worse years, definitely, but never one that fell so short of
expectations. But let's look beyond
that. First, let's see how I did with my
predictions:
AL East
Toronto - building on last year
Baltimore - I liked their
additions
Boston - Price was a good pickup,
but too high a price (HA!)
New York - old men get older
Tampa Bay - still a year or two
away
Well now, I was close. The top
three are all in the playoffs, just not in that order. Not bad.
AL Central
Kansas City - love this team
makeup
Cleveland (Wild Card) - a solid
young team
Detroit - do they have enough?
Chicago - good pieces don't add
up
Minnesota - not enough
Nobody saw that many injuries for KC.
Besides that, I was pretty much dead on.
AL West
Houston - too much talent not to
Texas (Wild Card) - a healthy
year for a strong team
Los Angeles - somewhat of a mess
Oakland - always in the chase
Seattle - King Felix no more
Oy. Freaking Rangers playing way
above their stats. Freaking Astros being
the Astros. This was way off.
So I successfully picked 3 of 5 playoff teams, though two division
leaders I had in the Wild Card. Not bad.
NL East
Washington - only Matt Williams
could fail with this much talent
New York (Wild Card) - fantastic
starting rotation and just enough offense
Miami - if Giancarlo can stay
healthy
Philadelphia - rebuilding mode
Atlanta - blowup mode preparing
for new stadium
Perfect! Even the Mets in the
Wild Card!
NL Central
Chicago - drinking the Cool-Aid
Pittsburgh - a tough division
means they just miss Wild Card for first time in four years
St. Louis - because they can't
keep winning
Milwaukee - trying to copy the
Astros
Cincinnati - Votto is gone by the
All Star Break
Again, flip Pittsburgh and St. Louis and this one is perfect, even with
the second place team just missing the Wild Card!
NL West
Los Angeles - they eventually
have to live up to the hype
San Francisco (Wild Card) -
because it's an even year
Arizona - Pollock injury crushes
them
San Diego - not much to see here
Colorado - even less here once
CarGo leaves
Top two are perfect. You know
what that means? I was 5-5 with NL
playoff predictions!
ALCS - Houston over Toronto
NLCS - Washington over Chicago
World Series - Houston over
Washington (complete homer pick, I hope it is not a jinx)
What a way to jinx! Next year,
I'll pick the Astros to go 0-162. Yeah,
that'll work.
Anyways, here's my look at the
postseason:
AL Wild Card:
TOR over BAL
A
tough one to call, with Toronto's experience against a better starter for the
Orioles. Usually you go starter, but in
this case I'm going with the home team.
NL Wild Card:
SF over NY
Again
tough, but this time I'm going with pitching.
How can you pick against freakin' Bumgarner?
ALDS:
TOR over TEX
Somewhat
wishful thinking, somewhat expecting the Rangers to play as they did against
every team not named "Astros."
CLE over BOS
Boston's
offense is fantastic, but the Indians have a better team.
NLDS:
WSH over LA
At
some point they have to play up to expectations, right? The loss of Ramos really hurts, though.
CHI over SF
Mostly
because I cannot abide another Giants playoff run.
ALCS:
TOR over CLE
The
Blue Jays get hot and keep rolling.
NLCS:
WSH over CHI
What
should be a great championship series comes down to the wire, and Harper plays
hero.
World Series:
WSH over TOR
I'm
sticking with my Nationals World Series pick, and when it comes to the Series I
have to go US over Canada.
Awards picks:
AL ROY: Gary Sanchez
NL ROY: Corey Seager
AL Cy Young: Corey Kluber
NL Cy Young: Kyle Hendricks
AL MVP: Jose Altuve
NL MVP: Kris Bryant
