2016 Season Review and Postseason Preview

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