2009 Pre-season Picks Revisited

Since the baseball season is by now long over, I figured it was about time to revisit my preseason predictions, and see if I had any ability to predict the future. And without further ado, here goes

AL East:

Well, I was dead on about the Jays and O’s, and feel like I characterized the Red Sox team pretty accurately, but I didn’t give the Yankees enough credit. I got the wild card team right (the Sox), but swapped the Rays and Yanks at 1^st and 3^rd. Contrary to my hopes, the Yankees did not implode, and they ran away with this season.

AL Central

Well, I knew the Royals weren’t going to be any good, and I was right about the Tigers and White Sox, but underestimated the Twins, as per usual. Though, in my defense, who could have predicted that season from Mauer? Ridiculous. And well, I was just miserably wrong about the Indians. Carmona? Ugh, I’m embarrassed to say I wrote that he would pitch well last year. Anyway, nothing special about this division, I was close, and definitely too optimistic about the Indians. And in addition, it was not Gordon’s year…

AL West

I got the division winner right! But, of course, screwed up the rest of the division. I’m going to plead ignorance, as I really had no idea what the Rangers, A’s, or M’s did last offseason. Next year will be a different story.

NL East

Well, apparently I was wrong about the Mets. Not only did they find a new way to implode, but they went all out, and exposed the New York market to the wonders of a replacement level team! The Marlins and Braves were only a game apart, so I feel justified in putting the Braves ahead, especially since the Braves had a better Pythag by 7 games. If not for the Mets historical meltdown, then I would’ve nailed this division, but, I suppose that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

NL Central

In retrospect, the Brewers were not that good at all last year, so, that was another bad pick. Basically, I was just completely wrong about everything except the Pirates. Embarrassing.

NL West

Yay for the resurrection of the NL West, now the only NL division with an average Pythag over .500! Actually, I was pretty spot on here, except for the Diamondbacks. I had everyone else in the right order, but Arizona decided to screw it all up. Two 90 win teams in the NL West? What is this world coming to?

So, all in all, I picked two division winners, and one of the Wild Cards. Not good, but looking at the context of the picks, they don’t seem that bad. I think my process was solid (in most cases), and this year it’s going to be soo much better, I swear. I’ll predict at least four playoff teams next year, I guarantee. Neither of my World Series teams won more than 84 games, nor was I close on either my Cy Young or Rookie of the Year picks. But, I did correctly pick Pujols as MVP, an yes, I know, that one was really hard to see coming. Overall, I could have done much worse, but at least I set the bar nice and low for the upcoming season. I’ve got nowhere to go but up (as do the Rays! World Series 2010! Woo!)!