'08 Season in Review

Just before the regular season started, my anticipation for the 2008 season got the best of me and I decided to try to predict the outcomes of each division. It got really old, really quickly. Putting together something like this is all well and good for someone who makes a living writing a blog or a sports column, but let's be honest–I'm no professional.

Of the twelve teams included in my predictions, I nailed four of them. And hey, since this is baseball, a .333 average is outstanding, right? We're talking Hall of Fame worthy here.

In the National League West Division, I picked the Diamondbacks to lead the pack, and the Giants to bring up the rear. Turns out that although the pitching seemed to be there for the D-Backs, but their young hitting core took a step back. And, while the Giants were indeed bad, they weren't quite as bad as the Padres. Kind of sad, really. The Padres were a single-game playoff away from making the post-season last year. This year, they bombed. So with the Dodgers taking the prize in the West (thanks largely to the mid-season trade for Manny Ramirez), I was 0-2.

The National League Central division was claimed by the Cubs. I referred to them quite a bit in my NL Central preview, but ultimately chose the Brewers as my pre-season pick. As it turns out, the Cubs finished first and the Brew-Crew picked up the final wildcard playoff spot in the NL on the final day of the season. My last place pick was the Pirates. Even I got that pick right. Division, 1-2; Overall, 1-4.

In the East, I succumbed to the hype and picked the Mets as the clear leaders in the division after the acquisition of one Johan Santana (Actually, my picks in the East were based on repeated scientific research involving the EA Sports classic, Triple Play 2002, the simulation feature, and my now broken xBox). But, as happened last year, the Mets and their fans were left out in the cold on the last day of the season. The Phillies and their amazing bullpen won the division. Just to give you an idea, I heard during the Phillies playoff game yesterday some crazy stat that was something like this: if the games had only been eight innings long, the Mets would have won the division by eight or nine games. But the Phillies were 79-0 when leading after eight innings, and well, the Mets blew some late leads. Triple Play 2002 picked the Expos I picked the Nationals to finish last, so again, I was .500 in this division. Division, 1-2; Overall, 2-6.

By the time I got around to predicting the American League, I was sick of the whole pre-season prediction thing, so they all came in one post. My picks for division winners were the Angels, the Tigers, and the Red Sox (though I did give some props to the Rays, however sarcastic that may have been at the time). Once the pennant races had cleared, the actual winners were the Angels, the White Sox, and the Rays. In last place in their divisions were the Mariners, the Tigers*, and the Orioles. I had picked the Orioles, the Twins, and the A's. American League, 2-6; Overall, 4-12.

*You'd think that since I live in Kansas City and I see AL Central teams more than any other division that I'd be better at picking the eventual outcome. I picked the Tigers to stomp everyone in the AL, and they were so bad, and nice enough to replace the Royals as cellar dwellers. But I also picked the Twins to finish in last, and they ended the regular season tied for the division lead, and lost the single-game playoff by just one run. Oh well. Just another reason why I love baseball. You're never sure what will actually happen between the foul lines.