April 3rd: MLB Playoff Preview

Before we’ve played a single game, I’ve predicted the final standings for all six MLB divisions. Now, I take a look at the way the postseason will shape up. Who wins the World Series? You’re about to find out!

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AL Wild Card:

Mariners over Indians - A faceoff between last year’s Cy Young finalists, Kluber is going to be enough to get the Tribe to the game, but the Mariners lineup will be able to get Seattle into the next round.

NL Wild Card:

Pirates over Cubs - The Cubs squeak in on the last day of the season, while the Pirates cruise to the postseason, only barely falling short of St. Louis. While Chicago owns the hearts of the country, the Pirates own the talent, and a third straight WC game gives Pittsburgh the edge.

AL Division Series:

Angels over Mariners - A division showdown in the Division Series. The Mariners will try to seek their revenge after losing out on the division crown, but the Angels will be out for blood after their embarrassing loss to Kansas City a year ago. Angels will win it in four.

Red Sox over Tigers - The matchup of the two best lineups in the American League will be a slugfest, especially if the pitching staffs limp into the postseason. This is totally dependent on who’s hot as the season expires, but the Red Sox have Kung Fu Panda, who knows how to get it done in October.

NL Division Series:

Nationals over Pirates - The Nationals will have an absolutely unbeatable staff, built for a long postseason run. The Pirates will, for the third straight year, draw a bad matchup in the postseason, and be headed home early. Luckily, they will have proven their intent to compete, so free agents will flock to Pittsburgh in 2016.

Dodgers over Cardinals - Clayton Kershaw will be begging for the ball in this series, and he will get his revenge. The Cardinals won’t have the pitching depth to make this year their year, and will watch as the Dodgers take their place in the next round.

AL Championship Series:

Angels over Red Sox - The cross country series will feature two teams with question marks at pitcher but rosters so deep, they will score by the truckload. I’m going with my gut and picking the Angels, who feel like they are ready to make the jump to postseason elite.

NL Championship Series:

Nationals over Dodgers - The pitching matchups in this series will make anyone drool. Look for Kershaw to square off against Scherzer, leaving Strasburg to make his October name for himself the following night. In the end, the Dodgers won’t be able to compete offensively with the Nationals, and Washington will visit the Fall Classic.

World Series:

Nationals over Angels - Baseball’s greatest pitching staff will face off against the greatest offense, in a baseball version of the Denver-Seattle Super Bowl. The matchup between Mike Trout and now MVP favorite Bryce Harper will be an epic battle that will set the tone for the future of the game. In the end, masterful pitching will once again decide the outcome of the game, and Harper’s Spring Training predictions will come away looking prophetic. The World Series Champions will be the Washington Nationals!

That’s how the ZP: Left Fielder sees the Major League Baseball season shaping up. Will it end the way we predict? Probably not. Don’t worry, though. I’ll be here in October to pick them again!

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April 2nd: MLB West Division Predictions

We wrap up our breakdown of every team in baseball with the West divisions. With the Mariners surging and the Astros growing ever-closer to their 2017 World Series date, the AL is full of excitement. Meanwhile, the NL holds the dominant Dodgers and the defending World Champs. The West will most certainly be wild this year.

American League West:

1. Angels

Everyone wants to declare the Angels secondary in their division, but that lineup is fierce. Having the greatest player on the planet helps, and I see Albert Pujols continuing to rebuild his career as he learns what it means to be an older player. The pitching is the one area of question, but this team is going to be better than anyone is giving them credit for.

2. Mariners

This looks to be the preeminent favorite to come out of the American League in October. I am not so sure, though, as the Mariners have a lot of growing and learning to do. Strong on all sides of the ball, the Mariners will be fun to watch this year, but we all need to keep our enthusiasm in check a little bit, as there is a lack of experience on this team that could cause a hiccup down the stretch.

3. Astros

Don’t look now, but the Astros look like they are getting to compete sooner rather than later. George Springer is going to be a star in this league, while the rest of the lineup saw great improvement with some wise offseason moves. The pitching is an area of concern, but the Astros are trending up, and could turn a lot of heads.

4. Athletics

Every year I predict the A’s won’t be as good as we expect, and every year the A’s are better than we expect. This year might just be the first time I’m right. A full blown fire sale left almost no one you’ve ever heard of on this team, and, while Billy Beane has always been a genius, his selling may have caught up to him this time.

5. Rangers

The Rangers were baseball’s least lucky team last year, and this year doesn’t look to be much better. The end to Yu Darvish’s season is a huge blow, and the Rangers are putting a lot of love behind Prince Fielder, who is coming off a serious injury. This team could be much better than I expect, but, if we learned anything from last year, it’s that you can’t get your hopes up in Arlington.

National League West:

1. Dodgers

The Dodgers had a dominant 2014 campaign come to a dramatic end, as Clayton Kershaw fell from grace in the postseason. This year, the team will bide their time until they can get their October revenge. A great lineup and a great rotation means this team will have no problem finding their way into the playoffs. What they do from there will define them.

2. Giants

Three championships in five years? This team is a dynasty, and Buster Posey is the reason why. While it would be clever to claim that this will be a down (odd numbered) year, the Giants will be competitive, and will be led by two of the brightest young stars in the sport in Posey and MadBum. The Giants aren’t as strong as they were in October, but they will still be a force.

3. Padres

The Padres will have six new starters on Opening Day, causing many to declare the Padres ready for contention. I’m not entirely sure that all of the pieces will come together as nicely as others might believe. This team will hit plenty of home runs, and the pitching will keep them competitive, but this will be the biggest disappointment of the season by a wide margin.

4. 
   Diamondbacks

I’ve loved the moves the Diamondbacks have made since Tony La Russa took over. If I were a pitcher, I would hide under the bed at the thought of Goldschmidt, Trumbo, and Thomas back to back to back. The young outfield corps is also very intriguing, and will give this team a spark. If it weren’t for a dreary pitching staff, I would boldly predict that this team would be my sleeper pick. Maybe next offseason they’ll be ready to finish the rebuild.

5. Rockies

The Rockies are a team full of parts, none of which can bring together the finished product. Tulowitzki, Gonzalez, Morneau, Blackmon, Arenado; there is plenty of star power, but nothing to show for it. This team needs to aggressively commit to rebuilding, and actually put together a product that can compete in all phases of the game.

Check back tomorrow for a look at the playoff picture and a full prediction. Who will come away with the Commissioner's Trophy in October? You’ll find out tomorrow!

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The Dodger Blues?

While his career saw something of a resurgence in the final months of 2014, Matt Kemp has been shopped by the Dodgers in hopes of clearing up the outfield logjam in LA. With swings like this one featured in Sports Illustrated, there should be plenty of interest.

July 31st: MLB Trade Deadline Review

The Major League Baseball trade deadline is by far my favorite couple of days of the year. Leading up to July 31st at 4 pm, the internet is abuzz with insight, speculation, and rumors. Every team seems to be involved at some level.

My favorite part is watching what actually happens, as compared the the wild rumors that lead up to the event. With that being said, ZP:Left Fielder is reviewing the deals that happened, and commenting on some of the deals that should have.

Best Move:

• David Price to the TIgers: Of course, as it should be. The Tigers now have the past three AL Cy Young Award winners. They made this move to compete with the Oakland As. The difference between the As and the Tigers? The Tigers have four starters with World Series experience. The As have two. Price makes the Tigers the favorite in the AL.

Move That Should Have Been:

• Marlon Byrd to...ANYWHERE: WIth the second Wild Card spot, more teams are looking to get ready for playoff runs. That being said, there aren’t that many bats available. Byrd would have been a good addition for the Reds, Mariners, Yankees, or, frankly, anyone else. This was a waste by the Phillies, and a missed opportunity for the rest of the middle-range contenders.

Deal I’m Glad Didn’t Happen:

• Matt Kemp leaving Los Angeles: I’ve been a Kemp fan since the beginning, and hoped he would turn things around. While there is a full outfield in Los Angeles, no team has ever complained from having too many stars in preparation for the playoffs. Kemp has the ability to explode offensively at any time. The Dodgers may be very happy they didn’t do something drastic come October.

Best Move, Worst Location:

• Emilio Bonifacio to the Braves: Plenty of teams could have used a speedy middle-infielder with experience. Well, frankly, all teams could have used him. To give him and a top notch lefty reliever go for just a single-A catcher was a bummer for the Cubs, who started off the deadline so boldly.

Move They’ll Wish They Could Take Back:

• 
  John Lackey to the Cardinals: The Cardinals seem to forget that Lackey has been the worst pitcher in baseball in the not-so-distant past. Giving up last year’s best hitter and a big-future pitcher for an aging veteran may be a short-sighted answer that will come back to bite them. Despite Craig and Kelly’s struggles this year, they will have better long-term success than Lackey will provide short-term.

Biggest Winners:

• The 2015 Red Sox: While this year may be a lost cause, the Red Sox traded this year like a team that knew they were going to be back in contention soon. Two big-hitting outfielders, and a pitching prospect that has a high ceiling, the Sox look like they are getting ready for a rebound. Lester has even talked about coming back in a few months. This team won’t go away for long.
• The Chicago Cubs: Yes, you read that right. The Cubs were able to do what every team hopes to do in April: sign a whole bunch of older talent for dirt cheap and flip them in July. They’ve now done it three years in a row, acquiring their current ace, their future superstar, and their top set-up man that way over the past three years. To give away Hammel and Bonifacio for top level minor league talent is something of a 2016 coup d'etat.
• The 2015 Twins rotation: See a pattern here? While teams are going crazy trying to put winners together for this year, a few teams are quietly getting ready for the future. A new deal with catcher Kurt Suzuki and acquiring Tommy Milone are just that for the Twins. Has anyone noticed the Twins have a nice little rotation going with Milone, Correia, Hughes, and Nolasco? Not Oakland or Detroit, but it’s a start.

Biggest Losers:

• Yoenis Cespedes: How must it feel to go from the cleanup hitter on a World Series favorite to a last-place team? Cespedes is an incredible hitter who has gone from the top to the bottom. Next year may be a fun time (MAYBE), but for the remainder of the 2014 season, this is going to be a miserable team. It will be hard to watch his old team make a long postseason run while he’s watching from home.
• The Pirates and Brewers: If any year were the year to beat out the Cardinals, it was this one. The pieces were available to improve their teams, and both sat relatively quietly at the deadline. The Cardinals moves weren’t great, but they will probably be enough to beat the their two divisional foes.
• The National League: Sorry guys. Whether the biggest winners were the Tigers or the As, the biggest loser was whichever National League team has to try to win the World Series against either of the best rotations in baseball. Can Clayton Kershaw pitch seven games in a row. Cygh...

June 5th: Guess Who the White Sox are Playing?

Jose Quintana's defense couldn't play any better
than their broadcasters could call the game.

I know it’s a rough day at the gym when I’m so desperate for something to watch on TV that I actually turn to a White Sox game. This was the predicament I was in yesterday. To make matters worse, it wasn’t even a real White Sox game; it was a replay of a game played the day before.

It was the last 10 minutes on the elliptical, though, and I needed to keep my mind off of the burning in my legs, so I stuck with it. The Dodgers were having a big inning (I knew that before it happened, because I had seen the highlights that morning). Over the course of the ten batter inning, the White Sox committed four defensive blunders resulting in a 5 run rally by LA. Jose Quintana, the starter for the White Sox, just couldn’t catch a break.

As it turned out, neither could I. It dawned on me that, for the entirety of the 15 minutes I watched the game, the announcing team hadn’t once mentioned that there was another team on the field. The coverage was 80% discussing (or should I say lamenting) the play of the White Sox, and 20% telling me what was actually happening on the field. Of course, not that the Dodgers had just recorded a hit: the White Sox had let up the hit. If this had been a radio broadcast, I would have had no idea who the opponents were; they were never mentioned by name or by likeness.

As a baseball fan living outside of his home market, I saw a lot of baseball last year, some nationally televised, others on local broadcasts that I was able to find on MLB.com. Having heard plenty of announcing crews and their style of describing baseball, Ken “Hawk” Harrelson and Steve Stone must have been the worst I’ve ever experienced.

I know everything I say about the White Sox needs to be said with the caveat: I hate the Sox. I’m a true Cubs fan who can’t stand what they Sox stand for. But as a fan of the game of baseball, I’m objective enough to say things like “Jose Abreu is a monster,” and “Paul Konerko is a class act,” and “Chris Sale can flat out pitch.” In the same breath: The Sox TV crew suck.

Gordon Beckham's defensive struggles made for an LA
big inning. Not that you would have known it was LA...

I understand that Hawk is one of the most iconic announcers in the game. We’ve all come to know, if not love, his phrases, like “He gone,” for a strikeout, or a hearty “YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD!!! YES!!!” for a dinger. But being so narrow-minded that you don’t even acknowledge the other team on the field is a real disappointment for any fan trying to really take in a ballgame.

For any game, you want to hear a little bit about the other team. Who are their stars? How are they doing this year? What style do they play? This is even more magnified in the case of inter-league play. Sox fans don’t often get to see an NL West foe. None of that happened, though, as Hawk and Steve spent their entire air-time talking about their own team.

Good broadcasting is telling a story. A baseball story is not complete with only one side of the game, and while their paychecks are coming from the White Sox, they aren’t paid on commision for the number of times they mention the team name.

February 22nd: National League Preview

The 162 game baseball season is a marathon. Yet, in Spring Training, it is easy enough to let the excitement get the best of you. Everyone is trying to guess where the standings will wind up September 29^th. In this case, the Zoot Perspective Left Fielder will attempt to predict the standings for the 2014 baseball season. This week we’ll tackle the National League, next week the American League.

NL East:

     1,  Washington Nationals: Last year was a season to forget in DC. With their mysterious hitting woes behind them, the Nationals should prove why they were such heavy favorites to win last year. One of the strongest starting rotations allows even a rough start for the lineup to remain a scary threat for the division title.

     2. Atlanta Braves: The first team to clinch last year has a lot of question marks, including which pair of Upton brothers will show up. This team will live and die by the bat of Freddie Freeman, who is out to prove that his big new contract was no accident.

     3.   New York Mets: Young pitching leads another new wave of Mets, led by Dillon Gee and Zack Wheeler. Missing Matt Harvey will hurt, though, and David Wright’s questionable durability may be the difference for a franchise that lacks the offense to put up big numbers. Another mediocre year awaits.

     4. Philadelphia Phillies: The past few years have not been kind to the aging Phillies, as the 2008 World Series is shrinking in the rearview mirror. An identity crisis is in the cards as Philadelphia attempts to decide whether they want to compete now or rebuild for their future.

     5.  Miami Marlins: An offseason of smart moves makes this Marlins team better than the terrifyingly bad on from a year ago. Jarrod Saltalamacchia does not make you a champion, though. This team will be better, but not by much.

NL Central:

      1. St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals are perennial threats to make the playoffs, and this year appears to be no exception. A strong core of talent and some offseason improvements from last year’s NL pennant winners should put them in contention to return to the World Series. The one question mark will be to see how young pitchers Michael Wacha and Shelby Miller respond to their sophomore campaigns.

     2. Pittsburgh Pirates: The loss of some key rentals from last year’s playoff team could bode badly for the Buccos. The taste of victory is on the lips of Pittsburgh fans, though, so the club should be hungry for more. Having defending NL MVP Andrew McCutchen and rising stars OF Starling Marte and SP Gerrit Cole should make this team contenders for quite a few years to come.

     3.  Cincinnati Reds: Two years ago, this team won the division in stunning fashion. Last year, they fell in the Wild Card game. Unfortunately, the slide may continue for a team that is relying heavily on the production of some young stars. This will be a good ball club, but most likely not a great one.

     4. Chicago Cubs: The future looks bright in Chicago. The question is, how long will fans have to wait? Bounce-back years from Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo should lead a young team into a more comfortable place. This year isn’t the year, but it’s going to be good practice for the very exciting 2015 season.

     5.  Milwaukee Brewers: Although stealthily subtle moves to improve the rotation have helped, the Brewers are far removed from the days of competing in the NL Central. This team will most likely flounder unless Carlos Gomez can continue to rise and Ryan Braun can return in full form (minus the steroids).

NL West:

     1.  Los Angeles Dodgers: The biggest question facing the Dodgers is who will be the odd man out in a too-talented outfield. That’s a good problem to have. Starting pitching and young talent headline a team with an expectation for a World Series win. This team looks like the real deal.

   

     2. San Fransisco Giants: A team that wins the World Series and returns almost the whole lineup should do pretty well, right? Apparently not, as last year’s Giants proved. This year, though, things should be back to normal, as the Giants take a stab at the wild card or even a chance to unseat the Dodgers. Either way, that rivalry will be fun this summer.

     3.  Arizona Diamondbacks: This team is going to be hard to predict. The potential is there for a real playoff threat, while there is also the chance for a big flop. The big questions are whether Mark Trumbo can provide some support for Paul Goldschmidt, and whether or not the starting pitching can keep the Diamondbacks going.

     4. San Diego Padres: A very similar group from the 2013 squad, this team is supposed to develop into a solid core of players. Key words: supposed to. Expectations are high and, unless someone steps up as the star of this team, they will most likely not be met.

     5.Colorado Rockies: Some young stars exist in Nolan Arenado and Wilin Rosario, and Carlos Gonzalez will continue to be a yearly MVP candidate, but otherwise this team appears a little lackluster. In an otherwise strong division, this team just doesn’t look to have what it takes to make a big impact on the race come August or September.