So who do fancy will be World Series 2016 Champions?. I think the Washington Nationals will finally stay healthy and there pitching will finally reach its potential and they will triumph over the Toronto Blue Jay's......
No doubt we will see the likes of the Royals, Cardinals and Blue Jays up there, I would say Nationals will be up there as well. The Cubs are 8/1 faves for the World series pre season. My team the Indians will no doubt just do the usual.
in the AL its hard to look past toronto , their lineup is scary and they could score a helluva lot of runs , couple of question marks tho, can tulowitski stay healthy playing a full season on astroturf, can donaldson have another MVP calibre year and do the likes of estrada and stroman have what it takes to be a true #1 pitcher
texas and houston may be the main rivals in the AL with texas having a full season of hamels and darvish, and the astros young team having that extra year of experience
i think overall the NL is stronger, in the east the nationals are favourites again but will be pushed by both miami and the mets. the mets rotation in particular looks really strong. the NL central has been the best division in baseball the last few years and whilst the cubs are the early favourites you can never write off the cardinals, and the pirates are still strong as well.
in the west the dbacks have added real quality to their pitching and have 2 genuine stars in goldschmidt and pollock, the giants have added depth to their pitching whilst the dodgers are probably the strongest 25 man roster in the game but do have questions over their starting pitching behind kershaw.
i'll go for a bluejays-dodgers WS, with the dodgers winning.
I can't see the Dodgers winning the WS. There pitching is nowhere near deep enough. I think they probably won't win the West even. The Jays are not a bad pick. They will all rely on not getting to many long term injuries. They are the great equaliser.....
I can't see the Dodgers winning the WS. There pitching is nowhere near deep enough. I think they probably won't win the West even. The Jays are not a bad pick. They will all rely on not getting to many long term injuries. They are the great equaliser.....
with most bookies the dodgers are same price as the nats and giants, with the cubs being favourites
in the AL the redsox are the favourite but just dont see the addition of price making enough of a difference for them unless both ramirez and sandoval have big bounceback years
the thing with the dodgers is they have probably the strongest bench out of all teams and have one of the best farm systems and money to burn, so come july will be in a good position to strengthen with trades
the dbacks made good moves this winter to strengthen their pitching but not sure they have the lineup depth behind goldschmidt and pollock. the giants look in a good position but they were really hoping to get grienke who went to the dbacks instead, cueto and samardzija i dont think are as good as their reps, samardzija especially is a bit of a one season wonder. the big thing for the giants will be how good matt cain is after a couple of seasons with injury problems, if he is back to anything near his best they will be very strong.
Can't see past the Cubs, myself - in top level sport there is no substitute for experience, calmness under pressure and a well-filled trophy room and these are qualities which all the world associates with the Chicago Cubs.
Can't see past the Cubs, myself - in top level sport there is no substitute for experience, calmness under pressure and a well-filled trophy room and these are qualities which all the world associates with the Chicago Cubs.
How about Baltimore?! Let's see how long they can keep that up!
been quite a start, especially considering most pundits and stats sites had them down to finish last in the AL east
still a long way to go tho
good win for the yankees last night with a strong performance from the bullpen, its going to be a real strength once chapman comes off his suspension and gets added to betances and miller
Can't see the Yankees doing much. The East will be close. I can see the Jays picking it up. I like the look of of the Nationals. Harper is the best player in the game. ESPN can rank Trout no1. However Harper stays healthy he will win the N.L MVP hands down.....
No doubt we will see the likes of the Royals, Cardinals and Blue Jays up there, I would say Nationals will be up there as well. The Cubs are 8/1 faves for the World series pre season. My team the Indians will no doubt just do the usual.
My team the Indians doing well and with a few game left and post season is on the cards. Texas also looking good as are the Cubs and Nationals
My team the Indians doing well and with a few game left and post season is on the cards. Texas also looking good as are the Cubs and Nationals
hard to compare the likes of the indians and rangers to the AL east teams atm because of the way the schedule works as the AL east is much deeper. the yankees are in 4th place in the east with a record that would have them in second place in all the other 5 divisions. the top 4 in the east only have tampa to beat up on whereas all the other divisions have at least 2 weak teams.
as a yankee fan i had given up on them at the all-star break and just hoped cashman had the guts to sell and build up the farm system for next year, which he did, and by bringing some of the younger players up from the minors we have actually ended up a better team. with less than 4 weeks to go we still have a good chance at a wildcard and an outside chance in the division given we play all the teams above us between now and the end of the season. weakness is still going to be starting pitching depth as only tanaka and sabathia have really performed with any sort of consistency this year.
i still think the WS winner will come from the NL this year, the cubs have been strong all year as have the nats and neither really has an obvious weakness. i still wont rule out the dodgers as they have managed to put themselves in a position to win the NL west despite missing kershaw for most of the year, he is healthy again and a fresh kershaw going into the post season is a great asset.
Yeah difficult to look past the Cubs after the way they have played this season. I'm just pleased to see the Indians reach post season. I will be in the U.S when some of the WS games are played.
Yeah difficult to look past the Cubs after the way they have played this season. I'm just pleased to see the Indians reach post season. I will be in the U.S when some of the WS games are played.
I'm predicting a heartbreakingly improbable bad beat for the Cubs in game 7 of the NL Championship Series which will see a clearly inferior team advance to the WS.
they are going to have a long-ish break, by baseball standards, between their last regular seasom game and the start of the NLDS, and in a shorter series a team that maybe doesn't have the same depth that they do can do well
the advantage they will have is that by having the best record in the league they can now setup their rotation for the series whereas the team they will be playing will have to play the one-off wildcard game and might not have their #1 available for the start of the NLDS
playoffs have started with the 2 wildcards games taking place over the last 2 nights
two cracking games with toronto beating baltimore in extra innings and a big time pitching duel between baumgartner and syndegard before SF beat the mets
ALDS starts tonight with boston v cleveland and toronto going to texas
ALDS starts tonight with boston v cleveland and toronto going to texas
Toronto looking like they have come off the last couple of weeks of the season with big momentum, but lots to go yet. Unlike their golden age back in the early 90s they do have some Canadians in key positions this time.
Toronto looking like they have come off the last couple of weeks of the season with big momentum, but lots to go yet. Unlike their golden age back in the early 90s they do have some Canadians in key positions this time.
knocking hamels out the game that early and getting into the bullpen sets them up well for the rest of the series and makes up for having had to play the extra innings game just a couple of days ago
Comments
texas and houston may be the main rivals in the AL with texas having a full season of hamels and darvish, and the astros young team having that extra year of experience
i think overall the NL is stronger, in the east the nationals are favourites again but will be pushed by both miami and the mets. the mets rotation in particular looks really strong. the NL central has been the best division in baseball the last few years and whilst the cubs are the early favourites you can never write off the cardinals, and the pirates are still strong as well.
in the west the dbacks have added real quality to their pitching and have 2 genuine stars in goldschmidt and pollock, the giants have added depth to their pitching whilst the dodgers are probably the strongest 25 man roster in the game but do have questions over their starting pitching behind kershaw.
i'll go for a bluejays-dodgers WS, with the dodgers winning.
with most bookies the dodgers are same price as the nats and giants, with the cubs being favourites
in the AL the redsox are the favourite but just dont see the addition of price making enough of a difference for them unless both ramirez and sandoval have big bounceback years
the thing with the dodgers is they have probably the strongest bench out of all teams and have one of the best farm systems and money to burn, so come july will be in a good position to strengthen with trades
the dbacks made good moves this winter to strengthen their pitching but not sure they have the lineup depth behind goldschmidt and pollock. the giants look in a good position but they were really hoping to get grienke who went to the dbacks instead, cueto and samardzija i dont think are as good as their reps, samardzija especially is a bit of a one season wonder. the big thing for the giants will be how good matt cain is after a couple of seasons with injury problems, if he is back to anything near his best they will be very strong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizarro_World
dont forget them inviting billy goats to all their games
What date does regular season start.
Thanks
Lets go Mets
Limited programme Sunday, then full schedule on Monday. 12 live games on ESPN next week.
3 live games on sunday night , 4 on monday night
i'll second that
just need too many things to go right i think with alot of our key players being pretty old, injury prone, or both
next year and especially the year after should be better as a few of the big contracts come off the books
they sweep the 3 game series over the padres and do it without conceding a run
been quite a start, especially considering most pundits and stats sites had them down to finish last in the AL east
still a long way to go tho
good win for the yankees last night with a strong performance from the bullpen, its going to be a real strength once chapman comes off his suspension and gets added to betances and miller
My team the Indians doing well and with a few game left and post season is on the cards. Texas also looking good as are the Cubs and Nationals
hard to compare the likes of the indians and rangers to the AL east teams atm because of the way the schedule works as the AL east is much deeper. the yankees are in 4th place in the east with a record that would have them in second place in all the other 5 divisions. the top 4 in the east only have tampa to beat up on whereas all the other divisions have at least 2 weak teams.
as a yankee fan i had given up on them at the all-star break and just hoped cashman had the guts to sell and build up the farm system for next year, which he did, and by bringing some of the younger players up from the minors we have actually ended up a better team. with less than 4 weeks to go we still have a good chance at a wildcard and an outside chance in the division given we play all the teams above us between now and the end of the season. weakness is still going to be starting pitching depth as only tanaka and sabathia have really performed with any sort of consistency this year.
i still think the WS winner will come from the NL this year, the cubs have been strong all year as have the nats and neither really has an obvious weakness. i still wont rule out the dodgers as they have managed to put themselves in a position to win the NL west despite missing kershaw for most of the year, he is healthy again and a fresh kershaw going into the post season is a great asset.
I'm predicting a heartbreakingly improbable bad beat for the Cubs in game 7 of the NL Championship Series which will see a clearly inferior team advance to the WS.
they are going to have a long-ish break, by baseball standards, between their last regular seasom game and the start of the NLDS, and in a shorter series a team that maybe doesn't have the same depth that they do can do well
the advantage they will have is that by having the best record in the league they can now setup their rotation for the series whereas the team they will be playing will have to play the one-off wildcard game and might not have their #1 available for the start of the NLDS
two cracking games with toronto beating baltimore in extra innings and a big time pitching duel between baumgartner and syndegard before SF beat the mets
ALDS starts tonight with boston v cleveland and toronto going to texas
Toronto looking like they have come off the last couple of weeks of the season with big momentum, but lots to go yet. Unlike their golden age back in the early 90s they do have some Canadians in key positions this time.
knocking hamels out the game that early and getting into the bullpen sets them up well for the rest of the series and makes up for having had to play the extra innings game just a couple of days ago
the indians will play the bluejays in the ALCS
Blue Jays looking like the favourites for that, everything is coming right at once. But teams can fall off their form during four day break.