The March assignment for the United Cardinals Bloggers is to put out there in blog form our MLB predictions for the upcoming season.  I normally do this on my own each year, but this is the first one I’ll be publishing, so here it goes.

AL East:

Boston Red Sox

Tampa Bay Rays (WC)

New York Yankees

Toronto Blue Jays

Baltimore Orioles

I see Boston as the cream of the crop in this tough division. Tampa Bay has enough pitching to win the wild card over the aging Yankees. Toronto will be better but not near enough and although I like some Orioles players, the team will not perform well.

AL Central:

Detroit Tigers

Cleveland Indians (WC)

Kansas City Royals

Chicago White Sox

Minnesota Twins

Detroit is the best team in the American League. Cleveland is my surprise team this year.  Gotta go out on a limb there. Kansas City is on the rise while Chicago is barely holding on.  Twins are my disappointment team this year being hit with injuries again.

AL West:

Texas Rangers

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Seattle Mariners

Oakland Athletics

Texas edges the Angels in the weakest division in the AL.  Seattle and Oakland battle to get to .500. This division is getting old fast.

NL East:

Atlanta Braves

Miami Marlins

Washington Nationals

Philadelphia Phillies

New York Mets

This is the tightest division in baseball, which is why I don’t think they will get a 2^nd team into the Wild Card.  The Marlins and Nationals are way better than the Phillies expected and the Mets may be one of the worst teams in baseball.

NL West:

Arizona Diamondbacks

San Francisco Giants (WC)

Los Angeles Dodgers (WC)

Colorado Rockies

San Diego Padres

Really good division battle most of us won’t stay up late to watch. Arizona is the best team.  They may be the best managed group of players out there.  Giants and Dodgers pitch their way into a wild card battle. Rockies need to regroup and the Padres are still a year away.

NL Central:

St. Louis Cardinals

Milwaukee Brewers

Pittsburgh Pirates

Cincinnati Reds

Chicago Cubs

Houston Astros

The Cardinals ease their way into the playoffs.  Reds and Cubs both just fall apart.  It will be comical to see.  The Pirates are on a serious rise and the Astros are rebuilding while moving to the American League in 2013.

I will do a separate blog on my post season predictions later this week.