Pen Predictions for 2010
By Wally Fish
Here at Call to the Pen we decided to celebrate Opening Day of the 2010 MLB season by coming up with our collective predictions for the standings, playoff match-ups, and postseason awards.
When setting the order of finish in each division we went with the tried-and-true point system. 1st place was assigned a value of 5 points while 5th place was assigned a value of 1 point. With nine members on our staff, 45 is the maximum point total a team could earn in the voting. The number of first place votes received by each team is in parenthesis.
NL East:
43 Phildelphia Phillies (7)
36 Atlanta Braves (2)
27 Florida Marlins
16 New York Mets
13 Washington Nationals
NL Central: (6th place vote worth zero points)
45 St Louis Cardinals (9)
31 Chicago Cubs
29 Milwaukee Brewers
20 Cincinnati Reds
7 Houston Astros
3 Pittsburgh Pirates
The St Louis Cardinals have the distinction of being the only team that the nine of us unanimously agree on when it comes to where they will finish in their division.
NL West:
40 Colorado Rockies (5)
33 Los Angeles Dodgers (2)
31 San Francisco Giants (2)
18 Arizona Diamondbacks
13 San Diego Padres
AL East:
39 Tampa Bay Rays (5)
36 New York Yankees (3)
33 Boston Red Sox (1)
14 Baltimore Orioles
13 Toronto Blue Jays
AL Central:
41 Minnesota Twins (6)
36 Chicago White Sox (2)
31 Detroit Tigers (1)
15 Kansas City Royals
12 Cleveland Indians
AL West:
39 Los Angeles Angels (5)
35 Seattle Mariners (3)
33 Texas Rangers (1)
19 Oakland Athletics
World Series Match-ups:
Brian: Boston Red Sox defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers
Mat: Atlanta Braves defeat the Minnesota Twins
Justin: Philadelphia Phillies defeat the Tampa Bay Rays
Ryne: Philadelphia Phillies defeat the New York Yankees
Nathaniel: St Louis Cardinals defeat the New York Yankees
Michael: New York Yankees defeat the St Louis Cardinals
Wally: Tampa Bay Rays defeat the Atlanta Braves
Jordan: New York Yankees defeat the St Louis Cardinals
Tom: Philadelphia Phillies defeat the Minnesota Twins
Postseason Awards:
NL Cy Young Award: Roy Halladay (3 votes) edges Tim Lincecum (2) and Josh Johnson (2). Tommy Hanson (1) and Chris Carpenter (1) also received votes.
NL Rookie of the Year: Atlanta’s Jason Heyward (7 votes) runs away with the award while Tyler Colvin of the Cubs and Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals each received one vote.
NL MVP: Albert Pujols (4) squeaks past Hanley Ramirez (3) and Chase Utley (2).
AL Cy Young Award: Felix Hernandez (3) beats out rookie Brian Matuz (2) and John Lester (2). Cliff Lee (1) and Zack Greinke also received votes.
AL Rookie of the Year: Brian Matuz (5 votes) of the Orioles beats out the Tigers’ Austin Jackson (3) and the Rays Sean Rodriguez (1).
AL MVP: Joe Mauer and Evan Longoria split the award with three votes apiece. Kevin Youkilis, Miguel Cabrera, and Alex Rodriguez each received a vote.
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Now we can sit back, enjoy the season, and look back to see how we did when November rolls around.
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