2012 MLB Predictions: Why Teams Will (and Will Not) Win the World Series
By Editorial Staff
Earlier today we released our individual picks for the 2012 season, offering our predictions on who would win divisions, wild-card spots and even postseason awards. Now, after reaching a consensus on who the 10 teams to make the postseason will be, we’re telling you why each potential contender will and won’t claim the 2012 World Series title.
National League East – Philadelphia Phillies – Justin Klugh
- Why the Phillies Will Win the World Series
Let’s skip the starting rotation. You know them by now. They’re the three guys who shot you menacing glares all last spring from the covers of sports magazines.
Let’s skip the offense. Sure, it’s minus two keys in Utley and Howard. But there’s a collection of young upstarts and seasoned boppers to give a rotation like ours enough support to . Go ahead, let Thome ding you for a solo shot. Go ahead, shrug when Freddy Galvis bunts Victorino to third. Juan Pierre’s pop up will drift deep enough for him to score. Go ahead, give Doc or Cliff or Cole a run or two to work with. Hell, give it to Vance. He knows what to do with it.
Let’s skip the injuries. The Phillies are not a team whose spent the last five years immune to sickness and disease. Everything from tendinitis to family tragedies to nature’s wrath have taken Phillies from us, and here we are with five flags flying over The Bank. It’s not always your Princes and Pujols who make the biggest impact. Sometimes it’s your backup middle infielder coming in to pitch the 19th, or your pinch runner with the .092 BA being quick enough to steal third on a passed ball.
Let’s just think about it this way. The Phillies have not been a perfect baseball team since 2007. In fact, at some points, they’ve been downright Metropolitan. But they have cultivated an environment so dedicated and focused on winning, that guys want to come here, that guys choose to come here. Don’t forget, there are still good baseball players on this team. Whether their methods are to chip away at a seemingly insurmountable lead, or simply burn through the calendar without ever relinquishing first place, the Phillies know how to use what they have and channel it into a W. And in the past five years, we’ve seen a variety of Phillies teams, some better than others, win.
But, yeah. That rotation’s not half bad, either.
- Why the Phillies Will Not Win the World Series
It’s a sad thing, hope.
We all start the season with it. And in the end, most of us feel foolish for having it.
Here we all are, inwardly wondering if this is the last good year or the first bad year. Beat writers shuffle and whisper varying responses, usually publishing headlines that merely go against the most recent trend to hoard page views. Bandwagon fans shrug and wait for an excuse to day-drink; this time it’s baseball. Of course the Phillies will be okay, they think. When have the Phillies ever been bad?
Meanwhile, there’s us… those who know better. Those who find no eagerness to return to cold, rainy Octobers with no significance outside of the cold and the rain.
What are we thinking?
It’s hard to see this as an exciting team ready to explode out of the gate. Our big non-pitching acquisitions were mostly 30+ space-fillers. Go ahead and tell me “good pitching beats good hitting.” You know what good hitting beats? No hitting.
There is no such thing as an all-pitching team, but the Phillies have clawed their way to end of the spectrum. Runs will need to be manufactured, not produced. Hits will need to be capitalized, not squandered. And players are going to have to be the players they’re supposed to be. It’s a lot to ask of anybody, let alone a group of increasingly aged, increasingly injured, increasingly decreasing players who may not be as motivated as they were when they could get hit by a pitch or slide headfirst without spraining or ripping or fracturing some vital part of their anatomy. There’s potential, sure. They even sprinkled in a smattering of youth. And in the end, that potential is what we pin our hopes to in a division more competitive than ever.
But what’s potential if not a fancy word for “hope?”
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