With Major League Baseball in full swing, the Clarion editors decided to predict the future and find out who we’ll see come October.
Joseph Stueve, assistant editor
NL East – New York Mets The addition of Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz helped stabilize a horrific Mets bullpen.
NL Central – St. Louis Cardinals I’m not sold on the health of the Chicago Cubs, so I’m going with the rock-solid Cardinals.
NL West – Los Angeles Dodgers The 50-game suspension of Manny Ramirez shouldn’t knock the Dodgers out of contention in a weak NL West.
NL Wild Card – Philadelphia Phillies The World Champion Phillies have too much offense to be held out of the playoffs.
AL East – Boston Red Sox If John Smoltz returns to original form, the Sox could stomp through the American League with great pitching depth.
AL Central – Minnesota Twins The Twinkies prove once again that money doesn’t purchase wins.
AL West – Oakland Athletics The A’s fight their way through a surprisingly difficult AL West thanks to another newly found core.
AL Wild Card – New York Yankees The Yankees squeak into October on another strong stretch run by C.C. Sabathia.
World Series – Mets over Twins The trio of David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran lead the Mets over a scrappy Minnesota team. Santana earns the World Series MVP over his former squad.
Rusty Pate, editor
AL East – Toronto Blue Jays This team can score a ton of runs and has one of the top pitchers in the league in Roy Halladay.
AL Central – Chicago White Sox Someone has to win this division.
AL West – Los Angeles Angels I think the Angels will get their starting pitching healthy before it’s too late.
AL Wildcard – Boston Red Sox The Sox can no longer rely on the long ball like they did in the Manny and Big Papi days, but they will get back to the postseason.
NL East – New York Mets I like the Marlins, and the Phillies should never be counted out, but New York has better pitching.
NL Central – Chicago Cubs The Cubs have too much offensive talent to not win this division.
NL West – Los Angeles Dodgers This team is far and away the best in the west – even without Manny.
NL Wildcard – Philadelphia Phillies The potent Phillies lineup will play in October once again.
World Series – Cubs over Yankees I know this prediction is wrong, because the Cubs will never win a title. Baseball needs a marquee series this year. The Cubs winning a title could bring all the fans lost because of steroids back into the fold.
Kamari Stevens, news editor
NL East – New York Mets The Metropolitans will finally put it together and make it to the playoffs.
NL Central – St. Louis Cardinals Short of MLB finding out Albert Pujols is a machine, the Cards have the hitting prowess and the defense to win the NL Central.
NL West – Los Angeles Dodgers In spite of the current Manny saga, the Dodgers should be able to run circles around the NL West, Manny or no Manny.
NL Wild card – Chicago Cubs The Cubs can sneak into the playoffs without all the hoopla of curses and can hopefully see there way into the World Series.
AL East – New York Yankees Once C.C. Sabathia gets back on track, so will the Yanks pitching staff. With Alex Rodriguez returning to the lineup, Mark Texeira will be able to let loose.
AL Central – Kansas City Royals After taking the model the Tampa Bay Rays used last year-and sure fire Cy Young candidate Zach Greinke-the Royals have what it takes to win the AL Central crown.
AL West – Los Angeles Angels After the tragic death of pitcher Nick Adenhart, I expect the Angels to continue to hold court as the best team in the weak AL West.
AL Wild card – Boston Red Sox What would the playoffs be without a BoSox sighting?
World Series – Cubs over Yankees I’m making this pick only because I want Steve Bartman to be able to come out in public again.