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Sunday, April 1, 2007 2007 MLB Preview and Playoff Picks 2007 American League Playoffs picks: The four
teams that stand out and should come out the American League [A.L.]
are Oakland, Boston, Detroit and the Chicago
White Sox My sleeper teams out the American league are the Cleveland Indians and the Toronto Blue Jays. If you have a solid rotation, good bullpen, great defense, and a good line-up that has patience at the plate, you will find yourself in the playoffs after a long six month grind. The Twins and the Yankees do not have a solid enough rotation to make the Playoffs. The Bronx Bombers and the Twinkies will need two pitchers in the 4 and 5 spots of their rotation to shine to even think about whispering playoffs. Even though Oakland may not have a great line up, they do have great patience at the plate. The A's know how to draw walks, hit with runners in scoring position, and have a solid rotation. The White Sox, Red Sox and the Tiger have a lot of veteran pitching and hitting that know and have the experience of winning. You could throw in the Los Angeles Angels into the mix because of their solid rotation and decent line up, but health issues have hampered the Angels in the past few years. If they can stay healthy the Angels of Bedford Falls California Anahiem could make some noise. My American league
MVP is Grady Sizemore of the Cleveland Indians. If Sizemore
can cut down on his strikeouts [153] in 2006 and the Indians can
stay in the hunt throughout the year, he could easily win it with
similar numbers from last year, in the lead-off spot [2006: .290
28hr 76 rbi's].
The New York Mets,
Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and the Los
Angeles Dodgers. The two surprise teams out of the N.L. will
be the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Milwaukee Brewers.
The D-Backs have the 2006 Cy Young winner in Brandon Webb
along with pitchers Randy Johnson and Livan Hernandez.
The Brewers have some great young talent in names like CF Bill
Hall [2006: .270 35hr 85 rbi's], and 1B Prince Fielder
[2006: .271 28HR 81 RBI'S] The Astro's and the Cardinals
just do not seem to have the pitching to make playoffs this year.
See you in October! |