2007-02-16 01:37:36 · 22 answers · asked by Andrew E 1 in Sports ➔ Baseball
Texas might surprize a few of us. I'd love to see them win the West (although not too likely).
KC may surprize us all by winning more than 72 games.
In the NL I see Milwaukee contending for part of the season, but falling short after the ASB.
2007-02-16 01:44:14 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Several people are naming the Cubs as a surprise team. Are all of you kidding me? They didn't spend all that dough to be a SURPRISE team. They EXPECT to win. That's like saying the addition of Matsuzaka makes Boston a "surprise team".
Every team (yes, even Kansas City and Pittsburgh, since they're currently holding a share of first place in their respective divisions) is a contender right now, and as such, I respect the ability of so many teams that I don't consider them surprises (yet). That being said, there are nine teams who could surprise me if they're still contending after the All-Star Break.
AL East (1)
Toronto (I expect a 2-team race, but the Jays could make it a 3-team race for the East)
AL West (2)
Oakland
Texas (I expect LAA to have a solid lead in the division by the ASB, but Oakland and Texas could be lingering around if their offseason moves pay off)
AL Central (1)
Cleveland (I expect a 3-team dogfight for the league's toughest division, but the Tribe could make it a 4-team melee. Forget what I said about Kansas City earlier)
NL East (2)
Atlanta
Florida (I expect Philadelphia to have a healthy lead in the division with New York hanging around because of their bats, but Atlanta and Florida have the young talent to make a surprise run. The Marlins would be the bigger surprise, considering they no longer have Girardi managing them)
NL West (2)
Arizona
Colorado (The entire division could still be competing by the ASB, but the Rockies don't have pitching and the D-Backs don't have much "now" talent outside of Webb)
NL Central (1)
Milwaukee (Year after year the Brew Crew looks good on paper but falls short of hopes and aspirations. Could this season be any different? In any case, I see the league's weakest division divided into 3 tiers. Top tier: Cubs, Astros, and Cardinals. Middle tier: Brewers by themselves. Bottom tier: rest of division. I guess you can forget what I said about Pittsburgh earlier as well)
2007-02-16 06:24:10 · answer #2 · answered by Judge Ghis 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My pick is the Florida Marlins. They have a good young talented team. Good young talents pitching as well. They actually made a run for the wild card last year which considering their payroll was outstanding. Mets have a lot of question marks with their starting pitching, Phillies always seem to choke when they should be good, Braves didn't really upgrade during the off season, just got older, and Washington has nothing to show for the departure of Soriano. Marlins can and will surprise a lot of people this year.
2007-02-16 02:07:44 · answer #3 · answered by scarbados 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Cincinnati Reds. They have a young team that really knows how to play and finally has some front office execs willing to to pursue the path of having a winning ballclub. Bronson and Harang are very good pitchers and Homer Bailey will turn heads when he gets called up. Adam Dunn is a very good outfielder with excellent power, Freel and Phillips are absolute gamers and oh yeah they were only 3.5 games out last year. They have added some depth to their lineup and slightly upgraded the bullpen. If they can find someone to close for them they are definitely the darkhorse of the NL.
2007-02-16 15:52:37 · answer #4 · answered by Ana Yafl 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Kansas City Royals! Pitching is going to be way better than last year. Mark Redman, our *cough* "All-Star" last year, wasn't even good enough to be re-signed this year. If Sweeney can stay healthy (DH'ing ONLY this year), that will have a huge impact on run production. Mark Teahen and David DeJesus have proven to be young studs that are continuing to improve. Grudz is a great, gold glove second baseman and #2 hitter that consistently gets on base. And Alex Gordon is about to rock the baseball world to become the Rookie of the Year and the next George Brett. If Octavio Dotel can find his grove of a couple years ago, the bullpen will be solid with the additions of veterans D. Riske and K. Ray. The young, inexperienced bullpen of last year blew an unfathomable amount of close games and/or late-inning leads last year. Those fools (Burgos, MacDougal, Sisco) have been shipped out of town. Look for the Royals to be hovering around .500 this year in the toughest division in baseball! I can't wait!
2007-02-16 01:55:37 · answer #5 · answered by KC Slim 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I agree with Georgie - I see Milwaukee as this years surprise team. They have a deep pitching staff, and some real talented young bats. The defense is a bit iffy though.
They are the best team no one knows about, as Milwaukee has not really torn it up recently. But my early Cy Young candidate is out of Milwaukee - Chris Capuano. This kid can pitch. Nasty stuff.
They might just be wild-card material this year.
2007-02-16 02:03:43 · answer #6 · answered by That's what she said 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
im saying the royals cause they are relly good on the franchise of MLB: 06 the show. there gonna put upn a show next year cause they have some good people and think of this:
the royals ended the season on a 5 game winning streak including a season wrap-up sweep against the my detroit team the AL champions tigers.
IM from detroit so the royals arent goin to beat the tigers in the division race next year though cause there not htat good!!!
2007-02-16 02:56:58 · answer #7 · answered by tigersrock151515 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Arizona. They will be the Tigers of this year. Some reliable pitching. Webb, Livan Hernandez and of course the Unit. He will be better in the NL than the AL, barring injuries. Stephen Drew is an all star in waiting. Plus the NL west is not a powerhouse division.
2007-02-16 05:33:09 · answer #8 · answered by Tim S 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are all wrong. It will be the Arizona Diamondbacks. They will go far, I mean, look at their rotation. If the Big Unit pulls himself together they will have one heck of a team. Webb, the Cy-Young winner, also will lead them. Livian Hernandez started to flow with the Diamondbacks at the end of the season. You can see he will have a great season.
After getting rid of all their old, experienced players like Luis Gonzalez(Now on the Dodgers) and Miguel Batista(Seattle Mariners) you think they would stink. But they won't. At the end of the season their men started playing like allstars. They have players like Chad Tracy who are awesome at the game. They also have rookies like Carlos Quentin who played few games last year (he will still be considered a rookie). He hit 4 homeruns in his first 4 games. They have all those strong rookies in the outfield. And Orlando Hudson (ex-gold glove winner) will play great.
No one expects them to do so great but I am telling you, they are the suprise team.
2007-02-16 06:53:31 · answer #9 · answered by Steve H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It probably won't come as a surprise but the Cubs look like the surprise team in the NL. I can see them making the playoffs and anything can happen in a short series.
2007-02-16 02:02:02 · answer #10 · answered by Oz 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋