Who do you think will win the 2007 World Series? And Why?

Answer 1

I think the Indians will.I wrote something on them on another site so I'm just going to post it here.

Cleveland Indians

Last years record:78-84 4th place AL Central

Projected record:90-72 2nd in AL Central,Wild Card

The Indians were a big dissapointment last year only winning 78 games.Coming off a 93 win season in 2005 they were expected to make the playoffs nad possibly take the division from the White Sox.Little did everyone know that the Tigers would catch fire and take the Wild Card and win the AL pennant.The Indians,allthough below .500,were not as bad as there record.They outscored opponents by 88 runs with the 2nd most runs in the league and had the 6th best ERA.The main problem was the bullpen.The bullpen went from being one of the best in 2005 to being one of the worst in 2006.They also were only the 6th team since 1954 to fall more then 10 games below there projected record using the pathageron triangle(they were projected to win 90 games).Using simulation with the Indians roster they won an average of 90.1 games(10 simulations).



Hitting-If the Indians have any strength it's hitting.They have the greatest lineup you've never heard of.They have possibly the best outfielder in baseball,Grady Sizemore,in center and two platoons,Jason Michaels/David Dullucci in left and Trot Nixon/Casey Blake in right.The infield has Ryan Garko,a prospect,and Casey Blake platooning at 1B while 2B is occupied by Josh Barfield.At short there is Jhonny Perelta who should bounce back closer to his 2005 numbers.3B is no longer Aaron Boone one of the best prosepects will take over,Andy Marte. They scored the 2nd most runs in the majors last year and look to score even more.

CF Grady Sizemore-led league in runs and doubles(290 BA,28 HR,76 RBI)

2B Josh Barfield-Comes to Cleveland from San Diego(280 BA,13 HR,58 RBI)

C Victor Martinez-One of the top catchers in the game today(316 BA,16 HR ,93 RBI)

DH Travis Hafner-Maybe the most underrated player in the league,look at his stats,he missed the last month of the season(BA 308,42 HR,117 RBI)

1B Casy Blake/Ryan Garko-Garko and Blake will split time,Garko will play against left handers,Blake against right.(Blake,109 G,282 BA,19 HR 68 RBI)(Garko,50 G,292 BA,7 HR,54 RBI)

RF Trot Nixon/Casey Blake-Blake will play right against left handers and Nixon will start against right handers.(Nixon,114 G,268 BA,8 HR,52 RBI,Blake shown above)

LF David Dullucci/Jason Michaels-Michaels will start against right handers and Dullcci against right handers.(Dullucci,292 BA,13 HR,39 RBI)(Michaels,267 BA,9 HR,55 RBI)

SS Jhonny Perelta-Had a sophmore slup last year.Expect him to have closer to his 2005 stats.(257 BA,13 HR,68 RBI)

3B Andy Marte-One of the top prospects in the league,is supposed to be a future star.(50 G,226 BA,5 HR,23 RBI)

The only lineup that is better is the Yankees.

Batting=A



Starting pitching-The Indians this year will throw one of the best staffs in the league at opponents.The staff had the 6th best ERA in the league in 2006 and they look to improve on that.Every starting pitcher on the roster,excluding Paul Byrd,is under the age of 30.

Ace-CC Sabathia-Had his best season yet although he record does not show it.Did not get help from the bullpen,blew 7 of this leads.Led the league in complete games and was 3rd in ERA.(12-11,3.22 ERA,172 SO)

Jake Westbrook-Lead the Indians in wins last year.Very consistent.Good sinkerballer.(15-10,4.17 ERA,109 SO)

Cliff Lee-Will start the season on the DL.Will be back by mid-April.Dropped from his 2005 stats but is still a good #3 starter.(14-11,4.40 ERA,129 SO)

Jeremy Sowers-#1 draft pick.Is supposed to be one of the league best starters someday.Did very well last year,in his rookie season.(7-4,3.57 ERA,35 SO)

Paul Byrd-Good #5 starter.Not good against left handed batter but has workedo n that over the offseason.(10-9,4.88 ERA,88 SO)

Good starting pitching.Not great but way above average.

Stating Pitching-B+



Bullpen-This was the weakest sport on the team last year.The bullpen was one of the worst in the league.During the offseason Mark Shapiro fixed it up and now it is retooled.Very few of the pitchers from last year are returning.The closer will be veteran Joe Borowski,he and Roberto Hernandez will supply the veteran leadership the bullpen has needed for 5 years.

LRP-Jason Davis-Was tried as a starter but that failed.Has,probably,the best pickoff move in baseball.Can throw many innings and gets his heater up to 100mph.(3-2,3.74 ERA,37 SO)

MRP-Matt Miller-Has bounced between AAA and MLB.He will start the season in this spot.Will probably not be there the whole year unless he does amazing,prospects coming up.Sidearm windup.(1-0,3.45 ERA,12 SO)

MRP-Fernando Cabrera-Struggled last year.Looks to rebound.Amazing against lefties,they hit just .083.(3-3,5.19 ERA,71 SO)

SU-Aaron Fultz-Not good against righties,great against lefties.One of the oldest players on the team at age 33.(3-1,4.54 ERA,62 SO)

SU-Roberto Hernandez-Oldest by far on the team at age 43.Will bring veteran leadership.Is one of the most consistent and best MLB relievers in the modern era.(0-3,3.11 ERA,48 SO)

SU-Rafael Betancourt-One of the few returning relievers.Very consistent.Neither lefty or righty hit very well off him.(3-4,3.80 ERA,48 SO)

CL-Joe Borowski-Another veteran who should provide leadership.One of the better closers in the league.(3-3,3.75 ERA,64 SO,36 SV)

The bullpen is better but it isn't good.It's average.

Bullpen-C+

The one last factor on this team is the fielding.It was awful last year but with new additions such as Marte and Barfield,who are both great fielders should improve it.

Defense-C-

Also the bench

Bench-D+

Overall the Indians will compete for the division and wild card at that.They are in a tough division but they are one of the best teams in the league,Fox ranks them #2 behined the Yankees.They are also very young and talented.They will be a good team for roughly the next 5 years as long as no one messes it up.Look for the Indians this year!!!

Overall-B+

Answer 2

Arizona Diamondbacks

Using the basic recipe of pitching and defense, the D-Backs will surprise a lot of people by beating out all the other NL West teams that made noise during the offseason, namely the Giants (with Zito) and the Dodgers (with Schmidt) and the defending division champion Padres.

I know Randy Johnson's rickety now with health concerns but when he's on his game, the guy's dominant. You can count on him giving you at least two dominant performances (flirting with no-hitters), at least five to seven games where he'll pitch past the seventh surrendering no more than three runs, then there'll be the six to eight games he'll win with run support. Pencil him in for at least 15 wins.

What you get with an old Randy Johnson you'll also get with a healthy Brandon Webb and then some (I'll say 17 wins). Livan Hernandez (at least 12-13 wins) is still a very good pitcher who's perfect as the number 3 guy.

There's a question mark at closer with Valverde. He's not great...not even very good...but will save as many games as a decent pitcher would. I think Arizona will solidify that position with a midseason trade (Akinori Otsuka?) or a possible emergence of a young stud (newly acquired Yusmeiro Petit?).

The lineup is young but extremely talented and still have more down on the farm. Conor Jackson should have a breakout season as well as Stephen Drew. A trade for some power will help immensely.

I may be a year too early with this prediction. I thought that Detroit was going to be a winning team last year but didn't think they'd go as far as the World Series. I thought that '07 was going to be their year. I'll go with Arizona this year and not be late.

Answer 3

The Philadelphia Phillies. They don't have the best 1-5 but they have a rather good one. Myers, Garcia, and Hamels will all do great and Eaton and Moyer are very solid 4 and 5 pitchers. Then again, as usual the Phillies offense is its strength which is why I like them to win it. I'm looking at all the good teams and none of them right now have both, a good offense and a solid 1-5. They only have one of the two.

Then again, the Tigers shocked us last year. Ask me again in 2-3months.

My sleeper pick is the Chicago White Sox. If everyone gets their stuff together and a #5 pitcher works out, they have the best overall team. Problem is, can everyone remember how to play.

Answer 4

Minnesota Twins.

a. 2006 AL MVP - Justin Morneau

b. 2006/2004 AL Cy Young, 2006 Triple Crown winner - Johan Santana

c. 2006 Batting champion - Joe Mauer

d. The best bullpen in baseball - including: (arguably) the best closer in the game in Joe Nathan, a top five set-up man in Juan Rincon, and two young studs in Pat Neshek and Jessie Crain.

e. Defense - Torii Hunter! ...also, Mauer and Castillo are exceptional, and Punto, Bartlett, and Morneau are very good as well.

f. General Manager - Terry Ryan, who consistently finds cheap talent (for example the A.J. trade for Boof, Liriano, and Nathan). Has a knack for finding players who play "small ball" and who have baseball savvy.

g. A lineup that has five batters who hit over .290 in 2006, not including Hunter and Michael Cuddyer, who combined drove in over 200 runs.

h. Starting Pitching Prospects - Boof Bonser, Matt Garza, Kevin Slowey, Glen Perkins, Scott Baker... no other organization even comes close to the Minnesota farm system.

i. Dome-field Advantage.

Answer 5

The Yankees or Red Sox because of peer pressure.
Or maybe the Tigers or Twins.
Or it could be the Cubs or Cardinals or Brewers.
Or maybe even the Rangers or Athletics.
My money is on the Dodgers and Angels with the Braves and Phillies and Mariners.
Too many choices!! But it could be the White Sox or even the Reds. And the Diamonbacks or Padres or Indians or Royals or Devil Rays or Marlins or Braves or even the Rockies .
But not the Giants.

Answer 6

San Diego Padres, and this is not only because I'm a San Diego fan. Great pitching throughout, even if some of them are in their later years(Wells shouldn't be a starter, more of relief in my mind). And despite what others think they can smack the ball up and down the block, even if they play ballpark ball they can get it done.

Answer 7

D-Rays the have the best young talent in all of baseball there sarting pitching is pretty decent too. There only problem is the bullpen but I think it will be handled well this season all they need is a little confidence. I cant wait for opening day.WOOO! GO RAYS! RED SOX AND YANKEES SUCK!

Answer 8

Here's the standings

AL EAST
Red Sox
AL CENTRAL
Indians
ALWEST
A's
AL WILD CARD
Yankees
NL EAST
Mets
NL CENTRAL
Cardinals
NL WEST
Padres
NL WILD CARD
Braves

Playoffs

Round 1 (AL): Red Sox vs. A's=Red Sox
Round 1 (AL): Indians vs. Yankees=Indians
ALCS: Red Sox vs. Indians
Round 1 (NL): Mets vs. Padres
Round 1 (NL): Cardinals vs. Braves=Braves
NLCS: Mets vs. Braves=Mets

World Series: Mets vs. Red Sox=Red Sox

Boston Red Sox will be world series champs because I took the time to calculate all the teams.

Answer 9

I would like to see the Detroit Tigers win it this year!

And beat up on the Spankees on the way!

Answer 10

The ALCS will be:

Tampa Bay vs Kansas City

The NLCS will be:

Pittsburgh vs Colorado

Tampa Bay will beat Colorado in the World Series

STOP ASKING THIS QUESTION, ITS BEEN ASKED 500 TIMES ALREADY!

Answer 11

Red Sox or Yankees because they'll be dominant.