2015 MLB Season

[Teddy]

With pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, the time has come to make a new thread on the upcoming MLB season!

This is going to be the most intriguing season ever, especially since a certain Michael J. Fox movie from over a quarter-century ago predicted that the Chicago Cubs would win the World Series in 2015. Perhaps the hiring of Joe Maddon as manager and the team's offseason acquisitions may play a role in that?

Meanwhile, the Giants will try to repeat as World Series champs themselves, and it's safe to say that they are the most dominant team in this half of the 2010s.

Over in the AL, many people still can't get over the shock of witnessing one of the greatest postseason runs by the underdog Royals. Even though they ultimately failed to win the big prize, they still gave us an October to remember, going undefeated in the first three rounds of the postseason.

And, of course, the question in New York is, will A-Rod be welcomed with open arms? Without Derek Jeter to partner with in the infield, it's pretty much up in the air.

PLAY BALL!!!

[CheckGameMeBob]

Watch out for the Seattle Mariners! They had a quietly good year and finished over 500 for the first time since 2007.  They'll make some more noise this year, and the Angels better look out.  Let's go M's!

[bigblue999]

A-Rod is the least of the Yankees problems. The real issue is that they sign too many aging superstars and/or has-beens for millions of dollars. I don't understand why the Steinbrenners refuse to spend most of their money on young stars. Isn't that how the Yankees started their dynasty during the late 1990's? I don't expect them to finish with a winning record, though I be surprised.

[moneygamelover]

A note of interest as we enter the 2015 season is that MLB is establishing pace of play rules. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12351883/major-league-baseball-announce-pace-play-rules. I don't know if this is necessary in general although I do support the prompt return to play after commercial breaks. Baseball was never designed to be a fast paced game so I don't really understand the big deal being made over this issue.

[PatrickRox80]

I'm intrigued by the pacing ruled they're implementing this season and the impact it will have particularly on rival games. Here's hoping matches like Yankees/Red Sox won't take forever. You know it's bad when Joe West says those games go too long.

My picks:

AL East: Boston
AL Central: Kansas City
AL West: Seattle
AL Wild Cards: Detroit and Baltimore

NL East: Washington
NL Central: St. Louis
NL West: San Francisco
NL Wild Cards: Atlanta and Pittsburgh

[Roadgeek Adam]

I'm intrigued by the pacing ruled they're implementing this season and the impact it will have particularly on rival games. Here's hoping matches like Yankees/Red Sox won't take forever. You know it's bad when Joe West says those games go too long.

My picks:

AL East: Boston
AL Central: Kansas City
AL West: Seattle
AL Wild Cards: Detroit and Baltimore

NL East: Washington
NL Central: St. Louis
NL West: San Francisco
NL Wild Cards: Atlanta and Pittsburgh

What Atlanta do you see here? Same applies to Kansas City. Atlanta sold off half their offense and their pitching is not 100%. Kansas City is due for major regression. White Sox should be in the tops for those, but we'll see.

[Prizes]

AL East:

Boston 89-73, [1], [3]
Toronto 84-78*
Tampa Bay 83-79
New York: 83-79
Baltimore: 79-83

AL Central:

Cleveland: 85-77
Detroit: 84-78*, [2]
Kansas City: 80-82
Chicago: 78-84
Minnesota: 75-87

AL West:

Seattle: 89-73
Oakland: 84-78
Los Angeles of Anaheim: 84-78
Houston: 78-84
Texas: 77-85

NL East:

Washington: 90-72, [1]
Miami: 80-82
New York: 78-84
Atlanta: 71-91
Philadelphia: 68-94

NL Central:

St. Louis: 86-76
Pittsburgh: 85-77*
Chicago: 84-78*
Milwaukee: 77-85
Cincinnati: 76-86

NL West:

Los Angeles: 90-72
San Francisco: 82-80
San Diego: 80-82
Colorado: 77-85
Arizona: 74-88

* Indicates Wild Card.
[1] Indicates home field advantage through each team's respective league playoffs (League Divisional Series, League Championship Series).
[2] Indicates home field advantage for American League Wild Card Playoff Game.
[3] Indicates home field advantage throughout the playoffs, including World Series. I have the AL going 1232-1198 this year against the NL; 32 games over .500 against the Senior Circuit, or that of just under 1/87th better; .0132 percentage points. As such, the is believed to be stronger on the whole, and should win the All-Star Game as such.

[TPIRighteous]

White Sox should be in the tops for those, but we'll see.

You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

Honestly, I don't consider the Sox the favorites; while I think the Royals are probably one-and-done, it's not hard to envision individual scenarios where the Tigers, White Sox, and Indians come out on top. Anything could happen, so it's going to be a really fun season.

[Ccook]

Atlanta's B.J. Upton is now going by his "government" name, Melvin Upton Jr.

[corneliuscarter]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2388675-yu-darvish-injury-update-rangers-p-could-miss-at-least-4-months-with-ucl-sprain?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-national

It's going to be a long season for the Texas Rangers.

[wink87]

Yup. I'm a Blue Jays fan, but it's never good to see anyone from any team go down with an injury like that. You gotta feel for them. Hopefully they do well until he gets back.

[moneygamelover]

All star voting will be exclusively online this year and no more paper ballots will be made available. This apparently is in response to the fact that 80% of last year's voting was done online and 16 million paper ballots went unused. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12507626/report-says-major-league-baseball-all-star-voting-online-only

[catfan2002]

Reds get the last wildcard over Cubs, Votto is healthy and we have strong starting pitching we are the spoilers this year.

[UltraPrice]

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander is on the DL for the first time in his 9 year MLB career.

[CheckGameMeBob]

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander is on the DL for the first time in his 9 year MLB career.

That arm has seen a ton of mileage over the last few seasons.  Not too surprised that a DL trip finally happened.