Sully Baseball Predicts...THE DIVISION WINNERS AND WORLD SERIES PICKS

1972 and 1990 were big years in the life of your pal Sully.

On May 14, 1972, the same day Willie Mays hit a home run to defeat the Giants in his first game as a Met, I was born in Willimantic, CT.

And in June of 1990, I graduated from high school in Atherton, CA and went off to NYU.

I predict there is going to be a very 1972 and 1990 feel to this year.

As I said in my 40 Fearless Predictions post, the days of a World Series pick being absurd is over.

And while everyone and their moose is picking the Cubs or Mets against the Red Sox or Angels or Yankees... I feel that a team filled with young talent taking a "Why not us?" attitude will be the ones who survive this season and October.

It might sound like I am sticking my neck out with my picks this year... but again, how is anything out of the question after seeing the American League Champion Tampa Bay Rays.

SULLY BASEBALL'S OFFICIAL PICKS FOR THE YEAR

AL EAST: NEW YORK YANKEES

They are designed to beat up inferior teams in the regular season. However their lack of depth is startling. $200 million payroll and they don't have a jack of all trades infielder? That being said, they'll win 94 games.

AL CENTRAL: MINNESOTA TWINS

The White Sox are in transition, the Royals are a year away, the Indians have too many pitching question marks and the Tigers are a catastrophe. Meanwhile the Twins can pitch, hit, field and have some pop. This shouldn't be a close race.

AL WEST: OAKLAND A'S

Billy Beane knew when to fold 'em and dealt away Danny Haren, Rich Harden and Joe Blanton. Now the team is loaded with young arms and have injected (sorry) Giambi into the lineup with Holiday and Cabrera. Plus I think the Angels are going to take 2 steps back this year. This division is ripe for the taking by a less than perfect yet hungry team.

AL WILD CARD: BOSTON RED SOX

The Rays have talent, the Angels have experience and the Indians and White Sox will play hard. But the Red Sox pitching staff will be the difference.

NL EAST: PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

Sorry Mets... bringing in a closer with a penchant for blowing the big games isn't the answer. Plus Philly will have a little swagger and way too much young talent for the Mets to beat them. And did someone mention the Marlins?


NL CENTRAL: CINCINNATI REDS

Dynamic young sluggers... a surprisingly deep pitching staff... a fan base revived... it will be a fun year along the Ohio River. Meanwhile Cub fans will see a team that looks better on paper not gel and will end the season talking about year 102.



NL WEST: LOS ANGELES DODGERS

Manny all year long will bring the fans in. Young arms like Broxton, Billingsley and Kershaw will win the games. And despite the best efforts of the Diamondbacks and Giants, the Dodgers finish in first with 96 wins.

NL WILD CARD: ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

How does Tony LaRussa do it? He has another Cut and Paste rotation and is banking on young Colby Rasmus and won't have Troy Glaus... and yet still pushes St. Louis to 90 wins past the Mets, Marlins, Diamondbacks and Cubs.

AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES

TWINS defeat YANKEES

3 games to 2

A'S  defeat RED SOX

3 games to 1

That's right... I am saying a dream ALCS rematch between the Red Sox and Yankees will be preempted by two low budget teams playing in football stadiums. FOX takes a big gulp.

NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES

DODGERS defeat CARDINALS

3 games to o

REDS defeat PHILLIES

3 games to 2

The Dodgers hold up their end of the bargain of providing star power to the LCS. More people start criticizing the Red Sox for dealing Manny. 

The Phillies take an early lead but the playoffs turn into a Joey Votto/Jay Bruce coming out party.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

A'S defeat TWINS 

4 games to 3

Nobody watches the game played in the two ugliest parks in the game... and it is a shame as some of the best young talent in the game squares off. The A's pitching staff is the difference in a 7 game thriller.

NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
REDS defeat DODGERS
4 games to 2

Fox Execs pull their hair out as they have yet another World Series matchup without a national following. Yet even they have to admit the Reds are exciting.

WORLD SERIES

A'S defeat REDS 

4 games to 3

Baseball has to party like it is 1972 or 1990. The Reds get big hits and Johnny Cueto and company look devastating. But in the end, the A's bats explode and clinch the big one. And Fox, forced to promote a series based on young exciting talent and hungry fan bases, will get a 7 game thriller that casual baseball fans will miss but loyal fans will cherish.

Billy Beane gets his World Series title as does Jason Giambi and Nomar Garciaparra.

Then in the off season, despite having a post season with low revenue teams triumphing, the Yankees will sign a big free agent and everyone will start screaming for a salary cap to keep the Yankees from winning every year!

SO THAT'S MY PICKS!

Again, I'm usually wrong... I hope I am because I want the Red Sox to win it all!

But if I am right, good times will be there for Reds and A's fans.

It will be just like the year that The Godfather came out... or the year that The Godfather Part III came out... take your pick!

Reds fans... do you miss Riverfront?

Another season is winding down in Cincinnati and like every season since 2001, it will end with the Reds losing more than they won.

Since 2003, they only even mildly contended in one season:
2006.

Then they were 12 games over .500 in June and in first place tied with the Cardinals on August 24th. They went 13-21 after that and finished 80-82, while the 83-78 Cardinals won the World Series.

Most years are like this year... some home runs, some hope but in the end 162 games of "Oh yeah... the Reds."

Now why did I just pick 2003?
Becayse that's when they moved into the new Great American Ballpark.

I haven't been to it, but it looks beautiful.
Unlike a lot of the new parks, it has characteristics that separate it and distinguishes it. It incorporates the Ohio River into the background the way Pittsburgh's PNC Park uses the Three Rivers and AT&T Park in San Francisco uses the Bay.

And those riverboat smoke stacks are cool too.

But there are no new memories being made on the field.

So I pose the question:

Are you nostalgic for Riverfront Stadium?

I'm actually being dead serious with that question.

I say that because I wrote a piece about the Metrodome that got me some angry responses, mainly because I mentioned I never stepped foot in the place.

Well I DID go to Riverfront as this picture shows (that's me pointing) and while the structure itself was a cookie cutter park like Veterans Stadium and Three Rivers Stadium... somehow the experience was better.

Maybe it was the wide concourses, or the river views or the fact that the game my dad and I saw had a big crowd that was buzzing even though their Reds were not playing well.

Or maybe it was the memories.
They flashed on the scoreboard clips of past Reds greats and famous moments.

Clips of the Big Red Machine, of Pete Rose's hit, of the Nasty Boys.

I was too young to remember the 1975 and 1976 World Series.
But I vividly remember Morgan, Rose, Foster, Griffey et al.
Granted my clearest memory of Johnny Bench was on The Baseball Bunch, but I digress.

I remember Tom Seaver and later Dave Parker as Reds.
I remember the rise of Eric Davis and Barry Larkin and Pete Rose breaking Cobb's record.

And obviously I remember the Nasty Boys and the 1990 World Series, possibly the most underrated upset ever.

And those are the memories of a kid growing up in the suburbs of Boston withoutt ESPN or MLB.tv to watch out of market games.

I can't imagine how vivid the memories would be for someone in Ohio or Northern Kentucky.

Yeah it was uglier than the new park... but I am sure there is a billionaire somewhere living in a mansion, waxing nostalgically for the small house where he lived while he built his fortune.

That's Riverfront.

You've GOT to love Riverfront.
It's part of the opening of WKRP for Pete (Rose's) sake!

I'll throw it out to the fans.

What's the great memory, if any of The Great American Ballpark? Can you name one, Slyde at Red Reporter?

Hey Chris Sabo's Goggles, when you heard they were going to tear down Riverfront, were you at all sad?

Did you, Red Hot Mama, ever think "Man, this just isn't as good as Riverfront?"

Or Crosley Field Terrace, are you of the mindset that just says "I'm not living in the past. I want NEW memories is a kick ass ballpark!?"

Either way, Reds fans are the sleeping giant in baseball.
Put a consistent winner (the way the Cardinals played this decade) and they will be baseball crazed.

They have the park... all they need is the players.
That should be easy.