Providence Journal
Tim Britton Brian MacPherson
AL East New York* New York*
Tampa Bay* Boston*
Boston* Tampa Bay
Toronto Toronto
Baltimore Baltimore
AL Central Detroit Detroit
AL West Los Angeles Los Angeles
AL MVP Miguel Cabrera Miguel Cabrera
AL CY CC Sabathia CC Sabathia
AL Rookie Matt Moore Yu Darvish
AL Pennant Los Angeles Detroit
NL Pennant San Francisco Miami
World Series Los Angeles Detroit
The Boston Globe's predictions are behind a pay wall, but I read at SoSH that only Tony Massarotti picked them to make the playoffs. Which means Peter Abraham, Nick Cafardo, and the CHB (anyone else?) did not. (I'm curious what the exact predictions are, if anyone has access to them.)
Tyler Kepner of the New York Times
picks the Red Sox for fourth place, behind the Yankees, Rays (2d wild card), and Blue Jays.
The Yankees have issues, but on the grander scale, they seem small. ...
Tampa Bay has a well-rounded rotation but a strikeout-prone lineup, and Boston can slug but has serious questions in its fourth- and fifth-starter spots.
The Blue Jays could be a year away but might make their move sooner ...
For what it's worth - which is nothing - the Blue Jays are the first team to win 23 of its first 28 spring training games in 15 years (1997 Marlins).
David Schoenfield of ESPN's Sweet Spot blog
explains why the Red Sox will win 96 games.
Over at
The Hardball Times, they have averaged the picks of the 22 writers:
AL East Ave. rank
New York Yankees 1.36
Tampa Bay Rays 2.00
Boston Red Sox 3.00
Toronto Blue Jays 3.64
Baltimore Orioles 5.00
AL Central Ave. rank
Detroit Tigers 1.05
Cleveland Indians 2.73
Kansas City Royals 3.09
Chicago White Sox 3.91
Minnesota Twins 4.14
NL East Ave. rank
Texas Rangers 1.45
Anaheim Angels 1.64
Seattle Mariners 3.41
Oakland A's 3.50
AL Wild Card No. votes
Anaheim Angels 11
Tampa Bay Rays 9
Texas Rangers 9
New York Yankees 8
Boston Red Sox 5
Detroit Tigers 1
Oakland A's 1
And some notes (my bolding):
The AL East standings are weird. It looks like everyone picked Tampa Bay second, Boston third and Baltimore fifth, with Toronto oddly stealing some first-place votes from New York. While we did all list the O's last, the other perfectly rounded-off positioning is just an odd statistical aberration. The Rays and Red Sox each were placed anywhere from first to fourth, but their cumulative totals make their ranks seem nice and tidy. ...
The AL playoffs seem nearly set with the season hardly underway. With the Tigers a preseason lock to win their division, the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, Rangers and Angels appear destined to fight for the four remaining playoff births.
Seven Philadelphia
Daily News writers - Ed Barkowitz, Sam Donnellon, Marcus Hayes, Rich Hoffman, Stan Hochman, David Murphy, John Smallwood - predict the 2012 baseball season:
EB SD MH RH SH DM JS
AL East Yankees Rays Yankees Yankees Yankees Yankees Rays
Rays Yankees Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Yankees
Red Sox Red Sox Rays Rays Rays Rays Blue Jays
Blue Jays Blue Jays Blue Jays Blue Jays Blue Jays Blue Jays Red Sox
Orioles Orioles Orioles Orioles Orioles Orioles Orioles
AL WC LAA, TBR TEX, NYY TBR, TEX LAA, BOS BOS, TEX BOS, TBR NYY, TEX
AL Pennant Rangers Tigers Tigers Yankees Angels Yankees Tigers
NL Pennant Atlanta Phillies Phillies Phillies Phillies Brewers Phillies
World Series Rangers Phillies Tigers Yankees Phillies Yankees Phillies
Hoffmann and Murphy pick Adrian Gonzalez as the AL MVP. Murphy picked Jon Lester for the AL Cy Young.
