In the West it will be very tight atop the division, but after Los Angeles it gets much weaker.
1. 
- They'll be good at the little things and the
little things win you ball games. Mike Cuellar is the ace of the staff and the M's will have Willie Mays roaming center field in the Kingdome. This combination will take them all the way to the Western Division Title.
2. 
- Good pitching and a good pitchers park puts them into contention - until the last week of the season when Koufax's arm falls off.
3. 
- Gibson could make any team better and he does, when
he pitches - but he can't go everyday and I don't see this team in the race after June.
4. 
- Playing half of your games in a pitchers park, with an outfield of Lou Brock, Reggie Jackson and Red Murray. Only Brock has a decent on base
percentage which is vital in a pitchers park. Jackson is going to find it harder to hit homers in the Dome than he did in Oakland Coliseum.
In the Central it's hard to tell which team is going to come out unscathed from the divisional bashing which is destined to occur.
1. 
- Great Offense, with Rose and Wills setting the table for the likes of Big Mac, Foxx, Foster, Perez, Griffey and Ramirez ... Good lord! Are they
going to pass out hard hats to the first 35,000 fans? Pitching will not be a problem until the playoffs, until that point it's smooth sailing.
2. 
- Tough division, and having Cincinati in the division is the only thing that keeps Detroit out of the top spot. The power of Mantle, Canseco and Belle teamed with the pitching of Lemon, Shocker, Martinez and Lanier will be tough to stop. Add that with Labine and Moore out of the pen and they're a strong club. The race will be close, but I as much as I like this team, I'm not sure if Belle and Canseco can keep it up for a full 154. The defense up the middle is great.
3. 
- Good defense up the middle, but the lack of a dominant starter will hurt the team. Lofton and Gehringer are a great 1-2 punch with Campanella driving them in. But pitching is the key, and I don't see a guy you can hand the ball to and tell him to go nine and win this game when the bullpen is tired.
4. 
- The Cubs have good pitching for a pitcher friendly park ... which Wrigley is not. Goslin in right field could be a disaster as he never
was one to have a great range to the ball. Combs is a dead on center field with good speed, a little pop and great range, all perfect for Wrigley. Flood can cover
some ground as well. The pitching staff looks good on paper, but they won't get the job done in Wrigley.
The East is the beast of the league. This Division has the best talent per team top to bottom of any division.
1. 
- Speed, speed and more speed. It comes at you in
waves. Morgan, Henderson, Geronimo, Rogell, and Miller can all fly and they won't
be shy about taking the extra base. Boog Powell is the guy at Shea as he is the only
legite power guy in the lineup and must produce or this team will not finish
first. Brooks Robinson must also step up and play defense at the hot corner
the way he is capable of. Robibson needs to add some pop or Boog may have too much pressure and
this team may not reach potential. Mathewson, Holtzman and Garcia will all do
their part in making this team stay atop the Eastern Division.
2. 
- The Sox pitching is outstanding with Marichal, Grove and
Carlton. All three could be 20 game winners. The outfield is the strong point of this
team with Simmons, Doby and Musial and McCovey manning first base presumably.
Power will not be hard to come by, but the lack of a true leadoff hitter will
hurt this team, as it's hard to win with just solo homers.
3. 
- This may be the most interesting team of all. Ruth
and Berra playing the corner outfield spots will hurt any team's defense. Mule
Haas will have to cover more ground chasing line drives hit to the wall,
because Ruth and Berra won't be able to get to them. Lansford and Cepeda
offer two good corner infielders, but really aren't anything special. Kubek
and Richardson are good defensive middle infielders, but will give you little else.
Pitching is the key, Whitey Ford must win at least 20 games for this team to
contend for the division, and Feller must win 15 also. I don't see either
of these things happening as the Yanks have no defense in the outfield. They will score alot,
but you must keep the other team from scoring in the this league and I don't see them doing that.
4. 
- If this team didn't have to play in the East it
would be a favorite in any other division, but it does, so it will have to fight with the
Yanks for the struggle out of the cellar. With a group consisting of
Gehrig, Snider, Frank Robinson and Jim Thome they have a good looking offense.
But once again it goes back to the lack of pitching. Pitching and playing in
the bandbox called Sky Dome will only hurt this team's pitchers mentally and
physically when they come off the field and start punching walls. All in all it's not
a lost season, maybe the Jays can think of a way to ask for realignment ... Oh wait,
this Commisioner is not named Bud.
Divison Winners and Wild Card -
Western Division Champions
Central Division Champions
Eastern Division Champions
Wild Card
Wild Card Round
vs. - This is where the speed and defense comes into play. The
Mets were drafted for the playoffs and will come through with a 3-1 series win, with Mike
Cuellar picking up the only win in game one for the M's over Mathewson.
vs. - This series is the perhaps the most intriguing. The
Big Red Machine vs. The Bean Town Bombers. This series will go a full 5
games with each team winning their home games. Game 5 at Riverfront ...
The Big Red Machine will take it in dramatic fashion as Jimmie Foxx hits a
"walk-off" home run in the bottom of the 11th off of Steve Carlton who was on
in relief for the Sox last bid to get into the World Series.
World Series - Match-up of the two of the best teams on paper.
vs. - This is for all the time spent researching your draft and backing up why you took this player and
why you made this trade. The series will go 6 games as the Mets put the hurt on the Reds in game one
with Mathewson beating Stewart and stifling the Reds power. Game two and
Game three are split and with the Mets up 2-1 playing game 4 at Riverfront.
The Reds will take it to the Mets making the series 2-2 and headed back to Shea where
Christy Mathewson awaits Stewart once again. This time neither team can get
a run across, both starters go the distance. In the bottom of the 9th, Rickey
Henderson comes bite the Reds with a one out double and is sacrificed over
to third by Joe Morgan. Up steps Bing Miller with Rickey on third and two
outs ... Miller takes the count full and on the next pitch laces a line drive
over the head of Maury Wills at short stop to score Henderson and give the Mets a 3-2
series lead heading back to Cincy.
The Mets hand the ball to Holtzman and he procedes to turn it into a 1 hitter through 8. The Mets turn the ball over to the bullpen with a 2-0 lead. Bob Locker work two scoreless innings for the save and the Mets fans watching at Shea go crazy and tear the stadium down.