Here is a link Espn had "the experts" pick their choices of division winners, MVPs, and Cy Youngs for this year. 10 of them think the Astros will win the NL Central. 6 picked the Cubs. 8 picked the Cardinals. 1 picked the Reds. 3 of the 25 picked Oswalt for Cy Young. Interesting to note former MLBer Jeff Brantley's picks...he had the Astros winning the central, Jeff Kent as MVP, and WADE MILLER AS CY YOUNG, and the Astros WINING IT ALL! The only other person with Kent for mvp was Tom Candiotti. Matt Pike was the only person with Berkman as MVP. Brandon Funston was the only other person with the Astros in the World Series. He had the 'Stros losing to the Red Sox.
I guess they figure the older he gets, the more eminent a huge drop off in the stats department will come. I guess the is the year they figure that drop off will be.
Memo to Brandon Funston: Lay off of the Kronick when making babseball predictions for major publications.
What I found interesting was that only two of the 15 who picked against the Stros to win the division picked us to win the Wild Card. In other words, most of the ones who don't think we're going to win the division don't think we're going to make the playoffs at all. They seem to either think we're winning the Central or will be mediocre.
Also, three guys picked Oswalt to be the cy young award winner (two of them being Peter Gammons and Karl Ravech). Oswalt is truly the wizard.
Did anyone notice that four guys picked Mark Prior to win the Cy Young. That's more votes than Curt Schilling, Matt Moris and Wade Miller got combined.
And Jason Lane was picked to win the rookie of the year by Brandon Funston, even though he's not on the Opening Day 25-man roster. And ANYONE who picked the Cubs to make it to the playoffs this year have got to be nuts. A new manager won't turn a horrible franchise around. They lost 95 games last year, 95!!! btw, Harold Reynolds is nuts for picking the Reds. On a side note, has anyone notcied that little popup whenever you go to the MLB or Astros website? It asks if you would like the fonts to be downloaded. It's on every link on the site. SO annoying. Anyone know how to stop it?
Karl Ravech has the Yankees not even making the playoffs. Only 3 of 25 have them winning the WS. If these "experts" have any idea what they are talking about, then the uneven playing field must be a myth. Half of them picked either the A's or the Twins to win it all (both teams are in the bottom 6 in payroll). I think they just want to make people think they are smarter than they really are. When the Yankees do end up winning, they will just say "Anyone could have picked the Yankees."
I'm the expert here and I pick the Astros to win it all... All these predictions are all over the board, but I do think the Rangers will be competitive this year...
Actually, I'm on the Cubbies bandwagon and I fear the Reds, too. I wish I was as optimistic about the 'stros.
