I'll take the Cubs winning their division with 87 wins and the Sox being better than expected with 83 wins.
I don't see the Cubs winning the pennant. I just don't think the staff is deep enough, and the Mets are too tough. And the Cubs still don't have a proven closer.
I think the Sox have improved themselves more than they're getting credit for. Cabrera and Swisher will help and the biggest liability from last year - the bullpen - should be improved.
Your thoughts?
Looks like the White Sox weakness this year may be the outfield, which really isn't a bad thing if that turns out to be our only achilles. I like Buehrle, Vasquez, and Contreras. I really hope they have a strong season, and hopefully Danks and Floyd surprise us. The bats can't be any more inconsistent than a year ago, so I look for this year to be the feast. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the pen also, but I believe in miracles.
88-74.
To Hades with all the naysayers, real men DO wear black!
Ink us in.
Ricky responds: I think the outfield is easily the strength of the team. Swisher is an absolute monster, Dye is good for at least 30 dingers, and I'm very high on Carlos Quentin. All of those guys can bash the ball. I'd be a little worried about their defense though...
Cubs and Sox are going to kick a lot of fanny. Cubs 95, Sox 85. And one of these teams is going to the World Series if not both. I know those are crazy numbers, but with Joe Crede back, AJ, Konerko, Thome and Dye (already had his bad year), the Sox are due and will be thirsty this year. They just need to cut McDougal. Cubs are even better than last year.
I predict Zambrano, in a moment of pure genius, will throw at the Cards' Albert Pujols, almost taking Pujols' head off. On the next pitch, Pujols will hit a screamer (harder than the ball he hit off Lidge in the 2005 NLCS) but this one will ricochet off Zambrano's forehead. Pujols will score on an inside the park home run. Zambrano will make a full recovery, but won't pitch again until the 2009 season. However, he will have an uncanny ability to channel Harry Caray and do a spot on imitation of Steve Stone. Much to the dismay of his overly sensitive teammates, Zambrano will imitate Stone while sitting in the dugout. His candid, insightful analysis of their shortcomings will lead to a bench clearing brawl in their dugout. Zambrano will emerge victorious, but the Cubs will limp home in 2008 with 75 victories.
Hey, a Cards fan can dream can't he?
I see the Cubs winning 75, maybe 80 games ... tops. Pinella implodes sometime around Independence Day, and morphs into Bobby Knight.
The reasoning behind my prediction is that I firmly believe Kerry Wood will throw a shoe, and that this team will be unable to protect a late inning lead of less than three runs. In today's game you can't win unless you have a lights out closer.
The Sox are going to surprise everyone. 90 to 95 wins isn't out of the question, and six of those will be at the expense of the Cubs.
Jenks can protect a lead, and many of the players who all went through slumps at the same time last year will rebound to 2005 form.
Don't know if 90 wins will be enough to take this division, but I think that come September, the only penant race in this city will be the one waged at 35th and Shields.
The outfield defense is what I was referring to. I was rushing this one so I could go back and find the original blog where Culzie Ol'Boy mentions all the places he's lived. When you're born and raised in Pilsen (which hasn't been Europeon in 4 decades), you remember with vivid recollection when someone as astute as Mr. Bculz mentions living there at one time.
The sox should have enough hitting and defense to win, too bad they don't have any pitching or bullpen. Oh well, finishing third should be good enough after all they did just win the world series last year, or was it the year before, whatever. I'd say 83 wins and darn proud of it.
Cubbies are unproven up middle, soto, theriot, de rosa and pie are maybe adequate at best. Cubbies really could have used a pumped up slugger at the top of lineup to provide some superhuman speed and pop for a second bagger. Well, for Hendry's plan b to work, soto needs to stick to his diet, derosa needs to avoid any more cardiac attacks, pie needs to keep tings untwisted and theriot needs to hold up for a full season. Plus Soriano, Rami, Fuki, and lee need to play like 15, 12, 8 and 9 million dollar a year players, all at once, for the whole season. Cubs should have enough pitching and some of their young arms have more upside than what they've got in the top 12. If hendry doesn't squander these promising young arms in ill advised trades for over the hill infielders or other bad deals, the cubs should be strong for a number of years. Not just this year but for a number of years.
I guess 89 wins and back to back playoffs.
The Cubs have one of the best bullpens in baseball whether Wood is healthy or not. I think Zambrano has a big year but Lilly goes backward. I give the Cubs 90 wins and the division.
I think the White Sox improved their outfield with Quentin and Swisher. They didn't address OBP enough. In their careers, Cabrera, Crede and Uribe are all low OBP guys. The sooner they dump Uribe and Crede the better. If Guillen leads off Swisher, he is a dope. Swisher could hit 40 homers in that park. By leading him off he won't get the rbi's they need. But their biggest problem will be starting pitching. Their 3,4 and 5 are questionable, to say the least. White Sox go 82 - 80, mainly because the bullpen is over worked and they struggle to score runs early in the year.
With the Sox starting pitching, and holes at 2B, CF, and LF, they won't win many more than last year....78 at best.
no matter how gay Wrigleyville gets or how gay the song 'Go Cubs Go' is...I predict the Cubs will remain a heterosexual organization...Although.. I'm sure a Scoutmaster can untie that knot Felix Pie needs help with...
and for all 36 White Sox fans out there...I predict the Cell will still have that "Crane HS graduation ceremony" feel to it...and I'll be addressing 34 of you next year...
I think the Sox are going to surprise. That offense is going to come back stronger than ever. I also like some elements of the bullpen. Nick Swisher was a great pickup and Thome and Konerko should rebound nicely. I just wish they had more speed on the base paths. I think the Cubs for the first time have a real chance to do big things. I don't share your Mets affinity Roman. I like Santana and Pedro up top but their bullpen is a mess and their offense isn't powerful enough. I like Milwaukee and Arizona a little better to challenge the Cubs. Cleveland is overrated and Detroit has a flawed idea of Dontrelle Willis returning to a few years ago form. Sox in 08.
I'm not wild about predictions, because whatever any team has on paper doesn't take into account three things that have huge bearing on the season: team chemistry; players having up or down years; and injuries.
As a Cubs' fan, I'm not particularly enthusiastic about the makeup of the team. The starting rotation seems iffy to me at best. Zambrano was a really good #3 starter behind Prior and Wood, i.e. when other teams forgot about him. As the "ace," he just doesn't perform consistently enough. Lilly had a solid year, but that was in a new league where hitters hadn't faced him. This year they'll have made adjustments. Hill, Dempster and Marquis are a coin toss every outing.
But beyond that, I'm more concerned that the team has ZERO chemistry. Where's the team spark plug? The team leader? The go-to guys? I don't see *any*, unless you want to count Soriano for a clutch strikeout. The team looks like a bunch of above-average players cobbled from other teams. Reminds me of the contrast between the Yankees of the late '90s and the Yankees of 2000 onward: the former had a nucleus of guys that came up through the farm system, and they played with heart, had chemistry to spare. And they won the World Series. The latter was comprised of a hodge-podge of free-agents, and suddenly they had a good team but couldn't get over the hump. And that's how the Cubs look now.
The Cubs might win the division, but that has more to do with the NL Central being a fluff division than anything. So I can see them getting 90 wins, but if it were the NL East they could easily be a 4th place team.
As for the Sox, I can see them surprising a few and being over .500. Certainly they'll perform better offensively than last year, which was a mathematical aberration. Probably they'll finish 3rd with something like 85 wins. But like I said, too many things can happen in a long season. A few injuries in Detroit or Cleveland, and suddenly the division looks very different. And for whatever reason, you just can't count out Minnesota.
A. Navarro - The oufield can either be a strength or a weakness. If Jerry Owens starts, it's weak. If Quentin or Anderson start, it's strong.
Tommy - How can you possibly say there is a hole in CF AND LF? Swisher is slotted for one of those positions.
Keith Lifetime WrongMan - Starting the WRONG train again. 95 wins is way too ambitious for the Cubs, 85 is way too ambitious for the Sox. They're possible, but awful predictions. Also "Dye already had his bad year".....does that mean it's impossible for him to have multiple bad years? When Jermaine Dye is 78, he'll still be putting up above-average MLB seasons?
Villano - The Sox are not better than the Cubs. That was bubbleheaded optimism. 90-95 wins is absolutely out of the question.
Zoots - Hey, guess what? The team changes from year-to-year. And guess what? The bullpen, more likely than not, is a STRENGTH of this team.
Rick - The Cubs do not have one of the best bullpens in baseball. That is simply crazy. Also, for all the Sox-bashing you just did, that's a rosy, optimistic 82-80 record.
ernest frazier - Agreed about the Sox offense coming back strong, but where the heck did you get the idea that Jim Thome had a bad year last year? He has nothing to "bounce back" from. Let me rephrase this: Jim Thome's chances of winning "Comeback Player of the Year" are equivalent to those of Prince Fielder, Matt Holliday, Jimmy Rollins, and Alex Rodriguez.
Mark Tardi - ZOMG SO WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING! Listen, in baseball, you play on a team, but it is 98% an INDIVIDUAL sport. Team chemistry is such a bogus concept. And you can absolutely count out Minnesota. My preseason "bold prediction": the Twins finish behind the Kansas City Royals.
I guess I should put in my predictions as well. Cubbies-91 wins. White Sox- 79.
Noles, what do you got?
Well Geez - now you gotta tell us what he said! Just hint around, we'll get it - we're all adults, with the exception of Ricky.
I predict the Cubs 3rd in the central. I'm sick and tired of hired, high priced hands, killing prospects. Soriano, Lee And Fukadome were all 40/40 guys when they were signed. not even close. so, Micha, Matt and Marshall get screwed
Seedy, was that an attempt at humor?
ouch.
Pretty close to yours, Ricky. The numbers I had in mind were Cubs-89, Sox-78.
mattz - WEFILEW:OFHEIPOWHEFIO:LEWFH:EWKFEWKJDS:FSKLDH:FSD
WHAT???????
Mark Tardi I totally agree with the first line of your post.
Keith I can think of no grander way to end a 100 year drought than for the Cubs to take a cross town WS from the Sox.
Noles - I am cracking up laughing! Great Post! But you need to enlighten us!
The Sox are definitely improved. I watched them all spring out here in AZ. But, not enough to catch the Tigers and Indians who will both make the playoffs. The Cubs will always be the Cubs. The past two seasons they spent$500 million so they should win their division which is the worst division in baseball. In October they will win as many game sas the Sox, which is none, because the Sox won't make the playoffs and the Cubs will be sent home early just like last year.
Vinny:
For Cubs fans, it's closer to reality than humor. For those few Cubs fans who have been able to stay sober long enough to watch Zambrano pitch, they know it's possible.
Noles - so you're ok with Swisher leading off and playing LF like he is today? Just another example of how Williams completely half-assed this offseason. He tried making it look like he's not quite bailing on this season. So let's say Swisher will be ok (which I hope he is), you still have only 2 starters, and Ramirez in CF and Uribe waddling around at 2B.
Juan effin Uribe....wait...he just wiffed his first AB...big shock there!
Noles -- LOL. Yeah, doubtless team chemistry -- which comes from stupid things like players performing in the clutch and picking each other up -- never matters in a team sport. I mean, who would want a ballplayer that takes walks, can trust the guy hitting behind him, can perform when the pressure is on?
I'm sure the Red Sox won the World Series twice because they ate the right clam chowder. And the White Sox haven't been hurt by the loss of a team leader like Rowand. I mean, gosh, none of my White Sox fan friends *ever* bemoan that one. Never. Ever. Because that would be, like, bogus.
Cubs 85, Sox 90
Yeah, yeah, I know.....it's only 4 games into the new season......quite frankly I'm not surprised the Cubs have lost 3 out of the first 4 games they have played and let me share my reasons why..........there are 3 glaring holes among the starting 8 of this baseball team and they are center field, shortstop and catcher...combined this 3-some is hitting a robust .196. Soto is perfect throwing out base runners, i.e., he hasn't gotten any of the 5 that have attempted steals but, of course, has made up for that deficiency with his .167 batting average, Theriot belongs in the 8 hole at best and is better suited for the 10 hole (the bench)and Pie would have trouble making contact in a slow-pitch softball league. This team is starting 3 rookies which seems absurd given the lofty level of their team payroll. The only reliable starter in the rotation is Zambrano (it certainly cannot be assumed that Ted Lilly will win anything close to the 15 games he won last year) and the bullpen is very suspect. There is 1 left-handed reliever down there and he is also a rookie. Bobby Howry, who would be challenged to get Stevie Wonder out, is done and the closer is an unknown quantity. Marmol and Wuertz are quality arms but it is likely they'll both be out of gas by the All-Star break from being used too much. I sincerely feel that the majority of baseball fans with even a moderate knowledge of the game could have put together a more productive roster. The Cubs won their (weak) division last year, got swept in the first round of the playoffs by a team with a payroll less than half that of the Cubs and the only improvement they made is playing right field for them. The overall pitching staff is weaker (an area that should have been upgraded to be sure) and the 3 inept players I mentioned earlier in this blog have definitely weakened them offensively. I shudder to think that their shortstop, center fielder and catcher are the best their farm system has to offer, but that is the case because the quality players they have developed are all playing somewhere else. Yep, 4 games in and they are already the anchor for their division.......so much for getting off to a quick start, huh Lou?