I know that this is not WKU related but since we aren't talking about anything at all I don't see the harm in me feeding my baseball addiction.

AL East -- I do so want Baltimore to pull this out but it's not going to happen. Boston takes the division(I don't have confidence in this pick but I refuse to pick the Yankees.)

AL Central --Chicago but they go nowhere in post season.

AL West -- I will take Oakland to come from 5 games back to edge the Angels -- why because Moneyball is a great book! :rolleyes:

NL East -- Atlanta, Bobby Cox could take a little league team to the division title.

NL Central -- St Louis Go Red Birds!

NL West -- San Deigo but who cares?

I will refrain from the wild card picks at this time.

I had such high hopes for the Washington Nationals. What a story that would have been...

DUFUS Wrote:I had such high hopes for the Washington Nationals. What a story that would have been...

True but remeber they were a "small market team" give them a few years in a town that wants the exposure that pro ball affords and get actual ownership and you will see them well being edged out by Bobby Cox and Company! :rolleyes:

I think it will be hard to ever edge out a Bobby Cox coached team. The Braves (my personal fave) just seem to retool. Especially this year. At the beginning of the season they weren't picked to be in the top 3 in their Division. However, Bobby did his magic, even with Andruw playing like a little girl. Then, all hell breaks loose. Mondesi can't play worth a crap so he's shipped off, Chipper gets hurt, half of the pitching staff goes down (including Hampton and Hudson), Furcal is hurt (no real loss there, except for his defense), Giles is banged up, etc, etc, etc. So, what do they do? Bring players up from the minors. What a novel idea? You mean teams actually build players in their minor league systems still? At this I have to say the Braves might be the best in the major leagues. Twice this season every player on the the field in a Braves uniform actually came up through their minor leauge system. It's absolutely remarkable.

Oh yeah, and they kept pace with one of the hottest teams at the time, the Nationals. Now, players are getting healthy and they're back on top of the division (or tied). Doesn't get much better than that, does it? Well, if they win 14 straight, then yes. That 13 straight division titles still blows me away.

Big Squirrel Wrote:I think it will be hard to ever edge out a Bobby Cox coached team. The Braves (my personal fave) just seem to retool. Especially this year. At the beginning of the season they weren't picked to be in the top 3 in their Division. However, Bobby did his magic, even with Andruw playing like a little girl. Then, all hell breaks loose. Mondesi can't play worth a crap so he's shipped off, Chipper gets hurt, half of the pitching staff goes down (including Hampton and Hudson), Furcal is hurt (no real loss there, except for his defense), Giles is banged up, etc, etc, etc. So, what do they do? Bring players up from the minors. What a novel idea? You mean teams actually build players in their minor league systems still? At this I have to say the Braves might be the best in the major leagues. Twice this season every player on the the field in a Braves uniform actually came up through their minor leauge system. It's absolutely remarkable.

Oh yeah, and they kept pace with one of the hottest teams at the time, the Nationals. Now, players are getting healthy and they're back on top of the division (or tied). Doesn't get much better than that, does it? Well, if they win 14 straight, then yes. That 13 straight division titles still blows me away.

If you reread my post I said that the Nats would be edged out by the Braves.

The Nats are getting A LOT of $ and interest from the fans. Needless to say, the Expos weren't. The Nats could be the NL East team that buys their talent here in a few years, while the Braves take a bunch of youngsters and no-namers and makes a team out of 'em. Remind you of something that exists in the AL East???

Not my Cubs :(

Sorry Truman, I misread it. I thought it said that in the next few years the Nats would edge out the Braves.

Raider_ATO, are you saying the Nats will be the yankees or Red Sox of the NL East? I would certainly dread that. I get so tired of teams that just buy their players. I'm very happy with what the Braves have done over the years, i.e. bringing up kids through the minors and signing a key free agent here and there to solidify the roster. I think that's the way baseball is supposed to work. Otherwise, what are the minor leagues there for? How would you feel to be playing in the Yankees minor league system and know that there's little if any possibility that you'll ever see the majors with them? The only way that guy will make it to the bigs is if he's part of a trade for a big name player and he gets up there with his new team. It's just sad! :mad: