What kind of a discredited blog would we be if we didn't occasionally put our collective butts on the line by making wild and highly improbable predictions about a 162 game season? We'll see which one of us is most scarily accurate and which of us is most hilariously wrong. The winner gets their OV salary doubled. The loser, of course, will have to go without dinner until next season.
MLB Predictions
Who will be the NL Division Champions?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Phillies, Cardinals, Giants |
| Aisle 424 | Marlins, Brewers, Diamondbacks |
| MB21 | Braves, Reds, Giants |
| Berselius | Phillies, Reds, Giants |
Who wIll be the AL Division Champions?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Red Sox, Tigers, Rangers |
| Aisle 424 | Yankees, Tigers, Angels |
| MB21 | Yankees, Tigers, Rangers |
| Berselius | Rays, Tigers, Angels |
Who will be the NL Wildcards?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Brewers & Marlins |
| Aisle 424 | Reds & Phillies |
| MB21 | Phillies & Cardinals |
| Berselius | Marlins & Braves |
Who will be the AL Wildcards?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Yankees & Indians |
| Aisle 424 | Rays & Rangers |
| MB21 | Red Sox & Angels |
| Berselius | Yankees & Rangers |
Who will play in the World Series, and who wins?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Marlins defeat Yankees |
| Aisle 424 | Phillies defeat Angels |
| MB21 | Yankees defeat Reds |
| Berselius | Angels defeat Phillies |
Who will win the NL MVP?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Jose Reyes |
| Aisle 424 | Joey Votto |
| MB21 | Joey Votto |
| Berselius | Matt Kemp |
Who will win the AL MVP?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Prince Fielder |
| Aisle 424 | Evan Longoria |
| MB21 | Jose Bautista |
| Berselius | Albert Pujols |
Who will win the NL Cy Young Award?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Chris Carpenter |
| Aisle 424 | Tim Lincecum |
| MB21 | Jeff Samardzija |
| Berselius | Zack Greinke |
Who will win the AL Cy Young Award?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Felix Hernandez |
| Aisle 424 | Felix Hernandez |
| MB21 | Justin Verlander |
| Berselius | Justin Verlander |
Who will win the NL Rookie of the Year?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Yonder Alonso |
| Aisle 424 | Devin Mesoraco |
| MB21 | Brett Jackson |
| Berselius | Edinson Volquez (seriously, Bryce Harper) |
Who will win the AL Rookie of the Year?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Yoenis Cespedes |
| Aisle 424 | Matt Moore |
| MB21 | Mike Trout |
| Berselius | Yu Darvish |
Cubs Predictions
How many games will the Cubs win?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | 75 |
| Aisle 424 | 62 |
| MB21 | 68 |
| Berselius | 74 |
Which Cub position player will end the year with the highest WAR?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Starlin Castro |
| Aisle 424 | Geovany Soto |
| MB21 | Starlin Castro |
| Berselius | Geovany Soto |
Which Cub pitcher will end the year with the highest WAR?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Ryan Dempster |
| Aisle 424 | Matt Garza |
| MB21 | Jeff Samardzija |
| Berselius | Matt Garza |
Will Ryan Dempster end the season as a Cub?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Yes |
| Aisle 424 | No |
| MB21 | Yes |
| Berselius | Yes |
Will Geovany Soto end the season as a Cub?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Yes |
| Aisle 424 | Yes |
| MB21 | Yes |
| Berselius | Yes |
Will Marlon Byrd end the season as a Cub?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | No |
| Aisle 424 | No |
| MB21 | No |
| Berselius | No |
Will Alfonso Soriano end the season as a Cub?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | No |
| Aisle 424 | Yes |
| MB21 | Yes |
| Berselius | No |
How many starts will Jeff Samardzija get before going back to the bullpen?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | 25 |
| Aisle 424 | 6 |
| MB21 | 36 |
| Berselius | 6 |
When will Joe Mather be released?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | 2019 |
| Aisle 424 | June 27 |
| MB21 | May 20 |
| Berselius | June 1 |
When will Brett Jackson get called up?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | Cinco de Mayo |
| Aisle 424 | May 3 |
| MB21 | May 20 |
| Berselius | June 1 |
When will Anthony Rizzo get called up?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | September 1 |
| Aisle 424 | June 27 |
| MB21 | June 10 |
| Berselius | September 1 |
What will be the Cubs' total attendance?
| Prediction | |
| And Counting | 3,000,300 |
| Aisle 424 | 2,750,001 |
| MB21 | 2,875,000 |
| Berselius | 2,500,000 |
mb picking F7 to have the highest WAR – (dying laughing)
Mish wrote:
Based on his last 6 innings, I think that is a very safe bet.
@ Mish:
And win Cy Young. The rest of you fuckers are way too pessimistic on him.
I pick 2 Cubs to win major awards and nobody else picks 1. I am the optimistic fan around these corners. (dying laughing)
Is Chris Carpenter even going to pitch this season?
@ mb21:
We don’t like anything
(dying laughing) at Joe Mather not being released until 2019.
@ mb21:
I could see BJax in contention, if they call him up. How many PAs or games or whatever do you need to qualify for ROY?
@ Berselius:
I know. I don’t know how I became known around here as the pessimist. It’s quite clear I’m not.
My MOY pick in the NL: Bananas
Quasi-papal projector posted his ZiPS NL standings. Anyone with insider?
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2012/story?id=7752377&_slug_=projecting-national-league-east-&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fmlb%2fspring2012%2fstory%3fid%3d7752377%26_slug_%3dprojecting-national-league-east-
@ mb21:
Those Sveum and Samardzija picks are great gambles. I can’t see any downside.
@ Berselius:
4th place, 75 wins
@ Berselius:
I hate that argument. There’s no downside in moving Soriano to CF. According to the metrics and even some observers he was better in the field last year. The funny thing is that one year of fielding is more predictive than 42 freaking innings. There’s no downside in the Cubs doing almost anything. Or moving the better relief pitcher, Marmol, to the rotation.
Berselius wrote:
There’s no downside to making Soriano a starting pitcher. We know he has a strong arm and fairly accurate one.
@ Mish:
I could see him as a closer/DH.
Aisle424 wrote:
(dying laughing)
@ Aisle424:
False.
@ mb21:
You’ve let it happen to you.
You guys are really high on the Marlins. To be honest I hope they make it, I kind of want to see Z get a ring.
@ Rice in limbo:
I’m not actually that high on the Marlins, it’s more that I’m not high on the Reds/Cardinals/Brewers/Giants/Dbacks
Carl Crawford ———> out all of April
@ Berselius:
THEO = BUST
Looking like the Bears are going to go defense with their first round pick.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
They need a new quarterback. Is it just me or does Cutler have a big, stupid face? Also, he was terrible in the second half of last season!
@ josh:
I hope you’re lampooning the meatballs.
@ jtsunami:
Nice! That’s great news.
so the Red Sox want to re-open the Theo talks because Carpenter got hurt? Can we politely tell those guys to fuck off once and for all?
Jose Ceda —-> TJ Surgery
@ dylanj:
They can give us back Kurcz and we will reluctantly give them Michael Brenly.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Indeed. Not hard to do when “wears the wrong expression sometimes” is a fireable offense to Chicago fandom.
@ jtsunami:
I don’t know if that’s such a good move. Is that going to mean Bob Brenly quits? If not, then he stays and bitches about it for the next three years. Not worth it.
jtsunami wrote:
@ dylanj:
Fuck politely. Tell Lucchino to return to the sodding anus that shat his worthless carcass onto the planet.
Mish wrote:
GW wrote:
Better reopen the Kevin Gregg trade.
@ Berselius:
Cubs are such seedy bastards, always trading guys when their warranties are about to expire.
http://muskat.mlblogs.com/2012/03/30/330-opening-day-lineup/
@ Berselius:
I don’t blame the Red Sox. I wonder if the Cubs knew about his injury beforehand. The guy only threw a few times in spring training. Either he did something throwing those pitches, tore the shit out of his elbow eating a steak or was already injured. It’s entirely possible the injury just happened. It’s not at all likely it happened eating food unless he was at TGIF.
@ mb21:
He could have already been injured and he/the Cubs had not known about it anyway, and he’s a dude with an injury history anyway (though this might not be related). When Carpenter went over to the Sox I was surprised at how little seemed to be written about his injury history.
I’m fairly sure that both teams performed physical exams on Carpenter before the trade was okay’d. Sometimes shit happens. Or else both teams have shitty doctors.
@ mb21:
I read it was a bone spur, not a tear. Bone spurs are the result of years of abuse on an elbow, not a couple of games, in my understanding.
@ josh:
Or just years of use, not even abuse, really. He might have been feeling a twinge and they told him the ligaments are healthy, so he figured it was one of those things.
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah both teams definitely performed a physical exam. I can’t blame the Sox for being pissed, but there’s nothing that can be done. What would be in it for Carpenter to lie about it anyways?
WaLi wrote:
Getting to go from a shitty organization to a perennial contender
@ Aisle424:
(dying laughing) true.
Carpenter: Fuck, I got hurt pitching today.
Theo: Hmm. Well obviously you are going to need surgery. I got a proposition. hold off saying you got hurt so I can trade you.
Carpenter: Trade? I don’t want to be traded! Who are you trading me for?
Theo: For someone worth a lot more than you. None other than myself. Don’t you want to say the Cubs traded you for Theo fucking Epstein?
Carpenter: Wait, does this mean I can leave the Cubs and play for an actual
goodteam?Theo: Uh… Yeah.
Carpenter: Deal.
HBO and MLB team up to let you know that Game of Thrones and Baseball are coming.
@ josh:
It will be interesting to see what MLB does about this. If it is bone spurs then the Sox and Cubs surely had to know. Both of them. If that’s true, the Sox should be shit out of luck.
@ mb21:
Maybe they don’t do full imaging scans for these physicals? If he was not reporting discomfort, then it might have been difficult to tell without a scan. I assumed that MRIs were standard, especially for a pitcher, but maybe not.
Giants —> released the scrappy lefty of the Cajun Connection duo.
BTW, whatever happened to FonteYES.
@ Mish:
He comes around once in awhile.
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
http://www.desipio.com/?p=3934
@ Aisle424:
Physical violence is the least of his priorities.
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
@ Mish:
Hey now, You’re an All-Star (in the Forums). Congrats for making it past Replacement Level!
Sveum on the opening day lineup. Not really sure what he’s talking about wrt maneuvering the lineup.
@ WaLi:
I let it happen to me.
Anyone else hear about this new AMC drama in the works about football? I’ve always been interested in a sports drama but they all seem to suck. If anyone can pull it off, it’s AMC.
Dont like this lineup. Brings the stupidz
@ GW:
Sometimes the lineup will bat in Chicago and other times it will bat in other cities.
@ jtsunami:
I haven’t heard much, but I’ve got $100 right now that says it’s better than The Killing.
@ jtsunami:
I never watched it, but did you watch Friday Night Lights? Show was supposedly amazing.
search phrase of the day: open hot dog bun
I’d really like to know what this person was searching for. Open the bag? Couldn’t be. too simple? Open the bun? No way. right?
@ GW:
I think he means that Barney will hopefully sustain a high BABIP so he won’t have to shuffle the lineup around too much because the guy can’t take a walk.
Lulz. DeJesus was going to score from second on Castro’s double but slipped at 3B so that’s why this game isn’t tied. How delightfully Cub.
@ Rice Cube:
Well, Soto does struggle against righties. Not as much as Barney, though.
Tied now.
This just in: Keith Olbermann is a tremendously tremendous asshole.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/current-tv-dismisses-keith-olbermann/?src=tp
Len: The Cubs aggressive baserunning this spring has been impressive.
Then Dewitt fails to score on a sac fly. Impressive.
The elusive Manny Corpas pitches!
Aisle424 wrote:
Well, DUH
Can anyone help me turn the segment from 2:26 to 2:40 into a clip I can post online?
http://wtso.net/movie/193-The_Simpsons_401_Kamp_Krusty.html
Can you assign a cousin of a TOOTBLAN to a non-advancement on the bases because of stupidity?
@ Rice Cube:
There should be an acceptable acronym for a stat that tracks when someone does something stupid on the basepaths even if it doesn’t result in an out.
@ Rice Cube:
OTBLAN
Rice Cube wrote:
Should Of Run, Idled Apathetically, No Out (though).
A SORIANO.
@ Mish:
I like that you used “should of” instead of “should have” to make the acronym work.
mb21 wrote:
I’ve seen it multiple times in the past week or so. I think it’s coming from an image search. Hopefully not someone with a very specific fetish.
@ Berselius:
It must be an image because I searched google and looked through 500 results and there was nothing leading here.
new shit up http://www.obstructedview.net/projections/projecting-the-2012-cubs-carlos-marmol.html