National League

West Division

1.     San Francisco Giants

2.     Colorado Rockies

3.     Los Angeles Dodgers

4.     Arizona Diamondbacks

5.     San Diego Padres

Central Division

1.     Milwaukee Brewers

2.     Cincinnati Reds

3.     St. Louis Cardinals

4.     Chicago Cubs

5.     Pittsburgh Pirates

6.     Houston Astros (tear drop)

East Division

1.     Atlanta Braves

2.     Philadelphia Phillies

3.     New York Mets

4.     Washington Nationals

5.     Florida Marlins

Wild Card Winner– Colorado Rockies

NLDS

Milwaukee vs. Colorado- Milwaukee wins in 5

San Francisco vs. Atlanta- San Francisco wins in 4

NLCS

San Francisco vs. Milwaukee- San Francisco wins in 6

Series MVP= Tim Lincecum

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AL East

1.     Boston Red Sox

2.     Tampa Bay Rays (Wildcard)

3.     New York Yankees

4.     Toronto Blue Jays

5.     Baltimore Orioles

AL Central

1.   Minnesota Twins

2.   Detroit Tigers

3.   Chicago White Sox

4.   Kansas City Royals

5.   Cleveland Indians

AL West

1.   Texas Rangers

2.   Los Angeles Angels

3.   Oakland Athletics

4.   Seattle Mariners

ALDS 1: Red Sox over Twins (4 games)

ALDS 2: Rays over Rangers (5 games)

ALCS: Red Sox over Rays (6 games)

MVP: Dustin Pedroia

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Last Tuesday evening was the annual Denslow Cup draft.  Luckily I was back home in Farmington so that Griff and I could get together and drink some beers and eat some BBQ courtesy of my mom and buddy/Sombrero enthusiast, Benji.  The Cup’s draft day is one of my favorite days of the year, and this was absolutely no exception.  I was totally amped all day and could barely hold my hand still to click the mouse to select my first pick.  As usual, we played in a 7 X 7 league with R, RBI, BA, Slug %, OBP, SB, and HR as our offensive categories and W, SV, WHIP, ERA, K’s, K/BB, and IP as our pitching categories.  We have tried to incorporate stats we view as essential to Big League success such as K/BB and OBP in an effort to discourage profiting from players who don’t contribute proportionately to their actual teams.  Anyway, I wanted to present my team, the Milk Steak Knives (named after both the Cup’s founder, Robert Vincent Unsell, and Charlie Kelly’s favorite dish), to our readers and offer some justification for my picks.

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Mark Twain is responsible for popularizing the Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke quote, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”  As someone who bases many of his opinions on statistics, I could not agree more.  I could take any player, along with any different combination of stats, and come up with two different opinions on that player.  Anyone who has ever manipulated statistics to benefit their own argument knows exactly what I am talking about.  But what about the other times, when you come to an opinion that has no logical basis other than you just feel it?  Deep down inside your gut you have an inkling, an instinct that something will happen.  There is no real rhyme or reason behind this belief.  Most of the time when you mention these beliefs to friends they call you crazy, or some synonym of loco.  The beauty of these types of beliefs is that when they become a reality, when you have used only your gut instinct to defy the laws of statistical analysis, it is a thing of beauty.  I can honestly say that there is no better feeling in the world.

When I was 11-years-old, living in Houston, I told anyone who would listen how the Rockets were going to win it all.  They defied all odds, coming back from a 2-0 deficit in the first round to defeat the Jazz, then coming back from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Suns, and finally sweeping Shaq and the Magic in the Finals to win it all; all while becoming the first team in NBA history to defeat four 50-win teams en route to winning an NBA title.  What does this have to do with the 2011 baseball season though?  At 11-years-old, I had no idea what statistics could be used for.  I knew nothing about backing up an opinion with logical information.  I was freaking 11-years-old!  But, somewhere deep down inside I knew, I just knew, that my Rockets were not going to lose a playoff series that year.  Maybe it was because they had the heart of a champion.  Maybe not.  Either way, I made a gut call about sports and it miraculously came to fruition.

Long story short, that premise is the central idea for this article.  In the upcoming weeks you will find a myriad of articles around the web talking about people’s bold predictions.  Most of these predictions have some sort of stat to back them up.  Not me.  I am here to give you some truly outlandish predictions that have no evidence to support them other than I “feel” like it will happen.  This is not about me trying to predict the future correctly.  This is about finding that 11-year-old inside of me who just believed.  This is about having some fun and enjoying letting my imagination run wild with the endless possibilities of what could happen in a baseball season that has yet to start.  So, without further ado, here are my outlandish, completely unwarranted, and instinct-based predictions for the 2011 Major League Baseball season.

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• This week Braves’ manager Fredi Gonzalez stated that youngsters Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel could split the closing duties in 2011, just as Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez did in 2009.  Last season, Kimbrel burst on the scene and to say the least, was absolutely filthy.  In just 20 2/3 innings, Kimbrel recorded 40 strikeouts, which for those of you keeping score at home is a ridiculous 17.4 K/9.  He also racked up four wins and a save along the way, and allowed just a single earned run.  If he can repeat his success, Kimbrel could very well become a household name in 2011.

• The Cleveland Indians cleared catcher Carlos Santana to resume all baseball activities, and he will be ready for the start of Spring Training next week.  In 2010, Santana’s eye-opening rookie campaign came to an abrupt halt after he suffered a hideous knee injury on August 2.  Considering that the switch-hitting catcher posted slashes of .260/.401/.467 last year in 192 plate appearances, the fact that he’s been cleared significantly increase his fantasy value.  I’m really excited to see what this guy can do over the course of a full, healthy season.

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