MLB Preview: Playoffs and Awards

Today we are on to our playoff and awards picks for 2009. Because we already broke down each divison, and since we did a write up on all the teams, thus covering many of the things we would here, we'll let these picks speak for themselves. (If you are wondering, The Kicker's picks say "I am a tool" while Juice's picks say "I am more bold, but also probably an idiot.")

Fear not, however, baseball week is not over yet. Tomorrow will feature a baseball themed top ten TBD.

With that, let's go ahead and fast forward to October.

Juice's Predictions

American League
ALDS:
Rays over Angels
Twins over Red Sox

ALCS:
Rays over Twins

National League
NLDS:
Reds over Phillies
Dodgers over Cubs

NLCS:
Dodgers over Reds

World Series
Dodgers over Rays

Awards
American League:
MVP - Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
CY Young - Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox
Rookie of the Year -Travis Snider, Toronto Blue Jays

National League
MVP - Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
CY Young - Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants (Darkhorse: Ricky Nolasco, Florida Marlins)
Rookie of the Year - Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants

Ok. I kind of lied. I do have some things to say kind of wrapping up my picks. As I was doing research (yes, we do research here at Juice and the Kicker - or at least one of us does) on my picks I came to an exciting conlcusion about the 2009 MLB season: There are no dominant teams. In fact, pretty much every division has at least two or three teams that could legitimatley make a run at the playoffs. That makes it more difficult to predict the season, but it also makes 2009 one of the more compelling seasons in recent memory. I wouldn't be surprised if any team made the playoffs, aside from a handful of clearly abysmal teams (sorry San Diego, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Washington). The rest of the league, however, is relatively wide open. And that, should make baseball fans very excited. Well, at least the fans who can still afford tickets.

- Juice

The Kickers Predictions

American League Playoffs
ALDS:
Twins over Rays
Red Sox over Angels

ALCS:
Red Sox over Twins

NLDS:
Dodgers over Mets
Cubs over Phillies

NLCS:
Cubs over Dodgers

World Series
Cubs over Red Sox (yes, I just went there)

Awards
American League
MVP - Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins
Cy Young - Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays
Rookie of the Year - Matt Wieters, Baltimore Orioles

National League
MVP - Manny Ramirez, Los Angeles Dodgers
Cy Young - Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants
Rookie of the Year - Jordan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals