I'm going with 87 wins. Cleveland wins the division with 91. The AL Cetral beats the hell out of each other all year and no one in the division finishes more than 10 under .500. All 5 teams will be tightly packed throughout the season. The Sox finish 2nd, but 2 games out of the wild card.

79, will give up too many games against crappy teams. Will do decent vs. CLE/DET

Like how we were supposed to in 2006? Or the Tigers were supposed to last year?

since we're speculating, the answer is yes. Westbrook's spring might be an anomaly, but if he's building on his great showing in the playoffs last season that rotation (to me) has the most potential in the league.

I'm going with 87 wins. Cleveland wins the division with 91. The AL Cetral beats the hell out of each other all year and no one in the division finishes more than 10 under .500. All 5 teams will be tightly packed throughout the season. The Sox finish 2nd, but 2 games out of the wild card.

Well stated, that sounds about right.

 

Well stated, that sounds about right.

 

I see you are more baseball literate than political .................................. Really, I'm just joking with you.

I see you are more baseball literate than political .................................. Really, I'm just joking with you.

I liked that your White Sox post had "substance".

 

 

I liked that your White Sox post had "substance".

 

 

 

82.

Until they prove me wrong, and I hope they do, a rotation with Contreras, Denks and Floyd is going to struggle all season.

BTW, I love the bell-shaped curve we got going in the poll numbers.

BTW, I love the bell-shaped curve we got going in the poll numbers.

 

I think it shows people are being optimistic but not entirely unrealistic.

93, because I really think guys in the division like Sheffield, Pudge, and Maggs can have future injuries as they age. Also, with Detroit's horrible bullpen and mostly crap rotation with the exception of Verlander, they can have major problems winning. Offense doesn't win it all. We should be able to get some wins against The Almighty Detroit Tigers if the above injuries should happen.

Um, you DO realize that if the Tigers are losing, that doesn't help the Sox win, right? The Sox play pretty well against Detroit anyway.

 

I went with the 82-85 selection. I think the Sox improved over the off-season. The additions of Swisher, Cabrera, Linebrink, and Dotel certainly improve us, and we might even have found a diamond with Alexei. Time will tell on that. We lost Garland, which really hurts our rotation - which is going to be pretty awful once you get past the fairly reliable duo of Buehrle and Vazquez.

Edited March 30, 200817 yr by lvjeremylv

I'm going with a win total right around 78-80. For whatever reason I'm not worried about the rotation as much as I am the center field situation and the offense. I'm afraid Dye won't recover and Swisher will be moved all over and never properly utilized. Plus, Owens will be over played, Uribe will suck, Thome might get hurt again, etc. A lot of the team's success will come down to Ozzie's use of his assets, and that scares me a bit.

They need a fast start, and nothing in spring training has convinced me they can do that.

i took 90-93

 

why? wishful thinking.

 

could be a horrible year. the 3,4,5 starters worry me. division is tough.

 

wow, the Tigers win only 79? With possibly the best offense in baseball, and a pitching staff which ain't all that bad, they only muster up 79 wins? But we get 90... wow. I'd take it, but I am being kind when I say HIGHLY unlikely.

 

I really think the Tigers are the most overrated team in baseball right now, and I see them completely as a boom or bust team. Either the offense stays generally healthy, tears the baseball world apart, they win 100+ games and run away with the division, or they'll struggle due to age/injuries and be right around .500. And their offense is what it depends on too, because I don't see their pitching staff putting up an ERA below 4.50...and I generally think their pitching staff is a bit underrated by most. I have just never liked Robertson, I don't like Rogers, and it's impossible to know what you can expect out of Dontrelle at this point. Verlander and Bonderman are pretty studly though.

17, give or take 80.

Edited March 31, 200817 yr by kjshoe04

not on the poll, but 102.

 

you win 60, you lose 60, and we win the other 42

 

this is 60 less wins than i predicted last year, so hopefully my lowered expectations help them relax a lil bit

Edited March 31, 200817 yr by rackemup

With the roster as it stands now: 75

 

With Fields at 3B, Wasserman in the pen, a starting OF of Anderson in CF, Dye in LF, Swisher in RF, Quentin as the 4th OF: 88

Division winner.

I'd predict right around 85 wins. I think we have an outside but realistic shot of competing for a playoff spot. But I do have serious concerns about the starting pitching outside of Buehrle and Vazquez and if they don't produce we could be looking at another long season.

Bumped for a fun look back...

 

MAX and Wite really hit the Tigers well, but no one guessed Cleveland falling completely apart.

Thanks SS, It is nice to know that as many people were as negative as I remembered. I saw four teams that I thought could have the kind of season that wins divisions. Win totals were second in my mind, with that many good teams. Which is why I only predicted divisional winner.

I can't remember what I chose, is there a way to see that?

Indians are going to walk away with this division.

I like this one.

For the upcomming season...

 

Vazquez = Verlander

Rogers

Bonderman > Contrera

Willis >= Danks

Robertson >= Floyd

 

So, to take into account their rotation is as good or even better then ours, plus they have the best offense in baseball, it's tough to see how they will win only 79, but we somehow win 90.

 

Our only real advantage against them is our pen. Todd Jones is gonna get lit up.

 

 

LOL

 

 

Im going to remain my usual optimistic self and say the Sox go 92-70 and surprise everyone. Slam me if you please, I dont really care to argue, I just would rather hope that they are going to do well than dwell on thinking that they are gonna suck.

 

I have a similar feeling to this year that i had in 2005, i dont know whats going to happen, but I dont have a sinking feeling about the season like I did last year.

 

Edited September 8, 200817 yr by kyyle23