By Dalton Del Don
NL MVP: Albert Pujols – I know, a no-brainer.
Runner up: Troy Tulowitzki – Chase Utley and Hanley Ramirez are better players in real life, but Tulo also plays a premium position, should hit cleanup, and I’m predicting the Rockies to win the NL West
Long shot: Brian McCann – It’s pretty tough winning this award as a catcher since it’s inherently harder to rack up counting stats in fewer at-bats (Joe Mauer was an exception last year, but at least he was in the AL). Still, I’m saying Atlanta wins the NL East, and McCann could easily prove to be its best hitter.
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez – Best team. Best lineup. Best home run park. Lot of things going his way, and he’s also a pretty good hitter too. ARod had a pretty weird season last year, as he hit better (.959 OPS, 17 homers over 199 ABs) right after returning from hip surgery (before the All-Star break) compared to afterward (.912 OPS, 13 homers over 245 ABs). His BA spiked in reverse, jumping from .256 before the break to .310 after, but that was accompanied by a K:BB ratio that dipped from 38:48 to 59:32 over that span, so who knows. Chalk it up to random variance. This is someone who posted a line of .286-30-78-100-14 over 444 at-bats.
Runner up: Miguel Cabrera – Evan Longoria is another close call, but don’t be surprised when Miggy goes ape in 2010.
Long shot: Adrian Beltre – What if that typical .860 road OPS is countered by a .920 OPS at home rather than his usual .750 in Seattle? And he’s in the right setup too. Remember the last time he was healthy in a contract year?
NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay – He should be the favorite.
Runner up: Tim Lincecum – Would love to see Timmy make it a hat trick.
Long shot: Tim Hudson – I was so tempted to pick Stephen Strasburg here, but is he really even that much of a “long shot?”
AL Cy Young: Jon Lester – His Vegas odds were 9:1. It’s like they are giving away money.
Runner up: Zack Greinke – I’m going to regret not having him on more of my fantasy teams this year.
Long shot: Francisco Liriano – More likely to disappoint again than live up to this billing, obviously, but he did strike out 30 batters over 20 innings this spring.
NL ROY: Jason Heyward – Have you heard of him?
AL ROY: Brian Matusz – Neftali Feliz could easily win here, and picking a rookie SP to win while playing in the AL East is probably pretty dumb.
World Series: Red Sox over Cardinals.
And just a reminder (in one spot consolidated), my regular season division predictions:
NL West
1. Colorado Rockies
2. Arizona Diamondbacks
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
4. San Francisco Giants
5. San Diego Padres
NL Central
1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Milwaukee Brewers
5. Houston Astros
6. Pittsburgh Pirates
NL East
1. Atlanta Braves
2. Philadelphia Phillies (wild card)
3. Florida Marlins
4. New York Mets
5. Washington Nationals
AL West
1. Los Angeles Angels
2. Texas Rangers
3. Seattle Mariners
4. Oakland A’s
AL Central
1. Minnesota Twins
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Cleveland Indians
5. Kansas City Royals
AL East
1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Toronto Blue Jays
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