MLB's 5 Dream World Series Matchups

This baseball season has been an interesting one and not a whole lot has gone according to the plan of the baseball "experts". Technically I was not much better myself with my picks. However, I think we can all agree that MLB has some dreamy World Series matchups still available and they are mostly between a few teams. For this season, their top 5 matchups are still available. I will break down each one and state why it is the dream matchup for the league.

5. Los Angeles Dodgers v. New York Yankees
This matchup engages both coasts. It pits the team that everybody loves to hate against the team with the pitcher that everybody loves. This is the game of the two franchises that typically spend the most money. The teams that are supposed to be there that never end up there at the same time. When you put Kershaw against ARod, a lot of people will want to tune in.

4. Chicago Cubs v. New York Yankees
The lovable osers against the evil empire. The cursed team against the team that curses opponents. The team that has won more than 20 championships against the team that never wins. These are two of MLB's top franchises and the story-lines write themselves.

3. Washington Nationals v. Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim
Trout v. Harper. Enough said.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers v. Toronto Blue Jays
Two of the games best pitchers against the games best lineup. A matchup between two countries. A true World Series. A team ending the longest playoff drought in American sports heading to the World Series to take on baseball's highest payroll. Price v. Kershaw. Tulowitski in the World Series. There is just so much potential here.

1. Chicago Cubs v. Toronto Blue Jays
Same as the previous matchup except add the Cubs cursed history to it. This matchup would have eyeballs galore. People want to see the Cubs and Blue Jays square off in the World Series. This World Series would be mega $$$$ for MLB.

Now, all of these would be $$$$ for MLB, but that last one (last two actually) would be on a different level IMO.

-Noland

College and MLB Baseball Season Preview

Because of the countdown on likable athletes I was doing I was a little late on my college baseball preview. Late is better than never though and it will be included in this post along with the MLB season preview. Since, the college baseball season is underway, it will include some information from the first month of the season.

College Baseball

We will start with the Seminoles since they are the main focus of this blog. FSU has had a decent start to the season and is ranked by every major year. This is predicted to be a down year by FSU standards with most rankings having FSU around 20. That prediction means FSU will likely have a 2 seed heading into regional play. I would say that prediction is likely accurate based on what I have seen so far. The Noles have lost a lot of talent and it doesn't appear likely they will deliver that elusive title for #11. An early season loss to Jacksonville does not convince me otherwise. The losses to Georgia don't make me feel any better. However, they did win one game 24-1 against USF so there is some hope. FSU losses by the Super Regionals this year though I am afraid.

Since I do not like to pick repeat winners, I will not be picking Vanderbilt to win in college. Instead, I will be picking the LSU Tigers (who look like the best team anyway). These guys will be the most complete team and likely will get the job done. Expect Virginia and Vanderbilt to be among the top teams in Omaha with them. It kills me that the Gators and Canes will likely have better teams than the Noles this year, but at least neither should win their conference. Virginia should win the ACC and either Vanderbilt or LSU should win the SEC. It should be a heck of a college baseball season.

MLB Predictions

Now, on to the professional circuit. These predictions will be a little more in depth. I will pick all the playoff teams and the overall winner.

AL East Champ: Baltimore Orioles
AL Central Champ: Kansas City Royals
AL West Champ: Seattle Mariners
Wild Card 1: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Wild Card 2: Boston Red Sox

The most exciting race by far should be the AL West because there are three teams that are absolutely loaded. However, I believe that the small additions to their lineup put Seattle over the top. Seattle is a team that just missed last year and they have a top 2 as good as anyone in the rotation. Nobody questions the pitching that Seattle has and the lineup is coming around. Those guys can't do any better at loading up this lineup. The addition of Nelson Cruz along with that pitching makes this team a serious postseason threat. For some reason, Nelson Cruz is lights out in the playoffs. That guy will deliver some serious goods for the Mariners in the playoffs. They will win the American League period with him complementing Robinson Cano and that brilliant rotation.
The Angels just miss the AL West and capture the Wild Card advancing to the division and perhaps even the championship series. Oakland will not be a player in these playoffs in my opinion. They don't have the talent, but you have heard that about them before.
Another exciting race will be the American League East which comes down to three teams IMO. Those teams will be Baltimore, Boston, and Toronto. Each is a legit threat to the WS crown and not just the AL East Crown. Baltimore is the surest thing because we now how that team operates and Buck gets the job done. I would obviously love to see Baltimore take home the hardware. However, Boston and Toronto each made brilliant offseason moves and cannot be taken lightly. The Rays went full tank mode this offseason though so they will be murdered in this brilliant AL East. A lot of Baltimore's hopes lie in the health of their superstars Matt Wieters and Manny Machado. If 100% healthy, Baltimore will look to do some serious damage in Major League Baseball this season.
Boston upgraded their offense a tremendous amount and also added Rick Porcello so it is hard to see them with another last place finish. They should be right there with Baltimore and Toronto. The Blue Jays should finally make a push, especially after adding a top 30 player in Josh Donaldson. This should be a very fun race.
I predict that the Tigers will start to fall off after losing two top tier starters and the Royals will fill that void in the Central with all of their young talent.

NL East Champ: Washington Nationals
NL Central Champ: Pittsburgh Pirates
NL West Champ: Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Wild Card 1: Chicago Cubs
NL Wild Card 2: San Diego Padres

Just like the American League, the most exciting National League race will be out West. Even the Diamondbacks are improved and there are four really solid teams out West. The Diamondbacks however are a step behind 3 other clubs in the division. Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco should all be better than Arizona. At least 2 of those 3 will make the playoffs and I wouldn't be surprised if all three did. The Giants are the defending champs and have a ton of talent, but a lot of hope rises on two players. With Panda leaving that puts even more burden on Bumgarner and Posey. As good as that duo is, I have them just out of the playoffs in a loaded NL West. The trades San Diego has made along with the signing of James Shields makes them a legitimate threat. It looks great on paper, but will it work out? That is the million dollar question. There is no doubt though that if healthy and 100% that is the best outfield in baseball. Justin Upton and Matt Kemp together and with Myers, are you kidding me?
The team that traded Matt Kemp will still be the class of the West though. The Dodgers have the best pitcher in the game and the most talent overall. They upgraded a few spots as they added Kendrick and Jimmy Rollins along with some other pieces. The defense that Los Angeles puts on the field should be vastly improved over last year. Pitching and defense is quite important in this game, so that is a good sign. They should be right around where they were.
The NL East should be a cakewalk for the Nationals as they will be the favorites to run through the entire NL. That rotation is the best on paper since the 90s Braves. If a team does compete in the East it will be Miami. All the others are looking at the middle of a rebuild while the Marlins are a team on the rise and Washington is built to win now.
The NL Central is incredibly weak and that lends opportunity to a few teams. Cincinnati will be down and Milwaukee should be as well. St. Louis could easily also be trending down which should make Pittsburgh the favorite. Even though Pittsburgh is the favorite though, look out because he comes Joe Maddon and those Chicago Cubs. Chicago will be much improved and I believe will get a wild card spot.

MLB Playoffs
ALDS: Mariners over Angels
ALDS: Orioles over Royals
ALCS: Mariners over Orioles
NLDS: Dodgers over Padres
NLDS; Nationals over Pirates
NLCS: Dodgers over Nationals

Once the playoffs come around, things should get interesting. Over in the American League I think the pitching of the Seattle Mariners proves to be too much. With King Felix and Iwakuma pitching and that revamped lineup, it will be difficult to beat the Mariners. Don't forget that this team barely missed the playoffs last year and could have easily taken down the Royals and made that run themselves. Add Nelson Cruz to that lineup and a full season of Austin Jackson and this team is the favorites to me. The Orioles and Angels each provide good chances of preventing that from happening as each has an explosive lineup. Baltimore also has really good pitching as well, but it remains to be seen if Wieters and/or Machado can stay healthy throughout the year.
The National League has more contenders for the World Series title than the American League this year I believe. If you look at the NL West, there are 3 strong contenders right there. The Nationals are a threat as are the Marlins and Pirates. Don't be shocked if Chicago gets in the mix too. With that being said, the Dodgers and Nationals should prove to be the class of the National League all year long. These teams have the most talent and are both built to win now. It is time to put up or shut up for these two franchises and I believe that they are headed for a collision course in the NLCS. That NLCS is where I think the Dodgers separate themselves though. LA has the far superior lineup and they have the best pitcher in baseball. Kershaw has a postseason this year like MadBum had last year and proves to be the best there is in the game of baseball. You lose two games to Kershaw and those bats will win two more. Ya the Nationals have the best rotation, but their team can't score against LA's rotation and especially will struggle with Kershaw on the bump. This will set up the dream World Series.

World Series
Mariners over Dodgers

This is the dream World Series matchup for any baseball fan whether they acknowledge it or not. Kershaw vs. King Felix on the biggest stage of them all. The two best pitchers in the game going head to head. I not only would love to see it, I think we will get to see this incredible matchup. In the end, I think Seattle wins this dream matchup because I think Iwakuma will outduel the Dodgers #2 guy. Kershaw will have to beat Felix at least twice to prevent Seattle from being the World Series Champs.

It should be a fun baseball season though.
Go O's and Go Noles!

-Noland

Congratulations Clayton!

By now you should have heard that Clayton Kershaw signed a 7 year 215 million dollar contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. That is a ridiculous amount of money that averages over 30 million per year to buy out Kershaw's arbitration years. Obviously the question turns to whether or not he is worth it.

I would argue that if anyone is worth it, it is Clayton Kershaw. A couple months ago when I ranked the top 100 players in baseball I had Kershaw as #2 in the game, but I could easily make an argument for him being #1. His numbers and production speak for themselves. Yesterday, the MLB Network (which I recommend getting if you don't have it) ranked the top starting pitchers in baseball. Every analyst on the show had Kershaw at #1. There is no debate. He is the undisputed best pitcher in baseball. He is only 25 and he is getting better.

How much better is Clayton getting?

Last year, he pitched to an ERA of 1.83. He had 2 complete game shutouts. He pitched for the most innings in his career. He allowed less than 50 earned runs the entire season. Across 33 starts he only gave up 48 runs! The Orioles seem to give that amount up weekly. Most baseball teams give that amount up in 15 games or less. Yet, here we have this guy with a 1.83 ERA. His ERA + which is adjusted for ballpark effects is 194. He consistently has a 1.000 fielding percentage because he is great at fielding his position as well. Most impressive to me is that he is this dominant and able to pick up 200+ strikeouts for 4 straight seasons. That is 4 straight seasons of 200+ innings and 200+ strikeouts. He also has 5 straight seasons of sub 3 ERA. The guy is filthy and clearly the best right now.

Not only that, the guy is one of the best off the field as well. I have posted numerous times about him being a great Christian guy who is very committed to his charity. Don't we want a guy like that to be the highest paid in the sport? A guy who is a good man and a good player. A guy who is dominant, but also not tainted by the use of performance enhancing drugs. I am thrilled that Clayton Kershaw is the highest paid guy in sport. You can argue with the salary, you can argue with salaries in general or whether he deserves it. You can't argue that its good that someone like Kershaw is the highest paid. You can't argue that this is good for baseball to have this guy as the highest paid player. The market now dictates MLB salaries like this. I am just happy that a good guy is getting paid better than the cheaters and the crooks. Vindication for the just.

-Noland

Marlins Trade Hanley

Yesterday, I saw the Orioles linked to Hanley Ramirez. I had mixed emotions because I know we needed a 3rd baseman, but I am not a Hanley fan. The guy is a malcontent. He is a clubhouse cancer. I can't identify many people like that in baseball, but it seems that Hanley is one of those guys. However, I realized that the Orioles so desperately needed to get a 3rd baseman who could be competent over there. Then I remembered two things...

1) Hanley is terrible defensively and
2) Hanley doesn't want to play 3rd base. He was moved off of SS by the Marlins and has been a malcontent ever since. I definitely don't want him as a SS, we have JJ Hardy who is 1000x better defensively.

So once I remembered that, I did not want Hanley at all. No clubhouse cancers on this team that is busting their hump. No clubhouse cancers on a team that won't give up. Nope, don't want them.

I didn't realize, however that Hanley would be so cheap. Even then, I say no. Now I am relieved that Hanley went somewhere else....

Hanley Ramirez was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Nate Eovaldi and Scott McGough. McGough is a 22 year old pitcher who was in his 2nd professional season with the Dodgers. He was selected by the Dodgers in the 5th round of the 2011 draft. Currently McGough is in high A for the Dodgers and carries an ERA of 3.48 for his career. He is also 4-10 for his career thus far. Eovaldi is considered the better part of the package. Nate Eovaldi has made 10 starts for the Dodgers this year. He is 1-6 with a 4.15 ERA. Eovaldi is not horrible, but I wouldn't exactly say he is good.

This is all they could get for Hanley. Can you imagine what they would have gotten in the offseason? Can you remember when Hanley was considered a top 5 shortstop? Oh, how the mighty have fallen. It sure is a shame for Miami that he fell this far.

-Noland

My Favorite Starting Pitcher

When I posted my all-star ballot, one of my friends asked to see which pitchers I would pick for each side for the game. I can tell you that when I release that later this week, this guy will be one of the guys. He is my favorite starting pitcher and he is not a Baltimore Oriole. The guy I am talking about is Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw.

Kershaw has filthy stuff. He won the Cy Young last year. He pitches for a 1st place team. Not only all of those awesome attributes, but Kershaw is also a great person. Additionally Kershaw is a good Christian man. He is an actual role model that kids can look up to. What a novel concept for a celebrity. The picture of Kershaw and his wife here is from a trip to Zambia where Kershaw was doing mission work. Such a great positive example. Watch his I Am Second video.

Seconds - I Am Second

-Noland