MLB October Preview

The NFL lately has left me forgetting about baseball and the great season that has been going this summer. That along with the fact that the Red Sox are now out of it. But now most of the playoff spots are set around the league. The Twins have taken their division and still have a chance to take the top spot in the American league. The Rangers have had their division wrapped up for a while and will get a big boost with Josh Hamilton re-joining the lineup. The Yankees and Rays are now battling for the division with the loser getting the wild card, both are also leading the AL in wins. In the National League the Phillies stormed back against the banged-up Braves to take the division by a healthy lead. The Reds have taken the central division on a walk-off home run by Jay Bruce earlier this week. Meanwhile out west the Giants seem poised to take the division with a 2.5 game lead on the Padres, and the Padres trail the Braves by 1.5 games in the wild card. I personally would like to see the Giants and Braves finish off the Padres and go to the playoffs.
But right now in the national league it really looks like the Phillies are going to be the team to beat in the playoffs, led by the return from injury of some key players like Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins. As well as the NL Cy Young candidate Roy Halladay, who is having yet another great year. The MVP should be Joey Votto who amazingly did not make the All-Star team this year despite being near the top of the list in many offensive categories. In the AL Felix Hernandez should win the Cy Young because of his amazing ERA, and Josh Hamilton will probably win MVP despite being injured for the few weeks.
It's all setting up to be another exciting October in baseball. Right now what I see is the Yankees playing the Phillies again in the World Series, and for the second year in a row, capturing the championship over Philadelphia. What I would like to see is the Cinncinati Reds beating the Texas Rangers in the World Series, game 7, walk-off, home run, in extra innings, despite that being the perfect scenario it could still happen. Many things can happen in baseball and as I learned when watching the Tenth Inning, a film by Ken Burns, players can even break records that never seemed possible to break. But while some were broken by players who supposedly used performance-enhancing drugs, it seems to me that everyone at some point and time used them during the steroid era. This means that the best player of the steroid era really was the best player, because everyone was doing it. Steroids also does not necessarily take someone out of the Hall of Fame, Barry Bonds was arguably the best player in the game and a sure Hall of famer before he used steroids. So I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the baseball season and even if you are a big football fan don't forget about America's other game, baseball.
-Max

NFL Season Predictions

My predictions for the upcoming NFL season. This is before week one, where I was surprised to see the Steelers and Seahawks get big wins to start off the season. Also here are the playoff predictions and Super Bowl Champion. (* Wild Card Team)

AFC Standings:

AFC East              AFC North          AFC South       AFC West
Patriots 11-5          Ravens 11-5        Colts 12-4        Chiefs 11-5
Jets 11-5 *             Steelers 10-6       Titans 11-5 *    Chargers 9-7
Dolphins 7-9         Bengals 9-7         Texans 8-8       Raiders 6-10
Bills 2-14              Browns 3-13       Jaguars 3-13     Broncos 6-10


NFC Standings:

NFC East              NFC North        NFC South         NFC West
Cowboys 11-5      Packers 13-3      Saints 11-5         49ers 10-6
Giants 8-8             Vikings 11-5 *   Panthers 11-5 * Cardinals 7-9
Eagles 7-9             Bears 6-10         Falcons 8-8        Seahawks 6-10
Redskins 5-11       Lions 5-11         Buccaneers 7-9  Rams 1-15


AFC Wild Card Round:                                        NFC Wild Card Round:
#6 Jets 13 at #3 Patriots 21                                    #6 Panthers 17 at #3 Cowboys 31
#5 Titans 27 at #4 Chiefs 17                                 #5 Vikings 24 at #4 49ers 10

AFC Divisional Round:                                        NFC Divisional Round:
#5 Titans 14 at #1 Colts 24                                   #5 Vikings 24 at #1 Packers 27
#3 Patriots 21 at #2 Ravens 24                             #3 Cowboys 31 at #2 Saints 24

AFC Championship Game:                                  NFC Championship Game:
#2 Ravens 21 at #1 Colts 17                                 #3 Cowboys 13 at #1 Packers 27

                     SUPER BOWL XLV:

                  Packers 31        Ravens 24

Green Bay Packers Super Bowl XLV Champions

So those are my predictions, I picked the Chiefs to win the division because of their running back duo of Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones (who the Jets should not have released coming off a career year in New York). The Packers will win the Super Bowl over the Ravens because their secondary will make more plays than the Ravens young inexperienced secondary. With players like Collins, Bigby, and defensive player of the year Woodson, they should be able to make just enough plays on d to defeat the Ravens new-look offense. This is my first post so I would like to thank any of you that read this. I will be posting more on the new seasons of professional and college football; the playoff races in baseball; the NBA; college basketball; and from time to time a little NHL and soccer or "futbol".

-Max Belleau