Tag: Predictions

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MLB Over/Under Game

Just had an Over/Under draw for the 2010 MLB season with my brother over at The World According To Me and I ended up winning the toss that we virtually held with a Canadian penny. I decided to take the 2nd and 3rd pick, he got 1st and 4th and then we alternated after that until we both had six picks each. The only rule was you can’t repeat a pick of another person but you could pick the same team if you decided to go in the other direction of the first pick.

For those not familiar with the game, Vegas sets a number for how many games each team is going to win. After that, you decide whether a team will go OVER or UNDER that amount, make your pick and forget about it until the end of the season. If any of you want to make picks with me before the rest of the season gets under way tomorrow, let me know.

Ayaz
1. Mets OVER 80.5
4. Giants OVER 81.5
6. Angels OVER 83.5
8. Philadelphia UNDER 92.5
10. Washington OVER 70.5
12. Yankees UNDER 95.5

Faraz
2. Detroit UNDER 80.5
3. Minnesota OVER 83.5
5. Tampa UNDER 89.5
7. Cubs OVER 82.5
9. Philadelphia OVER 92.5
11. Toronto UNDER 70.5

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Mike
1. San Francisco O81.5
4. Seattle O83.5
6. Washington O70.5
8. Boston U94.5
10. Angels U83.5
12. Cleveland U74.5

Faraz
2. Detroit U80.5
3. Minnesota O83.5
5. Philadelphia O92.5
7. Angels O83.5
9. Baltimore O74.5
11. Pittsburgh U69.5

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Faraz
1. Mets O80.5
4. Minnesota O83.5
6. San Francisco O81.5
8. Angels O83.5
10. Cleveland U74.5
12. Washington O70.5

Cindy
2. Boston U94.5
3. Baltimore U74.5
5. Pittsburgh O69.5
7. Philadelphia O92.5
9. White Sox U82.5
11. Seattle U83.5

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MLB Predictions For The 2010 Season

1. Unfortunately, the Toronto Blue Jays will lose 100+ games this season. In addition to playing AL East teams 19 times who have all seemingly improved from last year, the Blue Jays have a month long stretch from June 18th to July 11th where they have one “easy” series. The teams they play are Giants (3), Cardinals (3), Phillies (3), @Indians (4), @Yankees (3), Twins (3) and Red Sox (3). A rough 22 game stretch going into the All-Star Break. I don’t think too many teams get to play that tough of a stretch very often. They certainly have a powerful offense to compete with anyone in the game but the lack of experience in pitching will probably cost them way too many games.

Even though I make that prediction, I am going to be rooting every day like there is not tomorrow for the Blue Jays to prove me wrong.

2. On the other hand, Yankees will not win 100 games this year. I have seen several reports that have them at 103/104 wins but I don’t see that happening in the ever improving and difficult AL East. They improved in CF by getting Granderson but lost clutch hitters like Damon and Matsui and Gardner/Swisher isn’t a very intimidating corner OF. I am interested in seeing how Vazquez does because I have a feeling he could end up wining the most games in that rotation this year.

3. Even without Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins will comfortably win the AL Central. Tigers improved a little not nearly as much as they needed to and that playoff type rotation for White Sox will only help them so much. Behind the leadership (and new contract extension) of Joe Mauer and some decent pitching, I think they still win the division by at least 10 games even without Joe Nathan.

4. Both winners of the West divisions will have less than 90 wins. It has happened a few times in the past decade for the NL West but not in the AL since 1998 when Texas won the division with with 88 wins. Both Dodgers and Angels should win their respective divisions again but the Angels will have a much tougher fight and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mariners are competing for a playoff spot in late August or early September.

5. The first baseball game of the season I will attend is going to be May 19, 2010 when Tampa Bay Rays come to the Bronx to play the Yankees. Haven’t bought any tickets to the game yet, but it is the first date when everyone is done with finals and it just might work out.

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Guest Post: NHL Playoffs Preview

If I need hockey news from someone I know personally, it is usually down to three people and two of which I went to high school with. One of those two has written a guest post on the upcoming NHL playoffs that get underway on Wednesday with 3 Eastern Conference series and 1 from the Western Conference.

I have bolded his series predictions below and added mine [in blue]. I think it just might be a nice contest throughout the playoffs to see who predicts the series more accurately.

Here is an analysis from Rusty Moke who is an avid hockey fan since as long as I can remember and has been in attendance for more hockey games this year alone than I even I got to watch:

The NHL playoffs are finally upon us; if 82 games weren’t enough get ready for a couple more.  Now, I’m no NHL scout or hockey analyst, (just an old high school buddy of a specific angry brown guy, who I’d like to thank for making room for me in his intelligent blog) but as an avid hockey fan/player you might be able to find a morsel or two of decent predictions among all of my ranting.

There are 8 different matchups, so I’ll make it short and sweet for each one.

(8) Montreal vs (1) Boston – The Bruins have surged forward this season, from 8th playoff seed last year to 1st this year.  The Canadiens have limped down the stretch, Markov is injured, and Price needs another year or two to become an outstanding goaltender.  Although I believe Boston is overrated and Tim Thomas is garbage, I’ll say Boston wins the series 4-1. [Boston – 4-2]

(7) New York (R) vs (2) Washington – My hatred of the Rangers aside, they are going to have a tough time with the Caps.  Washington has too much firepower for Lundqvist to handle between Ovie, Semin, Green, and Backstrom.  Theodore is Washington’s weak point, but the Rangers season long scoring problems shouldn’t give him much of a problem.  Having the #1 penalty kill in the league doesn’t win games.  Washington sweeps 4-0. [Washington – 4-2]

(6) Carolina vs (3) New Jersey – I’m obviously going to be biased towards the Devils.  Yes, we’ve had problems with the Canes all season long.  Yes, since Marty broke the record he hasn’t been at the top of his game.  But, Marty finally has rest and we have too much history with Carolina to drop this game.  Keep an eye on Babchuk, he’ll make things interesting.  NJ wins in 7. [Carolina – 4-3]

(5) Philadelphia vs (4) Pittsburgh – Not much to say here.  Since the coaching change Pittsburgh has been nearly unstoppable.  Everyone recognizes the names Crosby and Malkin.  Philadelphia has always been an unpredictable team, I don’t think they can hold onto this series, Biron isn’t very reliable.  Pittsburgh wins 4-1. [Pittsburgh – 4-2]

(8) Anaheim vs (1) San Jose– Not much to say here, get out your brooms.  Keep an eye on Cheechoo.  San Jose in 4. [San Jose – 4-1]

(7) Columbus vs (2) Detroit – Look no further for an upset.  Columbus has fought too hard to lose to the Wings in their first post season appearance.  Osgood isn’t as good as he is made out to be, Nash’s leadership is better than Datsyuk’s.  Mason isn’t done with shutouts this season.  Columbus in 7. [Detroit – 4-1]

(6) St. Louis vs (3) Vancouver – The Canucks faltered during the middle of the season, they won’t during the playoffs.  Congrats to the Blues for making it to the playoffs, they better enjoy it while it lasts.  Luongo has this one.  Vancouver wins 4-2. [St. Louis 4-2]

(5) Calgary vs (4) Chicago – Another close series.  Chicago has youth; they can make a run at the cup next year.  Calgary’s trades this year were invaluable.  Calgary wins 4-3. [Calgary 4-1]

Don’t go placing bets on my predictions, but then again who knows.  The playoffs always find some way to keep things interesting.  My cup prediction:  New Jersey vs Calgary.  That’s probably biased, but I’ve seen it all season.

I will probably add my own analysis tomorrow but once again big time appreciation and thanks to Rusty for some fantastic analysis. Once again, if any of you wanna jump in and add your predicitions, feel free to comment below and just let either me or Rusty know wha you think of the guest post.

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NFL Predictions… What Are Yours?

I’ll post my NFL predictions for this season now and talk about a couple of things I think will crucial this upcoming season. A couple of things to look out for will be the age of the New England Patriots’ defense. No one expects them to run the table again in the regular season but people might be in for a surprise if their age finally catches up to them and they end up losing 4 or 5 games. Also, who knows how injured Tom Brady really is and how effective he’ll be in the early parts of the season?

In the NFC, Aaron Rodgers has been handed a wonderful team but a great receiving group and all he has to do is not try to be Brett Favre. If he can stick to the short passes and allow the receivers to do their work with YAC as they did last year along with the new found running game in Ryan Grant – the Packers could really repeat as one of the top two seeds in the conference. New York Giants on the other hand have lost two considerablely talented players on defense and will that blow be big enough to keep them out of the playoffs? I doubt it because their offense has matured well enough and Eli should be able to carry a team to a couple of wins just by himself this year.

In the playoffs, you can never count out Brett Favre and certainly he’s not done with the way he played last year. Cold weather will be not be an issue and just might be something to provide Jets’ fans with something to hope for. However, let’s all be realistic. The Jets went 4-12 last year and just making the playoffs this year will be a dramatic improvement so I doubt they advance much further even though I do have them winning a game in the post-season.

Is this the year that Tony Romo finally breaks through and stops choking in the clutch? I think so. Packers losing Favre drops their main threat to be #1 once again in the conference and they had all the opportunities in the world to beat the Giants last year in the Divisional Round and if Romo can control the ball, they would have at least been a game away from going to the Super Bowl. No reason to expect the same progress this year, if not a little bit more poise and potentially a couple more wins in the post-season.

Does a Manning win a Super Bowl this year as well? Well that would make it three years in a row with Peyton and his Colts beating the Bears in 2007 although the loss of Jeff Saturday in the early parts of the season can slow down their progress but probably not enough to keep them from winning the division yet again en route to the Super Bowl XLIII victory on February 1, 2009.

Predictions are after the break. Continue reading “NFL Predictions… What Are Yours?”

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Bracket Busters and Breakdown

Well the brackets were announced yesterday and certainly it was a surprise for me to see teams like Arizona State, Virginia Tech and Dayton being left out of the Big Dance. Certainly the selection committee has a hard job selecting the 34 at large bids after 31 automatic qualifiers and I won’t go into my rant about why certain teams were left out and why others got in. I don’t agree with Coach Knight’s argument of expanding the tournament to 128 teams which he says will quiet all the critics about why certain teams got in over others. No matter how many teams you put in, there will always be some left out… 65 teams in the current format, so #66, #67, and #68 complain about missing the tournament. You expand it to 128… team #129 and #130 will complain. The format is fine with the way it is and probably the only tweak I would think makes sense and I’ve heard this being tossed around a couple of places is expand the field from 65 to 68. So instead of having only 1 #16 seed compete in a play-in game… have all the 16 seeds do it. That way you get an additional 3 teams in and maybe quiet down the critics a little bit.

EDIT: Anyone interested in joining the March Madness group on Facebook, click here to join.

BRACKET BREAKDOWN

EAST

east.JPG

FIRST ROUND

The East many people have said to be the toughest bracket out there and I only have 5 of the teams with the “better” seed advancing and that does include the 8/9 matchup of Indiana winning over Arkansas. I have the top 4 teams in this bracket advancing without a problem although I did not see Washington State at #4 play much this year. I was impressed with the top 3 seeds when I did see them play this year, who did well on a consistent basis. Notre Dame really disappointed me in the Big East tournament losing their first game and I really think they are going to come out flat and fall into the trap 5/12 game that happens almost every year. I have George Mason, who really made a name for themselves in 2006 by making the Final Four as the #11 seed, pulling off that upset. With the 6/11 game I think St. Joe’s really have the potential to pull off that upset and Butler at #7 gets a raw deal by playing a game in the South against the #10 South Alabama.

SWEET 16:

Teams going to the Sweet 16 from here are the Tar Heels who can just man handle Indiana at this stage. George Mason will continue their Cinderella” run for at least another round and the #2 and #3 seeds in Tennessee and Louisville advance without a problem.

GAME TO WATCH:

I think the game to watch in this bracket will be the Elite 8 matchup between the top two seeds in North Carolina and Tennessee. Bruce Pearl’s team is really well coached and had the talent level to be seeded a #1.

FINAL FOUR:

Tar Heels were easily the #1 seed overall but in this tough bracket this will prove to be their downfall. Tennessee Volunteers survive the East Bracket to make it to the Final Four.

MIDWEST

midwest.jpg

FIRST ROUND

In bottom half of the left side of the NCAA bracket, I think only the top 3 seeds escaped unharmed and the first upset occurs in the 4/13 matchup with Vanderbilt and Siena. Vanderbilt loses on the road at Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama during SEC play really trouble me and they lost to Arkansas again in the SEC tournament. Siena is riding a 6 game winning streak and I think they will make it 7. As for the 5/12 matchup here, I almost went with another upset but I just couldn’t. Clemson has just been playing too good for me to go against them. A team who beat Duke and almost toppled UNC in the ACC Tournament should be able to handle Villanova who was on the bubble and barely made the tournament. The game to watch in this bracket is the 6/11 matchup between USC and Kansas State… (I won’t repeat the stuff so just read in the section below). Rounding off the last two games are the 7/10 and 8/9. I am just not liking Gonzaga at #7 this year and for them to go up against Davidson is a tough match that I don’t see them winning. The 8/9 is UNLV against Kent State which is basically a tossup because either one will lose to Kansas in the second round but I’ll go with the upset here.

SWEET 16:

Kansas easily gets through with a win over the 8/9 and should have quite a game against Clemson who has been riding a real high at the end of this season. A couple of close losses for them during the regular to UNC and then another one in the ACC Tourney final should have them pumped to dethrone a #1 team. Kansas State led by Michael Beasley who can certainly be the Player of the Year should have his hands full against Georgetown who had a very deep run in the tournament last year.

GAME TO WATCH:

The game in this part of the bracket easily comes in the first round with the 6/11 matchup with USC and Kansas St. O.J. Mayo and Michael Beasley who are easily the two most profiled freshmen in the country this year. You can expect there will be NBA scouts at this game as both of these guys could easily enter the NBA draft and you know teams like the Miami Heat or Seattle Supersonics will be looking to add one of these guys.

FINAL FOUR:

Kansas. The only #1 seed that I have advancing through to the Final Four. I contemplated sending Wisconsin through but my interest in wanting to see Beasley succeed stopped that theory.

SOUTH

south.JPG

FIRST ROUND

Probably the most secure bracket according to me, the top 6 seeds advance here without a problem. The “upsets” occur at 7/10 where St. Marys defeats Miami (Fla.) and #9 Oregon over #8 Mississippi St. Tough draw overall for Memphis though having to play Texas in Texas. The top two seeds here really should have no problem advancing through everyone else. I would look out for Michigan St. with Drew Neitzel or Marquette with their triple threat of Jerel McNeal, Dominic James and Lazar Hayward. This is probably their best squad since Dwyane Wade led the team to a Final Four in 2003 and have the potential to upset Memphis.

SWEET 16:

I would be considered for Memphis against Michigan State. Tom Izzo has a great record 24-9 in his career in NCAA games and for Memphis having lost only once all year long can see their dreams of a national title falling short against the Spartans here. I have always been a fan of Drew Neitzel and he has the same type of gutsy and just flat out hustle play that those of you at Stevens would associate with a Dani Dudek. In the other matchup, I think D.J. Augustin and company should have no problem disposing of Marquette who had a great run upsetting #3 Stanford but will fall short to Texas in their hometown.

GAME TO WATCH:

Instead of the game to watch here I will say just watch the Oral Roberts team. They have the potential to give you upsets left and right. Pittsburgh has struggled when they have to go West to play in NCAA and they showed it last time by losing in the first round to Boise State in 2005. A team like Oral Roberts if they can get a win early certainly has the potential to upset Michigan State setting up quite the battle with #1 Memphis. Who wouldn’t want to see a #13 advance Elite 8… but I just don’t see it happening.

FINAL FOUR:

Tough draw for #1 seed Memphis here and with Texas playing in their backyard which certainly helps in high pressure games that all these NCAA games have. I’ll give the edge to Texas here in an excellent Elite 8 matchup.

WEST

west.jpg

FIRST ROUND

I have heard constant talks from “experts” that this is by far the weakest bracket. Yea this bracket has the potential for being rather bland but I think there is potential for so much more. You have powerhouses in UCLA, Duke and UConn. You have the great story with Georgia fighting their way into the tournament and certainly West Virginia with Joe Alexander has the potential to pull off some wins and how can you forget Drake who has certainly surprised everyone with their 21 game winning streak during the course of their regular season. I think the top two and UConn win their first matches no problem but Xavier gets a tough draw in the SEC champion Georgia who are probably the one team seeded that low that you want to avoid. I just don’t see how they get placed #14 after the way they finished off their season. Watch out for Drake who on a good night can upset UConn and I know its a stretch but can even overthrow UCLA if they take this team lightly. West Virginia (#7), Baylor (#11) and Texas A&M (9) round off the first round games in this bracket.

SWEET 16:

I don’t see Mississippi Valley, BYU or Texas A&M giving UCLA much trouble for them to advance this far but they will have quite a matchup against Drake and I am tempted to upset UCLA here but I just can’t get myself to do it. The lower part of the bracket I have Duke surviving against West Virginia going on to face Georgia who themselves with a couple of upsets will get there.

GAME TO WATCH:

I think the Elite 8 matchup here between the Blue Devils and the Bruins should be really exciting and at the time of their potential matchup and a trip to the final four on the line should be amazing.

FINAL FOUR:

Duke history as the #2 seed includes a National Championship in 1991 and advanced to the Final Four in 1988, 1989 and 1994. I have my bias in favor of Duke so I will stick with them but I don’t see it being an easy task defeating UCLA out West but if they are going to do it, they need contributions from everyone… Kyle Singler and Greg Paulus have to lead the way… Scheyer really needs to step up and their lack of height really hurts them big time and could prove to be the downfall if they fall early in the tournament.

FINAL FOUR MATCH UP:

So I have Tennessee and Kansas on one half where I think Bruce Pearl’s team will prove to be too much to handle for Kansas and particularly coming of a win over UNC will help propel them into the National Title game. On the other side, Texas will be facing off against Duke and you know where I am going here. Duke and Coach K are 3-4 in the Finals of an NCAA tournament since 1986 and have not won since 2001 (before I used to pay much attention to college basketball)… I wouldn’t mind seeing them win it all now.