President's Regular Season Final Rankings and Predictions

1.Mariners (10-3-1)- The only team to achieve double-digit wins which is unusual where we may have a few in most years. The team did not put out their top lineup in the end otherwise they may have had only one loss. The team was built by picking in the top 3 for three straight years (the last two years draft positions were assigned just to save my mental health). How many speeding tickets do you think Costa has talked his way out of? Pitching and overall depth is what could get them to the World Series.

2.Phillies (9-3-1) – Tom has had a nice couple of drafts to offset a small 15-year-old class of just two (but good) players. Pitching and defense a key component of their success, this always seems to be the Phillies’ formula even with Jack gone (or is he?).

3.Angels (9-4-2) – They finished strong winning their last four games and only giving up 12 runs. They have most of the arms returning that pitched in last year’s World Series. A coaching advantage cannot be underestimated, Roy has been here 8 years with as much playoff success as anyone.

4.Marlins (7-6-1) – Disappointing let me count the ways. They have the roster to do it but just didn’t finish off a lot of close games. All six of their losses were by one run and they had tie. They need to learn small ball or be more cunning or the pre-season favorite will go home very disappointed.

5.Astros (7-7) – Betting on Chuck’s teams are always a crap shoot. He drafts for size so the team always looks good walking into the stadium. He did have a big injury loss and never had his whole team present. Would be nice to see Jackie in the World Series!

6.Padres (8-6) – Jonathan finds a way to win I can’t deny that, his Babe Ruth record is pretty strong and even lost his top pick from last year. The Shin factor helps, the kid is a difference maker and a leader. Jon is piecing together enough pitching to win games and coaching his brains out.

7.Pirates (7-7) – In the third year of the Picano-era the planning (?) finally won out as the team is a 6+ wins over last year with 3 less games played. He and Gorski, and maybe Costa, would be battling for COTY, pending playoff results. For the past two years I have pleaded with Joe to win some games to no avail. Now this week he needed 2 straight wins to force two Sunday makeups that no one wanted to play but him, and I was kind of rooting against him and guess what he wins both and the makeup.

8. Cubs (6-7-1) I still like the roster and maybe the team best positioned to come from the back of the pack to the World Series. The Ronayne injury killed them no denying that.

9.Royals (5-9)/Athletics (4-9) – Neither team performed to their pre-season ranking, each had a key loss of a 15-year-old that was planned to be a big factor. Matching up in the first round seems to be appropriate.

11. White Sox (2-13) – This one we could see coming but they made a lot of fans with how they played and competed. I was recently berated by last year’s manager Pat Barbera for letting Vieira be taken in the expansion draft. Yeah, we should have figured out a better way there.

**AL Champ: Astros over the Mariners

NL Champ: Marlins over the Phillies**

World Series: I am going with the two teams with the best rosters assuming they will have 100% attendance which they probably didn’t get too often. Plus Marlins lost all of their games by a single run that’s how close to undefeated they were (a stretch). I see this matchup as a battle of whose 15’s perform better. With Belezos hurt I see the Marlins taking the series in 3 games.