Opening Day predictions

The season is about to begin (or actually has, technically), so it's time to make a few predictions for the season to come:

First, some predictions for individual awards:

• AL MVP: Victor Martinez, Indians
• NL MVP: David Wright, Mets
• AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander, Tigers
• NL Cy Young: Johan Santana, Mets
• AL Rookie of the Year: Clay Buchholz, Red Sox
• NL Rookie of the Year: Geovany Soto, Cubs

And now to the pennant races:

• AL East champion: Boston Red Sox. Not a real shock here. They might miss Curt Schilling after a while, but not enough to matter. It's a team that obviously knows how to win.
• AL Central champion: Detroit Tigers. The Indians will make it interesting, and Detroit's bullpen concerns me, but the Tigers have too much hitting to be denied.
• AL West champion: Seattle Mariners. The Angels would be the pick if John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar weren't injured. Lackey will be back, so Seattle will need to start fast to make this hold up.
• AL wild-card winner: Cleveland Indians. This will be a great race between the Indians and Yankees and perhaps the White Sox, a team I think will be a surprise. But I like Cleveland's pitching staff a little better than the Yankees' staff, especially if Andy Pettitte can't fight off injury.
• NL East champion: New York Mets. Adding Johan Santana made this call easier. With a healthy Pedro Martinez, to go with John Maine and Oliver Perez – too much pitching for the Phillies or Braves to make up.
• NL Central champion: Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs will make this race interesting as well, but I think the Brewers patched some holes in the bullpen and have the everyday lineup to make their lead hold up this season.
• NL West champion: Los Angeles Dodgers. This is again a great division, with four teams capable of winning in the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Rockies and Padres. The Diamondbacks have the horses in the rotation (Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, Randy Johnson) and the Rockies have the bats. The Dodgers have the best combination of both.
• NL wild-card winner: Arizona Diamondbacks. Their pitching allows them to hold off the Rockies and Phillies for the last playoff spot.

On to the playoffs:

• ALCS: Red Sox vs. Tigers
• NLCS: Mets vs. Brewers
• World Series: Tigers vs. Mets
• World Series winner: Mets