Tomahawk Chop

I know I've been super quiet for the last year or so. To be honest, I've mostly stepped away from collecting for the time being. Sometimes there are more important things that require money. But I still enjoy reading the other blogs and hope to get back to collecting sometime.

Anyways, I thought it was about time to post my predictions for how the 2018 MLB season will turn out. I might get some guesses right and I'll almost certainly be way off on others, but here we go.

AL East
1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees - Wild Card
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Tampa Bay Rays

AL Central
1. Cleveland Indians
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Detroit Tigers

AL West
1. Houston Astros - Best Record
2. Los Angeles Angels - Wild Card
3. Seattle Mariners
4. Texas Rangers
5. Oakland Athletics

I feel pretty confidant that the Indians and Astros will run away with their divisions. The east is shaping up to be ye olde slugfest between the Sox and Yanks with the rest of the division not making much noise. Two teams who I think will have good years are the Angels, with their off-season additions, and the White Sox with their incoming wave of young talent. I foresee the Angels riding it to the playoffs and while I think the White Sox won't make it, it will be a promising preview of the years to come.

AL MVP: Mike Trout
AL CY: Chris Sale
AL ROY: Shohei Ohtani

Wild Card game winner: Angels
ALCS: Indians over Astros

NL East
1. Washington Nationals - Best Record
2. Atlanta Braves
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. New York Mets
5. Miami Marlins

NL Central
1. Milwaukee Brewers
2. Chicago Cubs - Wild Card
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. Pittsburgh Pirates

NL West
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. San Francisco Giants - Wild Card
3. Colorado Rockies
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. San Diego Padres

That Nats are going to run away with the East, again. But I feel like the Central and West are going to be more competitive this year. The big surprise that I'm predicting is the Brewers winning the Central. I have a feeling that this is the year the Cubs run is going to stall, but they will still limp their way into the playoffs. The Dodgers will face some tougher competition in the division this year but still come out on top. While the Giants will see massive improvement after being the worst team in the NL last year, to this year snagging a Wild Card spot.

Wild Card game winner: Giants
NLCS: Nationals over Dodgers

NL MVP: Bryce Harper
NL CY: Max Scherzer
NL ROY: Ronald Acuna

World Series: Nationals over Indians in 6

I feel like this is the year the Nationals finally get over the hump and not only win a playoff series, but win it all. Between Harper being in a walk year, Scherzer not getting any younger, and teams in Atlanta and Philadelphia on the verge of becoming serious contenders there should be plenty of motivation to push them there before the window closes.

Howdy folks, it's been awhile. I've been really inactive with my blog this year, having not posted since the end of May, though I do still read many of yours regularly. I've really taken a step back from collecting this year, mostly due to finances. I'm sure some of you know how that is. But I thought I would check in and followup my 2017 MLB predictions post from before the season and see how I did.

Starting with the AL East:

My prediction

1. Orioles
2. Red Sox
3. Blue Jays
4. Yankees
5. Rays

And how they actually ended up:

1. Red Sox
2. Yankees
3. Rays
4. Blue Jays
5. Orioles

So I really missed the mark here placing none of the teams in the correct spot. That really doesn't come as a surprise to me with as competitive as the AL East tends to be every year.

AL Central:

Mine
1. Indians
2. Royals
3. Tigers
4. Twins
5. White Sox

Reality
1. Indians
2. Twins
3. Royals
4. White Sox
5.. Tigers

For the AL Central I got the Indians in first place correct, that's not a surprise. The rest of the division was a little harder to predict. I don't think many people expected the Twins to make the playoffs nor the White Sox to finish ahead of anyone, but both of those things happened.

AL West:

Mine
1. Mariners
2. Astros
3. Rangers
4. Angels
5. Athletics

Reality
1. Astros
2. Angels
3. Mariners
4. Rangers
5. Athletics

I thought the Astros needed one more year before they would be ready to win the World Series. Glad I got that wrong. Also, calling the Athletics in last was not difficult.

And now the big three AL awards.

MVP
Mine: Mookie Betts
Reality: Jose Altuve

Betts certainly was a legitimate pick pre-season. Altuve definitely earned it.

Cy Young
Mine: Felix Hernandez
Reality: Corey Kluber

I was thinking..or maybe hoping King Felix would bounce back to his old self, (he was a centerpiece of my fantasy team's pitching staff for years.) Alas, injuries took everything he had left. Kluber on the other hand was fantastic and has proved once and for all that his 2014 Cy Young wasn't a fluke.

ROY
Mine: Andrew Benintendi
Reality: Aaron Judge

Benintendi was another legitimate pre-season pick. No one saw the record setting rookie year that Aaron Judge had coming. It will be very interesting to see if he can maintain this level of performance.

And now the National League

NL East:

Mine
1. Nationals
2. Mets
3. Marlins
4. Braves
5. Phillies

Reality
1. Nationals
2. Marlins
3. Braves
4. Mets
5. Phillies

Predicting the Nationals in first wasn't difficult, nor was the Phillies in last. However, I thought the Mets were going to have a better season. Definitely didn't foresee the implosion of that pitching staff.

NL Central:

Mine
1. Cubs
2. Pirates
3. Cardinals
4. Reds
5. Brewers

Reality
1. Cubs
2. Brewers
3. Cardinals
4. Pirates
5. Reds

Like the Nats in the East, predicting the Cubs as first in the Central was a given. Though the Brewers did give them a run for their money for much of the season.

NL West:

Mine
1. Dodgers
2. Giants
3. Diamondbacks
4. Rockies
5. Padres

Reality
1. Dodgers
2. Diamondbacks
3. Rockies
4. Padres
5. Giants

Again the division winner was easy to predict, in fact I got all three NL division winners correct. I definitely didn't think the Giants would be that bad, so bad that the Padres finished seven games in front of them and they finished tied with the Tigers for the worst record in baseball.

NL Awards

MVP
Mine: Yoenis Cespedes
Reality: Giancarlo Stanton

Picking Cespedes was definitely way off the mark. And now we know how good Stanton can be when he stays healthy.

Cy Young
Mine: Noah Syndergaard
Reality: Max Scherzer

Scherzer would have been a safe pick pre-season and he followed through on that. Instead I went with the riskier pick in Syndergaard and he may well have been a contender for the award if injuries hadn't kept him out for most of the season.

ROY
Mine: Dansby Swanson
Reality: Cody Bellinger

The Braves fan in me obviously made me a little overconfident in how Swanson would do this year. He definitely didn't have the season I thought he would. I'm hoping he'll turn it around with more experience and become a solid major leaguer. Now Bellinger had a fantastic season. He was almost overshadowed by the record setting rookie year Aaron Judge had, but Bellinger got to play in the World Series.

And speaking of the World Series..

My prediction: Nationals over Indians in 6
Reality: Astros over Dodgers in 7

I missed the mark here but at least both the teams I predicted still made the playoffs, though both were eliminated in the Division Series. I'm not disappointed though as the Astros vs. Dodgers World Series was an instant classic.


So overall I was wrong for the most part with my predictions, though it's hard to accurately predict the results of a 162 game season. I did get four of the six division winners correct and five of the ten playoff teams correct, though not all in the right position.


Well that's a wrap folks. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season!

Hey guys. I'm still around reading everyone's blogs and occasionally commenting. Haven't had anything to post about, myself. Truth be told I've been selling off a lot of my collection outside of my main PC's to make some extra cash.

But today I'm here to pimp the 8th Annual College World Series contest going on over at Autographed Cards. It's pretty easy to do, in fact I won the contest a couple years ago and he sent me some sweet autographed photos of Dennis Eckersley, Aaron Boone, John Kruk and Steve Carlton.

Check it out at the link below and put in your own entry!

Good luck!

Autographed Cards 2017 College World Series Contest

Well let's see how wrong I end up being.

AL East

1. Orioles
2. Red Sox
3. Blue Jays
4. Yankees
5. Rays

AL Central
1. Indians - Best Record
2. Royals
3. Tigers
4. Twins
5. White Sox

AL West
1. Mariners
2. Astros - Wild Card
3. Rangers - Wild Card
4. Angels
5. Athletics

The AL will be interesting with some teams having deceptively less than awesome records. The east and west seem to have a good bit of parity which should make for some tight races. I think in both cases the teams will beat up on each other so much that someone less expected to win, in this case the Orioles and Mariners, will slip by and win the divisions.

AL MVP: Mookie Betts
AL CY: Felix Hernandez
AL ROY: Andrew Benintendi

WC winner: Astros
ALCS: Indians over Mariners

NL East
1. Nationals
2. Mets - Wild Card
3. Marlins
4. Braves
5. Phillies

NL Central
1. Cubs - Best Record
2. Pirates
3. Cardinals
4. Reds
5. Brewers

NL West
1. Dodgers
2. Giants - Wild Card
3. Diamondbacks
4. Rockies
5. Padres

The NL I see as having fewer wide open races with the top teams being clearer from about June forward. I fully expect the Cubs to continue tearing through the NL again this year, winning the central by a double digit margin. My hope for the Braves is to build on the strong finish they had last year and continue to improve and develop prospects. I will be happy if they finish with less than 90 losses. 

NL MVP: Yoenis Cespedes
NL CY: Noah Syndergaard
NL ROY: Dansby Swanson

WC winner: Mets
NLCS: Nationals over Cubs

World Series: Nationals over Indians in 6

Hey guys. It's been three months since my last post. I guess I'm taking a hiatus from posting stuff. Part of that is a lack of things to post about. I haven't been buying or trading much for the last few months, though I do have a few things that I haven't scanned yet. But I've really just not had the motivation to post either. I am still reading your blogs and commenting occasionally. Hopefully I can find the motivation and the material to get back into it sometime.

I hope you guys are having a great 2017!