Pages

2014 MLB Predictions

Monday, March 31, 2014

This is the final build of picks for the 2014 MLB season.  Win totals in parentheses. Ex-Giants who you can expect to see time listed for each team.

AL East
1. Tampa (90)
2. Boston (89) WC
-AJ Pierzynski
3. NYY (84)
-C.Beltran
4. Baltimore (81)
5. Toronto (80)
-M.Cabrera

AL Central
1. Detroit (88)
-R.Davis, J.Nathan
2. Kansas City (83)
3. Cleveland (80)
4. CWS (75)
-J.Keppinger, C.Gillaspie
5. Minnesota (71)
-K.Correia

AL West
1. Oakland (87)
2. LAA (87) WC
3. Texas (85)
4. Seattle (79)
5. Houston (66)
-J.Guzman, J.Williams

ALCS: Tampa over Detroit

NL West
1. Washington (91)
-K.Frandsen,
2. Atlanta (83) WC
3. NYM (76)
-Z.Wheeler
4. Philadelphia (72)
5. Miami (70)

NL Central
1. St Louis (92)
2. Pittsburgh (82)
-T.Ishikawa, F.Liriano, J.Grilli
3. Cincinnati (82)
4. Milwaukee (78)
5. Chicago (67)
-N.Schierholtz

NL West
1. LAD (91)
-J.Uribe, B.Wilson
2. SFG (86) WC
3. SD (81)
4. Arizona (80)
-C.Ross
5. Colorado (74)
-L.Hawkins

NLCS: Washington over San Francisco

World Series: Washington over Tampa













10 Best Television Shows of 2014 (January-March)

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Each year I put out a year end list of the best however many television shows it seems necessary to be representative (19 seems about right).

I'm doing something else in 2014, every three months, a list of the best shows over that time period; that's going to lead to circumstances where a show like Mad Men, which hasn't aired yet, won't make the list; or a show like The Americans, which is only a couple of episodes in, may rank lower now than it will at year's end.

So, let's do it.

1. Friday Night Tykes (Esq)
2. True Detective (HBO)
3. Kroll Show (Com Cen)
4. Girls (HBO)
5. Community (NBC)
6. The Americans (FX)
7. Portlandia (Sund)
8. All in With Chris Hayes (MSNBC)
9. Clubhouse Confidential (MLB)
10. Vanderpump Rules (Bravo)

Athlete of the Month - March, 2014

February was here.


Breanna Stewart.  Runners-up: LeBron James,  Doug McDermott, Anthony Davis

January - Kevin Durant
February - Malcolm Smith
March - Breanna Stewart

9 months to go.  

25 Best MLB Players by Division - 2014

Thursday, March 27, 2014

By division, my projection for MLBs best players in 2014.  Not a fantasy list

AL East
1. E.Longoria 3B TB
2. D.Price SP TB
3. J.Bautista RF Tor
4. M.Tanaka SP NYY
5. B. Zobrist 2B TB
6. D.Pedroia 2B Bos
7. J.Reyes SS Tor
8. A.Jones CF Balt
9. S.Victorino RF Bos
10. B.Lawrie 3B Tor
11. J.Ellsbury CF NYY
12. D.Ortiz DH Bos
13. CC Sabathia SP NYY
14. C.Davis 1B Bal
15. M.Machado 3B Bal
16. B.McCann C NYY
17. J.Lester SP Bos
18. M.Moore SP TB
19. A.Cobb SP TB
20. W. Myers RF TB
21. K. Uehara RP Bos
22. M.Napoli DH Bos
23. E.Encarnacion 1B Tor
24. J.Peavy SP Bos
25. U.Jimenzez SP Bal

AL Central
1. MCabrera 1B Det
2. J.Verlander SP Det
3. C.Sale SP CWS
4. M.Scherzer SP Det
5. A.Gordon LF KC
6. I.Kinsler 2B Det
7. A.Sanchez SP Det
8. J.Kipnis 2B Cle
9. J.Abreu 1B CWS
10. J.Shields SP KC
11. C.Santana DH Cle
12. O.Infante 2B KC
13. G.Holland RP KC
14. N.Swisher 1B Cle
15. J.Mauer 1B Min
16. S.Perez C KC
17. B.Butler DH KC
18. J.Willingham RF Min
19. A.Cabrera SS Cle
20. J.Masterson SP Cle
21. A.Jackson CF Det
22. A.Eaton CF CWS
23. J.Quintana SP CWS
24. D.Salazar SP Cle
25. J.Nathan RP Det

AL West
1. M.Trout CF LAA
2. R.Cano 2B Sea
3. Y.Darvish SP Tex
4. F.Hernandez SP Sea
5. A.Beltre 3B Tex
6. A.Pujols 1B LAA
7. SS Choo LF Tex
8. J.Weaver SP LAA
9. P.Fielder 1B Tex
10. J.Hamilton LF Tex
11. J.Donaldson 3B Oak
12. K.Seager 3B Sea
13. J.Cespedes LF  Oak
14. CJ Wilson SP LAA
15. C.Crisp CF Oak
16. J.Lowrie SS Oak
17. D.Straily SP Oak
18. S.Gray SP Oak
19. E.Andrus SS Tex
20. H.Kendrick 2B LAA
21. E.Aybar SS LAA
22. K.Calhoun RF LAA
23. J.Reddick RF Oak
24. A.Rios RF Tex
25. J.Altuve 2B Hou

NL East
1. J.Fernandez SP Mia
2. G.Stanton RF Mia
3. JUpton LF Ari
4. D.Wright 3B NYM
5. C.Lee SP Phi
6. S.Strasburg SP Was
7. B.Harper LF Was
8. A.Simmons SS Atl
9. J.Heyward RF Was
10. R.Zimmerman 3B Was
11. G.Gonzalez SP Was
12. J.Werth RF Was
13. C.Utley 2B Phi
14. C.Kimbrel RP Atl
15. F.Freeman 1B Atl
16. J.Zimmerman SP Was
17. D.Fister SP Was
18. A.Rendon 2B Was
19. D.Murphy 2B NYM
20. C.Hamels SP Phi
21. I.Desmond SS Was
22. C.Granderson RF NYM
23. E.Gattis C Atl
24. CRuiz C Phi
25. D.Span CF Was

NL Central
1. J.Votto 1B Cin
2. R.Braun RF Mil
3 A.McCutchen CF Pit
4. M.Carpenter 3B Stl
5. A.Wainwright SP StL
6. Y.Molina C StL
7. M.Holliday LF Stl
8. J.Bruce RF Cin
9. M.Latos SP Cin
10. J.Segura SS Mil
11. P.Alvarez 3B Pit
12. M.Wacha SP StL
13. A.Rizzo 1B Chi
14. J.Cueto SP Cin
15. G.Cole SP Pit
16. J.Mercer SS Pit
17. S.Marte LF Pit
18. H.Bailey SP Cin
19. M.Adams 1B StL
20. A.Craig RF StL
21. B.Phillips 2B Cin
22. J.Peralta SS StL
23. F.Liriano SP Pit
24. A.Ramirez 3B Mil
25. R.Martin C Pit

NL West
1. C.Kershaw SP LA
2. B.Posey C SFG
3. T.Tulowitzki SS Col
4. P.Goldschmidt 1B Ari
5. M.Bumgarner SP SFG
6. H.Ramirez SS LA
7. P.Sandoval 3B SFG
8. Y.Puig RF LA
9. A.Gonzalez 1B LA
10. H. Pence RF SFG
11. C.Gonzalez LF Col
12. M.Kemp CF LA
13. Z.Greinke SP LA
14. M.Cain SP SFG
15. A.Hill 2B Ari
16. J.Gyorko 2B SD
17. C.Headley 3B SFG
18. E.Cabrera SS SD
19. K.Jansen RP LA
20. B.Belt 1B SFG
21. A.Pagan CF SFG
22. M.Montero C Ari
23. C.Quentin LF SD
24. M.Prado 3B Ari
25. M.Trumbo LF Ari





























































2013-2014 NCAA Tournament Picks

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

After as much internal debate as time permits, here is the final bracket.

South
Second (Round of 64) Round Upsets
Pitt over Colorado (that's a seed upset, but Pitt's favored by 6)

I've got favorites in the rest of the games; Dayton's a fun upset pick and since the Buckeyes probably don't get past Syracuse in the Round of 32 you aren't hurt much if it doesn't come in.  That's a smart type of upset pick if you're looking to win smaller pools that largely are weighted in the later rounds.  SFA might beat VCU, but VCU could also go to the sweet 16.  You could pick Stanford over New Mexico if you wanted to rep the Pac-However Many Teams There Are Now.

Third (Round of 32) Round Upsets
None

Super chalky.  Any of those games could go the other way; VCU/UCLA is basically a coin flip and each of the other 3 games is about 60/40 for the favorite.  Feel free to pick New Mexico to beat Kansas just for fun if we're here.

Sweet 16 Upsets
None

That's a lot of favorites, right?  Ballsy.  If my brackets are busted by now I'll be rooting for UCLA to bounce Florida, I tend to get really Pac-Whatever fan-centric by this point in the tournament.  Kansas/Syracuse is a coin flip game; losing the big guy hurts Kansas but not as much as you'd think.

I've got Florida coming out - in every bracket I've built, I've got Florida coming out.

East
Second (Round of 64) Round Upsets
GW over Memphis
Harvard over Cincinnati
-Harvard wins this game 1 out of every 3 times its played; for a 5/12, that's good enough, particularly given how little chance there is that Cincinnati would advance any further.
Providence over North Carolina
-This requires a little more guts because you could definitely see a scenario where Carolina makes the sweet 16, so you're risking more than you want here.  Providence wins this game 1 out of every 3 times they play.

I've got a bracket where NC Central beats Iowa St; if you wanted to pick a 14/3, it would be that game.  I won't do it here for the same reason I nearly just stuck with Carolina; Iowa St could go deep in the tournament and NC Central's chances of winning the game are significantly smaller than Providences.  It's not a great UConn club, if they lost to St Joes that would set up a St Joes/Nova round of 32 game.

Third (Round of 32) Round Upsets
None

The chances of anything but a Virginia/Michigan St game coming out of this round are really low; in fact, the top 4 seeds in the bracket are solidly the best 4.

Sweet 16 Upsets
None

If we get here, Michigan St is probably favored over Virginia, that's a 50/50 game for me; Nova's a little better bet to beat Iowa St

I've got brackets with everyone but Iowa St; but what I've decided to do is go with Villanova; they aren't as good as either Virginia or Michigan St - but of those three, they're the most likely to be in that Elite 8 game.  If we get here and everyone's on, say Michigan St, I'll be on a lonely limb.

West
Second (Round of 64) Round Upsets
Oklahoma St over Gonzaga
-I may be overly buying into Smart.
North Dakota St. over Oklahoma
-This extends my upset parameters a little bit, ND St maybe wins this game one out of every 4 times they play and the Sooners could get to the Sweet 16.

Nebraska and BYU could both win their first games.

Third (Round of 32) Round Upsets
Like the other brackets, I've got the top 4 seeds going to the Sweet 16.

Sweet 16 Upsets
Creighton over Wisconsin
-that's a tough one to call; it really is just a vote for the best player in the country to make it to the end of the second weekend.

I've got Arizona coming out; they can't score, putting them in jeopardy against either Creighton or Wisconsin, but I'll take the best defense in the country to go to the final four.

Midwest
Second (Round of 64) Round Upsets
If Xavier can come back and beat NC St, I'll take them to beat StLouis.  For purposes of this bracket, I'm going to say that I'll take St Louis over NC St, it could be I won't go back into the bracket contests to switch it away from the play in winner.

Either Iowa or Tennessee over UMass
-I have Tennessee in the play in, but it doesn't matter, I'm taking the winner to keep going.

Arizona St. over Texas
-That's a coin flip game, enough for me to call the upset.

Third (Round of 32) Round Upsets
Same deal as the other brackets, top 4 advance.

Sweet 16 Upsets
Louisville over Wichita, Duke over Michigan.  Both those games could go either way; I'd be a little less surprised to see Wichita win than Michigan.

Really any configuration headed to the Elite 8 here makes sense - but I'll say that Duke beats Louisville.

Final Four
Arizona
Duke
Villanova
Florida

Arizona over Florida in the final game.  
























Arizona

Sunday, March 16, 2014

I'm picking ARIZONA to win the tournament.  Note, I hit on Louisville last year and have never won back to back.

I'll fill out the rest of the bracket as is more timely, Arizona v. Florida is going to be my final game, Louisville and probably Virginia to fill out the rest of the Final Four.

2014 Fantasy Baseball Rankings

Wednesday, March 5, 2014


Top 200, Mixed Rankings.  As of early March.

1. Trout, Mike OF
2.Cabrera,Miguel  3B
3. Braun, Ryan OF
4. Bautista, Jose OF
5.Goldschmidt,Paul  1B
6.Kershaw,Clayton  SP
7. Votto, Joey 1B
8.Puig, Yasiel OF
9. Ellsbury, Jacoby OF
10. Posey, Buster C
11.McCutchen,Andrew OF
12.Tulowitzki, Troy SS
13.Segura, Jean SS
14.Fielder, Prince 1B
15.Wainwright, Adam SP
16.Fernandez, Jose SP
17.Choo, Shin-Soo OF
18.Verlander, Justin SP
19.Cano, Robinson 2B
20.Beltre, Adrian 3B
21. Upton, Justin OF
22. Hernandez, Felix SP
23.Encarnacion, Edwin 1B
24. Gonzalez, Carlos OF
25. Reyes, Jose SS
26. Kimbrel, Craig RP
27.Lee, Cliff SP
28.Strasburg, Stephen SP
29.Stanton, Giancarlo OF
30.Werth, Jayson OF
31. Mauer, Joe C
32. Jones, Adam OF
33. Molina, Yadier C
34. Pujols, Albert 1B
35. Sale, Chris SP
36.Greinke, Zack SP
37.Darvish, Yu SP
38.Bruce, Jay OF
39.McCann, Brian C
40.Pedroia, Dustin 2B
41.Gonzalez, Adrian 1B
42.Cain, Matt SP
43.Marte, Starling OF
44.Rizzo, Anthony 1B
45.Ramirez, Hanley SS
46.Ortiz, David DH
47.Davis, Chris 1B
48.Cespedes, Yoenis OF
49.Donaldson, Josh 3B
50.Gomez, Carlos OF
51.Beltran, Carlos OF
52.Wright, David 3B
53.Trumbo, Mark 1B,OF
54.Santana, Carlos C,1B
55.Altuve, Jose 2B
56.Jansen, Kenley RP
57.Hamilton, Billy OF
58.Hosmer, Eric 1B
59.Bumgarner,Madison SP
60.Weaver, Jered SP
61.Latos, Mat SP
62.Napoli, Mike 1B
63.Rosario, Wilin C
64.Price, David SP
65.Wacha, Michael SP
66.Holliday, Matt OF
67.Granderson, Curtis OF
68.Hunter, Torii OF
69.Butler, Billy DH
70.Chapman, Aroldis RP
71.Longoria, Evan 3B
72. Gattis, Evan C,OF
73.Lucroy, Jonathan C
74.Zobrist, Ben 2B,SS,OF
75. Pence, Hunter OF
76. Heyward, Jason OF
77. Perez, Salvador C
78.Uehara, Koji RP
79. Myers, Wil OF
80.Cueto, Johnny SP
81.Griffin, A.J. SP
82.Kipnis, Jason 2B
83.Kemp, Matt OF
84.Freeman, Freddie 1B
85.Carpenter, Matt 2B,3B
86.Medlen, Kris SP
87.Hamels, Cole SP
88.Zimmermann,Jordan SP
89.Sabathia, CC SP
90.Castro, Starlin SS
91.Scherzer, Max SP
92.Seager, Kyle 3B
93.Crisp, Coco OF
94. Minor, Mike SP
95. Ryu, Hyun-jin SP
96. Ramirez, Aramis 3B
97.Rollins, Jimmy SS
98.Cuddyer, Michael OF
99. Venable, Will OF
100. Gonzalez, Gio SP
101. Eaton, Adam OF
102. Pagan, Angel OF
103. Bailey, Homer SP
104. Robertson, David RP
105.Lincecum, Tim SP
106.Romo, Sergio RP
107.Andrus, Elvis SS
108.Middlebrooks,Will 3B
109.Desmond, Ian SS
110.Tanaka, Masahiro SP
111.Markakis, Nick OF
112.Gordon, Alex OF
113.Montero, Miguel C
114.Gyorko, Jedd 2B
115.Aoki, Norichika OF
116.Gallardo, Yovani SP
117.Beachy, Brandon SP
118.Soriano, Rafael RP
119.Sandoval, Pablo 3B
120.Papelbon,Jonathan RP
121. Jackson, Austin OF
122.Haren, Dan SP
123.Reed, Addison RP
124.Nathan, Joe RP
125.Bourn, Michael OF
126.Victorino, Shane OF
127.Willingham, Josh OF
128.Hill, Aaron 2B
129.Holland, Greg RP
130.Kennedy, Ian SP
131.Balfour, Grant RP
132.Teixeira, Mark 1B
133.Harper, Bryce OF
134.Rosenthal, Trevor RP
135.Ethier, Andre OF
136.Dunn, Adam 1B
137.Hudson, Tim SP
138.Street, Huston RP
139.Hamilton, Josh OF
140.Grilli, Jason RP
141.Cruz, Nelson OF
142.Peavy, Jake SP
143.Infante, Omar 2B
144.Lester, Jon SP
145.Swisher, Nick 1B,OF
146.Cishek, Steve RP
147.Gardner, Brett OF
148.Iwakuma, Hisashi SP
149.Fister, Doug SP
150.Zimmerman, Ryan 3B
151.Cole, Gerrit SP
152.Adams, Matt 1B
153.Cabrera, Everth SS
154.Wieters, Matt C
155.Brown, Domonic OF
156.Liriano, Francisco SP
157.Wood, Travis SP
158.Feliz, Neftali RP
159.Utley, Chase 2B
160.Shields, James SP
161.Murphy, Daniel 2B
162.Rios, Alex OF
163.Martin, Leonys OF
164.Garza, Matt SP
165.Headley, Chase 3B
166.Phillips, Brandon 2B
167.Johnson, Jim RP
168.Ruiz, Carlos C
169.Aybar, Erick SS
170.Dozier, Brian 2B
171.Parnell, Bobby RP
172.Sanchez, Anibal SP
173.Castillo, Welington C
174.Howard, Ryan 1B
175.Rutledge, Josh 2B
176.Kinsler, Ian 2B
177.Hart, Corey 1B,OF
178.Cabrera, Melky OF
179.Frieri, Ernesto RP
180.Jennings, Desmond OF
181.Cingrani, Tony SP
182.Zunino, Mike C
183.Perkins, Glen RP
184.Wilson, C.J. SP
185.Janssen, Casey RP
186.Soriano, Alfonso OF
187.Corbin, Patrick SP
188.Joyce, Matt OF
189.Johnson, Josh SP
190.Lynn, Lance SP
191.Colon, Bartolo SP
192.Moore, Matt SP
193.Martin, Russell C
194.Parker, Jarrod SP
195.Crawford, Carl OF
196.d'Arnaud, Travis C
197.Arcia, Oswaldo OF
198.Axford, John RP
199Henderson, Jim RP 200.Yelich,ChristianOF
 






























All NBA Team 2013-14 (First Build)

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Here was my All Star ballot.

We're at the 3/4 mark of the NBA season, so here are my All NBA Teams, selected using Hollinger and Win Shares.

1st Team
C A.Drummond
PF K.Love
SF KDurant MVP
PG S.Curry
SG G.Dragic

2nd Team
C D.Howard
PF B.Griffin
SF LJames
PG C.Paul
SG J.Harden

3rd Team
C D.Cousins
PF A.Davis
SF C.Anthony
PG K.Lowry
SG D.DeRozan

4th Team
C J.Noah
PF D.Nowitzki
SF P.George
PG I.Thomas 
SG D.Wade

Blogger Template created by Just Blog It