2014 MLB Predictions

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)

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

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

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

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

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)

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