Opening Night is tomorrow, as the Sox face the Yankees. I can't wait; it seems like Spring Training has lasted for months.

I thought I'd make my annual predictions tonight before the season starts, but first let's review my 2004 predictions (they're published here in my blog last March 31).

Let's see, in the AL I picked the following division winners - Red Sox (nope, but that's OK); Kansas City (what was I thinking about?); and Anaheim (yup). I picked the A's to win the wild card (they had a good chance to win the West, but choked down the stretch). I picked Vladimir Guerrero as the AL MVP (yes!) and Barry Zito as the Cy Young (Johan Santana wasn't even on the radar screen). So, I got two of the playoff participants and the MVP. Not bad.

My NL division picks were the Phillies (the pitching wasn't as good as I thought, and the Braves didn't fall off nearly as much as I thought); the Cubbies (Kerry Wood and Mark Prior only made 43 starts between them) and the Giants (nope). I got the wild card right, picking the Astros. I missed on both the NL MVP, picking Albert Pulhols instead of Mr. Steroids, Barry Bonds and the Cy Young, picking Eric Gagne instead of Roger Clemens.

Finally, I picked the Red Sox to meet the Cubs in the apocalyptic World Series, with the Sox winning. Fortunately, I got the important part right.

And now, with no further ado, here are my 2005 picks:


AL East champion: New York Yankees
AL Central champion: Minnesota Twins
AL West champion: Los Angeles Angels (or whatever they're calling themselves these days)
AL wild card: Boston Red Sox

NL East champion: Atlanta Braves (the Mets are better, but not good enough; getting Tim Hudson offsets the Mets getting Pedro)
NL Central champion: St. Louis Cardinals
NL West champion: San Diego Padres
NL wild card: Chicago Cubs

AL Champion: LA Angels
NL Champion: Atlanta Braves

World Series Champion: LA Angels

AL MVP: Vladimir Guererro
NL MVP: Carlos Beltran

AL Cy Young: Randy Johnson (and it kills me to say that)
NL Cy Young: Tim Hudson