The Angels and Nationals are the two scariest teams on paper heading into 2013, and I just couldn't convince myself to type in any other teams to reach the World Series. Will Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez stifle the thunderous trio of Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton? We'll find out in October.
The Yankees, well, I believe in them more than most do. Many pundits don't give them a fighting chance because of all the home runs lost in the offseason and their aging core, but many have forgotten about one of the most balanced pitching staffs in the majors. Yes, I'm talking about the Yankees.
BUT, I just can't pick them to win the East after watching the Blue Jays win the offseason by a landslide; R.A. Dickey, Jose Reyes and old friend Melky Cabrera are just a few of their prized pickups. Look for the Blue Birds to bolster their bullpen at the break and fly away with the division title...
Anyway, let's get down to it.
Anyway, let's get down to it.
AL East
1. Blue Jays
2. Yankees*
3. Rays
4. Orioles
5. Red Sox
AL Central
1. Tigers
2. Royals
3. White Sox
4. Indians
5. Twins
AL West
1. Angels
2. Rangers*
3. Athletics
4. Mariners
5. Astros
NL East
1. Nationals
2. Braves*
3. Marlins
4. Phillies
5. Mets
NL Central
1. Reds
2. Pirates
3. Brewers
4. Cardinals
5. Cubs
NL West
1. Dodgers
2. Giants*
3. Diamondbacks
4. Padres
5. Rockies
*Wild Card Winner
Playoffs
AL Champion: Angels
NL Champion: Nationals
World Series Champion: Nationals, 6 games
Awards
AL MVP: Evan Longoria
NL MVP: Andrew McCutchen
AL Cy: David Price
NL Cy: Clayton Kershaw
AL RoY: Wil Myers
NL RoY: Zack Wheeler
AL Manager: Jim Leyland
NL Manager: Don Mattingly
Yankee Stats
Mariano Rivera saves: 27
David Robertson saves: 12
Derek Jeter GIDP: 29
Robinson Cano 2B: 51
Brett Gardner AVG: .343
Hiroki Kuroda W: 17
Francisco Cervelli CS: 27 (defense)
Ichiro Suzuki H: 188
Alex Rodriguez HBP: 7 (assuming he plays about half the season)
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Baseball Betting
With the new MLB season now underway fans are starting to speculate and dream about what their team could achieve this season – but most fans of sides like the Minnesota Twins are likely to be realistic about their chances of success. It would be fair to say that the bookies have put long odds on the Twins for both the American League pennant and the World Series this season, to the extent that any realistic fan will probably prefer to bet on individual matches, rather than putting outright bets on them for either of these titles.
They are currently rated around 100/1 to win the American League, which puts them firmly in the position of outsiders – with the current favourites being the Tigers with odds of 7/2. Some Twins fans may be optimistic enough about their side’s chances to bet on them at these odds – or those of 150/1 for the World Series – but even for a punter seeking a bet outside of the hot favourites, they are likely to seem far too outside a prospect to be worth it. For the majority of Minnesota supporters, there is likely to be more joy in betting on their team in individual matches – as well as playing baseball casino games.
After all nowadays you can play the most popular baseball themed games – such as Hot Shot – while you are actually at Twins games, thanks to the existence of mobile casino games apps that you can download to your phone. This coupled with the development of sports based casino games has attracted increasing numbers of fans of baseball and other sports in recent years, and games like Hot Shot offer a real baseball theme through, alongside the best features of slots. These include great game bonuses, cash jackpots and a very good chance of winning a payout by playing them – which is probably not the case if you bet on the Twins to win the AL or the World Series this season.
