Corey Noles, staff writer for The Daily Statesman and Editor of The North Stoddard Countian, is the author of a regular baseball/St. Louis Cardinals column and also uses his blog to sound off on various happenings in sports. He also operates a weekly baseball mailbag column.

MLB Season Predictions for 2014

Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2014, at 7:10 PM

By COREY NOLES

Each year, immediately before the Major League Baseball season begins, I share my thoughts on how I see the season folding out.

While this is simply my opinion, I do quite a lot of research looking through statistics, scouting reports, box scores and other stories to put this together. With that said, even with all of the research in the world, predictions are in essence just educated guesses.

Some of these you will agree with, others might make you scratch your head. Regardless, it usually makes for a good discussion.

Also, while I typically cover the St. Louis Cardinals, these aren't intended to be "homer" picks. If the Cardinals deserve the pick, they will get it. What I'm trying to say is that these picks aren't designed make everyone smile.

I always try to find a reason to justify not choosing the Cardinals. If I can't find a reason, then I figure my pick is legit.

The reason I say that, is because this year the Cardinals deserve every pick I've given them. In this year's picks there are plenty of reasons to smile if you're a Cardinals fan.

The team will leave spring training this year with arguably the most well-rounded group they have had in years. Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com characterized the Cardinals as having an "embarrassment of riches."

That pretty much sums up every analysis of this team from coast to coast.

In the end, I just don't see a significant weakness. As a result, they sit very nice in my projections. Enjoy!

AMERICAN LEAGUE

West

Oakland (89-73)

Texas (85-77)

Anaheim (84-78)

Seattle (78-84)

Houston (62-100)

Central

Kansas City (88-74)

W2-Detroit (87-75)

Cleveland (82-80)

Chicago (74-88)

Minnesota (71-91)

East

Boston (90-72)

w1-Tampa (90-72)

New York (86-76)

Baltimore (80-82)

Toronto (76-86)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

West

Los Angeles (90-72)

w2-San Francisco (85-77)

Arizona (81-81)

San Diego (78-84)

Colorado (73-89)

Central

St. Louis (91-71)

Pittsburgh (84-78)

Cincinnati (82-80)

Milwaukee (80-82)

Chicago (64-98)

East

Washington, D.C. (92-70)

w1-Atlanta (86-76)

New York (81-81)

Philadelphia (73-89)

Miami (72-90)

AL Wild Card

Tampa

Detroit *

NL Wild Card

Atlanta *

San Francisco

NL Champion

St. Louis over Los Angeles

AL Champion

Detroit over Boston

World Series

St. Louis

AL MVP: Mike Trout, Anaheim

AL CY YOUNG: Yu Darvish, Texas

AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Xander Bogaerts, Boston

NL MVP: Bryce Harper, Washington

NL CY YOUNG: Adam Wainwright, St. Louis

NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Kolten Wong, St. Louis

Comments

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Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on dexterstatesman.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

I agree on the Cardinals but I just don't see Atlanta being able to do it without Beachy, Medlen, and a possibly banged up Minor. I don't know how KC is going to win that division with that question mark rotation outside of Shields.

But I do like the rest of the picks and predictions. It has to be commended that St Louis completely recognized it's problems and quickly addressed them without sacrificing depth in the minors or future financial plans.

-- Posted by Bunk on Wed, Mar 26, 2014, at 7:29 PM
Pet peeve; it's Tampa Bay, not Tampa.

-- Posted by Larry Doby on Thu, Mar 27, 2014, at 10:58 AM

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