The Bench Jockeys

March 24, 2015 – The Cactus and Grapefruit League games are wrapping up and skipper’s are setting up their rotations. Thus, its time for The Bench Jockeys to offer our predictions for the upcoming MLB Season.

What we know:   Pretty much nothing.  We did not agree on anything.  The betting lines have Mike Trout as a 1:1 favorite to take home the AL Most Valuable Player hardware, but it is interesting that none of the Jockeys see the Angels in the World Series despite the potential output of Trout, Pujols and Calhoun.  As a group, we see Felix Hernandez dominating the AL.  (Spound is still waiting for Tanaka to produce for his 2014 fantasy team, and we are not quite sure what Brittany is seeing that the rest of don’t with respect to Joe Kelly of the Red Sox.)

Ian really wanted to take a flyer on the Mariners in the Series and likes Cano as a dark horse AL MVP pick, but he couldn’t pull the trigger.  Britt and Craig both go all-in with an old skool LA-NY series and Chris and Ian both projected the same unlikely AL Champ to lose versus the pitching depth of the Nats.  And of course, the ever-diabolical Spound is rooting for the Cubbies to find their way back to the Championship just so Billy Sianis’ curse can play-out yet again…106 years and counting.

Send us your thoughts in the comment section.

The crack staff at The Bench Jockeys are throwing their two cents in with the array of other soothsayers as the NFL season begins tonight on hallowed grounds of Lambeau Field.  Three of us think the game tonight will feature at least one of the teams who will be raising the Lombardi Trophy in February.  Go on record and send us a message with your predictions.

Why, in fact,… it has.  Japan’s March 11^th earthquake shifted the earth’s axis by 6.5 inches, thereby speeding up the day ever so slightly and causing a slight wobble in the spin of the planet.  Knuckleballers rejoice – your junk should seem a smidge faster and have even more movement.  Scientists maintain that these changes are inconsequential and bear no relevance to the continued existence of earth’s inhabitants;  however, I think otherwise.  First of all, there is just not enough chatter about the impact of this ominous axial move (which in and of itself causes me to pause); and secondly, how could a shift of the earth’s position be anything but bad.  I speculate that this axis shift will hasten baseball’s mutation from a sport dominated by east coast franchises to one where the left coast teams carry the swagger, a trend that began to emerge last year.

Which leads us to this year’s predictions.  The easy pick here is the Red Sox versus the Phillies in the 2011 World Series.  All 44 of ESPN’s pundits forecasted Boston to win the AL East, 39 of them predicted that Boston would represent the AL and 33 of those folks expect the Sox to win the World Series.  That’s really going out on a limb gang.  Even Harpo – the silent Bench Jockey – is of the opinion that we will be watching Lester against Halladay in the Fall Classic.   However, I say, when something seems so obvious, do the opposite.  I like the young arms in Oakland to emerge from a weak AL West and shock the so-called “experts.”  Need I say anything other than the Texas Rangers in 2010?  In the NL, San Francisco is essentially the same team that won in 2010 except now they have some self-confidence in their ability to win.  Half the US doesn’t even remember they won it all last year, and the other half think it was a fluke.  Even in winning, they have a chip on their shoulders. 

So what does this mean for baseball in 2011?  The earthquake series redux.  It just seems like a fitting end.