Kuzul

Led by 23-year-old David Wright and 22-year-old Jose Reyes, the Mets were one win away from the 2006 World Series. With young core players like Wright and Reyes, the Mets looked to have a very bright future, many feeling that they would make the playoffs for years to come.

However, one Yadier Molina home run and one wicked 12-6 Adam Wainwright curveball later, Carlos Beltran and the Mets went down looking. The Game 7 loss to the Cardinals in the NLCS was the last time New York played a playoff game. Since then, the Mets have suffered two historic September collapses and have also failed to make the playoffs the next two seasons.

2011, however, begins a brand new era, and a fresh start. Although many aren’t picking the Mets to have a good season this year, New York can silence the doubters and make the playoffs if a number of things happen.

Here are 10 things the Mets need to make it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

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Hope.  For now.  

That’s how baseball fans see it as we inch past Opening Day.  No matter how improbable it might be, fans everywhere believe this is the year their team takes it to the next level.

Yankees?  Phillies?  Red Sox? Forget about it!  We’ve all seen Tampa Bay shoot onto the scene, and we all witnessed the Rockies remarkable run to the playoffs only a few seasons ago. 

This year it’s “our turn,” most fans will say.   But which teams actually have a chance to play spoiler, and which teams stand to build on their 2010 performances?  I will give you my top five.

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All 30 teams set out with the same goal, but in the end, only one team can achieve it.

Which begs the question; which team will it be?

The revamped Red Sox or the pitching-rich Phillies? Or will the Yankees pounce from the weeds to win a 28th Title? Will the Rangers avenge their loss in the Series last year, or will the Giants repeat?

How it all plays out is anyone’s guess. I’ve taken a shot in the dark and tried to forecast what happens this October.

Before I get to my predictions for the postseason, I’ll fill you in to how I see the pennant race playing out.

In the American League, the Boston Red Sox will be as good as advertised, winning the most games in baseball and the AL East. In the ALDS, they’ll match up with the Detroit Tigers, who hold off the Minnesota Twins to win the AL Central. 

White Boston hogged the headlines this past Winter, the New York Yankees still have way too much talent to not be in the playoff picture; they’ll win the AL Wild Card. They’ll play the Oakland A’s, who win the AL West on the strength of their young rotation and a rejuvenated lineup.

In the National League, the Phillies overcome some injuries and win the most games in the senior circuit behind their much hyped rotation. Pitching will reign supreme in the NL Central as well as the Milwaukee Brewers will usurp the Cincinnati Reds to advance to the postseason.

In the postseason, the Brewers will take on the NL West champions, the Colorado Rockies. While Colorado will rise to the top of the NL West, the defending champion San Francisco Giants will manage to get in via the wild card and take on Philadelphia.

Please leave me some feedback and check out my awards predictions as well. Happy Opening Day everybody.

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After an amazing 2010 season last year, which included unforgettable moments like Armando Gallaraga’s near perfect game, Jose Bautista ripping a league-high 54 Homers, Roy Halladay’s playoff no-hitter and a perfect Mother’s Day for Dallas Braden, fans everywhere are anxiously awaiting 2011, which they hope will be even more special.  

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With less than one week to go, every team has questions, concerns and confidence heading into the new season. 

After one month of watching the MLB channels and reading various magazines, here are some points/predictions/questions that come to my mind:

National League

Arizona Diamondbacks

Kirk Gibson’s fire and leadership will prevent the D-Backs from finishing last, but not by much. They are short in talent. 

Atlanta Braves 

I’m so jealous of this organization with top of the line scouting.

The list of young impact players will continue to grow with Freddie Freeman, Brandon Beachy, Craig Kimbrel, Mike Minor and Julio Teheran joining Jason Heyward and potential ace Tommy Hanson. They will win the NL East.

Chicago Cubs

Cubs will continue to underachieve which will finally lead to a much needed roster overhaul.

Good-bye Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez.

They need to stack a minor league system which has failed to produce any impact players since Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

Cincinnati Reds

Aroldis Chapman will finish as the Reds top starter due to health issues with Johnny Cueto, Edison Volquez and Homer Bailey. They will finish second in their division.

Colorado Rockies

Since the birth of the Blake Street Bombers, the Rockies have always been known for being a hitting team first.

That will change this year due the emergence of Jhoulys Chacin and Jorge De La Rosa, to go along with ace Ubaldo Jimenez. 

Florida Marlins

Is their another outfield that is as talented as Mike Stanton, former rookie-of-the- year winner Chris Coghlan and Logan Morrison?

Houston Astros

The Roy Oswalt trade paid instant dividends with the success of J.A. Happ and Brett Myers.

Let’s see if they strike gold this year with trading Carlos Lee and Michael Bourn.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Matt Kemp will win the MVP and Clayton Kershaw the Cy Young, but will still finish second in the NL West.

Milwaukee Brewers

Nice knowing you Prince.

Due to poor pitching, especially from newcomers Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum, Fielder will be traded to the NY Yankees at the trade deadline. 

New York Mets

To much of my dismay, the Bernie Madoff scandal will hover over the team all year. At least Ollie Perez will be pitching batting practice for the Washington Nationals.

Philadelphia Phillies

Gotta be concerned with a lineup which may have to deal with missing Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins for large chunks again. There’s no depth due to Jayson Werth moving to the Nationals.

Pittsburgh Pirates

I really like their top four hitters of Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez.

If they were able to trade for Fielder, that would be awesome for a team that may be seeing the light at the end of the (Lee) tunnel. Sorry, couldn’t stop myself!

San Diego

Pitching, pitching, pitching and…no hitting.

They are going to miss the Hairston brothers and some guy named Adrian Gonzalez.

San Francisco

Pitching, pitching, pitching and…improved hitting.

I liked their balanced lineup last year and like it even more with the addition of Brandon Belt and a bounce-back from Pablo Sandoval.

St. Louis Cardinals

Can’t see Albert Pujols playing anywhere else.

The Cardinals will wake up and give King Albert a royal contract closer to Alex Rodriquez. They will win the division despite the injuries.

Washington Nationals

I really like the Jayson Werth signing, even if it was uncharacteristic for the Nationals and they overpaid.

This signing will pave the way for others free agents to join future stars Stephen Strasburg, Ian Desmond and 2012 ROY winner Bryce Harper.

American League

Baltimore Orioles

Just remember the success Buck Showalter had with the “kids” in New York and Arizona and then you will know why I’m high on Matt Wieters, Adam Jones, Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman and Zach Britton, especially in fantasy leagues.

Orioles have a proven winner who will bring the best out of his players, especially these kids.

Boston Red Sox

This lineup is stacked and well balanced with speed, power and contact hitting. They gotta hope the pitching doesn’t become their Achilles.

Chicago White Sox

Ozzie Guillen is one of those love/hate personalities. You love him if he’s with you and despise him if he’s not.

No wonder why Frank Thomas wanted to break Guillen in half like a bat over his gigantic legs.

Guillen is a lot of things, including a winner, which the White Sox will do a lot of this year on their way to winning the AL Central.

Cleveland Indians

Boy do they miss John Hart.

If Hart was still GM, the prospects the Indian’s would have received from trading Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner and Fausto Cormona would be on the cusp of making the All-Star team.

Instead the Indians are hoping for them to stay healthy.

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers offense will compete with the White Sox and Rangers for tops in the majors but they lack pitching depth after Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.

One more top starter is a must to go far in 2011.

Kansas City Royals

One more year before the Royals begin to show flashbacks of the team from decades past.

Future is bright (blue and gold) in Kansas City with the likes of Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler, Mike Montgomer, and John Lamb. 

Los Angeles Angels

Even before the Vernon Wells trade, I thought the Angels had enough offense to win the division.

But now I’m concerned with their hitting if Kendrys Morales misses substantial time. He was my prediction to win the AL MVP.

Minnesota Twins

I felt last year was the year to win the World Series, with the new ballpark and all.

Just can’t get pass their nemesis, the NY Yankees. 

They will take a step backwards this year and will be forced to retool. The Justin Morneau concussion issue will linger all year.

New York Yankees

I’m going to try to remain biased, especially since I despise this team more than any other team in professional sports.

They are aging and this is their last hurrah to win a ring again. They will make the playoffs as a wild card team.

Oakland Athletics

Which Bay Area team has the best pitching rotation? Now only if they could hit.

Seattle Mariners

Talk about not hitting. The only excitement will be watching Ichiro Suzuki slap the ball for singles as he approaches the 3,000 hit mark.

I do want to see Michael Pineda pitch.

Tampa Bay Rays

Can’t forget the 2009 season when the Rays fell to 84 wins in between postseason appearances due to their bullpen.

The Rays lost 75 percent of their bullpen and have not officially replaced their closer.

I’m expecting the Rays to fall under .500 and to fourth place.

Texas Rangers

Rangers will trade for Ryan Dempster but will fall short behind the Angels.

Injuries to Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton will be their Achilles in 2011.

Toronto Blue Jays

Will win 85 games and finish in third place. Kyle Drabek will win the ROY award.

Awards

NL MVP – Matt Kemp

NL Cy Young – Clayton Kershaw

NL ROY – Freddie Freeman

AL MVP – Robinson Cano

AL Cy Young – Brett Anderson

AL ROY – Kyle Drabek

Postseason First Round Matchup

Braves vs. Cardinals

Giants vs. Phillies

Red Sox vs. Angels

White Sox vs. Yankees

World Series Matchup

Red Sox vs. Braves

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

This is the final installment if a seven-part series predicting the records of each team, and now the playoffs.  The teams that make the postseason in this installment are based off of previous ones.

Now that the 2011 season is closer than ever, and Opening Day is only eight days away, we writers are giving our preseason predictions, and these are mine.  Through careful analysis of records, schedules, transactions, and more I have compiled my postseason picks.

Now, it’s time to break them down.

Matchups in the postseason are incredible, and they always provide fireworks.  The ability to play five or seven games against your opponent is what makes baseball great.  The best teams usually come out on top, but sometimes we have surprises, like the 2008 Phillies or 2010 Giants.

These next slides are my predictions of each postseason series, and breakdowns of each series.  Sure, the postseason is over seven months away, but it’s never too early.

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Most baseball predictions are relatively straightforward. Sure, you can argue over whether Joey Votto will be better than Albert Pujols or who will win the AL East, but as long as the focus is on just one outcome, it’s at least easy to understand the train of thought.

That’s why, when one person decides to power rank all 30 MLB teams, things inevitably go awry.

There’s a general consensus about how the top and the bottom should look, but in between the two extremes, things can get pretty screwy. One man’s top-three team is in another man’s bottom five.

Luckily, Bleacher Report’s Featured Columnists have found a solution. Twenty-six of the site’s most knowledgeable writers, representing 18 teams, all wrote in with their lists, which we combined into this—our composite power rankings, in which the group consensus outweighs our individual biases.

For each team, you can see our average ranking, as well as the extreme highs and lows they reached on our ballots. The numbers are accompanied by commentary from 18 different writers, so you can read a whole range of different perspectives on how the 2011 season will shake out.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this survey—now let’s see how we do!

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I get a few butterflies in the ol’ boilmaker when the Boston Red Sox throw a big time prospect into a trade. The butterflies turn into rabid raccoons when the Sox dump their entire farm team into a deal.

I love prospects. They are like your children in a way. They grow up in front of you, and before you even know it, they are making All-Star teams, start growing Lemmy Kilmister inspired facial hair and getting into fights with Manny Ramirez.

There’s a sense of pride in seeing someone who rose through your own farm system, especially as Red Sox fans. When a Red Sox prospect goes through the minor league ranks and reaches the Big Show, they tend to exhibit the qualities Red Sox fans look for in their players. Hard working grinders that aren’t afraid to get their uniforms dirty and show off the five o’clock shadow. This is also definitely true of the farmhands of the Empire, which would be a sweet band name.

Players who are brought up under the “Yankee Way,” epitomize what the Boss looked for in his players, a mastery of the fundamentals, while maintaining a clean shaven face.   

One argument that us Sox fans typically make when debating a fan of the New York Yankees is that the Sawx don’t “buy championships,” meaning we utilize our minor league system better than the Bombers. I’ve made that argument out of frustration, yet I know it to mostly be untrue.

The Yankees obviously had some blue chip prospects in the ’90s and are producing some again today. Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada were the first group, and the second group has Robinson Cano (still getting better), Brett Gardner (for his glove at least), Phil Hughes (has real upside but some question marks) and we can soon add Jesus Montero to the list.

However, they have also acquired big name players during their dynasty and outlier 2009 championship such as Wade Boggs, John Wetteland, Tino Martinez, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia to name a few.  

The Red Sox counter with Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon and Jacoby Ellsbury as their farm system stand outs, and we can add Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Daniel Bard to that list too.

However, the 2004 and 2007 Boston Red Sox had their share of big name free agents and players acquired in trades such as Manny, Johnny Damon, Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that though, regardless of what team is doing it. If you have the resources to go along with a competent enough front office, and the athletes have the desire to play for a new city, then why on Earth shouldn’t they be allowed to?

I made a similar argument in the column I wrote about LeBron James: if an athlete is unhappy with their situation, and if they can find ways to make it a better situation for themselves, then we shouldn’t crucify them for that. If you want to make the whole thing a television spectacle, however… 

I was a bit worried trading Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo and Reymond Fuentes for one player. All three of those guys (ranked as the first, third and sixth best prospects, respectively, by Baseball America) could be near-elite to elite major leaguers one day. The San Diego Padres most definitely got fair compensation. 

But, the Boston Red Sox acquired Adrian Gonzalez, the front runner for the 2011 MVP. As a result, the rabid raccoons got a day off. 

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A Giants/Rangers World Series?

Jose Bautista?

It’s sufficed to say that 2010 was a joke in terms of, well, everything. Fantasy owners and baseball fans shouldn’t stress–2011 will be nothing of the sort.

Last season in baseball was like an M. Night Shyamalan movie; you never knew what was going to happen next. This year should turn out like an Adam Sandler movie; same plot, same cast, a couple of laughs, same result, you go home.

Here’s my 2011 playoff preview (Yes, “I’m talking about playoffs?!” and yes, it is February).

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