Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch

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'Tis the time of the year for the season predictions. I took a (unpublished) cut on these right at the beginning of Spring Training and then I finalized them today. I actually had to make a few changes based on events that happened in Spring Training and even teams' performances in Spring Training. Here are my predictions for the 2012 Major League Baseball season, including standing for each division, who will win the wild card and who will win the League Pennants and the World Series. Optimism abounds, since everyone (other than the Athletics and the Mariners) are starting with a clean slate:

AL Central:

Twins

Tigers

Royals

Indians

White Sox

AL East:

Red Sox

Yankees

Blue Jays

Rays

Orioles

AL West:

Rangers

Angels

Mariners

Athletics

AL Wild Cards: Yankees, Angels

NL East:

Nationals

Phillies

Marlins

Braves

Mets

NL Central:

Reds

Pirates

Brewers

Cardinals

Cubs

Astros

NL West:

Giants

Dodgers

Diamondbacks

Padres

Rockies

NL Wild Cards: Phillies, Pirates

ALCS: Twins over Red Sox

NLCS: Nationals over Philies

WS: Twins over Nationals in 6.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/2004_WorldSeries_Trophy.jpg

is this satire?! I hope you're right though q;)

No satire; just optimist

...and the Vikes are going win the Super Bowl too.

In the mid 80's, my kid brother started picking the Twins every year. By the early 90's, the kid had incredibly picked 2 long-shot winners. Unfortunately, he grew up to have unrealistic expectations. But dang he's optimistic.

If I thought that the Twins did not have a chance to win the division (and a good one) I wouldn't have picked them... I just don't like the Tigers this season. And if they win the Division, everything can happen.