Fathead Blog

A lot will change between now and the start of the 2012 baseball season. Dozens of players are still unsigned and the league needs to finalize how and when the new playoff format will be implemented. But I’m not waiting for all that to happen before making predictions. That would be too easy.

The top free agent left on the market, Prince Fielder, will not sign with the Cubs as many people expect. He decides to take less money and avoid the curse by joining the San Francisco Giants. He helps them win the N.L. West crown.

If the Giants landed Prince Fielder, would we be seeing another celebration in San Francisco?

The Los Angeles Angels, doing their best New York Yankees impersonation, attempt to buy a championship by signing Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson. Attendance goes up, they win the division title, and they lose in the playoffs…..to the Yankees.

MLB announces the new playoff format that will begin in 2012. As expected, one wild card team is added in each league. But there is a surprise as well. The four wild card teams are randomly matched up by a computer formula. Now wild card teams can face wild card teams from the other league in the one game playoff. The league also announces that the All-Star Game should have more meaning and the league that wins the game will not only have home-field advantage in the World Series, but the team in that league with the best record will get to choose which remaining wild card team they want to face. Nobody likes this idea.

Manny will continue to be Manny. Just not in a major league uniform. Alex Rodriguez will, once again, get caught on camera doing something embarrassing. He claims it was an A-ROD imposter and that “Another team probably put him up to it to get in my head.”

In mid-September, the Cubs championship drought is officially extended for another year when they are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Theo Epstein spends the rest of the season researching how to reverse a curse.

The A.L. East will be a four-team race all the way to September with the Orioles the only team not in the mix. The Yankees take the division and the Blue Jays end up with a wild card spot when the Orioles beat the Red Sox on the final day of the season. In the A.L. Central, the Twins go from last to second as the Tigers repeat as division champs. The Rangers win the A.L. West.

Atlanta will be fueled by its 2011 collapse and almost win the N.L. East but fall just short to the Miami Marlins. The Phillies and Braves take the wild card spots making the N.L. East the first division with three playoff teams. The Cincinnati Reds win the N.L. Central, just edging out the Cardinals.

The Texas Rangers will finally win the World Series after coming up short in the last two, beating the Phillies in six games.

(To see Part 2 of this series NBA Year in Preview 2012,  click here.)