2014 MLB Preview: AL East

We've almost made it! Baseball that actually counts and is not played at weird times of the morning starts tonight! It's maybe the first real sign of spring!

In another total shocker, I goofed on last year's predictions out in the AL East, focusing too much on big splashes. There weren't too many big ones this year though, so hopefully I'll be closer to right this time. Also, you best respect the champ. Let's go.

2014 MLB Preview: NL East

Happy Saturday and Opening Night Eve! We're almost there!

I'm onto the last geographical area of the league and the second to last division in the series of previews. Today I tackle the NL East, in a division where I kind of whiffed last year on the winner, but had kind of the right idea at least. There's a definite separation though between the class of the division and the also-rans. So without further ado, let's make that distinction.

2014 MLB Preview: AL Central

Happy Friday! We're onto the fourth of six division previews now, and I'm through with projecting another sad year for my Cubs team. But what about the other Chicago baseball team and the rest of their division?

Detroit saw its pitching staff lead the way to the postseason again, while the postseason saw something of a surprising entrant in the Indians as a Wild Card. The rest of the division might not really be in a position to make a run, but you never know. I was way wrong about Cleveland last year. Hopefully I won't be as wrong this time around.

2014 MLB Preview: NL Central

We're moving right along in this year's series of MLB previews. The West Coast is done, and now I'm heading to America's heartland and my homeland.

I pegged the top of the division right last year, if only because it seemed to be a given. St. Louis was the division winner last year, but Pittsburgh outperformed expectations and finally became that feel-good story, making the playoffs for the first time in 21 years. Maybe there will be a changing of the guard? We'll have to see this summer. For now, here's how I think the division shakes out.

2014 MLB Preview: AL West

I'm onto Day Two of doing MLB previews now, as we're just a few days away from the stateside start of the season. After having done the NL West, we've covered the two teams that have already played, so I've already got a decent head-start on my predictions with the Dodgers being 2-0, though Arizona at 0-2 isn't as great a start. As people are fond of saying though, it's a long season, and April is a time of hope for basically every team. You know, unless you're the Cubs. I'm going to go cry in the corner now.

As for today, I'm looking at the AL West, where I've been pretty wrong two years running. I'm not going to be fooled again. Of course, this probably means I'll still be wrong knowing how my luck with these things go. We'll see. Here's how I predict the race will go.

2014 MLB Preview: NL West

It's been a long, brutal winter. Spring officially began last Thursday, but it hasn't really seemed like it yet. We're (hopefully) past all that polar vortex subzero nonsense, though Sunday saw some lake effect snow in Chicago. It's hard to believe that on Sunday, Major League Baseball officially gets underway here in the States as opposed to that Australian pair of games this past weekend.

So like I did last year, I'm going to do a runthrough of all 30 MLB teams even though I've only kind of followed what's gone on during the offseason. I think I can do enough to at least reasonably guess at what will happen. Bear in mind though, this is a guy who picked the world champs to finish last in their division last year. I was wrong then, so take these picks for what you will.

Another fun side note: I totally threw out random records last season for my projections, and my dad put the numbers together only to find that I gave, on average, about a win too many to all the teams last year. I'm actually looking at numbers this time.

Since I want to do the division with the defending champ last, I'm starting in the opposite league on the opposite coast. As such, here's how I'm picking the NL West to shape up.

2014 NFL Tournament of Champions: Super Bowl of Super Bowls

It's been about a month in the making. I put forty-eight teams into a gauntlet of simulated battles on a virtual gridiron. Forty-six of them have fallen. Now, only two teams from the late '90s remain. Only one of them can claim the title of Greatest of All Time.

On one side, we have The Greatest Show on Turf, a team that earned a first round bye, took out a couple of old-time classic teams, then beat the top seed in the tournament to make this stage. On the other side, we have a team that fell a couple spots short of a bye, but won three of its five games on the road.

Since we're into the championship round, I'm going to step up the standard of proof. This round will be a best-of-five simulated series, with the "clinching" game being the official result. Since we're playing this game in Arlington at JerryWorld, weather isn't really a factor. All simulations are once again provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play.