MLB Playoff Predictions & Award winners.....

It has been another good year for baseball and we even had to wait for game 162 until we found out the NL West and Wildcard winners.  There were also quite a few great player performances this year. Well, here is what my crystal ball says as we start the playoffs and also who I think should get the year end awards.

Overall, I think the Philadelphia Phillies will be Word Series champs for the second time in three years.

NL Divisional Series:
Giants over Braves
Phillies over Reds

While neither team knocks the cover off the ball, I think the Giants have more offense than the Braves and better starting pitching and closer. As for the Phillies / Reds, I just can't see a way for Cincinnati to stay with Philadelphia unless the Phillies' starting pitching completely comes off the rails in this series.

AL Divisional Series:
Twins over Yankees
Rangers over Rays

Both of this series predictions are more of gut feelings. Common sense says the Rays and Yankees were the best of the AL all year and should meet in the ALCS, but there is something about the Twins and Rangers that draws me towards them to move forward. The Twins overcoming the loss of their long time closer, Joe Nathan, at the start of the year and and then losing Justin Morneau in July, while still playing at such a high level. For the Rangers, it is Nolan Ryan being the face of an organization that just three months ago was facing bankruptcy and the story of Josh Hamilton's comeback never gets old to me.

NL MVP: Joey Votto (Reds)
AL MVP: Josh Hamilton (Rangers)
NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay (Phillies)
AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez (Mariners)
NL Rookie of Year: Buster Posey (Giants)
AL Rookie of Year: Neftali Feliz (Rangers)

I am of the belief that MVP does mean most valuable player, so I do not consider great individual years for players who were on teams never in contention during the year. That is why both Votto and Hamilton got my picks. Votto leading the surprising Reds to the NL Central crown get the nod over Albert Pujols, while despite missing the last month of the season, Josh Hamilton meant everything to Texas as they reached first place in the AL West and then ran away with the division.

Roy Halladay was a pretty easy choice for Cy Young in the National League. While Ubaldo Jimenez and Adam Wainwright had very good years, Halladay was simply the best. In the American League, I had to go back to "who was the best pitcher"? When looking at everything, that best pitcher was Felix Hernandez. His 13-12 record will be questioned by many, Hernandez was the best pitcher and had better stats than David Price, CC Sabathia, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz in all categories except for the number of wins.

For the Rookie of the Year choices, I added the fact that both of my choices also played for division winners, and while Jason Heyward was in the Atlanta lineup all year, while Posey came up at the end of May, it was Posey catching the Giant pitching staff along with the offense he put up that put him over Heyward in my opinion. Same thought for Neftali Feliz, as his 40 saves for the Rangers was an important and unexpected part of this year's success.