21 out 21 ESPNers Agreed: Angels Won't Make Series

by mattwelch on Sep 26, 2009 12:22 PM PDT

Was looking at ESPN.com's preseason baseball picks, to see toward whom I can soon direct my gloating (answer: only 3 of 21 pickers didn't have the Angels winning the AL West, but among them were perennial Scioscia-underraters Keith Law and Rob Neyer) ... and along the way I noticed something remarkable: All 21 prognosticators had an AL East team winning the American League pennant. Check it out.

Now, before you start damning them all with Bristol-coast bias, note that A) it's certainly not a bad bet, B) the Rays got a lot of votes, and C) among those getting votes for potential "breakout" season, at or near the top of the list was Howie Kendrick. Still, 21 for 21.... I have a strong feeling that no one will be giving us a chance in the playoffs this year, including members of the Red Sox. Within that may lie some underdoggy hope....

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I love that only 4 of them

even came up with their WS matchups with 2 teams that still have a shot at it… :)

Miss you Nick...! RIP

by K3YEROUT on Sep 26, 2009 12:33 PM PDT reply actions

Guess they won't bring this up later in the season.

With the picking that bad I’m sure that they want to put this embarrassment to sleep.

by eyespy on Sep 26, 2009 5:27 PM PDT up reply actions

Well, they may be right

If we don’t wake up we aren’t going to get out of the first round. We’re slumping at the worst time. I hope we can get it out of our systems…

RIP Nick. We will miss you!

by KingF15h on Sep 26, 2009 12:55 PM PDT reply actions

Exactly

Time for this team to wake the f—k up.

Otherwise, f—k ESPN.

RIP Nick Adenhart.

"When the Babe tries to call his shot, I hope Nick puts one in his ear."
--RallyMonkey5

by Clutch on Sep 26, 2009 1:49 PM PDT up reply actions

my picks were bad too...

i had the angels not even making the playoffs – i thought they were getting too old and hesitation with the offense. my world series pick was dodgers over indians. i thought the latter reminded me of the rays with the right amount of veterans.

i hate to say it, but the yankees made a ton of upgrades and the red sox have been recently involved a lot, so it makes sense. if you want to make it an excuse, it isn’t east coast bias but you just can’t over look the ‘giants’ of baseball.

by Halos in DE on Sep 26, 2009 2:03 PM PDT reply actions

Well, I had the Royals, Rays, and A's (Wild Card) making the playoffs, Howie as MVP...

…and announced that “”http://www.mattwelch.com/archives/2009/04/05-week/#3163" >If there is one bedrock belief I have about the American League this year, it’s that the Yankees won’t be a very good baseball team." Got the Dodgers and Cardinals right, though.

by mattwelch on Sep 26, 2009 2:29 PM PDT reply actions

Effed up the link.

Here.

by mattwelch on Sep 26, 2009 2:30 PM PDT up reply actions

this was mine (originally a facebook note) on april 6

American League:
East – Yanks, Rays, Red Sox, O’s, Blue Jays – Red Socks = too hurt, old, too many questions
Central – Indians, Twins, Tigers, White Socks, Royals – most fun division in baseball this year
West – A’s, Angels, Rangers, M’s – Angels see Red Sox
Wild Card – Rays

National League:
East – Mets, Braves, Phillies, Fish, Nats – Phils did a classic no-no, didn’t upgrade
Central – Cubs, Brewers, Reds, Cards, Astros, Pirates – watch out for the Reds
West – Dodgers, D’backs, Giants, Rockies, Padres – Giants will be a lot better without Barry questions
Wild Card – Brewers

LDS Playoffs:
Yankees over A’s – Money can buy you into the playoffs
Indians over Rays – Indians will be hotter, later
Mets over Cubs – but not in a sweep
Dodgers over Brewers – this in a sweep

LCS Playoffs:
Indians over Yankees – return of the midges
Dodgers over Mets – if Manny is a happy Manny he will be MANNY

World Series:
Dodgers over Indians – Manny will say upon winning MVP: “look at me now Boston”

As many of you know, I really hate making the above picks. This is who I would want:
O’s, Royals, Angels, (who cares)
Phillies, (who cares), (who cares), (who cares)
Angels over Phillies
Actually Jack Ireland from the Delaware News Journal picked that World Series

got a couple right:
yankees, central being a fun division (most tight right now), angels, dodgers, and giants would be a lot better team

by Halos in DE on Sep 26, 2009 6:01 PM PDT up reply actions

Wow

swing and a miss with the Indians, huh?

by shiftyeyedgoat on Sep 26, 2009 10:11 PM PDT up reply actions

yup

lol, i thought they were doing well in the second 1/2 of 2007. o well

by Halos in DE on Sep 27, 2009 2:10 PM PDT up reply actions

Is this held in Salt Lake City?

LDS Playoffs

"He's not a Rhodes Scholar to begin with''~Theo Epstein, talking about Papelbon

by George Kaplan on Sep 29, 2009 12:56 PM PDT up reply actions

I think someone did a little too much LDS back in the '60s.

Angels baseball. We do what we must, because we can -- HaloDutch

by red floyd on Sep 29, 2009 1:39 PM PDT up reply actions

lol at Rojas

East champ: Mets
Central champ: Cubs
West champ: Dodgers
Wild card: Reds
Champion: Reds

RIP Nick Adenhart 4/9/09

by vlad IS my man on Sep 27, 2009 9:12 AM PDT reply actions

Reading this article and then looking at the realities

show how there is no way for writers to predict anything in baseball, and that all of these “predictions” that these writers get paid to make come straight out of their asses.

Seriously, Matt Wieters – rookie of the year?

#34, never forget.

by jtkelly86 on Sep 27, 2009 1:16 PM PDT reply actions

yeah

i hate it when SI picks the angels to win it all. to me it seems like a curse (look at the mets this year, and the angels in 06). warning: we were picked to face them in si. thanks a lot tom verducci

by Halos in DE on Sep 27, 2009 2:11 PM PDT up reply actions

I have never understood the point of playoff predictions

or power rankings or the WNBA or smooth jazz

We are the Los Angeles Angels of the late 2000s

by Higz on Sep 28, 2009 11:49 AM PDT reply actions

I can help with one of them

Smooth Jazz is for putting me to sleep at the dentist, thus saving the cost of Novocain. Happens every time!

by rspencer on Sep 29, 2009 3:50 PM PDT up reply actions

While I like to bash ESPN as much as the next guy, I have to point out

that Jim Caple did in fact pick the Twins to win the AL, making him the only person who thought the AL champion wouldn’t come out of the AL East.

#34 Forever
Plugging the upside since 2006.
Never give up, never surrender!

by TheOptimist on Sep 28, 2009 5:06 PM PDT reply actions

meh, these guys can predict the future about as well as anyone else on here. Sure they might be more knowledgeable about stats/matchup etc but when it comes to predicting wins all that stuff doesnt mean jack.

I’m pretty sure no one had us winning in 2002

In Kobe we trust!

by robi s on Sep 28, 2009 5:17 PM PDT reply actions

I told my best friend at the beginning of the 2002 season

that the Angels would win the World Series that year. Since then, he’s considered me a baseball genius! (I’m not)

by rspencer on Sep 29, 2009 3:52 PM PDT up reply actions

I thought you were

Geez, now I don’t know what to believe.

"He's not a Rhodes Scholar to begin with''~Theo Epstein, talking about Papelbon

by George Kaplan on Sep 29, 2009 7:41 PM PDT up reply actions

i had angels over dodgers

still stickin’ with it.

RIP NA

by NoDakHalo on Sep 29, 2009 11:05 AM PDT reply actions

lol the dodgers arent making it out of the first round. they are playing some truly terrible baseball right now

In Kobe we trust!

by robi s on Sep 30, 2009 4:18 PM PDT up reply actions

my preseason picks

AL East: Yankees, Rays, Sox, Jays, O’s
AL North/Central: Indians, Chisox, Twins, Royals, Tigers
AL Best/West: Angels, Rangers, A’s, M’s
wild card: Rays

NL East: Phillies, Mets, Braves, Fish, Nats
NL Central: Cubs, Reds, Cards, Astros, Brewers, Pirates
NL West: Dodgers, Rockies, D’backs, Giants, Padres
wild card: Reds

ALDS: Angels over Rays 3-1
Yankees over Indians 3-2

NLDS: Dodgers over Cubs 3-2
Reds over Phillies 3-2

ALCS: Angels over Yankees 4-1
NLCS: Dodgers over Reds 4-3

World Series: Angels over Dodgers 4-1

As you can see not prophetic. Except the Angels winning the series;)

by Baylorsgroove on Oct 2, 2009 6:19 AM PDT reply actions