Column: Thanks for Listening

Baseball season has started. Yahoo!

Here are my annual picks for this year in baseball. Please dispute, debate and criticize all, but remember to check back in October as last year I correctly chose the St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series in six over Tampa Bay.

What? The Giants won the Series. That can’t be right. Here are this year’s picks.

American League

East:

1. Boston Red Sox

2. Tampa Bay Rays

3. New York Yankees

4. Toronto Blue Jays

5. Baltimore Orioles

Central:

1. Minnesota Twins

2. Chicago White Sox

3. Detroit Tigers

4. Kansas City Royals

5. Cleveland Indians

West:

1. Oakland A’s

2. Texas Rangers

3. Seattle Mariners

4. L.A. Angels

5. Oakland A’s

The Tampa Bay Rays will win the wild card in American League.

Boston Red Sox will beat the Twins to go to the World Series. Key: A loaded lineup!

MVP: Mark Teixeira, the hated Yankees.

Cy Young: Felix Hernandez, Mariners.

National League

East:

1. Philadelphia Phillies

2. Atlanta Braves

3. Washington Nationals

4. New York Mets

5. Florida Marlins

Central:

1. Cincinnati Reds

2. Milwaukee Brewers

3. St. Louis Cardinals

4. Houston Astros

5. Chicago Cubs

6. Pittsburgh Pirates

West:

1. San Francisco Giants

2. Colorado Rockies

3. L.A. Dodgers

4. Arizona Diamondbacks

5. San Diego Padres

The Milwaukee Brewers will win the wild card in National League.

Philadelphia will beat the Brewers to go to World Series. Key: Pitching.

MVP: Jimmy Rollins, Phillies

Cy Young: Derek Lowe, Braves

World Series

It’ll be the big-spending Phillies over big-spending Red Sox in six.

MVP: Ryan Howard, Phillies.

Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer’s column appears every Thursday.