This has very little to do with B-R.com but since a few people out there seem to think I know a thing or two about baseball, here are my predictions for division winners and wild card winners.

AL EAST: Boston, though behind Tampa Bay at this writing, they have a much better run-scoring differential than the Rays, and that's with Big Papi sitting on the sidelines.

AL CENTRAL: Chicago should run away with this one in what is a pretty bad division. Only Minnesota's good performances by young pitchers have kept them alive, and Detroit and Cleveland are too far buried already to make it back.

AL WEST: I'm going with Oakland, although this is a very tough pick. The Angels are a pretty good team who got extremely lucky in close games in the first half. Oakland has just as much offense and slightly better pitching, but is 7 games out at the moment. That's a very tough gap to close, but I'm picking them to do it.

AL WILDCARD: Tampa Bay, or if the Rays do squeak past Boston, then the Red Sox will be the WC.

NL EAST: Philadelphia will win out here, thanks in large part to an excellent offense and excellent bullpen. Picking up Joe Blanton was odd, except that he should get them deeper into games and help keep that bullpen fresh late into the season.

NL CENTRAL: Chicago, like their AL counterparts, will run away and hide. The Cubs have by far the best offense and pitching in the division, and Sabathia alone cannot put Milwaukee over the top.

NL WEST: With all the teams here under .500, it's unpleasant to even think about somebody "winning" the division.  I'll go with Los Angeles, who have been just .500 at home so far and will probably improve on that a bit the rest of the way, beating out Arizona by a few games.

NL WILDCARD: It will comes down to St Louis vs Milwaukee, and here is where I think the addition of Sabathia will put Milwaukee on top, and the Cardinals will be the most deserving team in baseball not to make the playoffs.

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