Major League Baseball preview

It's baseball season! I've got Red Sox-Yankees on ESPN2 starting up shortly with the first pitch of the season. The season starts in full swing tomorrow including the San Francisco Giants and Tim Lincecum taking on the Houston Astros at 5 p.m. MT on ESPN2 and espn3.com (formerly espn360.com). I'm excited to see "The Franchise" pitch tomorrow and see how the Giants start out. Anyway, I thought I'd get in on the baseball picks before the season officially gets under way in a few minutes. I'll go division by division including wild cards to start with:

American League East:
1. Tampa Bay Rays
2. New York Yankees
3. Boston Red Sox
4. Toronto Blue Jays
5. Baltimore Orioles

American League Central:
1. Chicago White Sox
2. Minnesota Twins
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Cleveland Indians

American League West:
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Texas Rangers
4. Oakland Athletics

American League Wild Card:
1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Seattle Mariners
5. Detroit Tigers

National League East:
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Atlanta Braves
3. Florida Marlins
4. New York Mets
5. Washington Nationals

National League Central:
1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. Houston Astros
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

National League West:
1. Colorado Rockies
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. San Francisco Giants
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. San Diego Padres

National League Wild Card:
1. Atlanta Braves
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. San Francisco Giants
4. Florida Marlins
5. Milwaukee Brewers

For the seeds of the teams in the baseball playoffs:
American League:
1. Tampa Bay Rays
2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
3. Chicago White Sox
4. New York Yankees

National League:
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. St. Louis Cardinals
3. Colorado Rockies
4. Atlanta Braves

Oh, and I'll take the American League over the National League in the All-Star game to give the AL the home field advantage in the World Series (although this is a stupid way to determine World Series home field advantage).

And now for my playoff prognostications:
American League Division Series:
Tampa Bay Rays over Chicago White Sox 3-1
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim over New York Yankees 3-2

National League Division Series:
Philadelphia Phillies over Colorado Rockies 3-1
St. Louis Cardinals over Atlanta Braves 3-2


American League Championship Series:
Tampa Bay Rays over Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 4-2

National League Championship Series:
Philadelphia Phillies over St. Louis Cardinals 4-2

World Series:
Philadelphia Phillies over Tampa Bay Rays 4-2