Posted by Brian Joseph on Friday, April 3, 2009 at 6:33 pm

10 writers from BDD and Jeremy Tomasulo who helped us out with the Rockies preview made our own predictions for the upcoming year. Now, we’re no Sports Illustrated when it comes to predictions (take that however you want to) but fresh off of our impressive run in last year’s postseason, we’re ready to put our two cents out there for everyone to enjoy… or mock. Also, following our predictions is a graph based on CHONE win projections with each team’s chances of reaching X amount of wins. Thanks to Bill Baer for his work here.

I’m the first one to admit that I like hokey (although I’m not a big fan of the Hokey Pokey), so, when it was revealed that the BDD writers officially chose the Cubs as their consensus pick for the National League Central title, I was more than a little excited to link to this YouTube video of “Go Cubs Go”. Nine of 11 writers tapped the Cubbies to win the Central but second place was a different story with five of the six NL Central teams — Pirates excluded, of course — appearing as someone’s No. 2. Here’s our predictions:

1. Chicago Cubs
Rob McQuown’s Season Preview from March 25

BODOG Odds to Win Division: 1/2

Lou Piniella has yet to fail to bring home an NL Central title to Chicagoland. The BDD team expects “Sweet Lou” to go 3-for-3 in accomplishing the feat. He’ll have to continue to defy the critics with success despite leading off Alfonso Soriano, hope that his decision to use Kevin Gregg instead of Carlos Marmol as closer is a success and that Rich Harden’s trips to the DL are short ones. They were 7-1/2 games better than the rest of the division in ‘08 so even a slight slip might not keep them from returning to the postseason again. We like ‘em… a lot.

2. St. Louis Cardinals
Rob McQuown’s Season Preview from March 17

BODOG Odds to Win Division: 3/1

No one in the group picked the Cardinals to win the division but there was one predictor who declared them their Wild Card team. (See our Postseason Predictions on Sunday.) Overall, five of the 11 predictors placed Tony LaRussa’s Cardinals as their second place finisher with no one placing them lower than fourth. The biggest question of the offseason had to be their bullpen’s inability to lock down games as St. Louis blew a Major League-high 31 save opportunities last year. Even though the club didn’t make any drastic moves to improve their ‘pen, they should decrease that number by accident. That’s reason enough to think the Cardinals should improve on their fourth place finish.

3. Milwaukee Brewers
Michael Street’s Season Preview from March 23

BODOG Odds to Win Division: 11/2

CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets were a combined 24-11 and the team was 32-16 when those two took the mound in ‘08. Both are gone but there’s still optimism for their young lineup and downgraded rotation. We’re not as optimistic (although Jeff Lubbers likes them to take the Central) and their 58-56 record when someone other than CC and Sheets pitched last year supports our collective lack of optimism. The addition of Trevor Hoffman should have helped cut down on the team’s 28 blown saves but Hoffman will start off the year on the disabled list making it unknown how much impact the 41-year-old closer will have in helping them cut down that number.

4. Cincinnati Reds
Jim Sandoval’s Season Preview from March 10

BODOG Odds to Win Division: 12/1

After the Rays’ magical run of 2008, my prediction is you will see young, unproven teams get a little more support in the yearly prediction round ups. The Reds fit the profile of a team with young, unproven talent that have some with stars in their eyes. Our predictions on the Reds are all over the place. Of the 11 predictions, one predictor has them winning the division and one predictor has them in the cellar. The rest call for the Reds to finish in second (2), third (1), fourth (4) and fifth (2). That assures that at least one of us will be right about the Reds.

5. Houston Astros
Brian Joseph’s Season Preview from March 19

BODOG Odds to Win Division: 20/1

For the most part, the group has sided with the oddsmakers and other projections that have the Astros set for a big fall in ‘09. If the first half of Spring Training was any indication — when the Astros went 1-16-3 — fifth might be too optimistic. In the second half of Spring Training, Houston went 10-3… so maybe things aren’t that bad. In the end, Spring results are pretty meaningless but I’m sure the club didn’t mind turning things around from their rough start. We just weren’t convinced.

6. Pittsburgh Pirates
Craig Brown’s Season Preview from March 4

BODOG Odds to Win Division: 30/1

We almost all agreed the Pirates are staying in the NL Central basement which should lead many Pirate fans to shout “ugh” not “argh!” If the Pirates “meet” our expectations, they will own the Major League record for most consecutive losing seasons by a franchise.

CHONE Projections (Graph Created by Bill Baer)