The Crystal Ball tells all for 2013

The computers have all had their time in the sun over the past few weeks cranking out their projections. And while, the data that gets spit out is generally accurate, there are always surprises. The Orioles certainly made all projections last season look a bit silly. But that is bound to happen in a few cases as games and seasons will always be worked out on the field and not in nano-bytes. Around here, computer sims are great, but since everyone already does that, I use the old fashioned method. I use a crystal ball.

Unfortunately, the crystal ball sends images that seem as convoluted as a Nostradamus passage. It is up to the interpreter to read the images correctly. The power that made the sphere thought of that ahead of time because say the wife got a hold of it and was given a crystal clear image of what I looked like ten years from now. She would probably run like the wind. So the images must be ferreted out to make sense. Any errors in the accuracy then are the fault of the interpretation and not the tool itself. So if you are inclined to look at the four previous years of crystal ball posts, then keep that in mind.

Okay, enough disclaimers. Let's get to the results. Here now are the fifth annual Flagrant Fan crystal ball predictions:

• The Red Sox, thanks to the wondrous pitching coach that sped up his pitchers' tempo, will win more games than they lose. 
• David Ortiz will unfortunately play less than 90 games.
• Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz bounce back to very good pitchers. See above.
• Justin Verlander will finish 18-8, but will lose the Cy Young Award to Josh Johnson who has a monster year for the Blue Jays.
• Speaking of the Blue Jays, Jose Reyes has an MVP-type season and with Johnson, Buehrle, Dickey and Morrow, will dominate the AL East.
• The Orioles will not do as well as last season as the one-run game results fall back to normal and the pitching doesn't hold up as well.
• Derek Jeter's ankle bothers him all season and causes him to retire after the season.
• Mariano Rivera will save 44 games and finish with an even 650. He then rides into the sunset like Gary Cooper.
• Despite stacking the deck, the Angels will still not win the AL West. The Rangers prevail again. The Angels will win the wild card though with the Astros giving them eleven extra wins this season.
• The other wild card will go to the Indians as Terry Francona wins Manager of the Year.
• And yes, that means the Red Sox and Yankees will not reach the post season.
• The Indians will win the wild card game and then win their ALDS, but come short of the World series.
• Mike Trout and Bryce Harper continue their giddy assault on the Major Leagues and follow up with terrific seasons. Harper will do at least one stupid thing though and get suspended for four games.
• The Diamondbacks will finish just ahead of the Rockies in the standings in the NL West as they have traded away their defense. Despite the lack of help behind him, Ian Kennedy again wins 16 games.
• The Tampa Bay Rays will fall out of the race early and trade David Price at the trade deadline for some team's entire minor league system.
• The Royals will win more games than they lose. James Shields has a good season but doesn't have enough help in the rotation to make them a playoff team.
• The Tigers just beat out the Indians for the AL Central title. But again they won't look pretty until the playoffs.
• Yu Darvish will have a more impressive season than Felix Hernandez.
• The Padres will be a surprise team and will contend until they fade in August.
• Ichiro Suzuki will bat .300 but it will not help get him to the kind of WAR Swisher put up in his four years there.
• David Wright has a big season as will Ike Davis, but the rest of the Mets are nowhere in sight as the team loses 85 games.
• Ron Gardenhire will be the first manager fired this season.
• The Dodgers win the National League West despite another MVP season for Buster Posey.
• The Giants do pick up the wild card.
• The Braves and Nationals battle it out for the entire season for the NL East, but the Nats prevail at the end. The Braves get yet another wild card spot.
• Josh Hamilton will play 130 games and hit 36 homers.
• C.J. Wilson will not be much of a factor for the Angels.
• The Astros will lose 95 games but will hit better than people expect.
• The National League will win the All Star Game again.
• The Yankees will sign Robinson Cano long term.
• B.J. Upton will have a better season than Justin Upton. But Jason Heyward outplays both of them.
• The Phillies will be a .500 team. Rollins and Howard continue to fade but Chase Utley will have an All Star season.
• The Dodgers will trade Andre Ethier at the trade deadline.
• The Red Sox will trade Jacoby Ellsbury.
• Elvis Andrus will win a Gold Glove Award.
• Phil Coke becomes the Tigers' closer and will have a good season there.
• Stephen Strasburg will not win the Cy Young Award. But he'll have a good season.
• Jose Bautista will "only" hit 30 homers but Edwin Encarnacion will prove he was not a fluke and hit more.
• Vernon Wells will hit more homers than Curtis Granderson.
• Adam Dunn will struggle to bat .210 but will still hit 35 homers and walk 90 times.
• Chris Sale will not dominate like last year and the White Sox finish with a losing record.
• The Reds will beat out the Cardinals in the NL Central but not by as much as last season. Even so, the Cards fail to make the playoffs.
• Allen Craig will have a great season though.
• Jesus Montero will have a very good season, but the Mariners still struggle to win 75 games.
• Jered Weaver will win more games than Zack Greinke.
• A.J. Burnett and Russell Martin have good seasons for the Pirates, but they will be a .500 team. An improvement, but still not enough.
• The parachute will finish ahead of Pablo Sandoval when Sandoval makes parachute sprints.
• Paul Konerko will fall to the ravages of time and will not have as good a season.
• Michael Pineda will pitch for the Yankees this season. 
• Ivan Nova will win more games than Phil Hughes, who gets traded at the trade deadline along with Joba Chamberlain.
• The Cubs will finish near .500 and show promise that they are on their way back. Alfonso Soriano will have a good season and get traded to a contender at the deadline.
• This will be Charlie Manuel's last season in Philadelphia and Ryne Sandberg will take over.
• Cole Hamels will win a Cy Young Award but Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee look ordinary.
• Jose Inglesias will have more plate appearances than Stephen Drew and more hits than Enrique Inglesias.
• The Miami Marlins will lose more games than any other NL team and fail to reach a million in attendance.
• Ryan Braun will have another big season and make Bud Selig gnash his teeth.
• Yovani Gallardo will hit better this season and will have another fine season on the mound.
• Oakland's young pitching will crumble this season but Chris Young and Yoenis Cespedes will have very good seasons.
• The Rockies will lose more than 95 games again as the team continues to struggle finding pitchers than can pitch in that ballpark.
• The assistant GM having his office in the clubhouse will become a huge story in Colorado this season.
• But at least Troy Tulowitzki will play 150 games and win the shortstop Silver Slugger Award.
• Todd Helton hits over .300 in his swan song season.
• Jedd Gyorko wins NL Rookie of the Year honors but Puig comes up in the second half to give him a run for his money.
• And finally, the Nationals win the World Series.

There you have it, the crystal ball predictions for 2013. The daily Games Picks posts start on Monday. And President Obama and Congress, the first day of baseball season needs to be a national holiday.