2008 Prediction Results

It's been a slow offseason up this point as far as the Twins are concerned. There's been little of substance to write about, and that continues to be the case. Hopefully things will start to heat up over the next month or so as Winter Meetings roll around and teams begin to engage in more serious pursuit of free agents and trade targets.

For today, I'm going to go back and review the 2008 season predictions that Mr. Mosvick and I made back in March. It's possible that no one cares about this other than me (and I'm not even sure I do), but at the very least it's something to post, and perhaps we can all have a collective chuckle over how utterly awful some of these predictions now look. Moreover, I'm personally a believer that people should be held accountable for some of the outrageous predictions they make, so I feel I have something of a moral obligation to post these. Or something.

For the heck of it, we'll tally points to see whose predictions were more accurate. I don't think we ever tallied our 2007 predictions (though I'll note that, by a quick count, I think I'd have lost by a pathetic 2-1 score), but in 2006 Mossy got the best of me by a score of 5-3. Time for some sweet revenge.

AL EAST CHAMP
Nelson: Boston

Mosvick: Boston

Comments: Zero points awarded. Come on -- Rays? Who'd have thunk it. I figured I was going on a limb by picking them to finish third.

AL CENTRAL CHAMP

Nelson: Cleveland

Mosvick: Detroit

Comments: These were the two popular picks. Both were wrong. No points.

AL WEST CHAMP

Nelson: Los Angeles

Mosvick: Seattle

Comments: I wasn't falling into the "improved Mariners" trap. Mosvick did. 1-0 lead.

AL WILD CARD

Nelson: Detroit

Mosvick: Cleveland

Comments: We both thought the AL Central would produce two playoff teams. Ultimately, it didn't really deserve to produce one.

NL EAST CHAMP

Nelson: New York

Mosvick: New York

Comments: Damn Mets.

NL CENTRAL CHAMP

Nelson: Milwaukee

Mosvick: Milwaukee

Comments: They made the playoffs, at least. Still 1-0.

NL WEST CHAMP

Nelson: Arizona
Mosvick: Arizona
Comments: Obviously we were very independent with our NL picks. And very wise.

NL WILD CARD

Nelson: Colorado
Mosvick: Colorado
Comments: Yeah... no.

WORLD SERIES
Nelson: Boston over NY Mets

Mosvick: Detroit over Arizona

Comments: OK, I was wrong, but not nearly as wrong as Mossy...

AL MVP

Nelson: Grady Sizemore
Mosvick: Alex Rodriguez
Comments: Not bad picks, really. Both guys should have gotten more consideration than they did. Still, no points here. Man are we doing bad.

NL MVP

Nelson: David Wright
Mosvick: Chase Utley
Comments: They both had very good years. Alas, still 1-0.

AL Cy Young

Nelson: Felix Hernandez
Mosvick: Justin Verlander
Comments: Neither received a single vote. Ouch.

NL Cy Young

Nelson: Johan Santana
Mosvick: Johan Santana
Comments: You can make a case that Santana deserved it, but Tim Lincecum was a fine choice.

AL Rookie of the Year

Nelson: Evan Longoria
Mosvick: Clay Buchholz
Comments: Here I pick up another point. 2-0... this is turning into a landslide.

NL Rookie of the Year

Nelson: Franklin Morales
Mosvick: Jay Bruce
Comments: Goodness... what was I thinking? Bruce was a decent pick.

And so, I claim a decisive victory, managing a whopping two correct predictions. As for Mossy, he ended up with zero points. Not one correct prediction. How very embarrassing. I doubt he'll be showing his face around here anytime soon after a performance like that.

For next year, we'll probably try to do a more broad prediction contest where readers can submit their predictions and the winner will receive some sort of cool prize at the end of the season. As it's currently constructed, this format doesn't really give us much other than the knowledge that Mosvick and I are both very, very bad at this.