Off-Base Predictions for 2012

A new year is almost upon us! 2011 is hours away from being in the books. Christopher already looked back at some of the best moments from, so today’s post is about looking ahead. Obviously predicting the future is a touch-and-go area, especially in sports. I fully expect most of these predictions to be wrong, but that will just create a fun review when we look back at this time next year. With that out of the way, here are my predictions for the St Louis Cardinals in 2011!

– The Cardinals will have a losing record at the end of May, but will win the National League Central

– The Cardinals will have six sluggers hit 15+ homers, with four hitting at least 20. I think Matt Holliday, Lance Berkman, Carlos Beltran, and Allen Craig will all hit at least 20, while David Freese and a surprisingly good Tyler Greene contribute at least 15 a piece.

– Yadier Molina will put up the highest WAR in his career.

– Yadi will win another gold glove. That one isn’t very hard to predict actually.

– Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Jaime Garcia will each win at least 15 games and amass 150+ strikeouts.

– Shelby Miller will start a game.

– Jason Motte will lead the Cardinals in saves, but Fernando Salas will have 10+ and two other pitchers will see time as the closer: Eduardo Sanchez and Lance Lynn.

– Jake Westbrook will win 10+ games, but Kyle Lohse will lose at least 15 games.

– Lastly, Matt Holliday will be in contention for the triple crown entering September.

What are your predictions for the 2012 season? Are you hopefully optimistic or hopelessly nervous?

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