Upon Further Review

First, to reflect on how well, I did on my preseason division predictions. Ok, so maybe "well" wasn't the right word to use there, but I will say that 3 of 8 hitting in baseball is pretty darn good. I had the Phillies in the NL East (granted, so did everyone else) and the Twins in the AL Central (my new #2 when it comes to baseball). I picked the Yanks to win the AL East and I'm still going to count that as a win, because anyone who was paying attention will tell you that the Rays and Yanks seem to battling it out for the Wild Card, not the Division. Admittedly, I did mention something to the extent of not believing the Reds hype whatsoever. Might have missed on that one. I will say that at least my World Series teams are still alive.

Everyone's talking about how this is the year of the pitcher, and there's a great deal of legitimacy to that, there is probably 10-12 guys between the two leagues that could have won the Cy Young in a year other than this one. But I think we could also make a play for this being the year of the rookie. Sure, rookies rarely ever make the impact of an ace pitcher, but there's a good case for this being one of the best rookie classes baseball has ever seen. Some of the most hyped rookies in recent history hit the big leagues this season, and many did not disappoint. It started with Jason Heyward crushing a homerun in his first at-bat in the big leagues, and climaxing at Stephen Strasburg's 14 strikeout performance in possibly the most hyped debut in major league history. Want to see how good this rookie class was? How's this for a team:

C: Buster Posey, SF Giants, .305 BA, 18 HRs, 67 RBIs (108 Games)

1B: Gaby Sanchez, FLA Marlins, .273 BA, 37 2Bs, 19 HRs, 85 RBIs

2B: Neil Walker, PIT Pirates, .296 BA, 29 2Bs, 12 HRs, 66 RBIs (102 Games)

3B: Danny Valencia, MN Twins, .311, 7 HRs, 40 RBIs (85 Games)

SS: Starlin Castro, CHI Cubs, .300 BA (10th in the NL), 31 2Bs, 41 RBIs, 10 SBs (125 Games)

OF: Austin Jackson, DET Tigers, .293 BA, 10 3Bs, 27 SBs, 103 R (T-6th in the AL)

OF: Jason Heyward, ATL Braves, .277 BA, .393 OBP (4th in the NL), 91 BBs, 18 HRs, 72 RBIs

OF: Mike Stanton, FLA Marlins, .259 BA, .507 SLG, 21 2Bs, 22 HRs, 59 RBIs (100 Games)

SP: Jaime Garcia, STL Cardinals, 13-8, 2.70 ERA, 132 Ks (28 Starts)

SP: Madison Bumgarner, SF Giants, 7-6, 3.00 ERA, 86 Ks (18 Starts)

SP: Stephen Strasburg, WSH Nationals, 5-3, 2.91, 92 Ks (12 Starts)

LH RP: Jonny Venters, 83 IPs, 24 Holds, 1.95 ERA, 93 Ks

RH RP: Alexi Ogando, 4-1, 1.30 ERA, 44 games, 41.2 innings, 39 Ks

CP: Neftali Feliz, 41 Saves, 4-3, 2.73 ERA, 71 Ks

Sounds like a team I wouldn't mind having for the future. Seven of those guys are playing in the postseason. Posey and Heyward are already in the heart of playoff team's lineups and all the relievers play integral roles for their teams. This class has superstars in the making in Posey, Heyward, and Strasburg (if he stays healthy); future perennial All-Stars in Castro, Jackson, and Stanton; and already All-Stars in Feliz and the aforementioned Jason Heyward. That's not even taking into account Aroldis Chapman, who lit up the bigs in September, throwing 104 mph on a regular basis. It should be exciting to see where this class goes in the future.

Back to the here and now, World Series predictions. I'll go with Yankees over Twins (definitely rooting for the Twins), Rangers over Rays, Phillies over Reds, and Giants over Braves. In the championship series I'll go with Yankees over Rangers and Phillies over Giants. That leaves Yankees and Phillies in the World Series, hmmmm.... sounds familiar. I'll predict Phillies over the Yankees, hmmm... that too sounds familiar.

GO TWINS!