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Before the 2014 season starts for real on Monday, the writers at Beyond the Box Score were asked to give their picks for the upcoming season. In all, 17 writers and editors responded.
We'll first go through the division races. The writers ranked each team one through five. Teams received seven points for a first-place prediction, five points for second, three for third, two for fourth, and one for fifth. Here are the results for the division races, with first-place votes in parentheses.
American League
| EAST | PTS | CENTRAL | PTS | WEST | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Sox (11) | 105 | Tigers (15) | 115 | A's (8) | 99 |
| Rays (5) | 95 | Royals (1) | 73 | Rangers (7) | 88 |
| Yankees (1) | 45 | Indians (1) | 67 | Angels (2) | 65 |
| Orioles | 35 | White Sox | 31 | Mariners | 38 |
| Blue Jays | 26 | Twins | 20 | Astros | 17 |
National League
| EAST | PTS | CENTRAL | PTS | WEST | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationals (13) | 111 | Cardinals (17) | 119 | Dodgers (17) | 119 |
| Braves (4) | 93 | Pirates | 68 | Giants | 68 |
| Mets | 42 | Reds | 66 | Diamondbacks | 53 |
| Phillies | 42 | Brewers | 32 | Padres | 39 |
| Marlins | 18 | Cubs | 21 | Rockies | 27 |
The writers were also asked to pick the two wild card winners. Teams received two points for a first place wild-card vote, and one point for a second place wild-card vote.
Wild Cards
| AL | PTS | NL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rays | 21 | Pirates | 16 |
| Red Sox | 9 | Braves | 13 |
| A's | 7 | Reds | 10 |
| Indians | 3 | Nationals | 5 |
| Tigers | 3 | Diamondbacks | 3 |
| Rangers | 3 | Giants | 3 |
| Angels | 3 | Padres | 1 |
Also receiving votes: Royals 1, Yankees 1.
Lastly, the writers picked the AL and NL pennant winners, and the number of games each team would win in the World Series. Teams received four points for a series win, two points for a series loss, and one point for each game they were projected to win. The results are below. The number in parentheses represents the number of writers who picked that team to win the World Series.
World Series
| TEAM | PTS | ODDS |
|---|---|---|
| Dodgers (5) | 58 | 11/2 |
| Tigers (3) | 42 | 8/1 |
| Rays (5) | 40 | 15/1 |
| Nationals (3) | 28 | 12/1 |
| Cardinals (1) | 18 | 9/1 |
| Red Sox | 17 | 15/1 |
| Braves | 4 | 18/1 |
| Yankees | 4 | 12/1 |
. . .
Bryan Cole is a featured writer at Beyond the Box Score. He likes to hide a Joe Maddon gnome around the house to freak out his wife. You can follow him on Twitter at @Doctor_Bryan.