Ridiculously Early 2015 Bold Predictions: Boston Red Sox
Next up in our 2015 preview series, the 2013 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox, who spent 2014 going from first to worst.

One of the problems for Boston this year was injury. Dustin Pedroia, Shance Victorino, Will Middlebrooks, and Clay Buchholz all could not stay healthy. Besides this, many players just did not match their 2013 performances. Koji Uehara struggled as a closer, Jonny Gomes struggled at the plate, and Pedroia, when healthy, had the worst season of his career. Here's what we think will happen in 2015:

• David Ortiz plays 110 games but fails to hit 25 homers. The past two times Ortiz has failed to reach the 25 homer mark was because of injury. In fact, the last time Ortiz hit less than 25 homers and played more than 110 games, he was 26 and a member of the Minnesota Twins. Ortiz will be 39 heading into the 2015 season. He put up great numbers in 2014, but not as great as we're used to seeing from him. This also means that he will have to wait until 2016 to hit the big number 500.
• Rusney Castillo is the American League Rookie of the Year. Castillo went 12 for 40 in his brief, end of the season stint with the Red Sox, an average of .333. Because he was called up in late September and only had 40 at bats, he is eligible to win ROY. Castillo will bring some excitement to a lineup that will likely miss its second straight postseason.
• The Boston Red Sox finish 2015 with the exact same record they had in 2014. The chances of that happening have to be very slim. I expect more production from guys like Castillo and Pedroia, but it won't be enough to have a huge impact. It makes more sense to believe they will have a better season next year, but for the sake of bold predictions, I'll say it's another 71-91 year for the Sox.*

*Unless Boston is able to court Jon Lester and/or Pablo Sandoval.

Ridiculously Early 2015 Bold Predictions: Houston Astros
Coming in with the same 70-92 record that Twins had is the Houston Astros, who finished the year 4th in the AL West.

Houston had a lot of good in a year 22 games below .500. Jose Altuve is a hitting machine, Chris Carter, George Springer, and Jon Singleton all showed glimpses of brilliance, and Collin McHugh and Dallas Keuchel pitched well in the starting rotation. However, their bullpen was a mess, as was the front office, who had many issues surrounding draft picks (see Mark Appel and Brady Aiken). Here's what we think will happen next season:

• George Springer will hit 40+ home runs. Springer only played 78 games this past season, but hit 20 homers in those games, including an impressive streak of 6 homers in 6 days. With Altuve hitting in front of him, Springer can easily reach the 100 RBI mark as well.
• While I'm at it, Chris Carter will also hit 40+ home runs. He hit 37 last year, which doesn't make this thaaat bold. But still, the Astros having 2 players hitting 40+ home runs?! That's crazy. But we think it will happen. FYI: The last time a team had 2 players hit 40+ homers? The 2006 Chicago White Sox. Jermaine Dye hit 44 and Jim Thome hit 42. 
• The Houston Astros enter September play within 10 games of first place in the AL West. How much of an improvement is this? Well, the Houston Astros entered September play this previous season 25 games out of first place. How does this happen? 1. The hitters who impressed this year continue to impress last year. That means everyone I mentioned in the introduction paragraph above. 2. They step it up in the field. Houston ranked 24th of all MLB teams in errors committed. 3. The bullpen doesn't suck. Obviously, a bullpen can't just stop being unproductive. But the Astros blew 24 saves. If they somehow found a way to squeak out just half of those 24 games, they would have finished the year at an impressive 82-80.

Ridiculously Early 2015 Bold Predictions: Minnesota Twins
Next up in our series of articles previewing the 2015 season, the Minnesota Twins, who finished the year at the basement of the AL Central.

The Minnesota Twins hosted the All Star Game this year, so at least they have that. Kurt Suzuki was impressive, hitting .288 and signing a contract through the 2016 season. Ron Gardenhire was fired shortly after their season ended, so the front office will have to find a new manager this offseason. Here's what we think will happen next year:

• Brian Dozier is an All Star. This may be tough seeing as the American League 2nd basemen are stacked at the top with Altuve, Kinsler, and Cano, but Dozier ranks right up with them with his 5.2 WAR. His 23 homers were also tops of all MLB 2nd basemen (tie with Neil Walker). We think he has a breakout season for the Twins.

(via ESPN MLB stats)

• Phil Hughes walks at least 40 batters. This doesn't seem so crazy, seeing as Hughes walked over 40 in both 2012 and 2013. But this past season, Hughes only walked 16, and set an MLB record for a season for K/BB ratio with an 11.63. His K/BB ratio had never been over 4 in his first seven MLB seasons.
• The Twins don't play a game next season with a record over .500. They open on the road vs Detroit. OK, this isn't so bold, but I've been using the last of the predictions as a team prediction in previous articles, and Minnesota doesn't look to be very good team next year. Especially vs the AL Central which features 3 potential playoff teams in the Tigers, Royals, and Indians. It will be a couple years until the Twins are able to compete for a playoff spot.

Ridiculously Early 2015 Bold Predictions: Texas Rangers
30. Arizona.
29. Colorado
And today, 28. We continue moving up the standings in our early 2015 preview article series with the Texas Rangers.

After barely missing the playoffs in 2013, the Rangers plummeted to the basement of the American League. Part of the reason why is the number of injuries the team had to deal with. Ron Washington is also gone after resigning, and the front office will have to find a new manager. Here's what we think will happen in 2015:

• Prince Fielder will hit 40 home runs. He only hit 3 homers in 42 games last year, but if he starts the year healthy, there's no reason to think he can't reach 40 for the first time since he hit 46 as a Milwaukee Brewer in 2009. 
• Elvis Andrus will have a career year. And by that we mean a batting average above .300 for the first time in his career. Andrus is signed through 2022 and has already showed signs of regressing, but if we think our next prediction is going to come true, Andrus is going to have to have a big year at the plate. Which leads us to our final prediction that....
• The Texas Rangers will make the playoffs. The Red Sox went from last in the AL East to World Series Champions from 2012-2013. If Yu Darvish can pitch at full health for the whole season, and everyone else can remain healthy for the majority of the year, the Rangers could do the same. If not, it might be time to start rebuilding. Darvish and Adrian Beltre could yield numerous prospects if traded.

Ridiculously Early 2015 Bold Predictions: Colorado Rockies
The Arizona Diamondbacks, being at the bottom of the MLB standings, kicked off our series of posts predicting what lies ahead for each team in 2015. Today, we stay in the NL West to take a look at the second worst team in baseball, the Colorado Rockies.

Colorado had a lot to be excited about in April 2014, starting the year 22-14 with star Troy Tulowitzki shining. Tulo was hitting .340 with 21 homers when he went down with an injury. Carlos Gonzalez also failed to stay healthy. Here's what we think happens next year with the Rockies:

• Troy Tulowitzki plays 150 games. Tulowitzki hasn't played 150 games since 2009. While we're talking about him, let's discuss his future in Colorado. With the Orioles resigning J.J. Hardy, the shortstop free agent market grew even thinner. Teams would be willing to trade a ton of prospects for Tulowitzki, because even though he is injury-prone, he is one of the top 10 MLB players when healthy. The Rockies should seriously consider trading him if they want to start rebuilding, because they aren't going to be winning with him anytime soon.
• The Rockies pitching staff won't have a 10 game winner. Colorado actually did not have a 10 game winner in 2012 either, so we can't say this is too bold. Coors Field is too hitter-friendly, and it will again lead MLB ballparks in runs scored. In 2014, no other field was even close:

(via http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor)

• The Rockies will finish dead last in the National League. Wait, this isn't bold at all. But it's clearly time for the franchise to actually start rebuilding.

Ridiculously Early 2015 Bold Predictions: Arizona Diamondbacks
There are still 153 days until Opening Day, but that's not gonna stop us from starting to look at what the 2015 season has in store. We're going to take a look at each team over the next few weeks and give some (not always but most of the time) bold predictions. Hopefully we can do better with this than with our postseason predictions (we took the Royals in 4), but I guess we won't know until next October.
Starting from the bottom, so first up is the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Arizona finished the year 64-98, the worst record in all of baseball. Paul Goldschmidt was a bright spot for the D-Backs however, hitting .300 with 19 homers before a season-ending hand injury. Next year, we don't expect the Diamondbacks to grab the NL West title nor a Wild Card spot, but here are a few things we think will happen:

• Aaron Hill will be hitting .300 into the All Star break. Hill was especially terrible this past season; his .244 batting average was his lowest ever as a Diamondback. I personally have a bittersweet relationship with Hill. When he hit for the cycle twice in 2012, he was on my fantasy baseball team, and in the league I was in, teams got huge bonus points for players hitting for the cycle. Hill was on my team again this past season, and I couldn't get myself to drop him because I knew he would hit for the cycle as soon as I did. He didn't.
• Josh Collmenter will win twice as many games as he did in 2014. That means he will win 22 games. Collmenter was outstanding the last month-and-a-half of this past season, and in 2015 he will be on the starting rotation right away. The last 22-game winner for Arizona was Brandon Webb in 2008. Before that? The Johnson-Schilling duo in 2002. Which reminds us: Read our Randy Johnson Fun Facts article!
• The Diamondbacks will finish third in the NL West. Arizona does not have what it takes to hang with the Dodgers and Giants, but third place will be a huge improvement from their 2014 campaign. 

Division Series Recap

Yesterday, we correctly predicted the Giants to beat the Nationals, our first correct prediction since Game 1 of the Cardinals-Dodgers NLDS. This gives us a final record of 4-10 for the division series. Which is terrible, but not as terrible as some ESPN analysts. Couple things we learned from the first round and what we are looking forward to in the second round:

• We are excited to watch Bryce Harper fully-healthy next year.
• The rise of Brandon Finnegan has been incredible. 
• The starts failed to shine. Especially in Los Angeles. We're looking at you, Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw.
• There were no Game 5s, but the majority of the DS games were intense to the end. Hopefully the CS games continue the trend.
• The same teams continue to get it done in the NL. The Giants and Cardinals in the NLCS is like Groundhog Day.
• Finally some new teams representing the AL. No one likes a Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers snoozefest.
• Royals speed vs Orioles power is going to be awesome.

Predictions for both Championship Series' coming tomorrow.