Not that we're bragging or anything but ...
Would you have put down money back in March on a Tigers-Cardinals matchup in the World Series?
Neither would we. But that's only because we don't bet.
Nevertheless, we do predict. And when our bosses asked six of us Daily News staffers to forcast all the division winners, wildcard spots, league champs and eventual World Series title holder for our March 30 baseball preview issue, it must be noted that over here, we were the only one to at least have the Tigers in the playoffs, as well as having the Cardinals go all the way to the World Series.
We just dug that special section out today to see how we did on our picks.
Here's how we had the NL finishing:
NL East: Mets
NL Central: Cardinals
NL West: Padres
NL wildcard: Dodgers
Looks like four-for-four there, eh?
For the American League:
AL East: Blue Jays
AL Central: Tigers
AL West: Athletics
AL wildcard: Yankees
Not so good with that Toronto pick, but at least we had Detroit, which ended up as the wildcard as the Twins somehow won the Central.
But overall, to have seven of the eight teams in the playoffs .... no one else came close, my Kreskin-like friends.
As for the playoffs, we had the Yankees as the AL champs, facing the Cardinals in the World Series -- with St. Louis winning it all. Four of the six predictors have the Cardinals taking it all for that matter -- with the other two going with a Chicago White Sox repeat. We'll refrain from identifying those who had a bad case of Chisox fever. They know who they are.
None of the other five Daily News prognosticators had a four-for-four prediction going for them, either, in either league.
If you want even more perspective on how stupid predictions can be, note that 19 so-called experts at ESPN were asked at the beginning of the playoffs to forsee how the next three weeks would go.
They could have been better with darts and a blindfold.
None -- repeat, none -- of them had the Tigers and Cardinals in the World Series. None -- repeat, none -- had either the Cardinals or Tigers in the World Series. Most had the Cards and Tigers eliminated in the first round.
These are experts? For a better rant on this check out the site with our favorite name, FireJoeMorgan.com.
So how did your picks go?