In the interest of accountability, I thought we’d start looking back at my preseason predictions. I’ll run one division a day and make a few comments where appropriate.
First off, the American League West:

Angels – They’ve won the division, as expected. The team from Anaheim still has a chance to finish with the best record in all of baseball; that’s good because I also picked the Angels to win the World Series.
Rangers – What was I thinking? Probably that their offense couldn’t be too bad in that park. Sammy Sosa is a feel-good story. Well, sort of… I guess. The rotation …read more

Did Mark Buehrle get the calls? That’s the question Anthony asks at Friar Watch. Using MLB’s Enhanced Gameday data, he examines Buehrle’s no-hitter from last week and determines that for the most part, the plate umpire did a good job calling balls and strikes for Buehrle and his opposite number, the Rangers’ Kevin Millwood.
The charts are fascinating, but what I really appreciate are the insights that go with them:
Without having seen the game I’ll hazard a few guesses based on the data: Buehrle’s pitches are all over the place, when I see that it usually means the pitcher has good …read more