While pitchers and catchers have already reported, Spring Training games are set to begin, with several teams getting their first look at action on Tuesday, March 3.

With the MLB season kicking off, it presents the perfect time to start thinking about fantasy baseball.

Here are my top 5 players for the upcoming fantasy baseball season.

1. Mike Trout(Angels)-OF

Last season there was a debate for the #1 pick between Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera.  In 2015, there is no more debate.  The clear number one pick this season, Trout took home his first AL MVP trophy after finishing second to Cabrera in the two seasons prior.  At just 23 years of age, Trout is a five-category monster and can be relied on to stuff the box score every day.  While Trout’s home run total jumped to a career high 36 in 2014, his average (.287) and stolen bases (16) were both career lows.  Trout also finished with a career high in strikeouts.  Despite concerns about those stats last season, Trout will not disappoint as the number one pick.  Trout should be able to raise his batting average to .300 or higher, and there have been reports from the Angels that Trout will try and steal more bases this season.  With the combination of power, speed, and batting average that Trout provides, those with the first pick should take him with confidence.

2. Giancarlo Stanton(Marlins)-OF

The 2014 season ended early for Giancarlo Stanton, who was hit in the face by a pitch and missed the final two weeks due to facial fractures.  It was not all bad for Stanton following the injury, as he received the largest contract in baseball history from the Marlins- 13 years and $325 million.  Even before his injury, Stanton had already set career bests in home runs, RBI, runs, and stolen bases.  Although his average will probably dip from the .288 it was last season, Stanton has a very legitimate shot at 40 home runs.  On top of his personal success, Miami has made some major moves to give the team a winning chance. The greater team success could lead to higher totals like runs and RBI for Stanton.

3. Andrew McCutchen(Pirates)-OF

It does not get much more reliable than Andrew McCutchen in fantasy baseball.  Before last season, when he landed on the disabled list with a rib fracture, McCutchen had not been on the disabled list in his entire six year major league career.  McCutchen has finished as an NL MVP finalist in the last three seasons, winning the award in 2013.  With the ability to hit 30 home runs and steal 20 bases while batting over .310, McCutchen is without a doubt a top three fantasy player.  His power numbers have tapered off since he hit 31 home runs in 2012, as he has failed to reach the 30 mark since.  However, in the prime of his career, McCutchen does have a chance to once again rach 30 home runs while scoring close to 100 runs, 90 RBI, 20 stolen bases, and an above .310 batting average.  Not only is McCutchen a safe pick, he is a five-tool player worthy of his draft spot.

4. Clayton Kershaw(Dodgers)-SP

Fantasy baseball in today’s world has seen pitchers become a deeper pool of talent, while offensive players lack the stability and star power in the deeper rounds.  However, Clayton Kershaw stands out above the rest as the number one pitcher, and a top five pick in all drafts.  After missing time at the beginning of the season with an injury, Kershaw finished with a record of 21-3, with 239 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.77.  His incredible stat line earned him both NL MVP and NL Cy Young.  Many thought is was crazy to expect Kershaw to have a better season than he did in 2013, but he did just that- and in close to 40 fewer innings.  It may be unrealistic to think Kershaw will even further improve on his 2014 campaign, but Kershaw will end up towards the top in each pitching stat by season’s end.  Although offense is hard to find in fantasy baseball, taking the best pitcher in baseball will do nothing but help a team.

5. Paul Goldschmidt(Diamondbacks)-1B

A broken hand after getting hit by a pitch ended Paul Goldschmidt’s season two months early.  This coming after a 2013 campaign in which Goldschmidt hit 36 home runs for 125 RBI.  Now back to full health and entering his prime seasons at the age of 27, Goldschmidt looks to be on track to put up the numbers close to what he did in 2013.  Although he had just 19 home runs before the injury in 2014, Goldschmidt still batted .300.  If a full, healthy season can come from Goldschmidt, a 100 run, 30 home run, 100 RBI, and around .300 average is a good expectation.  Also part of Goldschmidt’s game is his double digit steal totals as a first baseman.  A concern around Goldschmidt could be his team, as the Diamondbacks have been unable to field a solid lineup around him.  Over the past couple of seasons, weak lineups have not seem to have had a big impact on Goldschmidt’s personal statistics.  With the ability to bat for a high average with power, as well as some speed from the first base position, Goldschmidt will once again find himself in the top five offensive players in 2015.

The post Top 5 Fantasy Baseball Players for 2015 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

ALDS Series 1: Rangers vs. Rays
Series Begins Friday, September 30
4:07 pm on TBS

It’s deja vu all over again between these two teams. The Rays and Rangers matched up last season in the ALDS where the Rangers, on the arm of Cliff Lee dominated the Rays, taking the series 3-2 and ultimately getting to the World Series, only to come up short against Lincecum and the pitching of the Giants.  Joe Maddon has elected to start Matt Moore in game 1 of this series.  This will be Moore’s second start as a Major Leaguer.  Yes, I said SECOND career start.  In his first start he sparkled against the Yankees, winning the game.  The rookie will face off against C.J. Wilson who has the number of the big hitters for the Rays.  Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton are a combined 3-27 against him with 13 strikeouts.  This first match-up could prove to be a big momentum booster for the Rangers.  After Moore/Wilson, we will see James Shield for the Rays and Derek Holland for the Rangers.  Holland went 1-0 against the Rays this season, but the Rays did hit him well, bringing his ERA up to a 5.84 this season against the Rays.  After Saturdays’ games neither team has established a for sure starter.  One would assume that the Rays will throw David Price off short rest, or Jeremy Hellickson off even shorter rest.  Either of these guys is a good option for them to face off against what should be Colby Lewis and Matt Harrison who respectively have had solid seasons.  The Rangers have Alexi Ogando on reserve here as well to come in if needed, but Ron Washington could limit Ogando’s work in the postseason, because Ogando is not used to throwing this many innings, as he only threw 72 1/3 innings last season compared to his 169 2/3.  The series will come down to which teams hitting can perform better.  The scale tends to tip towards the Rangers in the hitting categories, because of the way they are able to drive in runs and consistently hit for average, as well as power, but the Rays can also be extremely potent and should be able to manufacture runs against Texas.  This series could fly under the radar as one of the better match-ups in the playoffs this season, but that isn’t anything new to these two teams.  They are used to nobody talking about them, but look who’s talking now.

–By Tyler Tjelmeland

ALDS Series 2: Yankees vs. Tigers
Series Begins Friday, September 30
7:37 pm on TBS

This match-up is one of the more intriguing match-ups in recent memory in playoff baseball.  The Detroit Tigers have a great 1-2 pitching punch with Verlander and Valverde.  The Yankees grabbed home field advantage so this game will feature “new” Yankees Stadium and should be a fun one for those left handed bats.  It was extremely important for the Yanks to lock up the advantage for Granderson, Tex, and Nick Swisher to showcase that left-handed power on the Yankees side.  The Tigers will throw ace Justin Verlander and the Yankees will throw C.C. Sabathia in game one, in what should prove to be an awesome match-up.  The rotation is set-up very nicely for the Tigers, throwing Verlander against C.C. could be the best method, because beating Sabathia is the game you absolutely need.  They need to dictate the tempo of the series, and getting an early win in game 1, in New York would give the Tigers the best chance to succeed in these playoffs.  The Yankees not surprisingly dropped two starters in A.J Burnett and Bartolo Colon (completely off the postseason roster) and will throw a 3 man rotation with Sabathia, Ivan Nova, and Freddy Garcia, with 8 pitchers in the bullpen, including Burnett and Phil Hughes.  The Tigers will throw Verlander in game 1 and then red-hot Doug Fister is the projected starter in game 2.  Fister went 7-0 in his last 8 starts with an unprecedented 0.65 ERA.  After Fister, the slider chucking Max Scherzer will be slated against Garcia in game 3.  The pitching match-ups favor the Tigers and that could prove to be a tough obstacle for the Yankees to overcome, but hey, it’s the Bronx Bombers, with home-field advantage. Should be an awesome series!

-By Tyler Tjelmeland

NLDS Series 1: Brewers vs. Diamondbacks
Series Begins Saturday, October 1^st
1:07 pm on TBS

Both the Brewers and Diamondbacks went to the wire in a fight for home field advantage in the first round. The Brewers won
that battle and will now host Arizona at Miller Park for games one and two. The Brewers had to use Zach Greinke to secure home field, so Yovani Gallardo will start game one on Saturday. The D-Backs have announced that their Cy Young Award candidate, Ian Kennedy, will be on the mound in the opener. The Brewers will send Zach Greinke to the mound on short rest in game two and Shaun Marcum has game three. The Diamondbacks have yet to announce the rest of their rotation. Arizona is a young team with little postseason experience while the Brewers are determined to win before they likely lose slugger Price Fielder to free agency. The Diamondbacks won the season series with the Brewers four games to three, getting two of those wins at Miller Park. However, October baseball in Milwaukee is a whole different atmosphere when the Brewers close the roof and pack the place with over 41,000 fans. This should play out to be an exciting series and has a good chance of going all five games.   –By Jordan Kabialis

Predictions:

Jordan Kabialis: Phillies in 4 games

Tyler Tjelmeland: Phillies in 4 games

Adam Gassensmith: Phillies in 4 games

Stephen McDonald: Phillies in 3 games

Predictions:

Jordan Kabialis: Phillies vs. Brewers, Phillies in 6

Tyler Tjelmeland: Phillies vs. Brewers, Phillies in 6

Adam Gassensmith: Phillies vs. Brewers, Brewers in 7

Stephen McDonald: Phillies vs. Brewers, Phillies in 6

– National League Playoff Picture

– American League Playoff Picture

ALDS, NLDS, ALCS, NLCS, WorldSeries photos courtesy of MLB.com

The post MLB Playoff Predictions appeared first on KRUI Radio.

  NL East Champions:
Philadelphia Phillies (102-60)

With the acquisition of Cliff Lee in the offseason, creating a super-rotation with Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and even Roy Oswalt, the Phillies were clear favorites to win the National League East.

The only lingering question surrounding the Phillies was whether or not they could last without a right-handed bat. The glaring hole in the Phillies offense in the 2010 Postseason was the absence of a big right-handed bat in the middle of their lineup. Rumors began to surface about the possibility of adding Astros right fielder Hunter Pence. It seemed impossible that the Phils could actually pull off such a trade but they shocked the baseball world with only a few days remaining until the trade deadline. The acquisition of the all-star outfielder essentially filled any possible weakness on their roster.

The Phillies powered their way to clinching the first spot in the 2011 Postseason on September 14^th with a 1-0 victory over the Astros. It would be another three days before they clinched the NL East with a 9-2 rout of the Cardinals on September 18^th. This marked the earliest the Phillies have ever clinched in their history (Game number 150).

 The Phillies are poised for a deep postseason run with a potent offense and a lights-out starting
rotation. Halladay, Lee, and Hamels have combined for a 50-23 record with a 2.53 ERA. In
addition, the Phillies aces have combined for a strikeout to walk ratio of 5.39. Since the
postseason really only calls for three starters, the Phillies are sitting pretty with Worley, Oswalt,
and Kendrick coming out of the bullpen. Those six pitchers have combined for an unbelievably
low 2.80 ERA.

  NL Central Champions:
Milwaukee Brewers (96-66)

The Brewers made some noise of their own in the offseason, landing former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke from the Kansas City Royals. Greinke looked to be the missing piece to the puzzle in the Brewers’ starting rotation. However, Greinke injured a rib in spring training while playing a game of basketball and missed the start of the season. Upon his return, he did not look like the pitcher he once was due to the missed time in spring training. He soon reached midseason form and went on a tear, helping to catapult the Brewers right back into the thick of the division race.

The Brewers also have one of the better back-end bullpens in baseball with the emergence of closer John Axford and mid-season addition Francisco Rodriguez. Axford has posted a spectacular 1.95 ERA and has converted on 46 of 48 save opportunities. Rodriguez, who was acquired from the Mets at the trade deadline, has filled in quite nicely as a set-up man for Axford, posting a 1.86 ERA since joining the Brewers.

A string of six and seven game winning streaks from late July to mid August ballooned the Brewers’ lead in the Central to a mammoth ten games over the St. Louis Cardinals. Just as the Brewers had seemingly run away with the division, a five game losing streak let the Cardinals back into the race. The Brewers quickly got back to their winning ways and officially locked up their division with a 4-1 win over the Florida Marlins on September 23^rd, fueled by home runs from Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder.

  NL West Champions:
Arizona Diamondbacks (94-68)

When the 2010 season came to a close, the Diamondbacks sat in last place in the NL West with a weak 65-97 record, 27.0 games behind the eventual World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. When the 2011 season began, it looked to be another dismal year for the D-Backs with the only highlight of the season playing host to the MLB All-Star Game in July. However, an early season charge had them in first place at the end of May, giving fans something to think about.

A lot of Arizona’s success this season can be credited to ace Ian Kennedy who pitched his way into the Cy Young Award conversation overshadowed only by Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who has locked up the first NL pitching Triple Crown since Jake Peavy for the 2007 Padres. Kennedy has shut down opponents posting a 21-4 record with a 2.88 ERA with opponents hitting just .227 against him.

In addition to Kennedy’s brilliant performance, youngster Daniel Hudson had a very nice year in his first full season with the D-Backs and as a starter in general. Hudson, who had not pitched more than 115 innings in his entire career (pitched 114 innings over two partial seasons), has logged 222.0 innings this season, recording a 16-12 record and a respectable 3.49 ERA.

After giving back their early season division lead to the defending champs, the D-Backs took advantage of San Francisco’s offensive woes and reclaimed the division lead in early August. Once they were back in first place, they slowly began to pad the cushion between themselves and the Giants all the way up to eight games. A late surge by San Francisco to get back in the race would go through Arizona but the Diamondbacks were able to shut the door with a 3-1 victory over the Giants on September 23^rd, giving them their first division title since 2007.

  NL Wild Card:
St. Louis Cardinals (90-72)

The St. Louis Cardinals took an early blow in spring training when they learned that one of their aces, Adam Wainwright, was lost for the season due to ligament damage in his right elbow.  Once heavy favorites to win the NL Central now looked to be a question mark on the season. However, there is a reason they play 162 games in a season: because in the words of Yankees great Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.”

St. Louis was able to find offense from right fielder Lance Berkman, who revitalized his career this season. To nearly everyone’s surprise, the Cards got an unexpected boost just three weeks after losing their best player: Albert Pujols returned from the disabled list. Just three weeks after fracturing his forearm, The Machine was back in the line-up, putting fear into the opposing pitchers.

Unfortunately for St. Louis, the Brewers went on a tear from late July to August to leave the Cardinals in the dust, building a 10 game lead in the division. Things did not look favorable for the Cardinals’ postseason hopes entering September as the Atlanta Braves held an 8.5 game lead in the wild card entering the final month of play. But then, something of historic proportions happened.

The largest lead to ever be blown in the last month of the season was 8.5 games, meaning that the Braves would have to implode and the Cardinals would have to play lights out baseball the rest of the season. As improbable as it seemed, that is exactly what happened. The Braves went 9-18 in the month of September and lost 8 of their last 11 games to blow their 8.5 game lead, entering the final day of the regular season in a tie with the Cardinals.

St. Louis needed to win to, at the very least, force a one game playoff with the Braves on Thursday at Busch Stadium. The Cards jumped on the Astros early and often in their final game, winning 8-0. The Cardinals would have to wait to learn how their regular season would end as the Braves, who were playing the Phillies, went into extra innings. The Phillies finally broke through in the top of the 13^th inning, eliminating the Braves and sending the Cardinals back to the Postseason.

For more coverage on the MLB Postseason, Tyler Tjelmeland has the American League Playoff Picture. In addition, the experts of KRUI’s “Sports Squawk” make their predictions for the entire Postseason.

– American League Playoff Picture

– 2011 Playoff Predictions 

The post National League Playoff Picture appeared first on KRUI Radio.