Five Teams to Be Excited About in MLB 12: The Show

[Chrisksaint]

Jose Reyes
Hanley
Stanton
LoMo
Gaby Sanchez
Omar Infante
Bonifacio(maybe Cespedes later?)

JJ, Buerhle, Anibal, Zambrano, Nolasco.

Throw in new stadium/uniforms

You may now jump on the Miami bandwagon if you want.

[maddmattrix]

I'll be playing as the A's because I want my head kicked in in the virtual world right after I get through watching the real A's getting their head kicked in. Second Life kinda thing.

[Bobhead]

Quote: Originally Posted by Chrisksaint

You may now jump on the Miami bandwagon if you want.

I would much rather jump on your avatar. My goodness.

Oh yeah baseball. I strongly dislike Miami teams, but I must admit the Marlins are definitely an interesting team this year.

[tessl]

He listed Milwaukee as honorable mention. I'd like to hear his reasoning.

Miami is much improved but by far the toughest division in the NL. I'll be interested to see what attendance looks like with the new park.

[mgoblue678]

Quote: Originally Posted by deputydon

I think the Indians are going to surprise people this year. We have some amazing young guys that are still in it for the love and not just the money, they have nothing to lose and personally I see more passion in the eyes of Indians players than I do almost every other team. People already think Detroit has won the Central Division, but I personally think they won't do as well as last year, even with the almighty Prince Fielder. Verlander will not have another 24 win year, Valverde will not have another perfect season, and I doubt even Miggy Cab will have another MVP quality season. Not too mention Fielder moved to a Stadium with a VERY deep center field. I imagine his homerun numbers are going to drop by a decent margin. Also have to take into consideration that Miggy at 3rd means a slightly worse infield defensively. While the Indians have some great up and coming pitchers like Tomlin and Masterson, (I personally expect Tomlin to have an amazing year). Jimenez played some quality winter ball this year, so I expect him to be at least closer to his 2010 season, rather than his subpar 2011 season. We just signed Kotchman for 1st base, which some say is a risk, but he got lasek surgery before last season and because of that he hit .306 BA not too mention he is considered one of the best defensive 1st basemen ever. We finally got some quality minor depth for when sizemore eventually gets hurt (I give it about two weeks into the real season). We also signed Russ Canzler who was International MVP for minor leagues last season. And we have one of the most consistent, good bullpens in the MLB. In short, keep an eye out for Josh Tomlin, Jason Kipnis, Ubaldo Jimenez, Carlos Santana, Asdrubal Cabrera, Russ Canzler, and Casey Kotchman.

I hate to rain on your parade, but the Indians finished 15 games back of the Tigers last year. The Tigers are going to have to have to be significantly worse than last year and the Indians are going to have to be improve quite a bit. I don't see both of those things happening. The fact of the matter is that after the Tigers acquired Fister to solidify the rotation, they were significantly better than every other team in the division last year. I think losing Victor Martinez will offset the Prince addition somewhat, but the AL Central seems to be the Tigers to lose. Not saying it is a sure thing, but the Tigers would have to play well below their potential to give the other teams a shot. The rest of the AL Central as a whole is just not a good division.

Your point of about Cabrera not having another MVP season is a bit silly, if you look at how consistently Cabrera has been in his career. He has frequently put up MVP type seasons, and I don't see that changing this year with the protection in the lineup behind him. You may be right about the other things you pointed, considering the defense worries me as well. Every team has flaws though, and top to bottom the Tigers have the most proven talent in Central by a decent margin, hence why they are the heavy favorites at this point.

And believe me the Tigers have as much "passion" as the Indians do. They desperately want to bring a WS home to the state and city. I really have no idea what you original statement was even based on, Cleveland is no more or less motivated to win than the rest of the teams in the league.

The Tigers should be fun to play as this year that is for sure, may play as an NL team like the Marlins as well.

[andrewochs615]

Orioles fan here, just passing through, going back to my hole now.

[jgp074]

Darvish won't be in the game out of the box though, right? Have to wait till opening day, when he plays his 1st game, so that kind of sucks..........

[PhilliesFan13]

I don't play as any other team in franchise except my hometown Phillies!

It's gonna be interesting working with a non Ryan Howard lineup until he comes back in May. I'm really excited to have Ty Wigginton in my lineup everyday until Howard returns. I've played some games with Wigginton in MLB '11 and the guy is an absolute beast.