If you’ve read any of my posts before (and quite frankly, I wouldn’t blame you if you haven’t), then you might recall that nearly a month ago I made predictions as to the eventual representatives in the National League Wild Card race. In the interest of honesty and fairness, the end of the regular season marks an appropriate time to review my predictions to determine how well I did.
Here’s something kind of fun: I’ve been so busy with work and other assorted rarities that I haven’t even followed up on the results of my predictions. So what you are about to read is my honest reaction to the final results. I sincerely have no idea how this is going to go, which makes it that much more fun, right? Here goes.
San Francisco Giants – 77-60 (94-68)
| 9/7-9/9 | Dodgers | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| 9/10-9/12 | @ Rockies | 3-0 | 2-1 |
| 9/14-9/16 | @ Diamondbacks | 1-2 | 2-1 |
| 9/17-9/20 | Rockies | 3-1 | 4-0 |
| 9/21-9/23 | Padres | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| 9/25-9/27 | D-Backs | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| 9/28-9/30 | @ Padres | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| 10/1-10/3 | @ Dodgers | 2-1 | 1-2 |
| Final Record | 17-8 | 17-8 |
Wow! That’s a nice way to start this off! I picked the finishing record right on. I missed on a couple of the series results, but only by a game either way, and they balanced each other out. Of the eight series matchups, I picked four of them correctly. I remember being surprised they took two of the three from the Diamondbacks on the road, and I was even more shocked that the Dodgers took the final series (then again, that was also a panicked rush for the Wild Card). I suppose this was a pretty good start to the official review. At least I know the NL West fairly well … so far …
Atlanta Braves – 78-60 (94-68)
| 9/7-9/9 | @ Mets | 2-1 | 3-0 |
| 9/10-9/12 | @ Brewers | 2-1 | 0-3 |
| 9/14-9/16 | Nationals | 0-3 | 3-0 |
| 9/17-9/19 | @ Marlins | 3-0 | 2-1 |
| 9/21-9/23 | @ Phillies | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| 9/25-9/27 | Marlins | 2-1 | 3-0 |
| 9/28-9/30 | Mets | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| 10/1-10/3 | @ Pirates | 3-0 | 1-2 |
| Final Record | 16-8 | 16-8 |
Now I’m feeling pretty good here. I’m not sure which was more surprising here – the Braves getting swept by a hot Brewers team, or sweeping the division-leading Nationals at home. Either way, the Braves finished strong to clinch the first spot in the Wild Card race.
While the final result was accurate, I really missed on a couple of these matchups. Of the eight sets, I was only right on two of them – the 2-1 series win over the Phillies, and the 2-1 success in the second set against the Mets. The predictions in the Brewers and Nationals contests were pretty far off, and I was a couple of games off on the finale against the Pirates. I’m happy with the end result, but not necessarily the individual series picks.
St. Louis Cardinals – 74-63 (88-74)
| 9/7-9/9 | Brewers | 2-1 | 1-2 |
| 9/10-9/12 | @ Padres | 2-1 | 0-3 |
| 9/13-9/16 | @ Dodgers | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| 9/18-9/20 | Astros | 3-0 | 3-0 |
| 9/21-9/23 | @ Cubs | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| 9/24-9/26 | @ Astros | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| 9/28-9/30 | Nationals | 1-2 | 2-1 |
| 10/1-10/3 | Reds | 1-2 | 2-1 |
| Final Record | 15-10 | 14-11 |
So while I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the games as they were played, I do remember thinking about my original post after the series against the Padres. By that point, the 4-2 record I expected was 1-5, and I wasn’t feeling too good about my picks. But redemption was mine, as I missed only the Nationals and Reds series by a game each. Final result had me picking the Cards to finish one game better than they actually did. Still good enough to clinch the final wild card spot.
Los Angeles Dodgers 73-65 (86-76)
| 9/7-9/9 | @ Giants | 1-2 | 1-2 |
| 9/11-9/12 | @ Diamondbacks | 1-1 | 0-2 |
| 9/13-9/16 | Cardinals | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| 9/18-9/20 | @ Nationals | 2-1 | 1-2 |
| 9/21-9/23 | @ Reds | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| 9/25-9/27 | @ Padres | 1-2 | 2-1 |
| 9/28-9/30 | Rockies | 2-1 | 3-0 |
| 10/1-10/3 | Giants | 1-2 | 2-1 |
| Final Record | 12-12 | 13-11 |
I suppose if there is one thing that I’m thankful out of all of this, it’s that I wasn’t too far off on the prediction for the team with whom I’m most loyal. Like my Giants predictions, I was only off by a game in any of the series predictions. I only got three of the eight correct, but I still finished pretty well.
In all, I picked the final results of 29 different series (while each team had eight matchups to close out the season, two of those were between the Dodgers and Giants, and one was the Dodgers and Cardinals. Hence, 29 series). Of those 29 series matches, I picked 11 perfectly. I was a game off in 16 of them, and did very poorly in the other 12. Let it also be known that I picked the Cardinals to beat the Braves in the one-game playoff, so you can mark another win on the chart for me. So while the final result was pretty good, I don’t guess I did all that great in the end.
Moral of the story – don’t take me to Vegas.