Predictions: Blessing or Curse

FLORIDA & ARIZONA - Baseball Prospectus picked the Chicago White Sox to finish 4th in the Central Division in 2005. The Sox went on to win the World Series. BP picks them to finish first this year (2010), making Sox fans (count me as one) nervous. We shouldn't be overly nervous though, BP picks the Central to be weak - they have no team finishing over .500.

2010..Predicted Finish
1st.....Chicago White Sox
2nd....Detroit Tigers
3rd.....Minnesota Twins
4th.....Cleveland Indians
5th.....Kansas City Royals

Here's how BP preformed in '09:

2009..Predicted Finish.....Actual Finish
1st.....Minnesota Twins .......Minnesota Twins
2nd....Cleveland Indians .....Detroit Tigers
3rd.....Detroit Tigers ..........Chicago White Sox
4th.....Kansas City Royals ...Cleveland Indians
5th.....Chicago White Sox....Kansas City Royals

The got the winner right, but no other teams. How about 2008

2008...Predicted finish......Actual finish
1st......Detroit Tigers............Chicago White Sox
2nd.....Cleveland Indians......Minnesota Twins
3rd.....Chicago White Sox.....Cleveland Indians
4th......Minnesota Twins........Kansas City Royals
5th......Kansas City Royals....Detroit Tigers

As you can see, Baseball Prospectus did not accurately pick where any team would finish. There's a reason why they play the games. So let's start playing.

Contributing Sources:
Baseball Prospectus 2010
Baseball Prospectus 2005
Baseballrace.com