With the trade of Atlanta’s Mark Teixeira to the artists formerly known as the Anaheim Angels, now simply the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (...simply), questions about their chances to win this year’s world championship have become increasingly popular. Among them: Are they the favorites in the American League? Are they the favorites in the whole of MLB? Who is their biggest obstacle to a title? As a Red Sox fan, I’m not about ready to hand them the keys to that car without a fight, especially with Big Papi coming back from his earlier injury that sidelined him the first half of the season. Not to mention there seems to be no interest from teams in persuing a trade for Manny Ramirez, who always delivers in the postseason. Now, that aside, the Sox still need to get to the playoffs, and the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox are all breathing down their Bostonian necks. Here are my quick predictions for the American League based on the rosters as they are now:

The Angels will obviously win the West and probably finish with the best record in baseball (unless the Cubs catch fire again in the NL). The Yankees, saddled by a mediocre bullpen, will fade towards the end of the season when they play road games against Boston and Tampa. The White Sox will finish barely ahead of the Twins in the Central because they have been winning consistently and the Twins are on a hot streak that has to cool off eventually. Boston and Tampa will scrap for the East, but the Rays will win it because they have been the better team all season, and Boston will edge out Minnesota for the wildcard by one or two games based on their starting pitching and what will be hot bats now that Ortiz is back. This sets up the Angels vs. Red Sox and Rays vs. White Sox (Rays with home field). The experience of the defending world champion Red Sox will prevail over the Angels in 4 games, Sox taking games 1, 3, and 4. Rays dispatch the White Sox in 5 a la the Colorado Rockies from last year—youth and the will to win. Sox take out the Rays in 6 at Fenway and return to the World Series to defend their title.

On the other side we have some strange happenings in the NL. Atlanta is throwing in the towel on their postseason hopes by dealing Teixeira, and Arizona will struggle to win the West having not done more to obtain his bat. The Cubs are showing the Brewers that they are the team to beat in the Central and the Mets refuse to lose but can’t distance themselves from Philly or Florida either. I suspect one or two deals will be made by Thursday, but nothing earth-shattering that tips the balance of power like Sabathia to Milwaulkee seemed to do his four starts previous to the one against Chicago. Here’s my quick prediction for the NL:

In the West, Arizona will make a deal because they have to, and I think it will be enough to keep them just above .500, which will net them the division. The Dodgers don’t seem to want it, and no other team out there is really in contention. In the Central, the Cubs and Brewers are building a quick rivalry and have 6 games left against each other (3 on each other’s home field), and the teams are split 4-4 against each other so far. The Cubs have 24 games left against teams vying for a playoff spot (out of 55) vs. the Brewers’ 23 (out of 55), so there isn’t a real advantage there for either team. But the Cubs are getting into the Brewers’ heads over this four-game set, and if they manage to sweep the Brew Crew in Milwaulkee, I think a ripple effect will cause the Brewers to falter and give the division to the Cubs. But even if the teams win 2 apiece, Sabathia and Sheets can’t compare to Zambrano, Dempster, Harden, and even Lilly, plus Ryan Braun will not keep hitting clutch home runs like he has the last couple weeks. But Milwaulkee will snag the wild card away from an NL East team. In that division, Florida will fade close to the end of the season because they don’t play good defense. That leaves a standoff between the Phillies and Mets. With 31 games against teams scraping at the postseason, the Phillies have a much tougher schedule, and they only play 5 of those against the Mets. I am also a fan of the Phillies, so it pains me to say the Mets will probably win the division as the Phillies drop 2 or 3 games back of them and the Brewers, missing the playoffs and starting a wave of accusations that Jimmie Rollins should have given more effort or some ridiculous comments of that nature. It might also tarnish Utley’s chances to win a 3rd straight MVP for Philly. In the postseason, I think the Cubs, who I am also a fan of, just for the record, will ride their pitching past Arizona in 4 and past the Brewers in 7 at Wrigley (who will beat the Mets in 5 because of Sabathia and Sheets). This sets up the titanic, world-altering, never-supposed-to-happen-ever World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs. At this point, I’m going with the trend in baseball, which is that teams that haven’t won in decades finally break through. In this case, it’s the Cubs. Enough said. We can all sit back and watch in horror as Chicagoans tear the city apart with riots and celebration.