Homefield Advantage

Because I can, I'm going to take a look back at my preseason baseball picks and do a little mid-season tweaking.  For the most part, I did a pretty good job, but where it appears that my prognosticating skills failed me was in the National League East.  Of course, I'm not the only one who did not see the Nationals being in first place at the all-star break. 

Note that instead of using Google Maps for my ballpark photography, I'm linking to an image found by searching the tags on Flickr. Anyone care to guess which stadium has the most tagged photos?

N.L. East
Atlanta Braves -- Turner Field {Flickr tag}
Washington Nationals -- RFK {Flickr tag}
Florida Marlins -- Dolphin Stadium {Flickr tag}*
Philadelphia Phillies -- Citizens Bank {Flickr tag}
New York Mets -- Shea Stadium {Flickr tag}

N.L. Central
St. Louis Cardinals -- Busch Stadium {Flickr tag}
Chicago Cubs -- Wrigley Field  {Flickr tag}
Houston Astros -- Minute Maid Park  {Flickr tag}
Milwaukee Brewers -- Miller Park {Flickr tag}
Pittsburgh Pirates -- PNC Park {Flickr tag}
Cincinnati Reds -- Great American Ballpark {Flickr tag}

N.L. West
San Diego Padres -- Petco Park {Flickr tag}
Arizona Diamondbacks -- Bank One Ballpark {Flickr tag}
L.A. Dodgers -- Dodger Stadium {Flickr tag}
San Francisco Giants -- SBC Park  {Flickr tag}
Colorado Rockies -- Coors Field {Flickr tag}

A.L. East
Boston Red Sox -- Fenway Park {Flickr tag}
New York Yankees -- Yankee Stadium {Flickr tag}
Baltimore Orioles -- Camden Yards {Flickr tag}
Toronto Blue Jays -- Skydome {Flickr tag}
Tampa Bay Devil Rays -- Tropicana Field {Flickr tag}

A.L. Central
Chicago White Sox -- U.S. Cellular Field {Flickr tag}
Cleveland Indians -- Jacobs Field {Flickr tag}
Minnesota Twins -- Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome {Flickr tag}
Detroit Tigers -- Comerica Park {Flickr tag}
Kansas City Royals -- Kauffman Stadium {Flickr tag}

A.L. West
L.A. Angels -- Angel Stadium {Flickr tag}
Texas Rangers -- Ameriquest Field  {Flickr tag}
Oakland Athletics -- McAfee Coliseum {Flickr tag}
Seattle Mariners -- Safeco Field {Flickr tag}

Playoffs
NLDS: Braves over the Padres; Cardinals over the Nationals (wildcard)
NLCS: Cardinals over the Braves

ALDS: Yankees (wildcard) over the White Sox; Angels over the Red Sox
ALCS: Angels over the Yankees

World Series
Angels over the Cardinals

* Nothing available

Comments

[the highway scribe]

Nice call. I just e-mailed "King" Kaufman, the sports guy at Salon.com. I told him if you're not close in and don't know the multi-year circumstances you might be missing out on the fact the Halos are having the best season in team history, excelling at all facets of the game and (finally) matured into a club that know the "business" of baseball

[Jeff]

If the Angels get pitching, any pitching, they'll be tough to beat in a playoff series. I think they are by far the best team in the AL.