Fearless MLB second-half predictions

You tell me.

The "second half" of the MLB season begins Thursday. Yet again, the American League rules, winning their 12th All-Star Game in 13 tries.

Here's my predictions for the rest of the season. What are yours?

National League East Winner

Philadelphia: Already a four-game lead. Just picked up Pedro Martinez and could trade for Roy Halladay. This pick's easy.

National League Central winner

St. Louis: Five teams are within five games of first place. I don't think this is an extraordinary Cards team, but it has one extraordinary player in Albert Pujols. He'll be enough to put St. Louis over the top. Sorry, Cubs fans.

National League West winner

Los Angeles: Gee, the Dodgers have a seven-game lead. Should I pick them?

National League Wildcard winner

San Francisco: I think the Giants will go out and pick up a much-needed bat. The starting rotation (Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, etc.) is as good as it gets. That will be enough to hold off hard-charging Colorado, Milwaukee, Chicago and company.

American League East winner

Boston: I love picking against the Yankees. The Red Sawx are an MLB-best 31-14 at Fenway Pawk. The best thing is I've got the MLB Network at home, so I don't have to watch much "Baseball Tonight" on the Eastern Seaboard Programming Network.

American League Central

Minnesota: Yeah, yeah, call me a homer. I've thought my Twins were going to win the Central all season, so I can't change now. Detroit and the White Sox will make for a great three-team race down the stretch. Maybe Minnesota will make a deadline trade to improve its chances. Umm, probably not.

American League West

Los Angeles: This ought to make Jack Roeder, Wally Krouse, Tom Barbee and all the other Angels worshippers over at Memorial Stadium happy. I don't know how they do it every season, though playing in a four-team division sure helps. Maybe it's just that they're the best at playing "Angels Baseball."

American League Wildcard winner

Tampa Bay: This ought to be a heck of a race between the Rays, Yankees and Rangers. Few teams were playing better before the break than the Rays. Interesting tidbit: TB is 30-15 at home and 18-26 on the road.