Baseball Prospectus released their projections for the Twenty-Ten season on Thursday … and on paper, it does not look good for the Cubs.
PECOTA projects a 77-85 campaign for Lou Piniella’s crew … third place in the National League Central Division. Again, these are projections based playing time-weighted projections for each player, which builds up to a team projection.
The same system projected the Cubs to win the central in 2009 with 92 wins.
Here is how PECOTA sees the 2010 MLB Season playing out:
National League
East
- Philadelphia Phillies – 88-74
- Atlanta Braves – 85-77
- Washington Nationals – 82-80
- New York Mets – 77-85
- Florida Marlins – 76-86
Central
- St. Louis Cardinals – 89-73
- Cincinnati Reds – 82-80
- Chicago Cubs – 77-85
- Houston Astros – 75-87
- Milwaukee Brewers – 75-87
- Pittsburgh Pirates – 70-92
West
- Los Angeles Dodgers – 87-75
- Arizona Diamondbacks – 85-77
- San Francisco Giants – 81-81
- Colorado Rockies – 80-82
- San Diego Padres – 74-88
American League
East
- Tampa Bay Rays – 96-66
- Boston Red Sox – 95-67
- New York Yankees – 93-69
- Baltimore Orioles – 79-83
- Toronto Blue Jays – 71-91
Central
- Minnesota Twins – 82-80
- Chicago White Sox – 79-83
- Detroit Tigers – 79-83
- Cleveland Indians – 77-85
- Kansas City Royals – 66-96
West
- Oakland A’s – 87-75
- Seattle Mariners – 86-76
- Texas Rangers – 85-77
- Los Angeles Angels – 76-86