By the time you read this post the MLB season will have officially begun in Japan. The Mariners and Athletics lead off the regular season schedule with two games in the Far East. The rest of the league will start next Wednesday and Thursday.

I love it. The beginning of the baseball season means a fresh start for everyone. Hope truly springs eternal.

This year baseball added an additional Wild Card slot as well. That means there will be one more team from each league that will get a shot at a title run.

The three division winners in each league will make the playoffs. The two teams with the next best records will be Wild Cards. They will compete in a one game playoff to see who advances to take on one of the division winners.

So without any further ado, here are my picks for the 2012 MLB season and playoffs:

AL WEST: Texas Rangers

AL CENTRAL: Detroit Tigers

AL EAST: Tampa Bay Rays

AL WILD CARDS: Los Angeles Angels & New York Yankees

AL PENANT: Tigers over Rays

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NL WEST: Arizona Diamondbacks

NL CENTRAL: Cincinnati Reds

NL EAST: Atlanta Braves

NL WILD CARDS: Milwaukee Brewers & San Francisco Giants

NL PENANT: Reds over Braves

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WORLD SERIES: Reds over Tigers in seven games.

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This was fun to write and all, but what I’d really like is to have you join me and make some predictions of your own.

At the end of the season I’ll repost everyone’s selections and we can have a good laugh. Please use the same format that I did so it’s to compare predictions.

Oh yeah… I almost forgot, one more thing.

Play ball!