As Alex pointed out yesterday, ESPN's Steve Berthiaume has picked the Astros to win the NL Central. He's the only one.
I read some season previews, and saw the Astros looked poor in them. Then I saw some more. And some more. Other than Berthiaume, it looks like a dead slate. The Hardball Times? Dead last. Pro Baseball Talk? 90 losses. Well The Sporting News is still run by old fogies, they'll appreciate Ed Wade! Fifth place, NL Central. Yahoo!? Tim Brown predicts a tie for fourth, at 75 wins. That's the highest. ESPN? 69-93.
Boy, we're getting desperate here. CBS? 29th out of 30 teams. ESPN's expert predictions? As pointed out, only Berthiaume has picked them to win the division. Baseball Prospectus? 0.2% chance of making the playoffs. FanGraphs? "There is a good chance they finish last in the division, and maybe the league."
That's about the territory the Astros are in this season. Hey, it worked for VCU, right? If only the MLB season was six or seven games long.