Today is the last day that the Rangers will be in Arizona. Colby Lewis will be starting their last game and then the team will depart for Texas and hopefully leave the bad luck behind. Now is as good of time as ever to look forward to the regular season and make 5 predictions for this season. We will start at 5 and work our way to 1.

5. Yu Darvish will once again finish second in the Cy Young voting. Darvish last year finished second in the voting to Max Scherzer. The main reason for that was because Darvish got 1 run or less of support in 6 of his starts and he was the losing pitcher in 5 of those starts. His other numbers were spectacular though. He had 277 k’s, 2.83 ERA, 209.2 innings pitched, and averaged 11.9 k/9. He was a dominant pitcher, but I do think this season will be different. He had talked all Spring about trying to be more economical and be able to pitch deeper into games. That was definitely a concern last year as he was averaging around 16 pitches per inning. I do think he will cut that down, but with that I think his strikeouts will decrease and his ERA will increase. I think he will pitch to contact more which may allow more runs allowed, but fewer pitches thrown. I also am concerned about his HR rate increasing from the year before. On the positive side though I do believe he will get more wins as the offense is much improved from last year and so there will be fewer 1-0 games that he is pitching in. I don’t know who will win it though. It could Felix Hernandez as the Mariners are improved, Verlander could bounce back from a disappointing 2013, or Max Scherzer could repeat as Cy Young winner. It will be wide open, but Darvish will be in the conversation as long as he doesn’t miss too much time due to this neck and back injury.

4. Prince Fielder will bounce back from a disappointing 2013 to have a better 2014. Last season with the Tigers Fielder saw his numbers decrease across the board. He hit fewer home runs, drove in 2 fewer runs, went from hitting .313 to .279, got on base a lot less, and the number of hits decreased as well. I do believe we will see a more motivated Fielder who will driven by the offseason trade. Driven to show that the Tigers were wrong to deal him and to show that he is not done yet. My prediction for him is that he will hit .290, with 35 home runs, and drive in 117 runs. I could see him really liking that right field home run porch and using that for several of his home runs. Another prediction is that I will be looking forward to his batting practice sessions when I go to the games. I would really like to see him put one up on the roof, I have never seen anyone do that. I remember when they had the sign that said free suit for anyone who could hit it up there. They said it was 501 ft. away I believe. I think that would be awesome to see and I believe that Fielder could be a guy that does that.

3. Feliz will take over as closer by the All Star break. One of the big stories from today was how Feliz was sent down to minor league camp today and will open the season pitching for Round Rock. Mainly this is to help him work on his mechanics, build up his arm strength, and regain his velocity on his fastball. He is one of those pitchers that has to have his great velocity in order to be successful because his other offerings are a little bit above average or below average. I do believe that they will work with him in April and that he will be back with the team by May and by the All Star break the team will be ready to make Feliz the closer once again. Feliz before the surgery was in the top 5 of closers in all of MLB. If the Rangers can find that guy, their team will be much better for it. It is not that I don’t like Soria or don’t think he can do the job, it is just that I think Feliz is better.

2. Colby Lewis will win comeback player of the year in a landslide. Lewis has been out since August of 2012 with a myriad of injuries. The latest one involved him having hip resurfacing surgery. No one has been known to have comeback from that surgery. Here we are at the end of March and Colby is pitching tomorrow to possibly make the team as the 5th starter if the team decides he is ready. If he is not ready they still think he could be ready by the middle of April. If he pitches well the award will be his. The media loves his story and he has backed it up by being one of the best active postseason pitchers. His story now of overcoming all of his injuries and to not give up will be enough for the voters to side with him and give him the award.

1. The Rangers will be in the AL Wild Card Game once again. I would love to pick the Rangers for the division. Even with all these injuries I still do want to pick them. The more I think about it though the more I keep thinking that they could get off to a real slow start due to the injuries. I do see them though making a late season run. I just don’t think it will be enough to take the division crown away from the A’s. I think the Rangers will win 89 games, and that will be just enough for one of the wild card spots. I just think the division is going to be real competitive this season with the A’s being there, the Angels being able to stay healthier than last season, and the Mariners being much improved from last season as well. I think they will be taking on the Kansas City Royals or New York Yankees in the wild card game.

So that is it for today’s column and for my predictions. Tomorrow you can be looking forward to me writing about 4 prospects in the Rangers organization that could make an impact on this year’s team. So be looking forward to that Thursday morning.

Countdown to Opening Day: 5 days