Baseball 2008: Parsing prof's pennant picks

So how do you think your favorite baseball team will fare in 2008? New Jersey Institute of Technology's Bruce Bukiet has some fodder for the baseball buffs among us.

For the past seven seasons, Bukiet has been using a mathematical model to predict how many games each Major League Baseball team is likely to win. The Mets fan sees his team edging the Braves in the NL East divisional race, with 92 wins. In the AL East, Bukiet's formula has the Yankees and Red Sox both finishing up with 98 victories.

Of course, like any of the countless baseball predictions made each year, Bukiet's should probably be take with a grain of salt. Bukiet had an off year in 2007, correctly picking only two clear Division winners. That's something to give, say a Giants fan like yours truly, some hope. My beloved San Francisco team is pegged as the NL West cellar dweller with just 75 wins.

Check out Bruce Bukiet's predictions in LiveScience: "Study Predicts Baseball's Top Teams in 2008"