Way back at the start of the 2001 season, we had members of ESPN.com's baseball staff make their predictions for the season. We thought it would be fun to take a look back and see who fared best.

Each place missed in the final standings is worth one point. For example, if someone picked the Diamondbacks to finish third, they lost two points since the Diamondbacks finished first. (Note: since the Astros and Cardinals finished tied for first place in the NL Central a point wasn't deducted if a staffer predicted one team to finish in first and the other in second.) Here were the predictions:

	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
Jayson Stark ESPN.com columnist	Yankees Red Sox Jays Rays Orioles	Indians Royals W. Sox Twins Tigers	A's Rangers Mariners Angels	Braves Mets Marlins Phillies Expos	Cardinals Astros Brewers Reds Cubs Pirates	Giants Dodgers D-Backs Rockies Padres
	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
Rob Neyer ESPN.com columnist	Yankees Red Sox Jays Rays Orioles	Indians W. Sox Royals Tigers Twins	A's Rangers Mariners Angels	Braves Mets Marlins Expos Phillies	Astros Cardinals Reds Brewers Cubs Pirates	Rockies D-Backs Giants Dodgers Padres
	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
David Schoenfield ESPN.com baseball editor	Red Sox Yankees Jays Rays Orioles	Indians W. Sox Tigers Royals Twins	A's Mariners Rangers Angels	Braves Mets Marlins Phillies Expos	Astros Cardinals Reds Brewers Cubs Pirates	Rockies Giants D-Backs Dodgers Padres
	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
Matt Szefc ESPN.com asst. baseball editor	Yankees Red Sox Jays Rays Orioles	Indians W. Sox Royals Tigers Twins	A's Mariners Rangers Angels	Mets Braves Marlins Phillies Expos	Cardinals Astros Brewers Reds Cubs Pirates	Giants Rockies Dodgers D-Backs Padres
	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
David Lipman ESPN.com baseball producer	Red Sox Yankees Jays Rays Orioles	Indians Royals W. Sox Tigers Twins	A's Rangers Mariners Angels	Braves Mets Marlins Phillies Expos	Cardinals Astros Cubs Reds Brewers Pirates	Dodgers Rockies Giants D-Backs Padres
	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
Sean McAdam columnists	Yankees Red Sox Jays Rays Orioles	Indians W. Sox Twins Royals Tigers	A's Mariners Rangers Angels	Braves Mets Marlins Expos Phillies	Cardinals Astros Reds Brewers Cubs Pirates	D-Backs Giants Dodgers Rockies Padres
	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
Bob Klapisch columnist	Yankees Red Sox Jays Rays Orioles	Indians W. Sox Twins Tigers Royals	A's Mariners Rangers Angels	Braves Mets Marlins Phillies Expos	Cardinals Reds Brewers Pirates Astros Cubs	Giants Dodgers D-Backs Rockies Padres
	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
Phil Rogers columnist	Yankees Red Sox Jays Rays Orioles	W. Sox Indians Royals Tigers Twins	A's Mariners Rangers Angels	Braves Mets Phillies Expos Marlins	Cardinals Astros Brewers Reds Cubs Pirates	Rockies Dodgers Giants D-Backs Padres
	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
John Sickels minor league analyst	Yankees Red Sox Jays Rays Orioles	Indians W. Sox Royals Twins Tigers	A's Rangers Angels Mariners	Braves Marlins Expos Mets Phillies	Cardinals Astros Reds Cubs Brewers Pirates	Dodgers Giants Rockies D-Backs Padres
	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
Alan Schwarz columnist	Yankees Jays Red Sox Rays Orioles	W. Sox Indians Royals Twins Tigers	A's Mariners Rangers Angels	Braves Mets Expos Marlins Phillies	Cardinals Astros Reds Brewers Cubs Pirates	Rockies Giants Dodgers D-Backs Padres
	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
Rany Jazayerli Baseball Prospectus	Yankees Red Sox Jays Rays Orioles	Indians W. Sox Royals Twins Tigers	A's Rangers Mariners Angels	Braves Mets Expos Marlins Phillies	Cardinals Astros Reds Cubs Brewers Pirates	Giants Rockies Dodgers D-Backs Padres
	AL EAST	ALCENT.	AL WEST	NLEAST	NL CENT.	NLWEST
Tom Tippett Diamond Mind Baseball	Yankees Red Sox Jays Orioles Rays	Indians W. Sox Tigers Royals Twins	A's Rangers Mariners Angels	Braves Mets Phillies Expos Marlins	Cardinals Astros Reds Cubs Brewers Pirates	Rockies Giants D-Backs Dodgers Padres

The final standings (the fewer the points, the better):

McAdam 22
Stark 28
Tippett 28
Schoenfield 29
Klapisch 30
Neyer 30
Szefc 30
Jazayerli 32
Rogers 32
Sickels 35
Lipman 36
Schwarz 38

Sean McAdam, who writes a weekly major-leage notebook for ESPN.com, was this year's runaway winner. ESPN.com baseball columnist Jayson Stark and Tom Tippett of Diamond Mind Baseball finished tied for second with 28 points apiece. ESPN.com baseball editor David Schoenfield was third with 29 points.

Rany Jazayerli, co-author of the Baseball Prospectus and a frequent contributor to our baseball coverage, failed in his attempt to pull off the threepeat as he finished a distant 10 points behind McAdam. Jazayerli was the sole winner in our first year of predictions back in 1999 and finished tied with Rob Neyer for the title last year.

Here were some other predictions. (Notes: AL Cy Young runner-up was a category as before the season we thought it was a lock that Pedro Martinez -- that damn shoulder injury again -- would win the award. McAdam was the only one of our 12 staffers to correctly predict the Orioles would lose 98 games):

Other predictions
Jayson Stark:
AL wild card: Red Sox
AL MVP: Roberto Alomar
AL Cy Young runner-up: Bartolo Colon
NL wild card: Astros
NL MVP: Jeff Bagwell
NL Cy Young: Curt Schilling
World Series: A's over Cardinals
Games the Orioles will lose: 94

Rob Neyer:
AL wild card: Red Sox
AL MVP: Manny Ramirez
AL Cy Young runner-up: Pedro Martinez (Mike Mussina wins the award)
NL wild card: Cardinals
NL MVP: Todd Helton
NL Cy Young: Kevin Millwood
World Series: Astros over Yankees
Games the Orioles will lose: 96

David Schoenfield:
AL wild card: Mariners
AL MVP: Pedro Martinez
AL Cy Young runner-up: Tim Hudson
NL wild card: Cardinals
NL MVP: Todd Helton
NL Cy Young: Greg Maddux
World Series: Braves over A's
Games the Orioles will lose: 106

Matt Szefc:
AL wild card: White Sox
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
AL Cy Young runner-up: Tim Hudson
NL wild card: Braves
NL MVP: Barry Bonds
NL Cy Young: Al Leiter
World Series: Yankees over Cardinals
Games the Orioles will lose: 94

David Lipman:
AL wild card: Rangers
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
AL Cy Young runner-up: Tim Hudson
NL wild card: Astros
NL MVP: Jeff Bagwell
NL Cy Young: Kevin Brown
World Series: Cardinals over Red Sox
Games the Orioles will lose: 92

Sean McAdam:
AL wild card: White Sox
AL MVP: Magglio Ordonez
AL Cy Young runner-up: Tim Hudson
NL wild card: Astros
NL MVP: Andruw Jones
NL Cy Young: Curt Schilling
World Series: A's over Cardinals
Games the Orioles will lose: 98

Bob Klapisch:
AL wild card: Mariners
AL MVP: Jason Giambi
AL Cy Young runner-up: Pedro Martinez (Tim Hudson wins the award)
NL wild card: Mets
NL MVP: Mike Piazza
NL Cy Young: Kevin Brown
World Series: A's over Giants
Games the Orioles will lose: 93

Phil Rogers:
AL wild card: Indians
AL MVP: Johnny Damon
AL Cy Young runner-up: Freddy Garcia
NL wild card: Dodgers
NL MVP: Mark McGwire
NL Cy Young: Mike Hampton
World Series: A's over Cardinals
Games the Orioles will lose: 94

John Sickels:
AL wild card: Red Sox
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
AL Cy Young runner-up: Mike Mussina
NL wild card: Giants
NL MVP: Vladimir Guerrero
NL Cy Young: Greg Maddux
World Series: Braves over A's
Games the Orioles will lose: 88

Alan Schwarz:
AL wild card: Indians
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
AL Cy Young runner-up: Mike Mussina
NL wild card: Astros
NL MVP: Todd Helton
NL Cy Young: Kevin Brown
World Series: A's over Braves
Games the Orioles will lose: 103

Rany Jazayerli:
AL wild card: Red Sox
AL MVP: Manny Ramirez
AL Cy Young runner-up: Mike Mussina
NL wild card: Astros
NL MVP: Todd Helton
NL Cy Young: Mike Hampton
World Series: Cardinals over A's
Games the Orioles will lose: 97

Tom Tippett:
AL wild card: Red Sox
AL MVP: Manny Ramirez
AL Cy Young runner-up: Bartolo Colon
NL wild card: Astros
NL MVP: Larry Walker
NL Cy Young: Al Leiter
World Series: Indians over Rockies
Games the Orioles will lose: 93