Everyone thinks the Angels and Dodgers will win their West divisions in 2007. By "everyone," we mean those most daring of souls who spend the offseason making the predictions that are read by millions of baseball fans at this time of year and almost certainly forced to smile about it all come October.

In other words, we mean those annual preview publications at your local newsstand.

Let's be honest: There is no way to predict Major League Baseball in this decade. When the Red Sox won it all in 2004, followed by an even longer drought erasure a year later by the White Sox, the era of silly predictions became official. MLB.com talked to editors of those publications a few years ago and the consensus was that it's a lot of fun to look at the season ahead, and admittedly you just do the best you can and brace yourself.

So now that all those mags are out, MLB.com tallied up all the predictions to see if they are still mostly in the business of picking theoretical favorites (i.e., biggest payrolls, came close last year, standard 1900s logic), or if they just try to be outrageous and hope that their picks match what is almost certain to be another autumn shocker. It looks like, for the most part, they're still trying to be scientific about this stuff.

The biggest news is that the city of Los Angeles is all the rage. A memo to L.A. baseball fans: That might not be what you want to hear based on recent history. Even Sports Illustrated is picking a "Hollywood Ending" -- Angels over Dodgers. The two L.A. clubs are the only ones that were picked as division winners by every magazine we picked up (a) at the local Barnes & Noble, and (b) from our co-worker's desk.

In case you are wondering whatever happened to Atlanta, the team that once was a foregone conclusion in these picks year after year after year, it was picked to reach the playoffs by only one magazine -- S.I., which pegged the Braves for the National League Wild Card. And Beckett 2007 Baseball Preview was the only one we found that picked an NL team (Dodgers) to win it all; the Red Sox, Tigers and Yankees each were picked by two mags to win the World Series.

"Each spring for 136 years, fans have been re-energized by the prospect of a new season," wrote Beckett associate editor Kevin Haake. "Each fan believes that this is the year for his team. And this year, I believe. Anything is possible, because, the last time I checked, my Royals were undefeated and tied for first place in the AL Central. Never stop believing."

Here is what those magazines believe:

Sports Illustrated
Angels over Dodgers. And to make it even more interesting, they have Los Angeles over New York in both League Championship Series. It would be one of the biggest big-market finishes in pro sports history if this holds true.

AL East: Yankees. AL Central: Indians. AL West: Angels. AL Wild Card: Red Sox.

NL East: Mets. NL Central: Cardinals. NL West: Dodgers. NL Wild Card: Braves.

Lindy's
Yankees over Dodgers. Shades of 1977-78.

AL East: Yankees. AL Central: Tigers. AL West: Angels. AL Wild Card: Red Sox.

NL East: Mets. NL Central: Cubs. NL West: Dodgers. NL Wild Card: Padres.

MVP: David Ortiz (AL), Jose Reyes (NL). Cy Young: Roy Halladay (AL), Carlos Zambrano (NL). Rookie: Delmon Young (AL), Troy Tulowitzki (NL).

Athlon
Yankees over Dodgers, says this publication, which, speaking of milestones, is celebrating its 40th anniversary of publishing sports annuals and its 20th issue covering baseball.

AL East: Yankees. AL Central: White Sox. AL West: Angels. AL Wild Card: Tigers.

NL East: Mets. NL Central: Cardinals. NL West: Dodgers. NL Wild Card: Phillies.

MVP: Michael Young (AL), Albert Pujols (NL). Cy Young: Chien-Ming Wang (AL), Roy Oswalt (NL). Rookie: Alex Gordon (AL), Andy LaRoche (NL).

ESPN the Magazine
Tigers over Phillies.

AL East: Red Sox. AL Central: Tigers. AL West: Angels. AL Wild Card: Indians.

NL East: Mets. NL Central: Cardinals. NL West: Dodgers. NL Wild Card: Phillies.

Street & Smith's
Red Sox over Dodgers. It's happened once before, in 1916. Southpaw pitcher Babe Ruth helped the Red Sox to a five-game World Series triumph over a Brooklyn club then known as the Robins before the "Trolley Dodgers" tag stuck. This one would no doubt be interesting, because that would be none other than Grady Little, Nomar Garciaparra and Derek Lowe heading back to Fenway in front of familiar faces.

AL East: Red Sox. AL Central: Tigers. AL West: Angels. AL Wild Card: Yankees.

NL East: Phillies. NL Central: Cardinals. NL West: Dodgers. NL Wild Card: Mets.

MVP: Vlad Guerrero (AL), Pujols (NL). Cy Young: Johan Santana (AL), Zambrano (NL). Rookie: Daisuke Matsuzaka (AL), Tulowitzki (NL).

The Sporting News
Tigers over Phillies. The annual yearbook has Twins over Mets, but the former "Bible of Baseball" has "updated" that pick in its season-preview issue of the familiar weekly magazine. So here's the interesting thing: Even with that "update" capability, both Los Angeles teams are still favored to win their divisions. It is definitely an L.A. theme ... but this will make all those near-miss Tiger fans happy.

AL East: Red Sox. AL Central: Tigers. AL West: Angels. AL Wild Card: Yankees.

NL East: Mets. NL Central: Cardinals. NL West: Dodgers. NL Wild Card: Phillies.

Individual awards: None, except it should be noted that The Sporting News says Pujols will win the Triple Crown. The last NL player to do it also was a Cardinal: Ducky Medwick, back in 1937. So a 70th-anniversary pursuit could be interesting. Indeed, Pujols has one NL batting title (.359 in 2003), but here's something most fans probably did not realize: He never has led the league in homers or RBIs. Last year, he finished a distant second to Ryan Howard in both (58 to 49 and 149 to 137, respectively).

Baseball America
Red Sox over Phillies. As with The Sporting News, this one makes you dig pretty hard to piece together how October will unfold, and no other publication went farther out on a limb with its choices. And according to this publication, the Red Sox will do it the same way as they did in 2004, via the Wild Card -- only beating Philly instead of St. Louis in the Fall Classic.

AL East: Yankees. AL Central: Indians. AL West: Angels. AL Wild Card: Red Sox.

NL East: Phillies. NL Central: Brewers. NL West: Dodgers. NL Wild Card: Mets.

Beckett
Dodgers over Red Sox. Just the reverse of the Street & Smith's pick, that same "Here comes Grady again" possibility. Only in their scenario, Little obliterates the memory of leaving Pedro Martinez in too long against the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. Beckett writes: "Signing a premier free agent (from the hated Giants!) makes an already deep rotation even deeper and gives L.A. the mound firepower to battle it out in the West."

AL East: Red Sox. AL Central: Tigers. AL West: Angels. AL Wild Card: Indians.

NL East: Mets. NL Central: Reds. NL West: Dodgers. NL Wild Card: Phillies.

MLB.com
OK, so not really MLB.com's picks, but my picks. Everybody gets to pick, right? I'm going with Rockies over Rangers. Everyone has a prediction at this time of year, and I'm staying with "Shocktober" until favorites actually matter again.

The Rockies could use more frontline starting pitching, but "on paper" hasn't mattered in the Majors for a long time. They have an exciting nucleus, the popular Rookie of the Year pick, a fine bullpen, and the buzz around the Cactus League was that these guys seem very ready.

The same can be said about the Rangers, and I don't think Sammy Sosa or Eric Gagne will be make-or-break. What Boston did in 2004 still is the defining moment in this anything-can-happen era, so why not Colorado over Texas in seven?

AL East: Devil Rays. AL Central: Royals. AL West: Mariners. AL Wild Card: Rangers.

NL East: Nationals. NL Central: Pirates. NL West: Rockies. NL Wild Card: Cubs.

MVP: Mark Teixeira (AL), Matt Holliday (NL). Cy Young: Justin Verlander (AL), Chris Young (NL). Rookie: Gordon (AL), Tulowitzki (NL).

Click "print" on this page and immediately line the closest birdcage, because that's how much this will mean again come Shocktober.